Ippy's Restaurant — Restaurant in Rocky Mount

Party of 2 stopped in for the first time while passing through the area about 40 minutes before closing. There were 3 other tables in the whole place finishing up their meals. Service was terribly slow, we waited 15 minutes before our drink order was taken. I never received silverware and there wasn’t enough on the table, we ordered burgers and they never asked how we wanted them cooked, we had to call her over after about 10 minutes of not seeing her to ask for one cooked well done, they assume everyone wants medium rare. My burger had one of those long toothpicks in it sticking out of the top, my hubby did not have one. No problem. The burger buns are pretty thick so we cut ours in half to eat it easier. After eating one half, he went to grab for the 2nd half and saw a big ole toothpick sticking out from underneath the burger and the lower bun. After the waitress finally came back over she had the check ready as they were now closed, and we showed it to her. She immediately asked if he wanted a box and of course we said no, he didn’t know what kind of toothpick that was or why it was on the bottom so he didn’t want to finish his meal and I don’t blame him. Who knows what happened there, so she said ok, I’m sorry I don’t make them and became defensive. Then offered to make another one or take it off the check. We said take the $10 off the bill please. She asked if she could take it to show the cook and tell him what he’s done.. we said sure. She then came came back putting her fingers all over the sand which and explaining to us that it wasn’t underneath and he must have cut into it somehow. I’m super shocked that anyone had the audacity to insinuate he was lying and then attempt to physically show us while playing with the food, how they thought it couldn’t have come from underneath the burger. Smh, we said just give us the check, we weren’t gonna argue over a little funky ole $10. Food was mediocre. Service...

Since moving part-time to the Moneta area, we have been visiting different restaurants, often with our new neighbors who have been here for several years. The past dinners have always been around the lake, but this time, we ventured to one of their favorites, Ippy's in Rocky Mount. Just a 25-minute ride from our homes, Ippy's reminded me of restaurants we had dined in when we lived in NJ. A large hostess desk, a large bar behind doors to keep the noise from the dining room, an area that was split into spaces so it could have booths around the walls and some tables in the middle. Our friend had mentioned their ribs several times, so there was no way my husband was going to order anything else. I went in thinking I was going to get Smothered Chicken only to hear, "I'll have the Prime Rib," come out of my mouth. But first, we ordered a couple of appetizers - Spare Rib app and Stuffed Mushrooms. The mushrooms were the biggest disappointment of the meal - button caps with barely a bit of crab. Ted did order the ribs, and in his words, the ribs were not the best he ever had, but they were very good. They were tender and moist, and the sauce BBQ sauce (vinegar based) they used was tasty. My prime rib was a decent sized piece, maybe on the slightly thin side. We both had baked potatoes that, while not the huge size in steak houses, was a perfect serving. Our friends ordered Stuffed Grouper (it was stuffed with a whole crab cake!) and sirloin steak. The onion rings with the steak were fabulous. We all had side salads. As with many service industry based business's, Ippy's has been having staffing shortages. Though we were immediately seated, our waitress, Tyler, was running ragged with a large party and several tables. She did a great job checking in and getting the few items we requested. Ippy's will be a restaurant we will return to. And next time, I will get the...

Oh dear. I hate to do this because we used to be big fans of this place for dinner before going to shows at The Harvester, but here we go.

My wife and I had dinner there last night. My wife ordered the 8 ounce filet mignon for $40 (yes, I said $40 for an 8 ounce steak)...probably the worst cut of overcooked "medium" filet from a restaurant ever. She ordered it without the sautéed mushrooms on top, but it came with them anyway, automatically so it seemed. The server admitted the foul up, but delivered the meal to the table "as is" expecting us to just go with the flow (which we did by the way so as to not add more time before going to the show that night.) The side of mashed potatoes were actually cool to the touch too. I had the $30 grilled salmon. Again, overcooked and dry as the Mojave Desert. The salmon comes with a side of "homestyle" green beans, which were the same style and preparation of green beans served at any K-12 school or prison cafeteria. Pre-dinner, we had the $12 stuffed mushrooms appetizer. If they were stuffed with crab, we couldn't tell for sure, and the overall presentation, taste and smell was way off from the normal expectation of such a common appetizer.

Our server was otherwise friendly, pleasant and amenable to our request of holding off the taking of our meal order right off the bat so as to slow down the speeding train and avoid having our meals come out too soon. A rushed ordering/serving atmosphere and upselling of deserts is obviously pushed here in my opinion.

Anyhow, proceed with caution if you go; the joint is not the same as it was back in the day pre-COVID. Be prepared for the ordered food items to be WAY overpriced for what you get, much lower in quality than expected, and amateurishly cooked/prepared for the price. Other than that, the show at The Harvester was...