The Botanist Chester — Restaurant in City of Chester

Note to self - don't return to The Botanist in Chester. Most expensive meal I've ever had anywhere, including London.

Signs weren't good right from the off. We'd pre-booked a time slot & when we got there there was nobody at the front desk. No problem here, we waited ... and waited ... and waited. We could see staff milling about around the bar so we walk over & say we have a table booked. Barman gestures dismissively to go towards the stairs. We carry on walking to where he pointed but it doesn't look right at all. Eventually a female worker asks if we're ok, we explain the situation & she points to go back to the front where we'd originally been waiting (near another set of stairs - maybe the barman can't tell his left from his right?)

Eventually get seated & the same waitress deals with us for most of our experience there. The problem is she talks about 100mph. No problem because I only need to be able to pick out select information - where to go, are you ready to order etc. For the rest of it that we couldn't make out (yes, we're English) we just smiled anyway.

We had the hanging kebabs. Have to say, the food itself was actually really nice - which is why this is a 2 star review & not a 1. The main was about what you'd expect for a main at £15.95 which got you 1 hanging kebab & 1 bowl of fries. If I had to have a gripe here then I'd say the portion size was a bit disappointing, especially when you consider the price.

We were asked if we'd like a flatbread each to which we said yes. More on that in a second....

Overall we felt the service while not awful & we've had worse elsewhere, it wasn't really great. We seemed to be waiting a while for each stage with the exception of the drinks order. The food order took a while to be taken, taking the plates etc after finishing took a while, desert took a while & then waiting on the bill took so long that we had to ask for it when the waitress was going to walk past for the x-th time.

The desert (cookie dough with a small ball of ice cream) again was nice but at £7.50 a pop it was disappointing in terms of size. Just felt it was very expensive for what it was. The drinks (diet cokes) £3.80 each. Not massively more than you'd pay elsewhere but on the higher end for sure. Wonder what their mark up is.

For all the above I probably wouldn't even have left a review. What made me write this review was the receipt...

So the waitress at her 100mph is dealing with the payment and saying god knows what. All I need to know is how much I'm paying so I just smile rather than keep asking her to repeat herself but slower which could seem rude.

Turns out these flatbreads (4 TINY triangles of bread, maybe the size of my palm) cost £3.80 each. I could buy a few loaves of bread for that!! If the waitress had said do you want a couple flatbreads at £3.80 each then we would've said no. We took it as - as for what we had ordered, do we want some [free] flatbread since no cost was mentioned. Our fault I guess, we should've checked but equally the waitress could've been clearer.

Then the one that really annoyed me which I cannot stand ANYWHERE - the auto addition of a service charge (10%). I've eaten in enough places & most of them have had an option on the card machine - press 1 to add gratuity press 2 to not for example. What's wrong with that?? You should not assume someone wants to add a service charge or can afford to add a service charge. When added automatically, some people may find it embarrassing to request it to be removed. In the UK we're all on at least minimum wage so it's not as though the waitresses need tips to 'make up' their pay. I don't subscribe to the idea that workers in pubs/restaurants should receive tips. I'm on little more than minimum wage myself & nobody tips anyone in my line of work, nor is it expected. The service wasn't even great to warrant 1%...

I’ve put okay for everything but it was my worst experience at the botanist. Had to wait 37 minutes after our table was booked for (21:00), we made sure to get there early as it’s Christmas (was there from 8:30 and we told them when we arrived that we were early, for context this it the first time we were told to get a drink and this was completely fine as we were the ones early) and didn’t want to be late for a booking. We got told to get a drink 3 times no compensation (free drink on them as it’s not our fault the table wasn’t ready) we even said that we’ve been told to get a drink multiple time but we already had two, on an empty stomach isn’t the best if we had anymore. The reason behind any table (I say any because it seemed like 5 bookings had to wait) was a big group wouldn’t move and they were drunk. Also, a group of 5/6 that arrive after us was taken upstairs at about 21:15, maybe let the customers who arrive first be seated (first come first served and all). My advice for that would be to plan better; have least booking after or make sure that the group knows that the area they are sitting in is going to get used after and give them a bit more time to have a sit and chat after their meal before having another booking (it’s Christmas season of course people are going to sit around for long). We got seated in the back where I had to leave my jacket and scarf on and my friend had her scarf wrapped round her on because of the draft. The waitress that took our order was great, most genuine person and had a little laugh with her (didn’t get her name but she gave us a cocktail recommendation and both were lovely). The other waitress that we encountered had her customer service voice on and it was taken by us as degrading and fake, not pleasant at all (it’s not natural to say sorry 4x in one sentence). The manager that ended up seating us in the end was seen once. The food was great and we only didn’t leave a service charge was because of no discount or anything for the wait we had to have. The security were the ones that realised we had waited the long and were there before the other bookings and we were the last to have a seat. Overall, it was the worst experience I’ve had as we were a minute off walking out and getting a McDonald’s as it was 21:37 by the time we got seat properly. We had no choice to wait for a table because food orders at restaurants usually close at 21:00/21:30 so a takeaway was out...

Beautiful establishment, great decor!

Table booked for 8pm on a Saturday. Busy but not overcrowded, and service was timely with no mistakes to our orders.

Staff were great, extremely friendly, professional and great customer service.

Food was fantastic, the prawns for starters was great and the sharing hanging kebab platter was amazing.

On the downside however....

we had originally requested in the booking for a table not near to the toilets or doorways and unfortunately was seated by a door to the upstairs terrace which people were passing through every other 5mins, letting the cold in on a cold November evening.

Additionally, we were sat opposite a rather rowdy hen party, approx 20-30 girls who looked like they'd been covered in glue and kicked through a Claires Accessories shop with the stereotypical pink attire and cowgirl hats.

Due to their cat screeching volume, we found ourselves constantly having to lean over the table to hear each other talk.

Some of the rather more intoxicated girls even kept barging past our table to see over the balcony "attempting" to sing along with live music and serenade everyone's already bleeding eardrums from their four legged animal like frequencies & pitch.

Slight shame this venue does not have a private party room to accommodate the larger parties or the consideration that parties of such nature are most likely inclined to be intoxicated and rowdy and to attempt to sit them where they won't spoil others visit. It was clear this hen-do was even spoiling the evening of the table besides us from their equally as unimpressed facial expressions and lip reading of each others conversation.

Our server was very polite, apologising and advised she would have swapped our table if they wasn't fully booked.

All in all a beautiful venue with amazing food that's reasonably priced and great professional serving staff.

However if making a booking I'd stress confirmation of any requests such as not being seated near toilets, doorways or thee illustrious intoxicated hen or larger group parties,.....unless nails to a chalkboard are your choice of...