The Ivy Experience

Tonight, my two roommates and I had dinner at The Ivy, one of LA's many celebrity hangouts. Swati's birthday was last week so Gina and I wanted to take her out to celebrate. We thought it would be fun to surprise her with a dinner at this ritzy, paparazzi packed spot. We even blindfolded her in the car on the way to the restaurant!

There were no photographers around The Ivy tonight which means that they apparently were not tipped off that any celebs would be there. Guess no one told them that the three of us were going to be there...haha. We still had fun!

I was surprised that the inside has a rather French-rustic charm to it. According to my research, The Ivy is probably the only restaurant in Los Angeles surrounded by a white picket fence. The fence is framed by what of course, ivy. It's busy dining rooms are filled with odd little rustic antiques and plenty of fresh real flowers everywhere. The menu is mainly American, with several seafood options and even a few Mexican dishes. Apparently, the restaurant began life as "L.A. Desserts" catering. Oh, FYI, we went to Yogurtland for dessert!

Now, you may be thinking that we spent a fortune on dinner at The Ivy tonight, but honestly, the prices were pretty much typical of LA, nothing out of the ordinary. I've just read a few bad reviews online of the service being awful and the food being only mediocre. Well, I completely disagree with this. It might have taken us awhile to get our drinks, but after that, the waiters were very sweet and attentive to us. I really love that crumb scooper thing they use whenever there are crumbs on the table. Our food was delicious. I had simple spinach filled ravioli in tomato sauce and it was very tasty. My roommates seemed happy with their choices too.

But of course, the food is not what The Ivy is all about. "It's about seeing and being seen." This celeb hot spot has had pretty much every celeb spotted eating there. The list is way too long. An MSNBC article called The Ivy "a celebrity beehive that sees a constant stream of Hummers, Mercedes and Jaguars pull up and discharge folks who pay through the nose to be seen eating in public".

Well, my roommates and I certainly aren't celebs...yet... but it was still fun to eat at such a trendy and hip restaurant here in LA.