| Address | 3520 Connecticut Ave., Washington, DC 20008 |
|---|---|
| Phone | (202) 363-7802 |
It's hard to find good Thai food in this city. Easy to find Thai food; hard to find good Thai food. But Ivy's is delicious, friendly, and, remarkably, non-greasy.
Sadly, Ivy's is located right next to the Cleveland Park firestation, which sometimes ups the noise factor. Still the ambiance in the tiny restaurant is charming, the proprietors are amazingly sweet, and the food beats the hell out of any other Thai food I've had in the area.
Earlier this year my boyfriend and I went to Amersterdam where we experienced for the first time the Indonesian Rice Table also known as Rijastfel. Basically, you are presented with about 15 appetizer-sized portions of various dishes including stews, curry, soup, samosas, etc. It was delicious. I did some research to see if DC offered this smorgasbord in any of our restaurants and I found that Ivy's Place was just the place. The ambience and size of Ivy's Place is not very impressive, therefore I hoped that the food would make up for the decor. Although the portions were larger than I expected, the dishes weren't what I was hoping or have the flavor I expected. For the cost, you might get your money's worth regarding quantity, but in terms of quality I don't know if I will go back again. For a new experience it might be a fun evening but for the real thing...go to Amsterdam.
Although billed as Indonesian and Malaysian, there's a general pan-Asian influence on the menu, especially Thai. We tried the gado gado salad and a chicken curry, and both were great. Our entrees came out long before the appetizer sampler (grr!) The sampler itself was good, but unoriginal (anything tastes good deep fried). The dining room is very small, so we couldn't help but overhear other tables also having problems (2 separate tables got something other than what they ordered.) But the servers were friendly and apologetic, and a lot of tables ended up getting free dessert that evening, so all was fine. The food is great and well worth trying.
