The Botanist Bath — Restaurant in Bath

Dear Botanist ,

I’m writing to share feedback regarding our recent visit to your venue for my mother-in-law’s birthday celebration. Unfortunately, the experience fell significantly short of expectations, and I hope this feedback is taken constructively to help improve future service.

We arrived for a bottomless brunch and were on a schedule due to other plans later in the day. However, we experienced a number of service issues from the start. Our assigned server appeared preoccupied with socializing and taking photos with other guests, which delayed our initial interaction. It took nearly 30 minutes for us to be served, and this only occurred after I spoke with a senior team member who promised someone would assist us shortly.

When the server did attend to our table, her attitude was unprofessional. She neither checked our order nor wrote it down, despite us ordering multiple drinks and meals. Our first round of drinks took around 20 minutes to arrive. While I understand the restaurant was busy, it would have been appreciated if this had been communicated to us.

About 30 minutes into our visit, our food was served. One of my guests, who is vegetarian, was mistakenly flagged as having a dairy allergy—thankfully, the meal served was already vegetarian. I had ordered a salad with chicken on the side, but the chicken was initially missing. After I queried this, it was eventually brought over—after I had already finished my meal. The server delivered it with a noticeably poor attitude, even placing the plate on the table abruptly.

When we attempted to order more drinks, the server walked away and began chatting with another staff member, pointing toward our table in a way that felt inappropriate and unprofessional. At no point were we rude to her, and her behavior throughout was disappointing.

We asked to speak with a manager, who was very understanding and professional. They kindly removed the charge for the chicken and ensured we received another round of drinks promptly. After this, two new servers took over our table, and I want to highlight that they were absolutely fantastic. Both were polite, attentive, and showed great customer service. They made a genuine effort to turn the experience around, and we truly appreciated that.

While I understand how demanding hospitality can be—especially during busy hours—I believe basic professionalism and courtesy should always be maintained. As someone who worked as a bartender for four years, including during the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, I recognize the challenges. However, it’s important that guests are treated with respect.

Unfortunately, due to this experience, it’s unlikely we will return. I hope this feedback is helpful in improving service standards going...

"NO COLOUREDS ALLOWED" - now then, the year is 2025, not 1975! I do not use this term lightly, but this is certainly how we were made to feel at this establishment.

"First Dates" is a channel 4 show that has been one of my guilty pleaures for over a decade. My wife booked this restaurant as a birthday surprise and invited her brother with his husband. They drove circa 160 miles and we drove circa 130 miles to experience such unwanted racial undertones that we couldn't get out of there quick enough. Never have I felt so unwelcomed and basically treated as a second class citizen. I witnessed a two class service, with us being treated unfairly.

Upon entry, they could not find the booking; my wife showed the confirmation email and after some hassle we were given a small table. We asked to move to a larger table and were offered ONE alternative in a near empty restaurant.

Now I will explain our "fawlty towers" experience:

The starters were cleared and we asked for the table to be cleaned. This request was acknowledged and subsequently ignored. I CLEANED THE TABLE! Yes, the birthday boy was now their cleaner! A piece of cutlery was obviously dirty. I asked for this to be replaced (not a huge ask), the duty manager, Alex, actually SMIRKED (two people saw this), not a word said - walked off and finally replaced the knife! My brother-in-law asked for hot sauce - response - "just use his sauce". USE MY SAUCE? Really? So, use the sauce from my dish. YOUR RESTAURANT IS VIRTUALLY EMPTY! Is this too much to ask for? My fries were COLD. At this stage I was losing the will to live! I asked to speak to the manager - who turned out to be "Alex", AKA Mr Agressive. I highlighted the issue and the response was "this happens sometimes"! You are not cooking complicated dishes, this was my response. Potatoes into a frier - the simplest of cooking - it should not 'happen sometimes' and should certainly not be served at the prices being charged. Simply put, IT SHOULD NOT HAPPEN AT ALL! My wife left very upset indeed. She had mentioned my birthday at the time of booking, then again at the restaurant and even left the table to remind the staff. She was told it had been noted and they would make the lunch special at the end of the meal, NOTHING! IGNORANCE IS BLISS.

All in all - a complete and utter failure with an "unwelcome" and "non-service" alongside racial undertones not experienced in decades.

Respond however you want to, I do not care. My opinion and feelings were shared across all four diners - we cannot all be wrong. Having dined with this brand across the country, The New World Trading Company (NWTS) should be...

Visited The Botanist Bath for my birthday dinner on Saturday. I researched it ahead of time and the reviews sounded great, but it turned out to be one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had. Truly so comically bad that my husband and I just had to laugh about it, and go to Itsu to fill our bellies afterward.

It was booked solid from 6-9 so we made an early booking for 5:30pm. Having been caught in the rain we popped in at 5:10pm and were seated right away. First issue, they didn’t have any draught beers available due to a fault. Fine. Our drinks arrive and we go to order. “Didn’t anyone tell you what we are out of?” No. Our server proceeded to list 6+ dishes that they were out of (at 5:20pm!). This should have been mentioned as we were seated. None of the food we wanted was available, but we knew we wouldn’t get in anywhere else on a Saturday evening so we decided to find alternatives.

Starters arrive. Honestly the worst hummus I’ve ever experienced - watery and over seasoned. An insult to hummus everywhere. Mains arrive. Their “properly seasoned fries” were neither properly seasoned nor indeed properly cooked, really limp, cold, and holding the oil. My BangBang Noodle Salad was the icing on the cake though. The rice noodles were barely cooked and still be could be snapped in half! Same with the vegan nugget topping - barely cooked from frozen. I think one issue was they were so busy their fryers weren’t able to get up to temperature so anything fried was cooked terribly.

I never complain in restaurants, honestly I’d rather sink into the floor, but the main was so bad, it was inedible. Our second server was really friendly, understanding, and doing a great job. He took it back no questions asked, apologised, and took it off the bill.

The service isn’t the issue here (minus lack of communication), it seems like it is poorly managed, in addition to issues with kitchen equipment.

Definitely wouldn’t eat here again based on this experience, and couldn’t in good conscience recommend it to others. As my husband said in retrospect “It was worse quality than Wetherspoons, without the advantage of being cheap enough...