I spy with my little eye... the slippery Ivy.

A few weeks ago I decided to invite M. and G. out. Since we had a few things to celebrate, and I hadn't been to the Ivy in ages, it was quite an obvious choice. It was a Sunday, so the ambiance was pretty calm, as refined as usual... which explains my surprise when my (well deserved) vodka martini took a solid half an hour to land on our table. I welcomed it with a smile, but also informed the very attentive waiter who had already asked twice if we were ready to order I would need as much time as it took them to mix that cocktail, to make up my mind. In other words: merci for the attention but the restaurant isn't packed so chill. As much as I appreciate attentive service, there is a fine line between being professional and harassing, and that evening, they were on the edge of the latter.

Now let's get to the food. Since we went around St Patricks, we decided to go for the special Irish menu. I started with oysters with challots and vinegar, my favourite combo. Obviously you can't go wrong with oysters and they were very tasty so nothing to say here. 

Then I decided to try the Irish stew: on St Patricks, might as well go as Irish as possible! The stew was simple; a bit blend, but very traditional. Nothing exciting, nothing wtong, just a regular stew. Now I should have remembered stew meat was not my favourite but that's on me (I have this tendency of forgetting things I don't like or make me sick... quite a good trick until you're stuck on a boat being seasick for two days...). 

Finally, my favourite part of the dinner: desert! I ordered an Irish coffee cake that looked more like a mille-feuille and didn't taste like an Irish coffee. Too much cream for me and too blend. But again, this is just my taste.  To conclude, I will say that the food was proper Irish/Englsih homy and comfort food, nothing less, nothing more. The service was too eager, which would have made sense if the place was crowded and they were keeping track of the tables turnover, but it wasn't the case so unless I missed something, they played this one wrong on that special evening. I used to love the Ivy, but I was a bit disappointed, not quite sure what to think of the slippery Ivy now.

More information about the Ivy here.