Best British Restaurants in Barnes

The food and drinks at this restaurant are delicious. You are going to pay accordingly, but expect to have a solid meal and very good drinks. The atmosphere is beautiful — the restaurant is well decorated. It’s not too loud and not too crowded, which makes it feel pretty posh. However, we had a very odd experience with our server Nelson. He didn’t even say hello or good evening when we arrived and he just raised his eyebrows and said “yes please” when he took his notebook out to order. While I am all for efficiencies (I used to be a server and a bartender for 3 years), part of the hospitality business is…hospitality. This man expressed no smile, no emotion, and no sense of humanness. It was so weird. One of the ladies who appeared to be a manager came over to take our dessert order and she was very friendly, but we couldn’t understand why Nelson was so extremely cold. It appeared that this was his demeanor towards other tables as well. We arrived 5 mins early, didn’t take long to order drinks and food, and didn’t linger. What was his issue? We will never know. We will definitely be back to the Ivy, but will request to not have him as a server.

The food was delicious and the portions were generous. The traditional fish and chips and the classic shepherd’s pie were mouthwateringly tasty. For dessert, we had the Ivy chocolate bombe to share paired with some Earl Grey tea which was delightful and rich. Overall, the service was slightly slow but the waitress Rhea was pleasant and personable on approach. Thank you for another lovely experience!

This was probably the greatest culinary experience of my life. Managed to get a booking for the Valentine’s Day meal. Not just were the hosts incredibly hospitable but incredibly attentive. The highlights of the menu were almost the entire thing. Both desserts were sublime, the TFC, caviar gougère and roast chicken were amazing. I’ve never seen a scallop as big in my life and for the duck course the main star of that dish in my opinion was the morels. We were put on the chefs table which was like looking into a finely tuned, well oiled machine. There is an almost 100 percent chance I’ll be back in the future.

The experience was beyond perfect. Everyone was so nice and the dishes were excellent. I highly recommend the Wellington, it was amazing! Thank you for everything!

We are here prior to Covid , and had one of the great meals of our lives . Back now , it’s even better - the duck parfait was ridiculously good , each dish was a new sensation . Wine pairings were excellent and very well thought out . Service was friendly and knowledgeable , and Chef was very engaging . Go if you can .