The Botanist Bath Bar & Restaurant in Bath and North East Somerset

Lovely food, fast service, great atmosphere! Popped in for lunch of a couple share plates and a drink with my partner and couldn't have been more pleased with the whole experience.

Food was delicious and well priced , staff were also very kind and friendly. The restaurant is a must! Love that First dates is filmed there, too:)

Not at all what it looks like on "first dates" on the telly. Very dark, in need of a good clean, food unavailable on the menu, cold food when it came, mediocre menu. Plenty plenty plenty of better places to eat in Bath.

Awful wine....poorly trained staff

I never feel relaxed in this amazing venue. Stunning architecture and setting but the staff all seem disorganised and frenetic about their business instead of a calm control of the situation. It could be an awesome place but is just OK 😞😥

Lovely place for food and drinks and staff are lovely

Wonderful experience great food and friendly service

The service was terrible. Very slow. Portion sizes were also small for the price paid. I feel that toilets say a lot about a restaurant…The toilets are absolutely horrendous! Broken seats, used sanitary products and tissue all over the floor. I didn’t take pictures because I wanted to get out of there asap. Would not recommend.

Upsetting experience. Went in today for lunch as a mum on her own with pram, was completely ignored by the male server for 15 minutes then he went and sat and offered drinks and took orders for a group of 4 that came in well after i had arrived and been waiting patiently. I was left feeling totally unwelcome and had to walk out really embarrassed. A real confidence knock for new mums trying to get out and about with young babies.

Items on the menu not available, but no mention until a long time after we'd ordered. Service was very, very slow. We were a big party but that doesn't explain the long waits between visits from the waiters. In the end I stopped ordering more in order to get out in a reasonable time. Nearly 3 hrs end to end.

I would like to echo some of the reviews left on Google, whereby I thought the food was ok, but this place clearly needs some experienced management out on the floor. I doubt it will happen as I can see that people have had problems for a long time with responses from management, but the fact that the issues still exist to this day makes me question that anyone is actually addressing these problems. In our case, we were taken to and walked past so many free tables to be placed in the most cramped table that was clearly not going to very comfortable, we didnt even sit down and immediately asked to be sat on one of the others, to be then put right in the next worst table in front of where you walk in with a huge draft that left us cold. Be careful what you wish for! We didnt really notice this until we sat but it is debateable as to what was worse- being crammed in or being left with cold drafts. Had these been the only available tables I would have been more accepting. I had pre-booked this restaurant well in advance and no not all of the tables got filled and we also saw 2 people to tables that accomodated 4. I don't think the customer experience is a priority on this places agenda as I think it is clear we could have been placed at a much more convienient table that night. Best of all was the 12.5% service charge added on automatically, which you either have to take offence to or laugh at really. I requested this to be removed and also made our server aware that it was no fault of hers. This brings back to the point of management, where you can see all the serving staff are young and doing their best working in a busy environment. I would not recommend this place and if you are visiting bath, there are many restaurants to choose from, so consider looking for places where reviewers do not have consistent bad experiences or take a chance here and risk having a bad service. I just wanted to share my experience and gave an extra star for the food which was ok and the staff we had who served us food and drink.

Booked a table for 7:15 and didn’t sit down at it until 7:45 because ‘the people before you are still sat at it’. What’s the point in taking table bookings when you make them wait for half an hour to sit at it? We were about to leave when front of house finally said it was free. Meal was nice but waiting for the table we booked for put a downer on the evening and Birthday celebrations.

Just awful ! Visited Bath with relatives and walked into The Botanist . No welcome , found our own table , cleared it and two of us went to the Bar. The Bar was literally dripping , overflowing, the floor wet and mixologist tipping ingredients everywhere which then went all over my friend’s dress. He then told the other bar tender that she could have a complimentary drink. Our husbands waited patiently, we didn’t get served so all walked out. I don’t understand how such a beautiful venue could provide such shockingly poor service. Clearly this place takes custom for granted .

Went to see the First Dates restaurant ! Quite difficult to find but lovely place. Had a laugh with some other visitors on "first dates" . Toilets are whole other experience !!! Three huge flights upstairs, almost needed oxygen!

The most awful bottomless brunch I have ever experienced. Poor effort from the waiting staff, half of the menu was unavailable, the drinks took at least 25 mins to come, the bar staff were shouting loudly.food arrived cold and looked awful. Would not recommend at all.

Food was good but the service was terrible. 4 of us had a starter, main & drink each, & not one of those came at the same time! There's little atmosphere & the place seems to be trading on the fact that Channel 4's First Dates is filmed here. The service was so poor that one table left before receiving food, it had been that long! Not recommended but cannot complain about the quality of the food, & that's the only reason for more than 1 star.

It's a definite no from me and our party! Whilst the food was well presently and tasty, the overall service was dire. From waiting several minutes to be greeted and taken to our table, things continued to deteriorate. Our drinks, starters and mains never arrived at once, leaving at least one member of our party, left waiting...and sometimes it was a big wait! Our request to move tables (as we were in a draft, from the waiters walking in and out of the kitchen) was completely ignored. One server seemed excessively abrupt and had zero customer service....and she appeared to be training another younger colleague, too, so we did really feel for her. They also appeared to struggle to know what tables to bring food too as well. Other diners ended up leaving, too, due to the slow/ poor levels of service, without them even having eaten. To compound to this, they took a further dislike when we then asked to have the service charge (automatically addes) from the bill due to the poor levels of service, which we explained. Overall, extremely over-hyped and playing on the fact they host First Dates. When speaking to locals, after the event, they advised that it had a poor reputation too. In short, avoid at all costs. There are far nicer restaurants within easy reach.

The atmosphere was great and that's about it. We were told they didn't have the ingredients to make the drink ordered and then a similar story when we ordered food. The food we did order was basically inedible. We knew we were in trouble when we got the food before our drink order. The chicken kebab was severely undercooked and the chicken club sandwich was made with canned chicken and so much mayo it was dripping in it. The service was also very slow, although friendly. They did end up removing the kebab from our bill but overall a horrible experience. Food was absolutely disgusting.

My boyfriend and I reserved a table well in advance at the Botanist for a late lunch on Saturday. Upon arrival however, we were informed that their gas had been out since the morning and as a result, they were only operating a limited menu. Upon being handed a menu, it appeared that a “limited menu” meant bread and nibbles only. Since there was no prior courtesy call from the establishment, we were then stuck without dinner reservations on a busy Saturday afternoon and only limited time before our evening show. Not impressed.

Overpriced poorly made cocktails. Had spicy margarita which was barely drinkable as had chilli flakes dumped in it, and a rose spritz which had no taste at all.

Bad food Bad service Food comparable to weather spoons

Lovely meal and beautiful atmosphere. Great service from our waitress Asia, she took great care of us :) would recommend!

A historical city and a great place to visit. 👍👍👍🚶🚶📸

Great food but service a little slow, although team were lovely

Lovely atmosphere. No staff to serve at the bar.

Lovely food and service drink was disappointing 10 pounds for a plant pot of ice! Beware they include 12 percent tip automatically at the end but food was lovely

Great venue, but there were a few items they had run out of.

Well . Basicly I wanted to get there from back . I didn't know back door are closed no sign nothing . When i came back from city i saw entrance so i pop in "as i was full of food "only drinks but no regret nice place even to pop in on one drink . If owner read it put sign entrance front door or anything please:) 5 star place

The most awful dining experience ever! Dirty tables, slow service, cold drinks & extremely rude & unprofessional manager. The place was empty, so no excuse for such poor service. We waited 40 minutes for cold coffee & the manager hid behind the lovely young waitresses who appeared to be doing their best. We left without eating. The Manager needs some hospitality training, she is obviously in the wrong profession. Such a terrible & disappointing experience.

Beautiful food but awful that we had to wait 2 hours for it. I would have walked out but it was a special family birthday meal.

Food was tasty but tepid. Service was excellent with serving staff attentive and pleasant. Offered to reheat/ replace tepid food but I'd already eaten a substantial amount. Table sizes cramped and can't accommodate any additional side plates. Visits to toilets an absolute work out as at top of several flights of stairs.

I very rarely post bad reviews but I couldn't believe how awful the service was. Filthy tables. We had to wait 30 minutes for our drinks and then the coffee was cold. The waitress said sorry

Average food - I took my wife here as we watch First Dates on TV , go to Lidl buy some goodies - sit at home and look into your wife’s eyes and tell her you love her !!!

Amazing atmosphere and great cocktails.

Great night. Marco was a great waiter and had great attention to detail. He was friendly and very helpful. Would happily recommend beautiful restaurant. Classy and elegant place great for cocktails and we ate a meal which was super tasty.

Visited on Sunday with family and Asia provided great service. Food was good but the service made the evening for all 3 of us

Great service, great food, wonderful building

Spent a couple of hours having drinks after a shopping trip. Nice prosecco and a cocktail.

Possibly best decor for a pub in Bath. Excellent location too.

Having watched ‘First Dates’ on TV we felt we needed to experience the cocktail bar ourselves, it was full of life and easy to see why it was chosen for the TV series Plenty of skilful characters behind the bar creating great cocktails

Excellent bottomless brunch for a friend's birthday a few weeks ago. Lily and Jamie, thank you very much for your excellent and friendly service. Excellent food and atmosphere. :-)

Good food, service was good, it was a Weds night so a little quiet, place could do with decorating

If you are a fan of the TV programme 'First Dates' a must to visit. Originally a Methodist Church with a lovely domed ceiling. Staff are friendly and attentive, food excellent as are cocktails - plus you are in the beautiful city of Bath.

It took 40 minutes for our drinks to arrive, had to chase the waitress twice to be served. The place was only 1/3 full. The food took about 45 minutes to arrive after ordering and my chicken skewer was tepid. On complaining I received a warm replacement by which time my friend had finished half her meal. The waitress spoke to the manager and on paying we had a £15.- reduction on the bill. The staff were friendly when engaging.

Fantastic venue. The cocktails are amazing and well priced.

Lovely meal friendly staff and really nice atmosphere will be back soon 👍

Beautiful place to go! We chose an early booking to be able to soak up the atmosphere of Bath , perfect timing so the restaurant wasn't too busy service was quick the portion size was well balanced and the setting of the bar was genius with the tree in the middle

Staff excellent- service a little slow - one of our mains arrived 10 mins after the others and was cold

Had a really poor experience here for Sunday lunch. The waiting staff were working their socks off but they were very understaffed. We arrived and were seated had menus and ordered without an issue. Then nothing happened. We'd ordered 2 cocktails and 2 roast dinners. After about 20 min. the meat part of our meal arrived. The waitress looked confused that we hadn't had our cocktail, apologised and went to get them, stopping at 2 other tables on the way to take orders. After the plates had been on the table for 10 min or so we got the cocktails and wine but no vegetables. When they did arrive they managed to be both burnt and cold. The manager and waitress were extremely stressed and apologetic but the whole thing was a car crash of an experience and we left without eating. A real shame as we'd been looking forward to it after hearing good things about the Botanist

Just wanted to see where first dates was filmed....had a cocktail....that's about it.

Lovely atmosphere and decor, with a cool, relaxed feel. Was rather quiet when we arrived for our meal, which surprised us. They had been busy over the weekend, so had ran out of Guinness and tap lager . Food was lovely and everyone finished all which is a good sign. The steaks and hanging kebabs looked lovely as was my fish and chips.

Great time, service brilliant Lily was great, all staff great and happy to help

Very noisy, unable to have a conversation with my husband due to loud music, hen party screeching and echoing effect. Food not that hot. Husband had coconut rice which was clumpy. Was going to try a dessert and have another drink but nobody bothered to come back to our table to ask. Waited 20 minutes after finishing main course and eventually gave up and just asked for the bill to get out of there. When bill came there had been a service charge added. I asked for this to be removed as there had been zero service and this was done. Would definitely not return. Small portioned lukewarm food and shocking service!

Drinks and atmosphere was very good as was the restaurant booking we had made (fantastic service & great food)........however, my wife and I had travelled to Bath for the day and had booked a drinks table for after, unfortunately and to our disappointment there was no tables reserved for us and we had to stand about waiting for a table to become available. The staff were unable to find us a table and it wasn't until we noticed a couple leaving were we able to finally grab a table.

Normally love visiting Botanist, but this branch is especially disappointing and badly run. Finding the entrance is next to impossible as all the signs point to doors that don't open ( so many people have the same issue), when we finally found the right entrance, there is no staff to welcome you in. Ask bartender, can we sit for food, "yeah sure", asked someone else can we order food "yeah sure, I'll send someone over", then when no one comes over, goto the front desk only for the manager to say, "we aren't taking walk ins" and then proceeds to walk off. Utterly appalling customer service from start to finish. Will be reporting this to head office as this is unacceptable.

Had the best time, the Lily and Jamie were absolutely brilliant. They made my friends birthday a day to remember

Beautiful building, food amazing, cocktails interesting and staff friendly and attentive. Highly recommend.

Myself & My Sister we’re visiting Bath and Decided to visit for an evening Meal the Botanist is absolutely lovely so pretty inside, The Staff are so lovely friendly & couldn’t be more Helpful. The Food was amazing & the Cocktails were good too ! We had a lovely evening and would highly recommend . Absolutely worth a visit Thanks for a great experience

Not a very good experience. Third time visiting and the first time was great and the service was brilliant but the last two times and been massively disappointing. I had to ask to get drinks, service was non existent. Drinks then took along time to come out. They had live music and we struggled to have a conversation as it was really loud. Probably won’t be coming back in the future.

Very poor service. Lacked knowledge of the menu, table was almost ignored. Seemed understaffed. Food mediocre at best. Very disappointed.

We had a lovely meal here on saturday, the service was friendly and professional, drinks were excellent and the food was delicious! We had a great time. The only downside was the toilet facilities overflowing bins and no paper anywhere with only 2 working sinks. Would still recommend tho. X

Amateur night at the Roxy… I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like this in 40 years of using restaurants. This is a Monday evening, hardly prime time for a restaurant. We - two friends - arrive at 6:55 pm to be told they’re not taking any walk-ins. On the off chance, we check online to see if we can get a booking because we really want to see the amazing interior of this building - and it is fabulous, to be fair. We get a booking for 7:30 pm, go back in, have drinks at the bar and at the appointed time are shown to our table. The place is a third full (?). We order the food and I told it might be a little while. Fair enough. At 8:35 pm, my steak arrives and I’m told that the peppercorn sauce will be another five minutes. Why, I have no idea. “Here’s 95% of your meal” but ok… My dining partner’s kebab arrives 10 minutes after, he cuts into it and it’s raw. Server called over, sweet but can do nothing except send it back so manager called over. His meal comped - mine was fine so no complaints there - plus a round of drinks on the house. Then we wait another 35 minutes… I called the server over and tell her we aren’t paying for any of this because it’s now 9:10pm and it’s just getting silly. What a shame! The food is actually very good, but there is something seriously wrong on an organisational level. I have to wonder how many meals the manager has had to comp. What a mess! I would love to come back as I am in Bath frequently but I’m not sure if I can go through this again.

Disappointing but service good.

Arrived on time for food orders, as listed on menu as 10pm. We attempted to order and the kitchen was ‘closed’ even though it was well before the last call for food. Drinks are good, however are 90% ice.

Dropped by for a breakfast in a bun, very nice and good quality. However when home relaxing in the garden realised bun was not toasted and no egg.

Had some lovely cocktails recommended by the mixologist.

Lovely lunch, friendly staff who looked after us and my dog got 5 star treatment!

Planned for a birthday celebration and was not impressed at all. Food was slow, waited 50 mins for mains, side order completely misss then bought out 20 mins later! Staff was rude with the expectation of one male who was really apologetic about the experience. Not a good experience at all. To be completely honest as well the manager was not good and the staff said that the service had been a rubbish all day Had many complaints! Would not be going back

We had a wonderful Wedding Anniversary meal at the Botanist - the food was delicious, the cocktails were superb & the staff tremendous. We were make very welcome by all the staff but must mention our lovely waitress, who was very friendly, attentive, and nothing was too much trouble (sorry, we don’t know her name). Having being together for over 38 years, this may not have been a “First Date,” but we were made to feel very special.

Wonderful meal out with friends from work. I had the hanging pork belly kebab. It was absolutely delicious 😋 Great tasting Shiraz. We sat upstairs on the mezzanine level. Brilliant atmosphere, live music too. Highly recommend 👌

Really nice venue and meal. Great service. However, even though I was asked my date of birth on booking and visited for my birthday, it wasn't recognised in any way, so why ask for my date of birthday?? Needless to say, we would go back, the hanging kebab to share was really tasty 👌

Wow what an amazing place, food fantastic, staff 1st class we were blown away.

Fantastic place and the cocktails were fabulous. Lovely atmosphere, polite staff highly recommended a visit.

Super food , great looking place and nice people. Definitely will return.

Rubbish! Run out of 3 different beers we wanted so ordered a pint of camden which they said they had and got Brixton! Overpriced and understaffed 🤡

Went here the other day not knowing what the food would be like as only in Bath for few days but what can i say the service and food was fantastic. We went for early tea so was quite quiet so we had a lovely table on balcony. The waitress was amazing can't remember her name but had long plated hair lol was so friendly helpful and had time to speak to us and recommended things she was a amazing waitress. We had the duck sharing starter it tasted handsome then i had Kofta hanging kabab rice and extra pitta bread the only thing i didn't like the pitta as had salt on top but the rest oh i could eat again highly recommend husband had the sausages and mash he said he really liked it. So everything from service to food it a 5 star

Excellent pizzas, top service, warm atmosphere.

Stunning venue. Oddly our food made it to the table before our drinks, 2 cocktail's, 1 mocktail and a beer took over 20mins and we stood at bar. Great place for Hen Parties, as long as you're not in a rush to get to the church......

Great chill place to eat and drink. Service behind the bar can be a little slow but this is due to the frantic cocktail making.

Our visit was for my son's 20th birthday which was stated on our booking. It was a disappointing evening. The service was terrible, all the starters bar one arrived and after a 10 minute wait we had to ask where the missing starter was. No one asked us if we wanted any more drinks, and the wait between the starters and main course was nearly an hour. Our booking was at 7pm and it stated we could only have our table until 8.45pm, our mains didn't arrive until 8.40pm! The food was medicore, the bacon on a burger was stone cold. The staff were nothing short of rude when clearing away plates. I definitely wouldn't recommend, especially not for a special occasion, and I for one won't be returning. Was the £225 bill worth it - absolutely not.

Beautiful unique restaurant. Well attentive staff. Food looked and tasted amazing

The building is beautifully decorated and is a really lovely dining space, if not somewhat warm!!! The cocktails were made in front of us, whilst we sat at the bar, by a very unsmiley bar tender/mixologist…at nearly £10 per cocktail a smile and a friendly word or two would have been nice…the actual cocktails were gorgeous though and presented reasonably nicely. The food was vastly overpriced for what you get and the menu is quite limited. The food was edible but nothing special at all. I’m really disappointed to be honest as this was a pre graduation meal with my daughter. We waited nearly 30 minutes to have our order taken and over an hour until any food arrived at our table. There seemed to be plenty of young staff but half of them didn’t really appear to be actually doing anything remotely useful as regards to serving the customers. A gratuity had been added to the bill when it arrived at our table. It said the gratuity was optional, but I paid it purely because our waitress was clearly new and had been thrown in at the deep end on a very busy evening. We won’t be returning or recommending a visit here!!

Great welcome from the team at the front. Bar staff great and service very good. Food greasy and expensive

Fantastic venue, good food at a reasonble price.

Nice and vibrant restaurant, tables spaced well. Nice food. Piano singer in bar area. Interesting decor. All made it a worthy trip.

Martini pawn star cocktails, top notch prices but only half the product, no passion fruit garnish in fact no decor at all, poor show 👎

Gorgeous, friendly and tasty! We visited Sunday evening. Food was incredibly flavoursome! We absolutely loved it! The atmosphere was lovely, even though there was a wedding downstairs, staff still stopped to chat and be friendly and make it very welcoming. Only thing which I found slightly off was the cubicle I went into in the women’s loos had an overflowing sanitary bin, no actual flush button and a missing tile on the wall. I did however overlook this as the quality of everything else was amazing. My partner found no issues with the men’s loos. Definitely looking at coming back in future.

Lovely service, location and food.

We were really looking forward to coming here and we’re so let down . On arrival we ordered Bloody Mary cocktails to be told no tomatoe juice , not the end of the world but would have thought the bar be more stocked on a weekend. We went to our table and were offered one drink in nearly two hours . Our food was un edible and we all chose 4 different dishes and did not eat it. I wanted potatoes with steak as do not like chips was told this was not possible and could only have fish with potatoes so i ordered this only for the potatoes to be greasy cold hash brown type . All our Food was cold , service awful and the toilets were filthy disgusting with broken flush . Wetherspoon is higher standard to this place !!

5/5 Thank you Ez for making us laugh and making our date night even more special❤️ Beautiful meal, interior & the food came out so quick! We will definitely be back soon!! Thank youuuu❤️❤️

Lovely kind staff, great ambience, great selection of cocktails and enjoyed the hanging kebab. Would come back again!

A friend of mine discovered this place and we stopped by to have a quick bite. Our server was very sweet and attentive. We got the chicken wings, fries and in house salad. This salad was life changing for us!! My friends were so hesitant to try it but after I insisted they had a bite, they finished the salad🤭 after that day, we’ve been getting an in-house salad with all our meals! Thank you so much for the good food & service.

Amazing, We went to this restaurant for a birthday meal when away for the weekend in Bath. This place is so aesthetic, amazing for photos and a beautiful place to eat. The hanging kebabs are delicious, we were served by a lovely lady who gave us a free drink for my boyfriends birthday! (Very sorry I can’t remember her name) we had the Korean chicken to start and both agreed it’s by far the best starter we’ve ever had anywhere! Will definitely return! 🥰

Sub-par food, maybe only good for having drinks. We ordered drinks at a very non-busy hour but did not receive them at all, but they made their way into the receipt.

Recently attended for a hen brunch of 14 ladies Excellent brunch for £12.95pp Selection of cocktails lovely Sat upstairs with great ambience Happy with service and ease for splitting bill

The building is absolutely beautiful. It really is a treat to look at. The food is fine. Their gimmick is hanging kebabs, which are literally just a kebab hanging vertically over a bowl of chips in a special frame, with a dish of sauce on top of the frame. I had Gambas Pil Pil and a chicken burger. The prawns were spicy and had plenty of garlic butter. Husband had crispy squid rings which actually were crispy and tasty rather than being like rubber bands. I found my Dirty Chicken burger was overfilled and rather messy to eat, and also pretty salty. Husband had a famous hanging kebab and was quite happy with it. The food is no better or worse than a TGI Friday or similar chain restaurant. It's tasty enough, and good value for money. The thing that makes it special is the building, which is truly lovely. The staff are also great. Attentive without being overbearing, very friendly and polite. It's not my kind of place to be honest. I found the music too loud, and the food too American. It's really for people younger than me. A friend had suggested it on the basis that they do great cocktails (which I didn't try so can't confirm), but she loved it when she visited. Good place for the youth, less so for the older diner. It has plenty to recommend it, especially the architecture, but it was aimed at a youthful audience and didn't really hit the spot for me.

Lea is an expectation host, knowledge of the food and drinks menu is exceptional. So welcoming and lovely host along with the whole team, as well as Asia who welcomed us at the door. The scotch egg and calamari for a starter is an absolute must!!

We came for our anniversary and were greeted with welcoming staff..lea served us and was amazing with knowledge of the menu and a fantastic service style

Beautiful restaurant food amazing 👏 I have already recommended it to my friends n family.

A lovely birthday dinner. The staff were brilliant. Thank you.