The restaurant has a small outdoor seating area and two floors inside. There are lots of plants and flowers outside and when you enter the building the staff warmly greet you and take you to your table. Booking is recommended as it can get very busy inside. I booked for a weekday lunch and there wasn't many tables free downstairs.  

The menu has similar dishes all year round which does not change, as well as seasonal specials. You can get a decent steak, as well as classics like fish and chips and shepherd's pie. For the more adventurous among you, there are dishes like aromatic duck curry and lobster linguine. They do also have a vegan and vegetarian menu with dishes such as wild mushroom and truffle linguine, and Keralan sweet potato curry.  It was nice to see more vegetarian and vegan options than an uninspiring vegetable lasagne.

We were also given a set lunch menu with two courses for £17.95 and three for £22.95. This menu had dishes such as tomato and basil soup, steak chips and egg, seabream and sticky toffee pudding. We decided to stick with the main menu but before that the drinks. 

Our server was Marina, she explained the lunch menu, and the specials, which included grilled sea bass fillet and a roast fillet of beef. There was an interesting selection of non alcoholic mocktails so we ordered some.

Pictured above are the drinks we ordered, the Elderflower Garden (£6.95) and the Movie Star Martini (£6.95). The Elderflower Garden was perfect if you want something not too sweet and refreshing. Made from Seedlip Garden 108 (a herbal blend), Acorn dry non-alcoholic aperitif, elderflower cordial, and Fever Tree tonic, it was refreshing and slightly bitter. You could taste the cucumber in it. If you like gin-based cocktails but don't want the alcohol this would be perfect. 

For starters, my husband ordered the twice-baked cheese souffle (£8.95) with consisted of gratinated Caerphilly cheese with grated black truffle and a cream sauce. The cheese souffle smelt very cheesy and he was worried it would be too rich, but he did enjoy it and commented it had a good cheese flavour and was very light.

The Ivy in Cardiff is beautifully decorated and feels like a real occasion restaurant. 

Even the women's toilet is beautiful as seen above. 

Although it's not an independent restaurant it really feels like the Ivy delivers on food and service. Service is efficient, the food was delivered promptly and the dishes were really delicious. If you are visiting for your birthday it is worth mentioning it as it appeared as if you get a complimentary dessert, and reviews on Tripadvisor seem to confirm this. It's not a cheap restaurant but sometimes you get what you pay for. We definitely recommend visiting The Ivy Cardiff when you want a meal in Cardiff city centre.  

Check out some of the other Cardiff restaurants on OpenTable as well as some of the South Wales restaurants. I have always found OpenTable a convenient and easy way to book a restaurant meal. Let me know, have you been the any of The Ivy restaurants? 

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