Medicine Bakery — Restaurant in Birmingham

Appalling! We were so disappointed I hardly know where to begin. We have experienced other branches of Medicine in Birmingham that have been really lovely, so we thought this would be the same, but it was awful. They made us wait a ridiculously long time whilst they 'cleaned a table', after having told us we couldn't sit on the table of our choice, (which was available). I was in my wheelchair and my mother in law in a scooter. They put us in an overflow room next to the main earing area - after we had cited a table we wanted to sit at in the main area which was free - they told us that was not convenient for us to sit there! What??! 😲 The table they sat us at in the overflow room was a huge round one, so we couldnt talk across it. The chairs were dirty and the room smelled horrible. I asked to move to the table we originally cited, and the lady wasnt happy about it, and then spent ages then cleaning that one, making out that we were causing a problem. It felt like she was waiting for us to get fes up and leave! She said we wouldn't be able to get the wheelchair and the scooter to the table. I said we could both transfer to the seating at the table. Then she said we couldnt keep the wheelchair and scooter next to us because of health and safety (even though there was more than plenty of room next to us). She made us take them in the next door room! 🤦🏻‍♀️ The menu at the table didn't include any of the cakes or pastries at the counter, so we had to go up and take photographs of everything for my mother in law to decide what she would like. They took forever to serve us at the counter, and then when we asked for some cutlery and napkins, we were told "they are already on the table" - they weren't, so they said "ok, we'll bring some over". We waited so long, we ended up eating the cakes and pastries with our fingers in the end and my husband had to go off and find napkins. We waited over 20 minutes for our 5 drinks to arrive. When they eventually arrived, we had finished the food, and the coffee arrived in a state, all spilled in the saucer. Some of the food was nice, but I had a chocolate chip babka (like a cruffin), but it was burnt on the outside and very hard, yet bordering on undercooked on the inside. When I bit into the pastry, I got a mouthful of cold oil! 😬 My mother in law enjoyed her carrot and walnut cake square, and my husband enjoyed his croissant.

We absolutely would NOT recommend this cafe, and will certainly not be visiting them again. In my opinion the gardens should let that space to a cafe company that will put good customer service at the heart of...

Yet again, let down by another Medicine Bakery.

I’ve previously visited most other Medicine bakery sites and yet again this one is a disappointment.

The pastries and sweet treats are great - I can’t knock that.

Upon entering on a moderately busy Sunday afternoon, you’re greeted to a simply decorated space, littered with filthy tables and floor.

After finding a slightly clean side of a large sharing table, the menu resembles nothing like the sample menu on the website which showcases lots of freshly cooked hot food items. Instead, I had to go with a very overpriced cheese toastie from the fridge which was toasted to order - £8!

The cheese toastie itself was nothing more than two large slices of - albeit nice - sourdough bread, but then only three slices of cheese. Not even sure there was any butter on / in them when toasted.

I also had a pepperoni focaccia from the bakery counter which was toasted to order. It was dry, doughy, lacking much cheese.

The milk texture of the flat white coffee was foamy like a cappuccino and not silky microfoam as it should be. The espresso base of the coffee also tasted burnt and over extracted. (I should add, I have managed specialty coffee shops myself)

When food and drinks were finally delivered to the table in two waves, the server brought over an additional drink that we did not order which we kindly explained was not ours and sent away untouched before it landed on the table. A similar situation followed when the food arrived. The poor server was obviously given wrong instructions, and needed better managerial or supervisory delegation.

The pastries that we took away were decent and enjoyed at home.

I don’t mind waiting if there is a queue to order as it’s evident the cafe is busy - but you can see the staff cross-crossing and zig-zagging due to bad design and workflow, and being understaffed for a Sunday which is a busier day ah the Botanical Gardens. The service is also pretty dull but you can see the staff are under a lot of pressure and trying to keep a friendly face.

I would genuinely love to have a chat with the manager because I’d like to enjoy the cafe as my family and I have been members at the Botanical Gardens for over a decade, and I’d like to pop in again to give the site...

I should have came to the reviews first before I even attempted to visit. Now before I get into it, I’ve been to other medicine bakeries and never had a problem. The wait was overly long and didn’t understand why no one was at the till serving. Tables looks dirty so decided to eat outside on the grass as it was a nice day. I had a cronut and strawberry custard pastry. Two apple juices and an iced raspberry matcha. Matcha was lovely but had flakes of milk floating on the top so decided to leave it. The filling in the doughnut was sour- my son actually spat this out as it wasn’t mine which was unusual so I tried it and realised it was sour. My pastry was that hard I couldn’t actually bite it- even the lady I sat next to laughed and said “looks like a brick” I said it’s very similar to be honest. They had no lids left for the drinks so a two year old and five year old had to carry their own outside while I had the two cakes and my own drink. In the end I went back when we were leaving and gave them the cronut and pastry back and explained, for the lady to respond “well they are brought in fresh every morning”. This is something I didn’t dispute as she’s probably right however the room and weather was warm which CAN STILL turn “freshly delivered” produce sour. Anyway I left but now thinking about it I really should have had my money back. I will never come back here. Appalling to be...