Address: 30 Holywell Hill, St Albans, AL1 1BZ, United Kingdom
Phone: +441727839991
Rating: 4.6
based on 177 reviews.
Service
Pros:
"Lovely service by Carolinia, very nice waitress with excellent table service."
"Customer service was excellent, it was a busy night, valentine's day and all, but the team did a stellar job..."
"The staff are very attentive and polite, the service was superb!"
"The service was excellent - very friendly and very efficient - just the right level of interaction."
"Service was friendly and efficient."
"The waiting staff were amazingly attentive."
"Service was attentive."
Cons:
"The service got more slapdash as we got towards the end of our meal."
"Each time I say anything because the food isn’t right the staff are argumentative."
"The service nose dived after we sent the two dishes back as they lost interest and we had to constantly ask for drinks and for our table to be cleared."
"An anniversary lunch, which was spoilt by a 40 minute wait for lunch, and appalling service."
"Trying to call a waiter no one pay attention and had to leave the meat by the side cause I was quite hungry."
"Our table wasn't ready, we were told to wait by the bar... staff not particularly attentive."
"The service was very slow and pretty rude."
Food Quality
Pros:
"Highly recommend the Ivy St Albans, lovely service GREAT food and did not discriminate against coloured people."
"I've had the best pizza since I've been to Italy!"
"I had linguine di mare which had a good selection of seafood in a tasty sauce with perfectly cooked pasta - a very generous portion!"
"The food was tasty, fresh and presented really well."
"The food was great as well - calamari and Italian breads for starter followed by a mixture of pasta, pizza and a pollo saltimbocca."
"The food was absolutely lovely, the portions are also generous..."
"The seafood was perfect and the sauce was kept light to not over power the seafood."
Cons:
"The food here was quite average."
"Linguine over cooked unfortunately."
"Dessert was a very average tiramisu dusted with what looked like Asda value drinking chocolate."
"No love or care has been put in the execution of that food."
"The pizzas are good but this time I had the Seabass and wasn't amazing. It was too fried and you could tell that the oil they used wasn't good and tasted a bit burnt."
"The vegetarian risotto was tasteless and the chicken salad was poor in presentation/ effort."
"The food was very standard and not worth the price in any of our opinions."
Atmosphere
Pros:
"Great atmosphere with friendly staff and busy pace of a small restaurant."
"Lovely interior. Good vibe."
"It was a great buzzy atmosphere."
"Really nice atmosphere / ambience."
"Gorgeous low lit rooms with vines above you!"
"Lovely atmosphere, the food is fantastic and the staff are incredibly attentive."
"Delicious restaurant with a fantastic vibe and lovely decor."
Cons:
"One thing I will say is that it did feel slightly cramped at times."
"Crowded and no safety precautions at all."
"Tables crammed together on 1st floor... didn't feel safe at all."
"It was also, as usual, very noisy indeed and difficult to relax with such a racket."
"Extremely busy and noisy making conversation difficult."
"Unfortunately the lighting was a little dim, and seating was a bit cramped."
"We where 8 people seated on a 6 seater table with a Staff door behind one seat that needed to move 4 times during eating the main course to let staff in and out of a staff area."
Accessibility
Pros:
"You can park your car at the nearby car park at London Road car park. It’s £1 for the whole day on Sundays."
"The staff were friendly and accommodating, we arrived with a buggy and two children and they helped us find the right table with plenty of room and a high chair."
"We were in the upstairs room, which was beautifully decorated, roomy, light and had a wonderful Mediterranean feel."
Cons:
"The building is on a very steep hill and there are about 4/5 steep steps to get in so not great if you have mobility issues."
"From the moment we walked in the staff were rude and made it clear that we were not welcome with a baby."
"Initially Seated at the front of the restaurant in the bay window constant flow of people coming through the door with door opening inwards was not a good experience..."
Value
Pros:
"The food was very nice and reasonably priced."
"Food was exceptionally tasty and large portions - very reasonably priced."
"2 starters, 5 main dishes, 3 desserts, 1 bottle of wine and 4 drinks, cost circa £120. Value for money for 5* rated restaurant!"
"Very tasty, with authentic Italian flavours and very reasonably priced."
"Service was great, cutlery renewed in between plates and price was altogether inexpensive."
"The price are middle-high for Italian food, but normal for the area and worth it!"
"Very reasonably priced compared to most other restaurants in St Albans."
Cons:
"The Italian sauvignon blanc is best avoided - we moved onto the Gavi de gavi which was much better although the price reflected that."
"I think it was slightly expensive for a virgin drink. (£7)"
"Please be aware when dining!!!… we were seriously overcharged by £50 for our meal."
"However having gone in today the prices were significantly more expensive, and when I asked about what I thought was the price, The lady was not very nice about it and was very blunt."