The Ivy Kensington Brasserie London - Buy Reservations

As a family we dined there on Friday night, we booked in advance and when we turned up we only had to wait for 5 mins for our table. The host/s were very pleasant at the door. The table was nice and the atmosphere overall was good. The drinks came fast and the food was really superb, I had salmon fillet and a side of spinach, it was the biggest, best cooked piece of fillet I'd had for a long time. My son and husband had the Monkfish curry and they loved that too. We couldnt fault the food. The only thing that let it down for us and our experience was our waitress. She looked rather snooty and had an attitute. She was fairly abrupt and didn't smile, She served us fast but it was like we were a pain in her rear, and she just wanted us gone! Even when we paid the bill (and reluctantly the already added tip), she didn't even make eye contact as she walked away.. no smile or thank you, just rude and unengaging. So shame..we would of enjoyed it more if we had had another waiter/ess!

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We came the other night on a date at our reserved time and were told we had to wait at the bar until our table was ready, the girl, Jennifer, who escorted us was lovely and reassured us that as soon as a table was ready she would come get us. I could tell the staff were stressed and it took ages to get our drinks. More people were sat at the bar waiting for tables until eventually a table finally opened up and she quickly laid it out for us and took our drinks over. After that we had to wait ages again for someone to come over and take our order, even though we saw what seemed like the higher up staff standing around at the back chatting away while the rest of the staff were doing everything in mid chaos. Our food was worth the wait and we shared a very generous portion of zucchini fries which were delicious! If it wasn’t for the extremely slow service and overbooking of the place we would have enjoyed our evening much more.

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Good, attentive service. Beautiful surroundings and delicious food! Thank you for being so patient with the baby too.

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We booked well in advance for a birthday meal but the reception was as if we were unexpected. Given a table right at the rear of the room near the toilets. Service was initially prompt but tailed off into non existence as the meal progressed. The food was a bright spot - good curry and blackened cod. Unable to have a dessert as the slow service meat that we were in danger of missing our train.

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I was not going to bother to add a review but reading about the other awful experiences written here made me change my mind. We arrived at The Ivy Kensington late Sunday afternoon. The music was extremely loud and we asked if it could be turned down. The waiter informed us very stiffly that it was at the normal level. I then said in that case I didn't think we would stay. Instead of trying to offer another seat in a quieter location or even just apologising and behaving pleasantly the waiter stared at me coldly, snapped: "Well, do you what you want," and then immediately turned on his heel. In all my years of eating at The Ivy, or of eating in any restaurant I have never experienced such repellant behaviour. It seems to tie in with the other reports here. I shall certainly never be going to The Ivy again.

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I came there on my way home after waiting for my husband to come out of surgery for 5 hours, was craving a good steak with a glass of red wine. Asked for a cocktail before my meal. The cocktail came together with my steak which tasted like a meat cooked two days before and warmed in a microwave, and cost just under £30. Once I finished my steak the waiter asked politely if I wanted my wine now, somehow I refused. I asked for a cheese selection menu, waited for about 15 minutes, and decided that enough was enough. Now, my husband who frequented the Ivy for business lunches for years is not coming back, neither is my son. I'll make sure that all my friends are informed accordingly.

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Eight of us had the most enjoyable evening as we had exceptional service and delicious food.The service was extremely efficient and quick .Mikele was very attentive but also discreet so that we could speak without interruptions. It was a great success.

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I have just left the ivy after an extremely disappointing meal . I have been a vegetarian for 30 years , I was happy to have a great choice of food at the Ivy . I chose an Asian salad for starter which was lovely , i then chose a Malaysian curry for my main course . I started to eat the curry , after several mouthfuls I found a big piece of fish in the curry , on further examination I realised there were several large pieces of fish in the “vegetarian “ curry . Returned food , staff apologetic but the damage was done and unfortunately ruined the evening. I’ve read reviews below and see that this has unfortunately happened before . It seems that the ivy need to train their staff more on basic food prep ! Disappointing in any restaurant but shocking in somewhere like the ivy . Will not be visiting again !

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Vibrant atmosphere, slick and cheerful staff serving a most enjoyable meal at a reasonable cost. Will certainly visit here again

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I visited the Kensington branch with my family for an early dinner and ordered the Keralan Sweet Potato Curry. The service was slow, and when our meals eventually arrived a plate was put in front of me that was clearly not sweet potato curry. It appeared to be a curry containing fillets of grey meat. I immediately told the waiter that there had been a mistake and this was not what I ordered, emphasising that I am vegetarian. His reaction was quite bizarre. Rather than taking the plate away immediately and apologising as I would expect, he said "it is the right meal". I then said, okay, please explain where in the description of this curry on your menu which includes sweet potato, choy sum, broccoli and coriander is this substance, he shrugged and said he didn't know, but it definitely wasn't meat. Again, we asked, if it's not meat, what is it? And he had no idea. Eventually after this exchange went on for much longer than it should have he went to find a colleague - and I stress this - leaving the plate of meat in front of me, despite me telling him I'm vegetarian. His colleague appeared, was equally vague but at least removed the dish and said he would re-order for me. The rest of my party ate their meals, I sat there waiting, then eventually the waiter appeared again and put a plate in front of me. I'm sure you can image my indignation when I looked down to see it was, once again, the fillets of grey meat. Once again, we had to ask for it to be removed, once again the waiting staff appeared totally baffled - as if it had not been them themselves who had taken the order, entered it into the till, and carried it from the kitchen to our table - twice. I did not expect to have to have a long conversation with the waiting staff explaining the difference between a sweet potato and a fillet of meat (which eventually transpired to be duck) and I certainly didn't expect to have to wait over an hour to eventually be served the meal I ordered. The unapologetic nature of the waiting staff really was something to behold. As our original waiter finally took away the second plate of meat he said "What are the chances?" From the look of things, fairly high, if you work in a restaurant and don't know what a sweet potato is. It's one thing to be served a plate of meat when you've ordered a vegetarian meal. It's another to then be accused by the staff of not knowing what meat is with a suggestion I should be quiet and eat what I'm given. It is quite another for this to happen twice. Having been a vegetarian for 30 years I appreciate that mistakes happen. In all my years of eating out, I have never witnessed such an appalling display of customer service - and this includes at institutions who are not charging £16 for a curry. I would have thought that The Ivy would provide its staff with some basic training, say, the content of the menus, or for example, what meat is. Clearly not. I contacted the restaurant to complain about my experience and they ignored my email. I then chased this and they again ignored my email. Terrible experience and customer service all around - avoid!

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