SEASONS GREETINGS GUYS! It has been a hot minute since my last blog post and I must admit, I have missed writing, restaurant hopping and all that but its’ all because I have been overwhelmed and drowning in Life’s activities. Though exhausted, I have great news! I have been officially called to the Nigerian bar and In celebration, my family hosted a very private lunch at the Ivy League restaurant. The spot was so beautiful I had to sneak a review for y’all.
The Ivy League restaurant is a upscale restaurant located at No 69 Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria, The restaurant specialises in international and African cuisines which creates quite the balance for both Nigerian and international customers. PRO TIP : If you’re looking for an upscale restaurant to take your Nigerian parents/aunties & uncles where they can enjoy good Nigerian food, this restaurant is definitely for you.
Ambience
The restaurant ambience is very exquisite and welcoming. However the temperature was a bit hot. this is probably because it is at the top floor and very close to the roof. The restaurant space is HUGE!. It is definitely one of the biggest indoor dinning spaces in Abuja. The space is perfect for events. You can conveniently host a wedding reception of a 100+ guests at the restaurant.
The restaurant is kind of sectioned and designed differently, with Logos of Prestigious Ivy League universities in Nigeria. It was a proud moment seeing the logo of my alma matter on the walls of the restaurant. I loved seeing how every bit of the space was properly branded and representing the restaurant. The big space gives room for privacy at the restaurant.
The restaurant is perfect for businesses meetings, family time, mini events and friends hangout. It is really not a place for a solo date. In my opinion, It will best be enjoyed in a group.
It features a spacious indoor sitting area, a mini lobby, VIP areas, a large 360 bar and restrooms for Convinence.
The restroom
I had to create a separate column for the restroom because it was quite impressive. I like it when restaurants do not leave restrooms out of their decor plan. The restrooms were beautifully decorated with Flowers, wallpapers and LED lights. The restrooms were properly take care of and had such a nice scent. I did not hesitate to take a million restroom selfies.
Restaurant Menu
The restaurant menu has a large variety of cocktails, wines and the likes. The drinks menu is the most expensive side of the menu. All the other options are quite affordable. The best thing about the menu is that the prices are all VAT and service charge inclusive. It is quite rare to find Menus like these at restaurants but it is honestly the best. It helps you stick and keep up with your dining budget. The menu also has a lot of preferential options. They have international dish options, Local dish option and also vegetarian options. This is also another rare restaurant feature. Most restaurants in Abuja do not have vegetarian options which kinda sucks because we now have quite the number of vegetarians in Abuja.
Food
My Goodness we had a lot to eat! However I only captured the dishes I tried and enjoyed. For better understanding of the bill, here’s all the food we had. Ivy league chicken curry with white rice, jambalaya rice, fresh fish pepper soup, steamed basmati rice, shrimp Caesar salad, affang soup with plantain flour, bello beef burger with fries and coleslaw,
Here are the dishes I tried;
The Ivy League chicken curry – N8,700
The Ivy League chicken curry came with complimentary steamed basmati rice. The curry was quite different from all the other curries I’ve had. Left to me it really didn’t taste like curry at all. I couldn’t quite place it but there was something weird about it. It was a nice sauce but personally I wouldn’t exactly call it a curry sauce. The sauce was made with some coconut milk which gave it a nice flavour. The chicken used was surprisingly deep fried crispy chicken breasts. This left me with a whole bunch of question marks in my head because… I don’t know if it is right to do that but I guess the chef was trying to be creative. The sauce also had some nice mixed vegetables. I enjoyed my dish but it is definitely the strangest chicken curry I have ever had.
The Bello Beef Burger – N8,500
The burger comes in a regular and large sizes. I opted for the regular size because I was already half way full.. The burger came with a side of fries and coleslaw. It was honestly the best thing I had at the restaurant and quite frankly one of the best burgers I’ve had at an Abuja restaurant. The burger was JUICY! and very ingredient filled. I especially loved how soft the bun and beef patty were. The burger was a solid 8.5/10.
Jambalaya rice – N7,100.
My sister ordered the jambalaya rice because it was described so deliciously and turns out it is actually delicious. The rice was packed with a lot of proteins AKA Orishirishi. It had sausage, chicken breast, beef and shrimp as well. My only problem with the rice was that it was a bit soggy and over cooked which made it a bit sticky. It was giving Bukka rice with Orishirishi Vibes.
Afang soup with Plantain swallow- N7,700
Afang soup is a special vegetable soup that is Native to the people of Akwa Ibom and cross River states in Nigeria. It is one of my favourite vegetable soups and it always bangs! This one was no different. It had all the necessary obstructions (Proteins) lol. The soup tasted good but would have been better if it was fresh, it was evident that it had been refrigerated and later heated up before being served.
Drinks
We tried just a few mocktails, most people opted for water and soft drinks which turned out to be for the best because all the mocktails we had were not great. All the drinks were a 4/10 at best. I am just going to generalise the drinks review because they were all the same.
All the drinks were not cold for some reason. They were all slightly above room temperature. The drinks had no spectacular taste and the worst was the chocolate milkshake. I honestly thought it was impossible to mess up a chocolate milkshake but somehow it happened. I am guessing the blender used for the milkshake was earlier used for a banana milkshake or smoothie because the chocolate milkshake had a strong banana taste. I sincerely did not enjoy the Mocktails.
Chocolate Milkshake – N3,600
Anti – Aging – N3,600
Chapman – N3,000
Total bill – N65,700
General Review
The Ivy League restaurant is beautiful and quite Upscale on the eyes but their food is certainly not Upscale enough. The chef(s) and the restaurant team need to work on food quality because the food is not up to standard. I mean it is nice, but that’s all it is, the bare minimum which is quite disappointing because I expected more. The food is mostly what I ordered vs what I got because it is not served as described on the menu. In most dishes we ordered, there were obvious missing ingredients. I truly hope they work on their food standard and quality because they have a really nice space with courteous staff. I might be willing to visit for a second review if they make improvements.
DIARY OF A SOFT BABE 