JandS_8
Google
We very much anticipated our stay based on the reputation and prior reviews of the Ivy at Verity. We were there for our anniversary and one of us had never been to Toronto before. We did not eat at George so cannot comment on that.|The good: huge room, comfortable bed, and amazing bathroom. The room faces the courtyard, so away from the noise of the street (more on that later). |Staff we met seemed friendly - though really limited contact with staff since you enter and leave through a different entrance than the "lobby". The included breakfast tray was nice with coffee, croissants, yogurt, and fruit.|The bad: while the location is close to everything one might want to see in downtown Toronto, the Ivy is a few blocks east of Yonge St. and it gets kind of seedy - think pawn shops and a few unsavory characters. We never felt unsafe, but it is not in an upscale neighborhood. Our second night was very quiet and peaceful. The first night will be discussed below. The third night was notable for moderately loud music from the "secret bar" (we think). Fortunately this stopped around 11 pm. Another "bad" - no clothing storage in the room to speak of, so you will be living out of your suitcase. Strange that there are no dressers or drawers given the large size of the room. There is a closet for hanging items. Also under the "bad" - there is no parking and so if you have driven there you must find a public garage and they have a strange system of payment. You cannot just enter, get a ticket and pay when you leave for your entire time. Rather, you need to pay every morning and evening or just get a ticket and pay that. Pricing though is not bad compared to major US cities.|The "ugly": our first night we went to Pompette for a very nice anniversary dinner. Upon arrival back at the Ivy at 10:30 pm there was very loud music from a wedding reception downstairs. Not just very loud, but the furniture and wall hangings were rattling with the beat of the bass. Obviously it was impossible to sleep. At about 11:35 pm I called the front desk to complain and ask about when the loud noise would stop. I was dismayed to hear that it would continue until 12:30 am and upset when they suggested that we were warned about it at check-in. Not only were we not warned about it at check-in, we were not told about it when we booked. We might have chosen a different lodging had we known about this. To be fair, the manager of George called us the next day and was apologetic. He brought us a. bottle of wine which was nice, but the service recovery did not make up for the disapointment that the seemingly peaceful setting was anything but.|