Ivy At The Shore

Fantastic location, right next to the Santa Monica pier, really vibrant feel. Feels airy and beach country-​club type of décor
Food is good overall, wouldn’t say best meal I’ve ever had, but consistently good.
Guacamole was really good, tasted extremely fresh
Chicken Enchiladas were delicious, large portions
Fried Chicken was good, but way overpriced
Branzino was somewhat bland, I’d order something else in the future
Overall, a good place for upscale American in Santa Monica. I’d take foreign visitors here to show them what good American food tastes like.

Forgot to make our salad brought a bowl of soup that wasn’t even filled up to the top. Their sad excuse for a piece of chicken with baked potato and interestingly puréed cauliflower was not appetizing for the price of $ 30 a plate. $ 29.70 for an over cooked burger is ridiculous.
Will not be going back and not recommending.

Service is near perfect. The wait staff was all phenomenal. The food, while good, isn’t really «sublime». That being said, everything seems to be fresh, and it really shows. It’s more 4−½ starts than 5 stars. Some of the menu descriptions are humorous, eg, «wild swordfish». Uuummmm… Is there any other kind? We had some good laughs over the descriptions. Our waitress was great in describing menu items. It was like a friend who had eaten there a lot and was telling you what she liked and why. It wasn’t like a canned description. I’ll be back.

Great restaurant. I came here on Valentine’s Day and was expecting a mad house since it is a popular restaurant on one of the busiest dinner holidays of the year. I was pleasantly surprised at my experience. I was greeted at the entrance with a glass of fine champagne (complimentary) and my girlfriend and I were seated right away even though we were a tad late for our reservation. Our waiter was nice and service all throughout the night was perfect even though the dining room was packed. Once my glass of water was half full, someone was right there to fill it. The food was great despite the pre fixe menu! I had crab cakes for an appetizer. They were fresh and tasted great! For dinner I had the steak and lobster with mashed potatoes. Everything was cooked to perfection. The lobster was Cajun style and they did not get cheap on us. The weakest part was probably dessert which was still delicious. My only complaint would be that the brownie was a bit hard. Overall it was an amazing experience and I would definitely go back and recommend to everyone.

Great food and great drinks in a nice restaurant atmosphere by the beach in Santa Monica. Almost feels like you’re dining in a renovated greenhouse. Have only eaten lunch here, but have had excellent meals with good service every time I have been here. Much more toned down and quiet than the bustling Ivy in Beverly Hills, which I like, but the menu is similar. There are few places where I see more than a few things I really like on the menu, but this is one of them. There are only a few things on the menu that I wouldn’t order here. The grilled fresh vegetable salad with lobster or shrimp is probably my favorite. The drinks are also great, like the kumquat margarita. Definitely not cheap, but always a good experience. Check it out and enjoy.

5 stars to the service
However, I ordered the Chilean Seabass with Curry and I had violent food poisoning just hours later. I called to notify staff and was directed to the owner, Richard. He actually could not care less. I had to call out sick for work for two full days and my stomach took 4 days to fully recover. I am so disappointed that the Richard did not even apologize. His only response was that he was dealing with a robbery in his neighborhood and had to get off the phone. Completely insensitive. Obviously he is someone who does not care about food safety nor does he care about the well-​being of his clients. Very unfortunate.
If you are considering going to the Ivy for dinner, consider whether it is worth it to you to become extremely ill and have to be out of work.

Mediocre food, horrible décor, overpriced dishes and unresponsive service. Spare yourself. This place just ain’t worth it!

First and last time going to this place!!! Worst customer service ever and to add the food sucksss! I just hated this place. The girls and I went for lunch and they put soo much tomato sauce on mine only and they didn’t want to change it or remake it so I gave it back and still paid for it!!! Didn’t even get a sorry!

3 stars food
5 stars ambiance and roses!
5 stars service
I met my guy here for late lunch and there weren’t but two other tables there with people dining. We were chit chatting and he suddenly tells me to look behind me and low & behold Dr Dre was behind me eating with his family. What’s really funny is that we watched Dre’s new movie right after cus he just got it in the mail before it was released in theaters. I actually introduced myself to his wife and gave her my business card as they were leaving. Introduced her to my company and I freaked out when she told me she actually has my products. So Dr Dre comes out and she mentions it to him and he confirmed that she did use my products. He and his wife were so nice and shook my hand.
I guess he knew my guy because they’d done business in the past together.
I really love the privacy here and the crowd. After a few drinks I wanted a social smoke. There’s no smoking on the street so the waitress was so nice she set up a beautiful table outside in the back for us plus served us out there and even brought flowers and a bowl of lemons as décor and a candle. It was so romantic. I’m not sure if anyone else gets this type of service unless you’re a celebrity so I suppose maybe my guy is sort of celebrity status (or so he’d like to think)?
Had the tacos and it was not good. But the bloody Mary’s & champagne were bomb. Love the long celery sticks. Great place for privacy and if you’re looking to run into a few celebs, the Beverly Hills location is a better choice.

It was Halloween & my husband took me out on a nice lunch date before he had to go to work.
Not many people there at the time we came, so the service was fast and helpful. We sat at the bar.
My husband had one of their fish specials and it turned out good. Pretty pricy. Don’t remember which fish it was but it was nothing special.
I had the Jambalaya. I wasn’t really hungry.
Ended up not liking it /​: no flavor. Nothing special. Very bland.
I was picking off of my husband plate more then anything. Lol the wild rice that came with his plate was so good !
I give this place 4 stars for having great service & great drinks.

Love this place! Great staff, love the ambiance and the food was fantastic. It’s heavy on seafood option with lots of lobster in all sorts of dishes. Great wine list.
Fantastic lunch and dinner spot. They nailed it.

Love the décor (plantation/​resort style), love the bouquets of colorful roses on the tables, and love that they hand you a glass of sparkling wine when you come in, but I didn’t love the food. The food was mediocre at best and at the price point they were charging, mediocre is not good enough.
We were in Santa Monica for the day and needed a place that didn’t have too long of a wait for brunch on a Sunday on a holiday weekend, and this place fit the bill. We walked in and were seated right away in their sunroom.
The complimentary scones on the table were okay, a bit dry. A few of us ordered the Eggs Benedict and it was fine but at $ 24.75, it wasn’t worth it. My husband had the Omelette ($ 23.75) and my sister the Smoked Salmon Omelette ($ 29.75).
Service was good and at the end of our meal, our server gave each of us a box with chocolate chip cookies inside. We ended up taking out the plastic wrapped cookies and discarding the boxes as we still had some shopping to do and we didn’t want to be carrying all those boxes.
I think you can do better than this place for brunch in Santa Monica.

Same food as the other Ivy. However, this one is poorly lit and the ambiance isn’t as nice.

Service is excellent & friendly. Really one of the best restaurants in Southern California. Food portions are very generous and delicious. Valet parking available — or you can park in the 2^nd street garage near Broadway and walk down. It’ll cost you a buck as opposed to 8 for the valet. Nice outer patio that is dog friendly.

A truly beautiful restaurant right in sunny Santa Monica. With tables seated in an enclosed patio full of fresh flowers and a view of the ocean, it is a wonderful spot for a meal with friends and loved ones. Inside they have larger tables for bigger gatherings. It has a beachy Hawaiian feel to it and gorgeous décor.
This was my first time at The Ivy, and although it was a pleasant experience, the meal wasn’t a total hit. I had the Grilled Fresh Vegetable Salad, which comes with a choice of lobster, shrimp, or chicken. On this particular day, the special was grilled salmon, so we opted to have that as the protein. The salad itself was very good — with an assortment of veggies including asparagus, zucchini, avocado, corn, and tomatoes. The salmon, however, tasted far too fishy.
The cookies that they give you at the end of your meal are delicious!
Very pricey, but a Westside necessity.

This place is real cozy cute. Had fresh flowers on every table.
Must: VIP parking. Sit outside.
I really liked that We got Quickly seated upon our reservation.
Waiters were on point with service and taking our order.
Wasn’t a big fan of the food. I think it needs improvement. But I understand why, this place is really busy all the time. Waiters are always on the rush.
But I’d come back for that pineapple cocktail anytime!

After hearing about his place numerous times on entourage, I had to check it out. I had a free Sunday from open house, so I decided to bring my mom here for brunch.
Valet is $ 7 which is a lot but not too much considering this place is pricey. There is a public lot next door but it was blocked when I arrived and instead of dealing with the hassle I just pulled into valet.
The place is nice and it was surprisingly quiet. The hostess was smokin — in a classy way. We sat out on the patio and the temperature was perfect. Soon after we sat down, 2 – 3 more good looking couples came in. Great place to people watch and enjoy the weather.
What is different about this place is that they serve you free champagne when you enter. It was classy.
I ordered the craps eggs benediction with siracha sauce $ 30 and we shared a soft shell crab sampler $ 20. My mom got the duck pizza.
The duck pizza was good. The cheese was great and it went down easy. Be sure to try it out. They were cool to bring things out on two plates so we could share easily.
The soft shell crabs were my favorite but it is hard to mess up that. I was bummed that for $ 20 you only get one crab, but it is the ivy :)
I was pleasantly surprised with my crab benedict. They gave me a lot of crab meat. Definitely worth the $ 30.
At 12:30 pm this place is packed and filled with tons of pretty women! My goodness, I need to come back just for that. Lots of stylish and wealthy people here. Great place to see and be seen.
If you have never been, you need to come check it out at least once. Do not forget your plastic, it will be over $ 100 for two people.

This restaurant reminds me of what I would imagine Cuba would look like. Unsuspecting. never even knew this place existed while walking down Ocean Ave.
This place makes delicious drinks. I had the Ivy Gimlet. I told him not sweet. It was awesome. Then we went with Justin Cab which is currently one of my fav wineries.
Tried the filet mignon, lobster ravioli, and had the side of mashed cauliflower (yum) and asparagus (meh. this tasted boiled).
The waitstaff seemed attentive and great as well. Very romantic. but a little on the pricey side.
Birthdays here seem filled with sparklers…

Our friends took us out here for a celebratory dinner and we were impressed. Charming floral ambience which is a bit reminiscent of Provencal, homey yet chic. Perfect lighting in the evening. Upon arrival we were offered complimentary champagne while we waited for the rest of our party of 6. Our friends are long-​time regulars here so the service was rather impeccable — they’ve known our waitress for years.
The bread served before dinner was warm, french bread — cheesy and perfect. I wanted more. Everyone ordered something different but lots of lobster was on the table! Great flavor and texture with a hint of sweetness. The crab cakes had the nice golden brown crisp on the outside and moist on the inside with a tasty somewhat chipotle-​esque sauce. I ordered striped sea bass, mesquite grilled and cooked with white wine, butter and capers — lovely piece of fish served with mashed potatoes and snap peas. I was very happy with this dish, very simple and comforting. One of our friend orders the spaghetti and meatballs every time and loves it.
For cocktails — I had a gin gimlet and then a strawberry basil mojito that practically came with a whole basil plant in the glass — loved it! Great flavor and also a decent amount of alcohol — sometimes these kinds of specialty drinks are watered down but not this one.
For dessert we ordered the berry cobbler and ice cream-​filled profiteroles. The berry cobbler a la mode my fiancé ordered came with a big candle sparkler which was so fun! Both desserts were on point in a major way. The profiteroles were filled with different types of ice cream, I believe it was vanilla, pistachio and caramel topped with chocolate syrup and an extra saucer of chocolate syrup on the side. And the cookies, oh the cookies… are they laced with crack? They are irresistible. Crunchy with bits of chocolate chips and hazelnuts. I was thrilled they gave us each boxes of cookies to go, on the house! My box was devoured later that evening.
This place was quite a treat and just across the street is the beach if you want a nice stroll at sea to work off some of the delicious dinner you’re sure to have at The Ivy.

This was my first visit here, but they saved me when I was in a bind by providing EXCELLENT food & service.
Had international colleagues in town (that didn’t speak English) and I needed a spot in Santa Monica. They had gone to dinner the night before at The Lobster and were very unhappy. I get a call, the day of, that I need to find a great spot for 5 for dinner in Santa Monica; pressure was on!
I made reservations through OpenTable for 8:45pm on a Saturday night.
We arrived 10 minutes early and it was very busy & very loud. Our table wasn’t ready. I was nervous that I had picked the wrong place. Fortunately, the hostess had us step aside and gave us all glasses of champagne. Ok, that’s a step in the right direction. I was still nervous because it was so loud and we had a translator there helping us with our guests, so how were we going to hear one another during dinner?
Within 10 minutes, we were taken to a QUIET table in the corner. YAY! The room was dimly lit with fresh colorful rose centerpieces, white linens & floral plates at every table. Cute. Our guests immediately warmed up and said they loved the atmosphere. Thank goodness!
Servers immediately arrived bringing water and fresh garlic bread. Yum.
Cocktails:
Ivy Gimlet: Refreshing
Vodka: our guests would have loved some Russian vodka, but Tito’s & Stoli’s Elite & Grey Goose, sufficed.
Espresso & Baileys on the rocks: I definitely needed this at the end of the night. Very Good.
And then the food. They surpassed my expectations. We ate family style, so I was able to try a little bit of everything.
Assorted Raw Oysters: Excellent (my guests were craving these and very happy)
Scottish Smoked Salmon & Sour Cream Pizza: I LOVED this (but I’m already a fan of Bagels & Lox)
Fresh Shrimp w/​Cajun Spices, Cheese & Tomato Sauce Pizza: Good.
KUDOS to our server who had the chef make special Cioppino for our guest that was really craving this. He was thrilled and said that’s exactly what he wanted!
Filet Mignon: Prepared just right, Medium Rare
Lobster stuffed w/​Crab: Medium Spicy w/​Cajun Spices. Very Good.
Oven Roasted Sea Bass w/​Lemon & Capers. This was Excellent. Gone very quickly.
Crème Brulee: Good.
Staff was fantastic and we were not disturbed at all, even though, NO ONE was left in the restaurant.
Final Bonus: We were all handed little boxes of Chocolate Chip Cookies to take home. EXCELLENT.