Hotel Ivanhoe

Great food and Great Service, This place is true history. I’ve seen photos of Stage coaches from the 1890s parked in front. I love the Chicken Picatta. Great live music on Thursdays. This is a local place but others are welcome. For decades families from the area have been coming here. It’s not uncommon to see locals get up, walk over to another table and shake hands with friends and neighbors. Sometimes I think tourist from the big cities just don’t get it. Things are slower here, it’s okay. I believe this is the furthest western tavern in the lower 48 states.

Wow. Amazing amazing place. I drove to Ferndale specifically to go here. Had great reviews and it was featured on the Diners Dives and drive in so it peeked my interest. I was beyond satisfied. Service was great, wine was delicious and of course the food was mouth watering. Great prices for such an amazing meal. If this restaurant was in LA it would cost an arm and a leg !!!
Best dish was the Del Mar Linguini

My husband and I went in for dinner on New Years Eve. The restaurant was packed but we were seated right on time.
We each had the prime rib, which was excellent. The service was spectacular. Everything was served in a timely manner and everything tasted great. The crime brûlée that I had for dessert was the best I have ever eaten.
I highly recommend this restaurant, but reservations are imperative.

The hubby and I consulted with Unilocal for our first evening in Ferndale and were delighted with Hotel Ivanhoe’s restaurant. The American fare was just to our liking and oddly, we both ended up with pasta dishes, which isn’t our normal thing, but it was a great choice! Hubby had Linguini Del Mare and I had Seafood Fettucine (different pasta and sauces, but both delicious… his lighter than mine which had a creamy rosa sauce…).
Each was available in a small or large portion and came with soup or salad. We had the salads and they were awesome with, what I recall to be some nice house-​made dressing options.
Ambience is historic (read the info re: the history and famous guests!) and the bar is fun to wait in with locals if you have to wait for a table. The Maitre’d was very good at not overwhelming his wait staff and had a good handle on the seating process which was appreciated.
We highly recommend this restaurant… seems like the locals do, too! Don’t let the hotel/restaurant’s site scare you about it being a fancy schmancy place… jeans are fine… the locals are dairymen and farmers! A suit would be a little out of place here…

Wow! Just wow! This place was featured on Diners, Drive-​ins, and Dives. It looked like a good place simply based on the show.
My family and I recently stayed in Ferndale for a weekend getaway. Of course, we decided to try Hotel Ivanhoe. It was a very busy weekend (fair season) so I called that day to get reservations. They weren’t able to get me in until about 8:30. Let me tell you, it was worth the wait.
Great ambiance, and great bar up front. It was very lively to say the least. The food was absolutely outstanding. The salad and bread were a great starter for our entrees. My wife and I tried the Fettuccine Alfredo, My wife claimed it was the best she every had. I cannot wait to go back and try something else.

First experience at Ivan Hoe. Overall it was o.k.
The prime rib was pretty good. The desert options were typical. The soup was very salty. The atmosphere was ok but very hot and stuffy. dated it’s an historic building and it could use a little paint and cleaning. Seating tight.
The primary problem was the service. The bartender man was dismissive and rude, even though not busy at all. Left us standing at the bar, as there’s no bar waitress, for 20 mins before asking what we wanted. Then acted like we were difficult for asking for ginger ale.
The waitress seemed out of it. Dropping utensils, getting order wrong, forgetting to ever come back, getting bill wrong. Coffee spilled. Slight slur with her grammar. And kept saying sorry. We sorta thought she was stoned.
Lastly, there’s a 5.00 plate split but they don’t split the meal for you. So what’s a plate split for? No more food nothing plated soo?
All that being said, I may return but wouldn’t go out of my way.

Decent food. Horrible service.
Quite possibly the most strangely disconcerned service I’ve ever experienced. From the bar to the dining room, service was either uneducated and unprepared or lacked any apparent concern for patrons. I saw no functioning examples of good service. Like an attitude thats Almost unwilling if incapable of concern. What one might say about a tourist trap… just sayn.
Other than the building itself there was nothing I’d equate to a friendly Ferndale state of mind.
Ivanhoe, mend your fences…

I can’t believe how good the food in this place is! Soup was amazing, salad fresh, crisp and great homemade dressing and the fettuccine sooooo creamy! Chocolate mouse light and delicious. The restaurant itself is very charming inside. I love the fact they offer smaller portions on the menu.
The ONLY issue that left a bad taste in my mouth was waitress and the bill. Took her a while to acknowledge me. Not to mention the hostess asked there was something she could do for me and almost seemed shocked when I said I wanted a table. She had to go outside to ask the owner/​manager if it was ok to seat me in the dining room and made him look inside so she could point me out. Guess they don’t get many Hispanics around here. The older man who was the manager was cool and yes yes, of course. There were multiple tables open.
The waitress charged me more than the menu price for my main dish and double for the soup. Took some convincing to get her to double check the prices. She said the prices were recently updated… yet there’s no notice of this anywhere. She also said she must have been confused about the side soup price and would fix it. Got the new bill, she apologized, said she looked at a different main dish price yet somehow forgot to change the price of the soup. Makes no difference to me, I just took it off her tip.

We came in on a Thursday night because we had heard about the live music and fun atmosphere. It was a great time. We ate at the bar and chatted with the very friendly and knowledgeable bartender. The music was not so loud that we couldn’t talk as is often the case with live music. Funky, old-​time musicians playing the country songs of my childhood (1950s). The guests all seemed to know each other but were very friendly to us as well.
My pasta primavera was scrumptious (at least five different vegetables cooked al dente) and my friend’s chicken cacciatore was yummy but a quantity only a lumberjack could finish.
Unpretentious, not for snobs.

We just fell in love with this restaurant, Hotel Ivanhoe!!! Great service!!! I’m still dreaming about the scampi & NY Marsala. Also the spicy shrimp is to die for!!! I mean it, to die for! This is a place I wish they had in SF. The Quility & flavors are amazing. And yes we are foodies.
You will enjoy this place. Thank us later.

Stayed 1 night in the Brice Room, the room was comfortable enough but we could have used a luggage rack in the room, alas the floor had to do. Bed was comfortable, but the room was a little noisy from the street noise and patrons leaving the bar/​restaurant.
In the restaurant that night we had an enjoyable meal, food was very good and fairly good service.
Wife had the Ceasar salad and grilled prawns, salad was fresh but on the small side, probably should have ordered the large size, our fault. Prawns were tasty. I had the Chicken Marsala, it came with 2 large breasts and lots of mushroom sauce. The baked potato was very good and fluffy. I could not finish this large dinner and therefor had no room for dessert. Our fault also… :(
We will definitely come back again for both the room and the food.

This was our first visit to Ferndale and the second restaurant we’ve been to. My husband elected to get the calamari appetizer. In his words, he’s had better fish sticks. The calamari was soggy and appeared to have been previously frozen.
We both had Cesar salad before our meal. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever had but the dressing did have enough garlic kick to my liking.
For our main course, I had the cheese ravioli with creamy pesto and the hubby had shrimp scampi with a baked potato and veggies. My pasta was actually pretty decent. Who could go wrong with cheese, pasta, and creamy pesto. My hubby, on the other hand, was very dissatisfied. He said the shrimp were over cooked and rubbery. The baked potato was the best thing on the plate and it was nothing special.
For dessert, we had a chocolate mousse and a coconut crème brûlée. The mousse was tasty and a large portion (probably too much). The crème brûlée came from the cold box and was more like pudding.
Overall, the food quality was so so. The waitress was ok but we got more attention from the woman filling our water.
I doubt we will return for a second visit.

Quirky handsome hotel with only four rooms (we were in the Roberts room) with a balcony and street view. Unfortunately the hotel is on a turn in the road which facilitates rumbling trucks and motorcycle show offs. Ferndale is not as peaceful as you might think, even in the off season. Also, our balcony featured an ashtray with cigarette butts, kind of gross. But the complaints stop there… the room is lovely. And decorated with antiques.
The bed squeaked, the claw bath tub is not my thing.but. There is wifi and cable, great coffee, beautiful decorating… warm and cozy. It’s very casual… and there is. A nifty little library/​sitting area with board gems, books, etc…
Delightful experience to be sure!

While visiting relatives in Humboldt County, we decided to take them to the Hotel Ivanhoe for dinner. We had a great time, the food was excellent, service was attentive, and the ambience was charming. A good time was had by all.

Another year, another fair. Another Friday Night at the Ivanhoe!
This year’s challenge was my sister and two nieces who are here for the first time in region. Very nice meal and specials… of the four of us, three got the off the menu specials. very tasty from what we shared. The next day, I saw the owner of the Ivanhoe walking down the street. While passing, I told him we had a good time the night before at his establishment. He looked up, and said «thank you.» My sister asked me who he was… I told her… she was still happy, if the sole picatta is a special… you will be happy. I enjoyed the the Steelhead. My niece enjoyed the lamb chops and fettucini Alfredo… all top notch!!!
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Our family clan of four adults ate at the Ivanhoe while vacationing in Ferndale this summer. The hotel is very historic and interesting to look at. The food was very good, but not with a wow factor for me. None of us had anything negative to say about our meals, but neither did anyone rave about it either.
The service was good, but since the restaurant was bustling, those poor gals were busy, busy, busy.
The ambience left much to be desired. It’s an old rickety feeling building that could use some TLC. The dining area is stuffed in the dark back of the building with only covered side windows and little natural light. I believe the whole atmosphere would change if they moved it to the front of the building with the view of the main street and the breath-​taking Victorian Inn, but it is in a dark, dingy part of the hotel. It gave us the feeling that the restaurant had been an afterthought. Sadly, the prime position is given to the separate bar with a wall dividing the two rooms, and we saw only one person in there when we left around 8:30 p.m. Truly bad planning on their part.
The Ivanhoe wasn’t really my cup of tea, especially when I can see such wasted potential.

Came here quite by accident, and due to a review on Unilocal.I had the filet of sole special, and it was the best I’ve ever had. My husband had the prime rib, said the horseradish made him cry, but it was worth it! Delicious! Our waitress, Merideth, was accommodating and helpful. Great experience… just what we need! As an aside, the martinis were pretty darn good!

I’ve been a couple of times and everything we’ve eaten has been good.
On our most recent visit, the rack of lamb special was great. The sauce was very nice. The linguini del mar is also excellent.
It’s a busy dining room, reservations are definitely a good idea. They seem well able to handle larger groups but don’t neglect small tables.
The owners float through, keeping an eye on things. The bar is lively, with lots of locals in and out.

Best Scampi I have ever had. The service is on point, the food is wonderful. I would easily say this is the best steakhouse in Humboldt County!

If your table is at a corner then you’re out of luck on good service. Server may have had a bad day and took it out on us because she didn’t smile and made us wait for our food for a VERY LONG TIME. She forgot the special of the day and she brought out croutons and parmesan cheese but without salad until 20mins later. My hubby ordered a medium prime rib and he got rare instead. My New York steak had no flavor and server never brought my red pepper chili flakes I asked for. As for the dessert, we waited for an additional 20mins on tiramisu while our server took care of other tables. To top it all off, it took 20 more mins for our check. Other servers were great so the experience wasn’t as terrible.