The Ivy Cafe Marylebone Reviews Summary

Service

Pros:

• "You get greeted by the friendliest of staff at the door and then get introduced to your waiter/waitress."
• "Delightful staff and attentiveness."
• "Outstanding service from the two maitre d's."
• "Professional and friendly line managers."
• "The service was entertaining enough in its own right."
• "The service was impeccible and our server was called Sensey I believe."
• "The team continually came to check we were ok, ask if the babies needed anything, entertained the little ones whilst we ate."

Cons:

• "Service was careless and lacked cohesiveness, despite an early sitting."
• "Food was bland and the service was poor."
• "After waiting one hour and ten minutes, our first course arrived and three out of the four of us had to return it."
• "This specific Ivy Cafe service was poor, I was waiting for 20 minutes just to order a drink."
• "We told them we had only 45 minutes... but the service was SO slow."
• "However tonight the service disappeared! Literally! Our friendly waiter was no longer there from about 9pm."
• "Lovely welcome and brilliant front of house staff but the service was an utter let down."

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Could not fault the food, excellent meal and one off the best apple desserts in London."
• "Every piece of food was tasteful and delicious."
• "The truffle orzo starter was quite tasty with a pleasant truffle flavour."
• "The food was very tasty."
• "Enjoyed a lovely meal here. The staff are so attentive & you're not kept waiting long for your food."
• "We had scallops, crispy duck salad, lobster linguine, Korean chicken, and crème brulé, rum baba. All very tasty."
• "The food is always good and the service is 5 star."

Cons:

• "The food was just about adequate but not usual Ivy standards, room for improvement definitely."
• "Average steak."
• "The lobster dish... just tasted like a pasta dish I could cook."
• "The chicken main I had was a little greasier than I was expecting."
• "Unfortunately the food was uninspiring - my fish and chips included two tiny pieces of fish, one of which barely had any batter on it."
• "In general the food was quite overpriced for the quality."
• "The crab and zucchini linguine is one to avoid as it doesn’t taste like much at all."

Ambience

Pros:

• "Amazing place that is incredibly good value considering how swanky it is."
• "Chic interiors. Always bustling and cheerful. Well lit."
• "The general ambience was also very pleasant but they do have a very annoying habit of trying to seat guests at a table by the till!"
• "A lovely upscale art deco inspired restaurant."
• "Very nice atmosphere."
• "Great addition to the Marylebone scene. The Ivy Cafe looks smart but is not stuffy."
• "The environment was nice and cosy."

Cons:

• "No cloakroom, or is there is, we weren't offered it. Suitcases and people's bag litter the already tight space."
• "The restaurant was only half full but the acoustics meant we could barely hear each other and had to shout."
• "Was extremely hot (even though aircon was on full blast) and busy."
• "Very noisy place when full and struggled to hear the person I was with."
• "Seating is extremely intimate, so keep that in mind when booking a table here."
• "The waitress was squeezing between one tables and the next despite we asked twice to keep at least a bit of distance."
• "The food was ok but cold. The worst part was the trip to the toilet."

Value

Pros:

• "The prices are also reasonable, for supper for four with a bottle of fizz and a bottle of red it came to about £260 so to my mind pretty reasonable."
• "Delicious food, reasonable prices."
• "It's not cheap, but considering the quality and size of portions, it's actually good."
• "Reasonable prices."
• "Not mad expensive considering the location in the West End."
• "Good service, good desserts and reasonably priced."
• "Overall a great experience and prices are extremely reasonable!"

Cons:

• "I ordered the halloumi sandwich which was not value for money."
• "Also annoying how they add a service charge on the bill ....bit presumptuous."
• "The bill came to over £150 and this was very excessive for such mediocrity."
• "Really fed up with the service at this restaurant."
• "Nice place but could ensure better service given its high price for lunch."
• "When mentioned - indifference. We left feeling let down."
• "Not only was the service appalling and slow, we left feeling ripped off."