Ivy Restaurant

We had heard about Ivy on Phantom Gourmet and I was dying to go there and try the macaroni and cheese with truffles. We dropped in after a day of shopping in Downtown Crossing, Boston.

The Ivy is off of Tremont and Washington at 49 Temple. It has an unassuming exterior which we initially walked right by. The atmosphere is modern and clean. The restaurant stretches long and narrow, deep into the building with an inviting loft upstairs overlooking the bar. The bar is in front with nice booth seating. Dining is towards the back & upstairs as well.

Ivy specializes in tapas dishes (small portions) all around $10-12 with full entrees in under $30. We got the truffle mac & cheese, scallops, garlic spinach, caesar salad and cheese platter. The caesar was good and very large, more than enough for 2 or even 4. Other dishes were good, well done and tasty. Like most tapas the bill can add up so don't get carried away. For the price of $10-12 for each tapas dish, I was disappointed with how small the portions were (eg 4 scallops for $12). The garlic spinach should actually be named dangerously garlic spinach, good but be warned.

The only disappointment was that we had heard about complimentary gelato to finish the meal... we waited with anticipation but we only got the check. Both Phantom Gourmet & Ivy's website promote the complimentary gelato. Unfortunately, this kind of disappointment is not soon forgotten and we will enjoy our memories of our Ivy meal but probably will not return. The taste of being duped intentional or not unfortunately lasts longer than the good meal.
http://www.ivyrestaurantgroup.com/