The Ivy Clifton Brasserie

I recently had lunch at at The Ivy, and overall, it was a fantastic experience. The food was truly outstanding—top-notch in every way, with flavors and presentation that were absolutely spot-on. The restaurant itself is beautiful, clean, and exudes a refined atmosphere. However, I’m giving four stars because the service could have been better. We often had to look around and wave to get the staff’s attention for things we needed, as they weren’t proactively checking on us. At a restaurant of this caliber, I would expect much more attentiveness from the staff to match the exceptional food and ambiance. That said, I would still highly recommend The Ivy for the quality of the cuisine alone. If the service improves, it could easily be a five-star experience.

We visited Ivy after a long time (we live in Bristol for over 7 years). We had a booking at 14:30 for the lunch Menu and we were 4 people. The food did taste nice and was fresh and warm when it was served. The disappointing part were the prices and menu structure. How can you charge £35.50 for a steak and not include the sauce or a small side? Same goes for the Chicken Milanese, it’s £19 and when we asked if it comes with a side the answer was “No, it comes with an egg”. Then you end up adding the sauce with your £36 steak and is £4 and some chips with your Chicken Milanese cost £6.75! The only dish that made sense for its price was the Zucchini @£6.50. Sadly, these prices aren’t that high because you get a 5 star service. We went to restaurants that cost 1/3 of this and the service was 10 times better. To summarise, we finished our meal and had our plates collected; after waiting for about 8-10 minutes, no one came to offer us dessert. We simply had to find a waiter and get the bill (even when we asked for the bill they didn’t even bother asking if we did want dessert and how the meal and our experience was). Considering the money you spent here, the service is disappointing and I would not recommend you visit.

Every now and then it's nice to eat out somewhere a little more upmarket and the Ivy did not disappoint. The service was amazing from arrival to leaving and the wait times despite some large parties was minimal. The food was perfectly presented and cooked as requested and really was nice, best mash I've ever had! I would highly recommend this venue. The only negative and it's no fault of the place but the lack of nearby parking. Aside from that, zero complaints.