- 整體 2
- 食物 4
- 服務 1
- 氛圍 3
My fiance and I booked the NYE 3-course meal, advertised as having a circus theme. The service certainly was a circus.
We arrived early and did not get seated until 30 minutes after our reservation time. The staff did not even apologise for the delay. If we had shown up 30 minutes late, our table would've been given away and we'd have been charged, so it's disappointing that the staff did not even muster up an apology. We were not alone in this either, since about 20 other people were all waiting at the side of the restaurant to be seated. They cited the busyness of NYE being the reason for the long delay. Frankly, this just came across as amateurish since they have had all year to plan for this (literally), and I am sure The Ivy have done many NYE parties before.
After finally being seated, it took another 30 minutes for us to get water for the table. We did have to ask 4 times, however. Service was slow all night too. This eventually led to us having only 15 minutes to get down from the restaurant to the river to try and catch a glimpse of the fireworks.
The food itself was good. Some dishes better than others but none of them bad. The desserts were especially nice.
Finally, a service charge of 13.5% (I think) was added to our bill. For what service did I have to pay this for? The service of being seated 30 minutes after my reservation time? Or the extremely slow service? I would have kicked up a fuss to get this removed from our bill, but as mentioned above, was not left with much time to get down to the river to see the New Year's fireworks. I do not object to paying a service charge. I am happy to do so when the service is good. However, this was far from it. Unapologetic, slow, and disorganised staff. It definitely was a circus and the staff were the clowns.
Extremely disappointing from a restaurant as well regarded as The Ivy. I likely will not be back and certainly not at New Year.