This populist restaurant had the same name as an 1819 novel about a Saxon knight with a relentless allegiance to King Richard and strong love for Lady Rowena. How many restaurants in West Springfield could say the same thing? None.
They had a salad bar that seemed like the culinary equivalent of the novel -- that is, quite lengthy with no end in sight.
The hostess always seemed to find us a seat even when no seating appeared available. Sometimes it meant taking, well, a lengthy walk along the carpedted floor to the back of the large restaurant but that was OK. We were socially distant in restaurants before social distancing was cool, enjoying our peace and solitude when dining out.
I always got a chuckle that Ivanhoe was part of the Abdow's Big Boy restaurant chain that had the famous cartoon logo of a smiling big boy (actually, he looked like a little kid with a bloated head) holding a plated hamburger above his shoulder. At the Ivanhoe, I almost cracked up one time when seeing a waiter with a bloated head who looked like an overgrown kid holding a hamburger plate above his shoulder. He even had the cartoon-like smile!, Yep, good anecdote.
The Ivanhoe ultimately hit the spot on every visit whether ordering a sandwich, dinner or just concentrating on the massive salad bar. It was a typical old school restaurant informally specializing in chicken, steak and seafood. The thing is, The Ivanhoe seemed to serve up food better than most. That's why we always stopped there on the way back from our vacations in Cooperstown, N.Y. Now heading back from vacation in one of the northeast United States' most beautiful, fun towns and ending up in West Springfield could have caused me to make a career out of writing depressed songs. But The Ivanhoe was so good (and welcoming) that it offset some of the sadness of just ending a vacation.
It was a real restaurant and really good until its closing in 2007.
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