The Botanist Edinburgh — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

EDIT: I couldn't reply to the response from the manager - thank you for the reply, I really appreciate the acknowledgement, I've checked my trash & spam boxes, but there were no emails.

I wrote to the team, but never got a reply back when I wrote to them 1 month ago. So i wanted to share my experience here so that others can be informed 💞

Sent on 22 Sept 2024:

Dear Manager at Botanist Edinburgh,

I’m a big fan of The Botanist in Edinburgh and have been a regular customer for some time. It’s my go-to spot whenever I visit St James Quarter or catch a movie at Vue across the road. I’ve always appreciated the tranquil ambiance and often bring friends and family to enjoy it too.

Unfortunately, I’m writing to share some feedback on a disappointing experience my group had this past weekend. I had booked a table for six (three adults, three children) for a birthday lunch after a movie, and I was excited to introduce my friends to your restaurant, having spoken so highly of it. However, from the moment we arrived, things went poorly.

We arrived 15 minutes early for our noon reservation and were largely ignored by the staff upon entering. Once seated, we were placed in the darkest corner of the restaurant, right next to the POS system, despite the fact that the dining area by the windows was completely empty. When I politely asked if we could be moved, or even split between two tables, I was quickly shut down without any consideration for alternative solutions.

What made this more frustrating was that I had specifically mentioned in my booking that it was a birthday lunch, and I had hoped the atmosphere would reflect that special occasion. I mentioned this again to the staff when I asked about being moved, but their response was extremely curt and unhelpful. To add to the disappointment, the table was sticky, and even after multiple requests, only part of the table was cleaned, which left us feeling that basic hygiene was not a priority.

After these interactions, we made the collective decision to leave before placing an order, as we simply didn’t feel welcome or comfortable celebrating there. Instead, we dined elsewhere inside St James Quarter.

I understand how challenging the restaurant industry can be—my husband ran a chain of 26 restaurants—so I wanted to share this feedback privately, rather than posting it on public review sites. I believe that proper staff training could have easily avoided most of the issues we encountered. Perhaps staff are not trained to pay attention to booking comments, but acknowledging special occasions and making guests feel valued should be a priority, especially in a competitive area like New Town where service plays a huge role in a restaurant’s success.

I hope this feedback is helpful for the growth of your team and the restaurant. I truly enjoyed dining at The Botanist in the past and hope that this was an isolated incident.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Best...

PLEASE BE AWARE! - Menu doesn't contain all ingredients. Went last night for our anniversary meal after a day out in Edinburgh, we arrived 10 mins early and were told there were no seats available yet, we went back on time and were taken to a lovely booth past multiple empty tables which we found bit strange. We then ordered drinks and mains (we didn't have a starter or dessert). The drinks come out pretty quickly but we waited 50 minutes for our food to come. Once the food had arrived I checked my Chicken Burger as I had asked for the jalapeños and pickels to be taken off as I don't like spicy foods. Luckily I had checked as there was HOT SAUCE on the chicken. I asked a staff member why there was hot sauce on the burger as it is not on the menu (please see photo attached) and the replies I got was along the lines of " it's a chicken burger" like all chicken burgers come with hot sauce, they then went and got another member of staff who explained it is a Buffalo Chicken Burger which again is not on the menu and doesn't explain why there is hot sauce on the burger and not on the menu. They took it away to be fixed and said it should on be 10 minutes. My partner ate their burger and I had their chips while we waited. My partner had the Cheese Burger which also come will items not on the menu but they luckily liked these items. After 25 minutes of waiting I finally got my Chicken Burger with no hot sauce but it was now missing the cheese which I hadn't asked to be taken off. At this point I was hungry and we had something else booked and needed to leave relatively soon. Once I had finished my burger we asked for the bill as we did by this point need to leave. Once we received the bill we had a quick check and noticed someone else's drinks had been added to our order this staff member then had to go and check this making us now late. I would also like the point out all the members of staff were different we never felt we were looked after by 1 person. We finally got this sorted and headed off. I would like to add that the food was very good and the environment was lovely but the service and how this had been dealt with was a disappointment so I won't be going back. If you have an allergie please ask what is actually in the dish as it probably won't be listed on the menu. I have had previous experience working in a restaurant and I feel this could have been dealt with much better. I hope this can help the restaurant improve there service.

UPDATE - I received a message on this review and my TripAdvisor review which asks me to email the company, I emailed them a week ago and have still not received a response. Another example of poor...

4th visit to this beautiful new restaurant/bar which has such great potential to be fabulous but sad to say we have left disappointed tonight as there are definitely a few elements that could be fixed to improve the overall experience. Have visited with friends and family before and was really looking forward to our visit this afternoon for our first Botanist Sunday roast but we were extremely disappointed as it really did not live up to our expectations in any way. I had the roast lamb and my husband had the pork belly which were both cooked to a nice standard with a lovely homemade Yorkshire pudding but with only a teaspoon of gravy over the meat this made everything else extremely dry. This could easily be sorted by giving diners a jug of gravy to pour themselves as it usually is served in other restaurants. Roast potatoes were definitely frozen which were not very tasty. We added on an extra of cauliflower cheese which arrived and was inedible as it was so hard you could not get the fork into it. The waitress came to clear our plates and asked if everything was ok and I said about the cauliflower cheese been inedible and she said she would pass this on to kitchen which was absolutely fine but then she came back with the bill 5 minutes later still charging us for the cauliflower and no apology or any mention of it so why ask if everything was ok. Such a shame as this place really is lovely and has such fabulous potential in such a great location but it’s the simple things that got it all wrong tonight. We still decided to sit downstairs after our meal and have a few cocktails which were lovely. Sorry to say not sure any of us will hurry back anytime soon after this afternoon’s experience with so many places in Edinburgh with...