The Ivy is a British restaurant founded in 1917, the brand as a whole is popular with celebrities, with a premium interior and pricing. I visited their location at St Helen's Square in York for dinner, I was able to make a reservation and get sat down at my table with as little as 15 minutes' notice on a Friday evening.
I did find it to feel pretentious, I felt a tad out of place coming in for dinner alone. I also found the overall menu prices to be expensive just to be expensive rather than delivering fine dining.
The service was poor overall, after asking about gluten-free options, I was simply directed to scan a QR code and my waitress also seemed displeased when I asked to remove the service charge. I removed the service charge as I don't agree with the Americanised concept of a service charge, and I didn't find the service to be that great, no one checked up on me during my meal to keep drinks refilled or check the food was okay.
There were limited options for gluten-free and the only other food option which interested me was the steaks, which I decided against due to the fries listed as containing gluten, and I didn't want to eat a steak on its' own.
For my main, I ordered the Shepherd's Pie, it came with the allergen flag, which reassured me that my food was gluten-free and prepared with care. The portion size was rather small, it felt more like a starter than a main. I'm not a huge eater, and even I managed to finish it, which is certainly saying something. The food was really good, the meat, the gravy and the mash were all really good, I just wish there was more of it. The temperature could be worked on, as it wasn't fully hot all the way through, I decided not to send my food back as the majority was hot and I was both tired and hungry after a stressful day.
For my drink, I ordered a peach iced tea, again for a non-alcoholic drink, £6 is a little excessive. My first sip was syrupy, and from then on it tasted just like water, so it wasn't mixed properly. I'd have enjoyed a bottle of Lipton more.
I managed to get in and out in just over half an hour from being sat down, which seemed odd for a place like this.
3* - If you're willing to overlook the pretentious vibes, this could be a nice place to dine for a more special occasion, but issues with the service, food temperature, drink quality and GF options means this wouldn't be my first choice when dining in York in the future, but I wouldn't actively avoid it and there were many things I can look back at and say I enjoyed about the experience. read more