The Botanist in South Somerset

We visited here for a birthday meal and the atmosphere was great! There was a live band and the vibes were brilliant. The hanging kebabs were delicious and of course the cocktails were good.

First visit here and would definitely recommend, we were greeted upon entering and shown to our table, we had plenty of time to look at the menu and plenty of options depending on your appetite. We only had a main and dessert but the food was mouthwateringly delicious and there was a small selection of non alcoholic drinks although l chose to only order a soft drink this time. We were well looked after and not rushed, very welcoming place and would visit again.....there is outside sitting available also.

First time at a Botanist and it was great. Seating in the booths was perfect for me and the atmosphere was superb. It was quie empty early on a monday but I imagine it is buzzing at the week-ends, which is good too. Service was fine. Cold drinks were ice-cold and all the dishes we tried were very tasty and well-cooked. Lots of choice for veggies. Sticky toffee pudding a must. Bit on the pricey side but reasonable sized portions Enjoyed the evening.

Booked for a 60th Birthday family meal. The food was good and nice environment and service. Negatives… the pitta bread was hard as rock. And it was FAR TOO NOISY… just couldn’t hear anything anyone said. Turn it down.

In the popular brewery entertainment area of Cheltenham. One of many restaurants but definitely for me a stand out. Loved the look inside. Had a bit of a Spanish or Italian old town vibe to the decor. Really charming and atmospheric. Nice sized bar area with lots of seating options nearby and outside. Good to see Ales on as well as all the popular trendy stuff. Just fancied a Sunday roast and was pleased to see it on their Sunday menu. Really impressed with size of the meal. Loved the ample veg in separate mini pans. Gorgeous and ample gravy with two succulent Chicken breasts with crackly skin. The roast potatoes looked over cooked but weren’t and it was how they were meant to look. Lovely big crispy Yorkshire pudding too. Wanted a few more of those potatoes at first but glad I didn’t ask for more as it was a big meal and felt satisfyingly full. Great staff and quick service.

Food was absolutely bloody gorgeous, and so filling!! We had to take the Camembert home, and it was wrapped up in a stunning little tin foil box by our waitress, Jess… Probably the best service ive had in a LONGGG while, she was so bubbly and chatty! absolutely perfect service and food, def my favourite place in the brewery!!

Went for a valentines meal, sat down at 8:20, had our order taken about 15 minutes after sitting down, food arrived but no sign of drinks so we asked the food runner to chase them up for us, he never returned. Waitress eventually came to do a check back we asked again to chase drinks up. By this point my partner had eaten all his food and I had eaten most of mine and the drinks finally arrived at 8:55 (almost 40 mins after sitting) with no apology. Dirty plates sat in front of us until 9:35 when we had to wave someone down to ask for the bill. 10 minutes later the bill arrived but it wasn’t ours. I asked them for the correct bill and to remove service charge, another 10 minutes later the correct bill arrived. We eventually left at around 10pm. I manage a restaurant myself so I understand it can be extremely busy but for no one (let alone a manager) to come over and apologise or talk to us was unacceptable. It seemed a lot of tables around us were having a similar experience. There were several other issues during our meal for example staff dropping oily food all over the floor by the entrance and not putting a wet floor sign down? Staff stood next to customer tables moaning about the night whilst we can all hear you? This is the first time I’ve ever left a negative review but I felt I needed to, unfortunately.

We went for a Valentine’s set menu. Was initially really impressed by the atmosphere and decor of the place as it really is beautiful. We were seated by a friendly lady who was working the front desk, and then our server introduced herself. Initially everything was ok, as we ordered drinks and a pitcher of water. Two more couples having the set menu were seated after us. We waited around 30 mins for our drinks and watched as everyone else received theirs. After our starter was served, we asked again and received a very abrupt reply about them being put in the system. Eventually they did arrive, minus the water. The starter was a Camembert sharer. The bread was so hard that the knife had a very hard time cutting it and the cheese was not cooked enough for it to be gooey. The cocktails were 70% ice, with a small amount of fruit and alcohol at the bottom, which the straw could t reach as it was too short for the tall glass 😅 The main was a sharing kebab which was cold, bland and not particularly nice. Also without the upgrade that we had requested for the chips. The courgette was raw and it felt like everything needed a bit longer cooking. Dessert was also very bland, and we could have done with being told that the mini skillet it was served on would be hot enough to burn you if you touched it. I felt sorry for the staff who weee obviously very busy, but it didn’t reflect well on our server who seemed very abrupt, when we politely asked for things. Overall not a good experience and would not be coming back. Which is a shame as we had high expectations.

We booked this restaurant based on the fact that we have always enjoyed every meal and experience at other Botanist branches across the UK- this one fell short of our usual pleasant experiences As soon as we arrived, the waiter informed us that we are 'lucky' because he was about to give our table away as they have a 15 minute leeway policy to hold the table for. I understood this to be the case, however we weren't 15 minutes late? So that first comment wasn't needed and made us feel a bit annoyed. There were no pleasantries as he showed us the table, but he did say that we have the table for a long time so there's no need to rush When we sat, our waitress for the evening was lovely and really friendly, which was nice. I ordered the Prawn Linguine whilst my boyfriend had the Thai Red Curry hanging kebab. He did originally ask if the kitchen could do a blue cheese sauce as he was wanting a steak, however they couldn't accommodate that but this was no issue at all We waited a normal amount of time for the mains to come. The linguine got quite overwhelming after a while and was quite oily- so much so that oil was dripping down the cutlery whenever I put them to rest on the side of the bowl. I do have to say I am no good with oily/greasy food so this may have affected me more than other people. My boyfriend enjoyed his meal After our mains were taken away, we were given the dessert menus but we asked our waitress if we could have a bit of time for our mains to settle and she happily agreed to coming back later. By the time she came back and we were ready to order- she apologised and said we have to give our table up as the next table was here? I couldn't understand how we were told we have no need to rush but the next second we have to leave the table? This contradicted what the original waiter said when showing us our table so this immediately made us wonder whether they were trying to squeeze in a walk-in group? We didn't make a fuss and the waitress helped us carry our drinks over to another table for us to finish Overall this experience was really quite disappointing. When it came to paying, as they had taken us off our table it made it a faff for them to try and find our bill. They added a service charge which we took off (they had no issue doing this). When booking it stated that we had our table for 90mins from the booking time- however we were there for 70mins- which would have left us 20mins for us to enjoy our dessert instead of our time being cut short

We visited for Sunday lunch which was £19.95. Opted for lamb. Obviously frozen precooked as same cut of lamb came out on both orders. Yorkshire’s cold and burnt. Frozen veg barely warm, only hot thing was frozen roasties. We called the waiter over about the Yorkshire’s as they were inedible. Manager came over. I explained only hit item was potatoes. Waiter returned with hotter veg, still hard and poorly cooked, and hot Yorkshire’s. The manager kindly took money off the bill but I was looking forward to a good roast dinner. Sadly we could not return again and would advice others reading this to give it a miss for a roast dinner. Can’t comment on other dishes. Shame because service was great. Manager/s need to address what is happening in kitchen! Poor quality food can be cooked well!

Visited Sunday after playing crazy golf nearby. We opted for here as we had read the menu outside & looked like it had a wide variety of dishes. Inside was pretty Empty with staff not really seeming to know what they were doing. Ordered two drinks & two beef roast dinners which were priced at 19.95 per roast. What came out wouldnt feed a child. 3tiny slices of meat which were cold. Undercooked frozen roast potatoes & a burnt Yorkshire. Whilst eating I had to ask where our drinks were which we were told they were on there Way. They never came... I had to ask again & as we were getting up to pay the bill the drinks came. We turned them down as we wanted them before our meal. Was left hungry & underwhelmed when you can get a hearty pub roast for under that price

Atmosfera che rispecchia il design del Brewery Quarter, all'insegna del buon bere e del design curato. Adatto a tutte le età, anche il menù è piuttosto diversificato. Buono il chicken katsu curry ma il piatto migliore per gusto viene dalla semplicità, il club sandwich. Ottime birre, servizio che tra qualche misunderstandings alla fine ne esce bene, giustificato anche da un afflusso di persone notevole.

Excited to visit Cheltenham with friends and the Botanist seemed a good option as we have been to the ones in Cardiff and Marlow and have had great food and service. What went well: The decor was nice and some of the team gave great service. They were flexible in moving the time of our table back a bit as we were running late. We later realised that the moving of the table time was fine as the restaurant was about 80% empty, odd as a Sunday in the run up to Christmas. What wasn’t so good: The service was slow and when the food arrived it was fairly cold. The shared pot of veg for the Sunday roast was small and lots of us left hungry. The waitress tried to guess about gluten free options and we had to ask her to check with the manager so not the leave one of the guests in discomfort. The children’s meal was served in a trowel which was impractical for a young diner and the children were served after the adults. No one came to see how the meal was and the Yorkshire pudding that was removed from the gluten free roast and was to be served separately never appeared. Such a shame as other Botanists we have been to were far better. Some simple training for the waiting staff would be beneficial.

We had a large booking of 22 people, we were asked to preorder our meals. The meals took in excess of 45 minutes to arrive and then I had to wait another 20 for my kebab, meaning I waited over an hour for my meal. After this, we had to wait another 45 mins for the desserts, to be told that the pornstar cookie dough many of us had ordered was unavailable. We were disappointed, as the preorder was not able to be met. I received a 10% discount on my bill which I was thankful for, but will not be returning on a Saturday night. I certainly wouldn’t recommend booking a large table here - they can’t cope.

Disappointed sadly. Booked a table at lunchtime on a Sunday. We arrived and it was 80% empty - only 9 tables occupied. No atmosphere at all. The staff were very pleasant and helpful but there was so many of them compared to customers. A lot of menu items weren’t available. The dishes we ultimately ordered were okay but it just wasn’t the experience we were expecting. We didn’t bother staying for another drink after lunch, we went elsewhere. Would I re-visit? Probably not.

Went to a cocktail making class as part of a friend's hen do! Had the absolute best time and the manager who ran the session was so fun and really made the day funny and enjoyable. Sad that our team lost but proud of our final cocktail creation at the end!

we went in there after my wife recommended me it, and said there is one in coventry and their food is super good, very friendly staff and attentive, all though the food not so much i ordered my first ever sunday roast the chicken was so dry to the point it was uneatable, poured 2 whole pots of gravy just to be able give it some hydration, and the carrots were rock hard. my wife ordered the hanging chicken kebab, she said it was great, i personally didnt complain at all about my food cause i dont usually care, food is food for me. but the problems began when we got home both of us fell sick. badly sick.

We booked a cocktail masterclass for our friends 30th birthday. We were a bit late planning but the team made the booking process really easy, and we were able to add on a table for food after too. Brogan ran the session and was just wonderful! Welcome drinks were ready on our arrival and we got straight in to taking it in turns to make cocktails, and then finishing with a cocktail making race and competition. Definitely felt like great value for money. Brogan was great at reading the group and making sure we had the best time!

Elysia is an exceptional manager who took my booking and went way beyond the call of duty to alleviate the claustrophobic worries I had. She even emailed photos of tables to further assist me. That alone was enough to offer 5 stars but she also...

This place is full of atmosphere, and style. Very helpful staff, Very well presented meals and cooked well. I would recommend this place for a special occasion. Little expensive, parking difficult unless you use the parking across the road which is very expensive.

Great atmosphere. Convenient location. fun, friendly service. Especially Alicia, Jes, Autumn and Obis. Apologies for any misspellings or wrong names) ...they were patient with us, particularly as we split the bill and paid separately. Manager (in black shirt) seemed to care about staff and everyone...

Had a lovely Sunday lunch here. Although service was slightly slow, it didn’t necessarily bother us as gave us more time to chat! Our server was attentive and friendly, food was delicious too!

The service was shockingly slow at every opportunity. Apparently there was a 30 minute delay in bringing the wine because one of the beers that we ordered was out of stock. Staff all disappeared around 9pm when we wanted the bill. Good live music though....

Average food, some over cooked- slow service, and then to top off a birthday celebration, they tried to charge us £120 more than our actual bill. Glad someone was on the ball- absolute rip off

Visited on a quiet Monday afternoon when the venue was almost empty. We choose a comfortable spot to sit down but we’re told we had to sit elsewhere as we were not eating. The staff member was less than welcoming. We found another table but...

Great time here doing a cocktail masterclass as a group of 11. Bee who led the class was really fun and we all had a great time. Definitely worth the money and would recommend!

The Botanist is an above average venue for your typical pub style food. It offers a decent range of burgers and plenty of vegetarian options which should mean there’s choice for everyone. The atmosphere in here is very vibrant, helped by all the greenery which...

Came here from an amazing time at The Alchemist for some more cocktails & nibbles. Wouldn't recommend. Cocktails not as described. Nibbles a disappointment. Don't bother. Was offered a replacement as cocktail not described & it never turned up.

Went for a quick, child-free, evening meal out at The Botanist. We both opted for the roast beef with extra pigs in blankets and stuffing balls. I have an allergy and I was highly impressed with the measures taken to minimise any cross contamination and...

Good atmosphere. We decided to choose the lamb kofta with the giant cous cous, flatbread side which was very enjoyable with a selection of cocktails. Good service

Came to the botanist for a couple's night out meal. The decor and ambience was lovely, a fantastic live singer in the main area and our server seemed super enthusiastic. Our friend had pre-ordered prosecco which managed to not show up until he asked for...

Every table we tried to sit at was dirty & no sign of any staff anywhere. We walked straight back out again!

Absolutely beautifully decorated restaurant, food was 10/10 and drinks were good too. Service was good. Only downsides were drinks took ages to arrive, they came after our starters and the music was so loud we could hardly talk, but we had a lovely evening and...