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• 1 John O // Aug 14, 2008 at 2:29 pm

  Who would have known that little old Ligonier had such a cool place to eat… my wife and I, in our thirties, decided to have a “date night” and were eager to try the new restaurant in town. From the outside the Ivy Cafe looks charming and rustic. Once inside, you enter a nicely lit, warm and somewhat busy restaurant. Our spirits were lifted by the gracious and sincere greeting from the hostess. She found us a lovely table by the fireplace and left us with our…books? The menu is found placed inside a hardbound book! What a great touch! Later on, during our meal, the waiter informed us that we were personally greeted by the owner Lisa. We also found out that Lisa’s husband, Anthony, was the chef. I’ve always had good meals in family run places, it seems like they just care about your experience a lot more.
  In the main dining room we noticed nine or ten tables spaciously set about the room. Upon further inspection we found another ten upstairs next to the The Poison Ivy bar. This is where they have piano night every Friday from 5-7pm… I guess we have another reason to go back! The upstairs dining room also doubles as a banquet facility that can hold up to fifty people and is quite busy we were told. They host all types of events ranging from wedding receptions to pharmaceutical sales meetings complete with audio visual equipment.
  Back at our table and eagerly awaiting our first course, we felt as if we had stumbled onto the best kept secret this town had to offer. Clay, the manager and sommelier had just made us two very delicious cocktails. So we sipped our cocktails and relaxed to the soft music playing while the wood burning fireplace kept us warm and toasty. You know, The Ivy Café is cozy enough for a romantic night out and loaded with history but not overdone. There were a couple of tables of businessmen, other couples and regulars there too.
  The menu was loaded with more choices than we could ever have expected and we instantly wanted to come back to eat our way through the menu. We made our selections and sat back knowing we were in good hands because the waiter offered keen insight but ultimately deferred to my Wife’s craving for fish. Our meal started with warm and gooey bread that was nice and garlicky/salty. I had stuffed prawns and my Wife had the perfectly dressed poached pear salad. The appetizer was served nice and hot and with a good amount of sauce. I’m a sauce guy. For the main course my Wife had the crab crusted seabass. My steak satisfied my craving for a big dinner and both paired nicely with a bottle of chianti classico riserva that Clay recommended. They had a short but fun wine list that I was exited about.
  Dinner ended nicely with a chocolate souffle cake that was homemade, warm & chocolaty delicious served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The staff was attentive and friendly. Clay was our waiter and he gave us some of the best service we’d ever had, very polished and proper but surprisingly warm, welcoming and relaxed. Turns out he is a transplant from wine country in California. That explains the service which surpassed what you’d expect in a much bigger city. We will definitely be going back regularly when we don’t feel like driving all the way into Greensburg or Pittsburgh to get a great meal. Four stars to you Ivy Café….Thank you for a wonderful night out.

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