Ivanhoe Pub & Eatery

Overall a decent experience at Ivanhoe. I went with a large group (10) on a Saturday early evening (5:30 reservations). The place was empty. By the time we left around 7:30, a few patrons had come in. The place looks tiny from the outside but is actually fairly large. The space really suffers from a lack of brightness. There was plenty of light, but all the furniture and floors and walls were dark and made me feel closed in. Ivanhoe has a long history as an Irish pub in Racine, it's on the back of the menu.

They have quite a few taps available, and a small wine list. The wine serving I received was fairly generous. Our server was pleasant.

The menu really lacks vegetarian and health-friendly options. The only vegetarian choice (other than deep-fried appetizers like cheese curds, etc) was a portabella sandwich. The three main entree salads all had meat. I wasn't in the mood for portabella. The menu is mainly burgers and sandwiches. They offer one fish option, a cod fish fry with Guinness beer batter. I asked the server about the fish and he told me it was fresh and brought in daily. Ivanhoe didn't strike me as a top seafood place. To my pleasant surprise, my fish was very good. I did have to request tartar sauce, and the rye bread was stale, but the fish was quite good. They offer either sweet potato fries or tatertots as the potato side. I opted tatertots. The portion was plenty, but I noticed my companions who ordered sweet potato fries got a very small portion.

I was also pleasantly surprised with presentation and the side salad. Nice white places I would have expected at an upscale restaurant. Very intentional presentation of the salads.  Several of my companions ordered the reuben and expressed their disappointment by leaving most of the sandwich on their plates. Kevin K. told me his reuben was terrible.

Given the mixed reviews of the food and the uncomfortableness of the decor, I award Ivanhoe 3 stars - decent and middle of the road, fine for a friendly dinner, but no place to celebrate an anniversary.

We had heard about the Ivanhoe from the Bottoms Up documentary and wanted to try some of the historic bars.  Racine seemed like a good place to start.  We went for lunch on a Sunday.  And we were very impressed.  Love the way the bar has kept it's historic look and decorations.  

The service was excellent.  The bartender attentive and friendly.  Admittedly, it was a Sunday and the place was fairly empty.  But the few customers that were there were an interesting mix of young and old.  

The Bloody Mary was a good place to start on a Sunday.  But the beer selection was good too, so it was hard choice.  Some of both - yes!  
We split the burger that was on special that day - the portion was large and it was enough for us.  The sweet potato fries were excellent.  The burger was cooked perfectly and they had no trouble with splitting it to two plates for us in the kitchen.

If we are ever in Racine again - it will be a must stop.

My girlfriend suggested we visit this place for a bite to eat and a brew... I'm so glad we went!! I love Irish pubs, and this one definitely tickled my fancy! The only reason I'm not giving it the ultimate 5-star review is because of our waiter- he was close to the end of his shift and clearly ready to leave. By the end of our visit, he left and we got a happy helpful waitress. No excuse for the waiter, though.

The beer list is great so I tried a couple different brews. I had the lambeau stew to start- it was sooo yummy!!!!!!!! Cheese soup with brats and veggies- helloo?! YUM!! Get it now!! I also ordered the chicken fingers, those were really good too. A bit heavy on the breading, but I appreciated they were made in house. The rest of the menu was great with a large variety too!

Ivanhoe's atmosphere is really cool- it has that dark, aged Irish pub feel with a nice decor. I would absolutely come back, especially on a Friday night to check out the night scene.