Ivy Inn Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Hasbrouck Heights

The absolute worst dining experience I’ve ever had. Sadly, it was on Thanksgiving. I would have been better off at a local diner.

To start, my wife walked in to let them know we were here. Instead of greeting us with a Happy Thanksgiving or even just a welcome, the first words out of their mouths were: “please move out of the way, we’re busy” So much for a warm greeting.

We were then seated and things just went downhill from there. I blame all of it on the owners. If you’re going to open the doors for Thanksgiving, you should have enough help on the floor.

The server arrived at our table (after sitting there with nothing for 20 minutes) and started taking our drink orders. I ordered water and as we were about to give her the rest of the drink order, she turns to the table on our right and starts taking their order. In all my years of eating out and owning restaurants. (Yes I’ve owned restaurants) I’ve never seen anything like this.

She now takes their order and as she turns to us to finish our order, I get interrupted again by her as she starts talking to the server and table behind us. We finally get our order in. An hour later I see tables that got there before us, getting bread. I asked the bus girl for bread and she apologizes. (She was actually the best thing that happened tonight) bread finally gets to our table an hour and ten minutes after we arrive.

I get my meal (ordered leg of lamb with mashed and asparagus) I get a cold plate of 2 small pieces of thinly shaved lamb, (looked like thinly sliced roast beef) a heaping spoonful of mashed and carrots with string beans, (Where’s the asparagus??) Zero presentation, cold, no taste. For $50 per meal on Thanksgiving you would think they it would look and taste delicious.

They take my plate back and when it comes back, it’s hot but no longer medium rare. How could it be... they just reheated all of the food. Either way it was a giant serving of mediocre mashed, 2 thin slices of what’s supposed to be lamb and some steamed veggies. Again, diner food is better.

We never saw our server again until dessert. Empty glass of wine all night. I only got one because it was either get up and get my own at the bar or just drink water. I chose water. Now we order dessert. We had to wait until the table to our right finished with their dessert menus so that we could then use the menu to order dessert. You would think she would bring four menus. We were all waiting for menus at the same time. 30 minutes later we get coffee but no dessert. The two tables to our right and left gave their orders at the same time as us. They got dessert within 5 minutes.

We sat there done with our coffee and still no dessert. That’s when the bus girl came up to us and we explained the horrible experience we had. The server finally came with dessert and at that point I told her to wrap it because we were done with coffee. There is no excuse. The rush was over. She simply forgot about us.

We now ask for the check and she takes our card but gives us no check because she forgot it. She finally brings it with my card and they added a gratuity of $25 for two people. I Lim a great tipper but then experience did not warrant eleven a 10% tip for service.

I’ll never ever be back to this place again. Just bad service. Oh and not once did they wish us a happy thanksgiving or even smile and say welcome. It was all happenstance with no purpose. You’re supposed to be a restaurant. Your purpose is to keep your customers happy and make it a great...

TERRIBLE MANAGER!! If you are going to apply this place for job, you have to think twice. Lucy is not as kind as she is. She was telling me to come early and on time she said "Do never be late!" and I didn't. BUT SHE DOES HERSELF! in my trainings when she was showing me the wine bottles, she was the way aggressive all time. "If I want you to come and get "X" bottle you must know where it is, and I don't accept I couldn't find it." trust me if you were in that wine room, you would even forget what you've been looking for. Also she always makes pressure but not her hispanic workers. She's always nice to them regardless of how many mistakes they do. She's always panicking and making others panic as well. Every server has different types of writing the orders. When I was doing mine she always says "You have to write like I do or you do not belong here." what kind of threat is this?? I'm taking my orders correctly. ridiculous! Moreover, she doesn't even speak English enough. When I ask her something she can't answer. She either keeps her silence or giving me irrelevant answer. One day I told her that customer wanted 2 more chocolate martini's, and she went to the customer, she didn't even believe me which is pathetic, and she prepared 2 classic martinis. When she went to the table customers said "we wanted chocolate martinis." Guess what happened next, she poured 2 martinis and prepared another one. "I ALREADY SAID THAT WHAT THE HELL!!" she even warned me many times about how unmerciful she is about wasting the order. If I did a mistake like that she probably made me paid drinks and fired me :D. One more thing, one day customer asked me to get the buffalo and honey mustard sauce. I was in my first days, so I asked her. SHE COULDN'T EVEN ANSWER JUST BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T KNOW EITHER!!! She was always putting the pressure on my shoulders with saying "If I say once that's it. There is no second time and NO MISTAKES!!!!!" I'm not a robot, none of us. I have to do several times, so I can remember. Lucy needs to be out ASAP. In first times I thought I was not serving good enough, but now I'm a server in a luxury restaurant ,and it's been 4 months they still looking for a server. I liked Jack, owner, he's nice and wants to teach something. I'm afraid Lucy is the quite opposite. She refused 2 times to provide me a meal after my shift. She said herself "you can get yourself food right after your shifts for free." What a...

Quaint and romantic atmosphere depending on where you are seated. We were originally seated in a very tight space near the bar adjacent to a large family, but the hostess was accommodating and sat us in a different area. The restaurant has a nice charm but don't expect modern finishes. Overall, we enjoyed the ambiance. Our server was very friendly and knowledgable. The rosemary butter was also a nice surprise. It really deserves a different bread, not sandwich-like dinner rolls that are served. You should expect a more home-cooked style meal. While I appreciated the effort and presentation of the dishes, the flavor lacked in certain dishes. The dishes weren't anything spectacular, hence, expect a home-cooked style meal but I did appreciate how classic and light they were (not overly greasy and dense). We ordered the crab/shrimp bisque that desperately needed salt/pepper. The taste of the broth tasted a bit too watered down for me despite the thick consistency. Caesar salad was a caesar salad. We also ordered the beef sliders, which tasted pretty average, again, nothing spectacular but still good. I ordered the rack of lamb as my main dish. It was cooked to temperature and very well. The sauce also complimented the lamb nicely. The mashed potatoes cried for salt and butter. My partner ordered the homemade parpadelle pasta, and it was good. The pasta was overcooked, but it's homemade pasta so that's fine. The sauce was very delicious in this dish and well seasoned. We didn't order dessert, but I had a feeling it would have made up for some of the off-seasoned food. The french martini I ordered when I arrived also wasn't prepared as a true french martini. There wasn't any foam, and it was served with a cherry, which they aren't typically served with and off in color, either due to the cherry or too much chambord. Still drank it though.

Overall, we had a nice night and we may come back and give it...