The Ivy Exeter

A sticky start as my daughter who was organising the event (my other daughters Wedding pre celebrations) called when the diet had changed for one of the guests and told a baby couldnt to attend aswell even though she had booked for an "additional" high chair. Told that 48hrs needed to be given for gluten free diet and that a 5th person (a baby)!! should be reserved so we wouldnt be able to attend. She decided to tell them we wouldnt bring the baby to keep the spot. However on the day a lovely reception and the staff were wonderful Even though the baby didnt attend although table was laid up for 5! Lovely waitress x Lovely memories were made especially for my 5 year old grandaughter x Worth the service charge just issues before attendance as lady was rude on the phone

I booked the Ivy as a treat for my friend's daughter. When booking, it asks for any dietary requirements and I indicated that I am gluten free. On arrival at the check-in desk I was asked if I was vegan or vegetarian and again I mentioned that I was gluten free. The waitress just said, "erm" and handed me every menu they had. There is absolutely nothing on the menu to indicate what items were gluten free. I asked the waiter who told me I had to scan the menu and then look at the website. In tiny wording, nearly every single one the dishes claimed that they couldn't guarantee cross contamination. Honestly, the palaver it was to find something to eat was incredible and you would think that a well established multi-chain restaurant would have sorted this out - there are so many people with dietary issues and if smaller restaurants can deal with this, why on earth can't a huge chain? If it wasn't a treat for someone else, I would have left but instead had to pay for a bun-less burger with a bit of iceberg lettuce on the side, a slice of tomato and chips (which were apparently not guaranteed to be free of gluten either!). The waiter did bring me a couple of pieces of gluten free toast but I had to ask for butter. The food was pleasant enough, but for a bill of nearly £60 I think I would have been better off going to Five Guys who I am told do excellent gluten free burgers. I can honestly say that I think it's the setting and atmosphere that is good about The Ivy and sadly not a great deal else.