1014544 The Ivy

The Ivy Collection is a British chain of mid-to-high-range restaurants with surprisingly bland menus - deliberately so, as some of the items are considered comfort food for their regulars - and they entered Ireland quite some time ago with this giant restaurant on Dawson Street. It has held a pub licence the entire time; but their behaviour towards their staff put me off coming here.

What behaviour, you may wonder? Well, it was a tips policy so egregious that it quite possibly caused the introduction of the legislation which require places to advertise how they handle tips.

That legislation means they can't do that anymore, but a WRC ruling that staff were dismissed in part due to union membership also made me fairly unwilling to go here; but a lack of recent stories; and a dire lack of other places to tick off, meant I finally did it.

What I got was mid-range food at far more than mid-range prices; but clearly it appeals to enough people that they are now opening a second restaurant on the same street, albeit this time as Ivy Asia. I sincerely hope it does not have a pub licence too!