The Ivy St Helen's Square York Reviews Summary

Service

Pros:

• "Service was excellent. Seated very quickly allowed time to look through menus."
• "Service so attentive…go check one out near you…"
• "Staff were amazing and couldn't do enough."
• "Service was excellent, with staff being very attentive."
• "The staff were lovely, welcoming and very accommodating."
• "Service is superb, quick and efficient."
• "Our server Seb was very attentive and friendly."
• "The service went above and beyond and the food divine."

Cons:

• "One slight downside is that the tables are very close together so it's quite a squeeze and not very private at all."
• "All aspects of the service was extremely slow ordering, receiving our dishes."
• "We had to ask several times for the vegitarian menu."
• "When they are going to add a £22 service charge to the bill they should be ensuring that the service is up to scratch really."
• "We waited an hour and 10 minutes for our mains."
• "The food is high quality but a touch on the pricey side IMHO."
• "However, the service was slow and not up to usual standards."
• "One of the options for the starters had run out at 1.50pm from the set menu."

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Food excellent, you might want to add extras if you have a big appetite."
• "Really enjoyed our fish pie & cottage pie mains."
• "Food was good. I had the fillet steak, which required you to add chips, sauce and vegetables all as sides."
• "Food, service and venue are excellent."
• "The food was absolutely delicious! Best fish and chips we've had, ever!"
• "Food is very good but has some big competition in York."
• "The food was amazing, highly recommend the duck salad."
• "Some of the best food I've ever eaten."

Cons:

• "Eggs Benedict Americanos Apple Tart (flambé)"
• "Our mains were a mixed bag."
• "The avocado Benedict and smoked salmon Benedict had requests of slightly overcooked eggs."
• "The 2 full English breakfasts came. Eggs miraculously overcooked yet still slightly ‘snotty’ on top."
• "When we arrived our table wasn't ready as the previous parties time had run over."
• "The burger was overdone and, in his words, he'd had better at McDonalds."
• "The promised 'Austrian raclette' on top of the burger gave impressions of Austrian, freshly-grilled cheese scraped onto the burger at the table."
• "The kids sausage and mash was pretty dire. Lukewarm, bland mash with what looked like deep fried sausages and little jug of gravy."

Ambiance

Pros:

• "Very nice meal, whereby we were seated upstairs. This was preferable for us as it was brighter than the dark ambience of the ground floor."
• "Decor is nice inside, and atmosphere vibrant."
• "The decor of the restaurant is beautiful and would be a fabulous place for cocktails or a celebration dinner."
• "Classic dishes served in a lively atmosphere. Staff are helpful and efficient."
• "The salmon served in various ways from Royal Eggs Benedict to Salmon in black bread was very fresh, flavorful, and wonderful in color."
• "This comes with the caveat that it was from one of the hottest days in the year."
• "The atmosphere was wonderful."
• "The only good thing was the scallops. Everything else we literally had a bite and felt sick."

Cons:

• "The noise took away from the ambiance. Come with a reservation, for sure."
• "We had a much better meal and excellent service elsewhere in central York the following night, so there are better options."
• "It was busy, so we were prepared to make allowance for the slow service, but the food was very disappointing."
• "We had a lot of Sharp, hard ends amongst ours."
• "The tables are very close together so it's quite a squeeze and not very private at all."
• "The service charge added was a bit steep too! However, would still recommend The Ivy, we were just unfortunate on this occasion."
• "Unfortunately, now that its under new management and ALL the staff have changed."
• "Very expensive for what it was. Sorry Ivy but that’s another £3000+ of private mid week dining you won’t be getting from me again."