The Botanist Ipswich Bar & Restaurant in Ipswich

I have been to the botanist in Ipswich several times and have throughly enjoyed in the past. I booked a table for 5pm 25/09 for my friends and myself and was really not happy with the service and the food. Myself and my friends ordered drinks but we were there for at least 20 mins before we were asked if we wanted a drink. We then waited another 15 minutes or so until we were asked for our orders. Please note, the resultant was not busy at this time. The three of us ordered calamari to start, this took 30 minutes to come out and it came out cold. Another 30 mins or so went by when we finally got our main. I ordered the steak medium rare and it came out more or less burnt. I waited and waited for the waitress (who was being shadowed by a new starter at the time) to ask if everything was okay with the meal but this took 15 minutes by which time my friends had finished eating. The waitress agreed that the steak looked well done and offered me another one which I accepted. Once I had the other steak, it still wasn’t great. No butter or garlic seasoning. When it came to billing there was no apology for the wait, no asked if we wanted anymore drinks, and no apology for the food. The steak wasn’t taken off the bill which I was shocked about. It was a real shame because I used to speak to highly of this place. It’s really gone downhill and I won’t be in a rush to return if at all…

Visited in early September as part of a large group from work. We pre-ordered food and this was handled really well by the restaurant including individual name cards which was a great idea. I had the famous hanging chicken kebab, Which I have to say was disappointing. It wasn't particularly filling and only had a relatively small amount of chicken padded out with mushrooms which weren't even mentioned on the menu. The chicken was overcooked and a bit dry. It was okay but I'm not sure it was value for money. No side not even a garnish? Dessert was good and the speed of the food service was pretty good for a big group. I'm not sure I would rush to come here again, but it's a beautiful building nice atmosphere and helpful staff.

The food was incredible and Leon our server was very upbeat and helpful despite being very busy. Would recommend, a great spot for a date.

Love the Botanist, ambience, staff and food are all great, only two minor criticisms, drinks are pricey (£7.00 a pint!!) and whilst I do like live music, it is just too loud and my mate and I end up having to shout at each other, the volume also seems to creep up further as the evening goes on as to the point that it is even getting too loud in the restaurant at the back, please tone it down a bit and it will make the evenings even better.

The staff were super friendly particularly the lady who served us who catered well for our children with offering them some colouring, the food was amazing the best roast dinner we have had in a very long time! We liked the pork dish and our children enjoyed a free desert so credit for value for money, the potatoes were crispy and seasoned well, and there was plenty of gravy to go around, we will definetly be returning, also the toilets and restraunt was super clean, very good food highly recommend!

Food pretty good and service too

Lovely pub good entertainment but be warned you have to walk to the gates of mordor to use the toilet.

While the location was nice along with the atmosphere it didn’t make up for the long wait for barely warm food and then the automatic £10 tip that they charged me.

Good food and pleasant atmosphere.

I had a lovely time food was delicious but would be 5 star if less salt on food after all throughout the night enjoy the place will visit again soon.

Enjoyed a lovely meal there, with my daughter, pre- Miriam Margoyles Theatre Show - both brilliant...

Always wanted to visit here, so meet a few friends for my birthday one afternoon. Had drinks and snacks. It was very enjoyable, we were a little out of the way in a corner, but that probably was a good thing :) Nice staff and lovely atmosphere. Was just how I had imagined it would be. Only thing that let it down, was I wanted originally to have bottomless brunch here, but they do not offer this at the weekend only during the week which was a bit of let down, especially as it was my birthday.

Excellent food & service. A really lovely evening.

Visited the Botanist on Monday lunchtime. The food was so-so. The salt and pepper calamari was incredibly salty - which I like but would definitely not be for everyone. The Gambas were somewhat tasteless and the sauce on the Korean chicken wasn't too pleasant. The whole meal would have been 3/5 stars. However, we'd give our server - a lady from the Philippines - 6/5 stars. She was great - so 5/5 stars as a whole!

Excellent food, friendly staff.

Nice please good food and plenty of Guinesses

Great bar with lots of choices of drinks. Atmosphere is great and inviting. The staff have been very friendly each visit I’ve been there! I missed the live music but I’ll be sure to return to catch it soon. Highly recommend

Fabulous food, quick accommodating servers.

Staff dinner, food was good, as was the cocktail, staff very quick, helpful and friendly

I went to the Botanist for a meal on Saturday, it was so lovely that I went back the next day for a Sunday roast with my family. As I was in the bathroom with my child, a lady chef came in and went for toilet to open her bowels and walked out after without washing her hands, she was also wearing her striped kitchen apron. I went back to the table and told my partner what had happened and he then went to speak with the manager and explained what had happened and that I could no longer eat the food that I had ordered as I felt very put off with the hygiene standards and risk of infection control. The manager said to him it was “minging” and that she will sort something out for us and also will check the cctv. She came back merely a few minutes after and said that she could not confirm what I was saying was true or not, which I understood. She said that the chef I saw was actually at KP and does not touch the food. However, when I walked back from the toilet I saw the lady standing at the kitchen silver side tables. I explained I did not want to get the lady in trouble and she then said there was nothing further she could do and apologized that I could no longer eat my meal. She was fairly rude to another member at the table that wasn’t happy with the outcome. We then asked for the bill and nothing was taken off… Regardless of wether the lady was a chef or kp, it was disgusting that she did not wash her hands after doing a poo and wore her apron to the toilet. Very disappointed with the outcome and definitely will not be going back for a meal. I would avoid too if you’re not a fan of cross contamination of toilets with your food. However, the waitresses were lovely both times and we could not fault them. It’s a shame management and chef’s/kp’s let the rest of the team down.

Little noisy, food was good but not to much. If I took my husband he would have been starving. Just saying.

Despite it being really busy, the service was excellent, and the food was superb. The young waitress did everything she could to accommodate our wishes.

Had a fabulous date night💕, there was a deal on the hanging kebabs which was a bonus, the only disappointment was the onion petals are no more 😩 Jana the waitress was so helpful & friendly.

Used to be a great spot for cocktails and light nibbles. Service used to be really spot on but now is light touch. We sent a cocktail back as it was really sweet and different to previous visits. Bar man tasted it and made a face. Then, he realised it was his manager who had made it and said that it was exactly right. Apparently, they have “changed things recently.” Slightly confusing as the menu hadn’t changed since our last visit and seemed like the bar man was just sticking up for his manager who had made the cocktail wrong. Anyway, just a bit disappointing really as it was somewhere we liked visiting!

Extortionate prices for beer and wine, and toilet are a nightmare to find plus long walk. Will not be going back!!

Love the Botanist! Quiz nights, musical bingo and amazing food! Very affordable too

Beautiful setting, very interesting building, food was fantastic, drinks a tad expensive

We went for a birthday treat for my partner . First impressions as you walk in was fantastic , lovely decor , good service , good food , drinks . Unfortunately, when my partner went to use the toilets , things slightly changed and he was somewhat put off but it all and really spoiled the feeling off the place , I didn't believe what he was saying about the cleanessinss so he went back back down and took photos . Well it was disgusting and I could see his point !!! Very very very poor indeed . Also has the pleasure of some very tall electrians step ladder in full view of diners. Trued contacting the company direct and the ipswich branch but no one has replied so hence here we are , I'm not one to complain at all but I feel if younwant to charge high prices for drinks etc and have fancy fittings , then at least have clean workable toilets !!!!? Poor customer service which is a shame , Don't think my partner and i will ever go there again

2 for 1 hanging kebabs excellent what value service second to none as usual my favourite place to eat in ipswich

We came as a large party and were accommodated brilliantly - even our last minute changes and requests were all fully met without hesitation. When we arrived we had name cards on the table with our food choices on - brilliant for everyone that couldn't remember what they'd ordered! The staff were really friendly, helpful and seemed genuinely keen to ensure we had a great night - they even reserved us tables in the bar for after our meal! We had a fabulous night and will definitely be back. Oh, and the food was excellent!

Polite staff and lovely surroundings. A bit too long of a wait for the piri piri chicken kebab which resulted in a family member having food poising either that or the pint of larger had with the meal. The cocktails were delicious. The other meals were very enjoyable and the chips, devine!

I love visiting the Botanist, but I have to say, this time was not the best experience. The staff seemed rather rushed and uncomunicative with us.

Lovely place in Ipswich to go for food and drinks 💯✔️

We started the evening off with cocktails in the bar area.Lovely place to relax and the cocktails and service are superb We went through to the restaurant for dinner and service was excellent even though it was very busy.Our server apologised for service taking longer than they would like but actually it was perfect and we had no issues. Wine was served perfectly chilled and even the glasses were chilled its little touches like this that made it a perfect evening. The Korean chicken we had for starters was so good We both had hanging kebabs which were delicious 10/10

Staff should be wearing balaclavas with black and white striped jumpers. Pint of Guinness and a small Savignon Blanc with a packet of nuts £17.90!!!!! Yes £17.90 wtf please tell me you don’t this is acceptable

It was nice to have a choice to pay or not to pay a service charge. The atmosphere, staff and food was great. We would be back x

Had a lovely meal very busy had the table for a set time but was enough that you didn't feel rushed. Staff were polite and helpful. Well presented good menu and drinks menu

Great staff, good drinks, good music, good location.

Fabulous late evening meal for 10 of us on a hen day. Many thanks to the staff!

Really lovely dinner on a very busy evening when Ipswich got promoted to the Premiership ⚽🏆🍾I had the vegan board which was huge and included Bang Bang Cauliflower, Giant Cous Cous, Vegan 'Meat'balls, Hummus and Flatbreads, and Deep Fried Oyster Mushrooms. My friend had Deep Fried Halloumi with Giant Cous Cous which she really enjoyed too. Our waiter, Oscar was very polite and attentive and all the staff did well coping with the very merry supporters in the bar area and surprisingly, the food came out within a short space of time. Will be returning, I'm sure.

Service was nice. Starters really nice but did not get sour dough was served with toast which was a let down. Don't serve pili pili with coriander!. We had kebab shared... Too sweet!!!! Don't need to coat often. Dips were awful Bread was soaked in kofta fat Hummus was dry in outside. And cous cous was awful. What a let down. Really wanted to complain to waitress but to lovely. Gin was nice & cocktail over priced.

Visited with some colleagues on a Friday evening - live band was on and the atmosphere was really bubbling! Sat down for our meal at the back, away from the music. At some point in the night it seemed to get louder, however, and this made it difficult to converse! Food was really nice. I had the chicken wings for starters, tasty, but would expect more for price. Others had the onion petals (absolutely divine, I'd have these again!), and the mushrooms (equally nice!) They had all sold out of the scotch eggs which left a few of our party disappointed as apparently these are fab (hence being sold out!!) I had the lamb kofta for dinner and upgraded my fries for the buffalo ones - yum yum! Really flavourful! Would only say it would be nice to have a bit of a side salad with it also - suppose everything is an extra side. Colleagues who opted for the katsu chicken kebab - the sauce was far too thick for the dripping 'hole' so they ended up dunking! I was a bit disappointed with my banoffee Sunday dessert - the ratio to banana and vanilla ice cream was well off and the banana was the best bit. Also the biscoff crumb was all around the outside of the glass, done in a fancy way and I want it IN my dessert! Definitely a place I will come back too but possibly on a quieter night, and not bother with dessert again!

We celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary with the Botanist in Ipswich. Food was great, venue was very cool and the staff were friendly. Only thing is that our starters took 40min to arrive. However it didn’t ruin a great night and celebration.

The food and drinks are nice, especially the hot board. The live music is good, maybe a little bit too loud in the restaurant when trying to eat, however, nice in the bar. The service was good, everyone was friendly, especially our server who I believe was Gabby. Would recommend this place for a weekend meal

We had a great night in the Botanist, we listened to some brilliant live music and enjoyed some delicious cocktails 😊

Lovely atmosphere and good menu, great for a small group. Friendly, relaxed and the service is unhurried. We were looked after by Gaby who was great and very helpful.

First time visit maybe last sirloin Roast was poor food was cold through out .they didn’t care ever way shame . gave 3star for waitress shame

Everything was great except one of our party of 5 had to wait nearly ten minutes for the main course, making the rest of us feeling awkward on whether to start eating or wait. We didn’t leave a tip.

Chilled vibe, botanical themed, poor service, fairly priced mains, overall they pride presentation over satisfaction. Starters, puddings and drinks are very overpriced for the quantity and quality of the food, the mains were very small compared to some places and no sauces were offered or provided. We visited on a Sunday and it was not very busy, the staff do not regularly come round asking if you want more drinks, which isn't a bad thing, however this means you're also waiting a while for them to bring the bill over, some staff provided a good service while others clearly did not want to be there. Some other issues with the food where we asked for no sauce in the burger and the sauce was present, 5 people had roasts and they only bring out 1 shared board of sides, this meant you got 3 small roast potatoes each, the staff did not offer any more, we asked and they kindly brought out more veg, but no more potatoes. For the price of the roasts it would be better to just fill everyone's plates before you bring them out. Additionally the burger was very small and left you feeling hungry afterwards. The building layout is very unique and makes the place feel very big and spacious, the decor is also very pleasing. Would we return, probably not, I would consider a outskirts pub/restaurant such a a Vintage inn, Harvester or Deben inn which can provide bigger portions and better quality food at a similar price point, I've never left these places feeling hungry like I did leaving the Botanist. This place is presentation over satisfaction.

Service was excellent very friendly polite. Food fantastic

Arrived for lunch around 2PM, the place was quiet but service was slow. Staff behind the bar were distracted and not listening properly to order and had to ask us to repeat a couple of times as he was making other peoples drinks whilst taking our order. Table was dirty. Then when we received our food, the order was incorrect; requested no jalapenos on the burger but received them anyway. Despite asking for water, it was never received. Had to return to the bar to request it when we didn’t receive it, which took an additional 15-20 minutes despite there only being me and one other customer at the bar who also waited ages to be served. When food arrived, waitress didn't inquire about additional needs like sauces etc. Throughout the meal, no one checked to see if the food was ok. The chicken burger was chewy while the bacon was tough. The linguine dish tasted like watered down, cheap sauce with chewy prawns, and lacking seasoning. Then ordering dessert, waited another 10 minutes to order where someone cut in front of me at the bar, and the bartender served them immediately instead. Then waited 45 minutes to receive 1 cookie dough.

Ribeye and Chicken Bang Bang noodle (£48) Pros: 1. The waitress (Jana) was very friendly, polite and overall awesome. Most of the workers were. 2. The service was good. Cons: 1. Overpriced food. 2. Compulsory service fee. 3. Wait time was quite long. I ended up paying £48 for two people, which is quite ridiculous as I have paid less than half of this for a similar service in other pubs/restaurants. The most annoying part is the compulsory 10% service charge; this was the first time I've encountered such a fee in the UK.

We went as a huge group at lunch and it was really great service. The food tasted good, and quality was on par with others in the chain. Only slight niggle is some of the portion sizes were a little smaller than anticipated, but all good otherwise

Came here today the food was amazing staff are lovely and friendly service was top defo will be returning again keep up the good work

We were there for lunchtime and its not busy at all but our food takes 50 minutes to arrive🙄 into our table .The ground stuff is not smiling at all they look miserable and the waitress too doesn't look happy they look Sad and no good customer service attitude. Dont come here to eat .never come back in this place again.rubbish

Excellent food, service, staff and decor. Well done to all involved for a breath of fresh air in the town centre. Hopefully this excellent place will encourage more bussniess into the town. Update on the botanist . Brought a cocktail voucher for my partner and her mum for Xmas. They have just used them. £30 for 3 cocktails and a bar snack . The lady's loved the cocktails and the place is still so amazing . Staff super friendly and food was amazing again . Cocktails where a great selection. Can't recommend this place enough. A must visit place in Ipswich. They also do cocktail making classes which night be the next present.

Stepping into The Botanist is like entering a lush oasis in the heart of the city. The ambiance is simply enchanting, with verdant foliage and soft lighting creating a warm and inviting atmosphere. The food is a culinary delight, each dish bursting with flavor and expertly crafted. From savory small plates to hearty mains, every bite is a revelation. And let's not forget the drinks – creative concoctions that tantalize the taste buds and leave you wanting more. Whether you're catching up with friends or enjoying a romantic evening, The Botanist is the perfect destination for an unforgettable dining experience. Five stars all the way!

Have been here twice and although the ambience is lovely, there are not enough staff and the food is mediocre at best. I gave them the benefit of the doubt after the first visit but my second visit was no better. I wouldn't be able to recommend this place. Interesting, I was asked to email them with my issues. Absolutely no response at all!

Lovely ambience and hanging kebab was delicious bit cold though

Food was really tasty. Drink choices were very good. It was mother's day so was a busy day for the staff. Only let down was the hour wait between starter and main course. We did mention this to the waitress and a significant reduction was applied to the bill but I'd rather have paid full price and had sensible times between courses. The cause of the delay was two large table bookings in the downstairs restaurant which meant we upstairs were ignored.

My daughter booked a meal for mother's day. Absolutely shocking as it took almost over an hour for the food to arrive. The lady that was supposed to be our server wasn't really being helpful as she ignored us for most of the time. Some people had to wait over an hour and half almost 2 hours for their food. As I went down to the ladies 🚺 and you past the kitchen, you could clearly see that there was only 2 people in the kitchen. For an event like this, surely they would be more organised. And some tables looked like the weren't that clean. As for most of the servers well some of them j8st stood like idiots tbfas they hadn't a clue of what they were doing. So yes I give them 2 star rating

Visited on Mother’s Day. First course was okay. Main course arrived another 40 or so minutes later. All vegetables were lukewarm, the roast lamb was very fatty. Two of the six meals were returned to the kitchen. We decided not to have a third course and asked to see the manager who agreed not to charge for one meal. I won’t be returning to this establishment again.

We went to a fairly large birthday party here and they did well to feed such a large group. There were a couple of missing items, but nobody was left unhappy. The only thing was some of the menu items were overstated giving higher expectations than reality (e.g. lamb kebab was actually meatballs on a skewer). Staff were friendly and helpful. The WiFi needs an overbearing Facebook login, which I feel is unpleasant, but being in the basement there wasn't a good mobile signal.

The venue is nice , with a good vibe, need to sort out the smoking right outside the main entrance so you don't walk through a wall of smoke as you enter or leave. The food was fine and would probably go again if not for the lack of service. The staff didn't seem to want to be working, we arrived for 515, we left around 740 Party size of 8, 3 had a starter, 1 arrived 20 minutes before the other 2 and that was only after was chased, and it still took a while for them to arrive. Overall not a fantastic experience for a birthday celebration.

Food was good! This picture is the kids burger and chips. The adult burger and chips were just as tasty. The fries are amazing!

A beautiful interesting interior with lots of room, we were a party of 7 including 2 children, and we had lots of space to spread out. Unfortunately both Red Thai kebabs and rice and the very small amount of sauce we had were all stone cold.. I thought maybe it was supposed to be cold- then I detected a slight warmth in the middle of the rice. I would have complained at the time, but the service was absent. After a long wait we had to call someone after our meal to come and clear our table and take a dessert order. The other meals, burger and chips were better and were enjoyed. We had a bottle of fizz, 2 teas, 2 beers and 3 soft drinks- the final bill was £179. We were not charged for kids desserts.

Nice place, can get very busy. On the expensive side.

Excellent bit pricy and snooty if you have tatoos excellent coffie but you don't get the little biscuits anymore so have changed to eating in moments inside the town hall they are much friendlier and profits go to charity

Staff were 10/10. Decorated nicely inside and great theme. However the food let it down a little, expensive for what you get.

Staff are so accommodating and friendly and the food is out of this world. Definitely my favourite place to dine

Not very impressed with the food & the chips were too salty

Food lovely and staff very friendly. The one downfall was the large service charge put on for about £17 for 4 people. This shouldn’t be included on the bill, as people will feel uncomfortable asking for it to be removed like me and my friends were, so we paid it.

Busy and friendly place. Really nice server. Drinks served quickly, good range of cocktails, beers and low/no alcohol drinks. One starter was undercooked but this was dealt with swiftly and replaced. We had the hanging skewers to share and it was plentiful and tasty. Toilets were a bit of a trek but it’s a big old building! A pleasant evening with nice food😊

What a lovely restaurant, with interesting, tasty food and good service, at a very reasonable price. The live band was fun too!

I liked the theme and the ambiance and the staff are very friendly and helpful. Would be great to have real plants but I understand how tricky that is. They have to do a lot of dusting as it is. They had a lovely citrus IPA called Tiny Rebel which is fabulous if you like that kind of thing. Cocktails are reasonably priced. Food is just Ok. Overall worthy of 4*.

Considering it was Friday night peak time the service was still excellent. Our waitress Jana was simply brilliant and helped our group with deciding what to have. Jana recommended the Korean hanging kebab with coconut rice and it was absolutely delicious. Nothing was too much trouble and drinks refills came frequently too. I also loved the fact that the manager Nick was clearly proud of his staff and was helping to serve up the food which I always think is a good sign when managers are happy to roll their sleeves up and assist with the smooth running of things at peek times. Thanks for a great experience Jana & Nick!

Considering it was Friday night peak time the service was still excellent. Our waitress Jana was simply brilliant and helped our group with deciding what to have. Jana recommended the Korean hanging kebab with coconut rice and it was absolutely delicious. Nothing was too much trouble and drinks refills came frequently too. I also loved the fact that the manager Nick was clearly proud of his staff and was helping to serve up the food which I always think is a good sign when managers are happy to roll their sleeves up and assist with the smooth running of things at peek times. Thanks for a great experience Jana & Nick!

Leon was a wonderful server, very professional and informative and friendly. Thoroughly enjoyed his service. Food was incredible as always. Would always recommend this place.

Great venue, big atmosphere really enjoyed the live music. Cocktails were lovely and the variations on classic cocktails were refreshing.

A Sunday lunch with family , the food was lovely , our waitress serving us seemed to have an attitude she either didn’t like us or was having a bad day , drink spilt , food chucked on the table ..if it wasn’t for such a nice Sunday roast I wouldn’t bother coming back , the only pleasant server seems to be a younger man who is very pleasant … our waitress soon changed her attitude when the service charged was taken off , attitude deserves no tip unfortunately .

Excellent birthday dinner. Recommend the sharing board as a starter, yummy. Lovely attentive staff

Food, atmosphere and live band were all good. The evening took a slight nose dive once the moved to the booth for drink. Why is there no table service, it literally took on average 25 minutes to get served. The bar area was packed and only 4 staff members shaking cocktails for double the necessary time.

Not the best experience thus visit. I ordered chicken n chorizo hanging kebabs and the chorizo was so overcooked thst I couldn't even cut it - burnt to a cinder it was.

Fourth visit here and each time we say we won't rush back. It's not a 'bad' place, it just isn't as great as it could/should be. It's a stunning building in a great location right in the centre of town, but the food and service is best described as average. Most recent meal was a Sunday roast and the gravy was just so salty it spoilt what was otherwise an acceptable meal. The service each time is a little hit and miss, but I think overall that side of things has improved a bit over the visits (they missed a few details on our order). But there is hope...so when sufficient time has passed (and the salt-tingling tongue has long been forgotten), we'll may give it another try. Fingers crossed for fifth time lucky?

Terrible bar. Every time I’ve been here they either don’t have the drink you want or the one you are made tastes terrible. Much better places to go for a drink in the immediate area

Went out for a meal for date night. Love the decor, Lovely friendly staff, great live music and delicious food. Couldn't ask for more.

Great atmosphere, excellent waiting staff however very busy and we had to wait a long wait (over an hour) for our food.

Best night out I've had in ages. Hundred percent on everything. Food. Music. Atmosphere. Security. All good in the hood.

if i could give minus stars i would, we were a party of 8 who booked several weeks before we went. really looking forwards to going to try a new place. firstly they had no lime cordial 'we've run out', we place our order at 7.30pm, drinks arrive after a short wait. At 8pm our starters have not arrived, at 8.20pm we are able to ask the member of staff looking after us, ''we're having a few problems, it should only be a few more minutes' well what an understatement, at 9pm we asked again and asked to see the manager, she said 'oh lots of people want to speak to him' well i'm not surprised, we'd been sitting there for over an hour and a half with no food, the member of staff could have got a place in the olympics for the speed at which she could pass our table to avoid us, well lucky us along comes the manager, 'I'm sorry for the wait your food will be here shortly, we've had a few large parties, we will bring your mains as well if that's ok with you' we pointed out that perhaps they should only take bookings for the amount of tables they can serve efficiently, that is good management, you will know which table we sat at - look for the teeth marks where we started to chew the legs off the table. Anyway five minutes later the starters arrive, no main courses as promised, those who ordered the scotch egg got a weird sauce because they had also run out of HP sauce, i mean really, I'd ordered CRISPY mushrooms, well i know that you can forage for mushrooms but seriously i had so much rocket on my plate i only just managed to find them - i thought that at any minute a little forest creature would appear, we had also ordered 'onion petals' which sounded quite delicate, what arrived was a plate of onion wedges, onion had been chopped into about 8 chunks, poorly fried and certainly were not crispy, chewy yes crispy no. 9.45pm still no bloody mains - a table behind us who ordered food 30 minutes after us get their mains -absolute joke. we then have to shout to the waitress to get attention and then the manager reappears and has the audacity to say 'I've said sorry what more can i do, you can have some drinks' no thank you, he then offers a 20% off the food, no thanks we settle for 50% off food - which we still had not had so bit of a joke, his tone and stance was unfriendly and quite intimidating, he was the size of a body builder and this obviously intimidated some customers into not saying anything. we got our food just before 10pm which for most people is past their usual eating time katsu curry - dried overcooked chicken, undercooked rice, lukewarm curry sauce - more like cat sick curry. SHOCKINGLY BAD SERVICE AND A MANAGER THAT REALLY COULDN'T HAVE GIVEN A TOSS ABOUT THE POOR SERVICE, WE WENT OUT FOR A TREAT AND CERTAINLY DID NOT GET ONE THERE WERE NOT ENOUGH STAFF - AVOID THE PLACE IF YOU ARE HUNGRY OR WANT TO EAT DECENT FOOD WITHIN TWO HOURS OF ORDERING IT

A lovely place. This was my second visit and was disappointing after the previous visit. I think there may have been a staffing issue. No Sunday lunches available, a soft drink I asked for unavailable. One of the lamb skewers had run out. Food was almost cold when it arrived but OK. Not as good as last time. Waiting staff all lovely and welcoming..

Slow service when the place was empty

I booked for my husband 40th birthday family dinner on Sunday 4pm . I received call say Sunday roast is Finnish by 3.22 while we are on our way. Got in the restaurant and service was very slow, we ordered Lamb kebab that also finished. After picking third option chicken kebab, which arrived cold.

Really nice food and drinks and our server was really nice. The desert was also really nice and the prices of all the food were fair considering it is pretty popular and is apart of the restaurant on the show first dates. The only reason it has dropped a star for us is the wait times in between food. This wasn’t a problem for us because we had lots of time and it was nice to sit around and chat but we were in there for 2 and a half hours and the gaps in between our food felt very very long.

Food is nice but the service is incredibly slow. We arrived at 7.30pm for a group booking, and had submitted our orders a week prior. It took over an hour for the starters to come out and we didn't get our mains until 9.50pm. Don't recommend for group bookings at all. Waitress was fine but said the reason the food took so long was because 'the kitchen is having to cook 50+ chicken wings for you guys'. Not really our problem and we had already submitted our orders in advance so it sounds like bad organisation to me. Prices weren't bad for food but drinks were a lot.

First time we have been here. Nothing was disappointing. The friendly staff were very welcoming. The restaurant was well presented with tables not on top of each other! I’ve never had a hanging kebab and it didn’t disappoint. The sharing kebab was excellent. The lamb kofta, chicken & the prawn kebabs were all succulent. The mushrooms were whole with peppers were all cooked well. White wine was cooled properly in an ice bucket. Definitely will not be our last time of eating here.

Great place. Great atmosphere. Bit pricey.

Terrible service. The young lady serving was Much more interested in flirting with the guys at the bar than serving two females who had been waiting there for longer.

Would not recommend. I booked the botanist for our Christmas do and the service was terrible. We booked a three hour slot for 30 people and pre booked our meals weeks in advance but when we arrived not everyone got what they ordered and it took almost the whole 3 hours to get to our mains. We had to cancel our dessert because it would have taken another hour to arrive, I appreciate they may have been busy but when this is booked weeks in advance they should have been better prepared. The following day, more than 10 people were really ill and this is not the first time they had experienced food poisoning from this restaurant. Really disappointing

First visit. The service, food and drinks were exceptional, Nick looked after us all afternoon and we will definitely be back.

Super friendly staff and delicious food thanks so much