Ivy Tavern

Order the fish sandwich and garlic fries, it will be the best decision you will make all day, all week in my case. It ranks as one of the tastiest fish sandwiches I've ever had in my entire life. My garlic fries had my mate passing me Altoids. It was that good! Service was slow but our waiter was such a nice guy and while the space is kinda tight and a bit dusty (it's definitely a no frills kinda place), I forgot all of that as soon as I took the first bite - the combination of perfect pickles, bad ass bacon, flavorful fish, tangy tomato, lovely lettuce bed along with that sinful sauce was a party in my mouth.

The Ivy is crushing it with great food and drinks.  Maybe the best fish sandwich I've ever had.  Also, a generous pour of nice red wine for $6.50.  I'm not in Manhattan, anymore.

I spend a lot of time on Hope Street, and I've tried every restaurant on the block, but somehow, Ivy Tavern has alluded me for several years. Last night, after noticing several glowing Yelp reviews, I decided it was time to give it a shot.

Maybe it was an off night, but I have no plans to ever return to Ivy Tavern.

For starters, it took thirty minutes to get a drink. Not a great first introduction, but I was willing to be patient. After all, there was only one waitress, and I did read all those glowing Yelp reviews...

About 45 minutes in we received our Caesar salads and an order of garlic fries. The fries were all right, certainly nothing memorable. The salads on the other hand were extremely memorable. Have you ever eaten a large portion of extremely strong garlic--that peppery burning feeling? That pretty much describes the dressing. I literally started choking and coughing. Now, I'm a garlic lover (I ordered the garlic fries, remember), but the salads weren't edible. I'm not someone to complain or send food back. I've probably done it three or four times in my life. This was one of those times.

The waitress was apologetic, and removed the salads from our bill, but she clearly isn't super comfortable handling customers.

Finally, about an hour after we arrived, the burgers landed. I had a Golden burger. It was pretty good. I honestly have no idea why everyone is raving about these burgers. It was tasty, but certainly not one of the best I've ever had, and not good enough to overcome the rest of the evening. Finally, the bill came. $55 for some burgers & fries, fish & chips and a couple beers is definitely not worth it.

I'm really disappointed. I was looking forward to discovering another Hope Street dinner option. Never again.