The Botanist Bournemouth — Restaurant in Great Britain

I'm saddened to say "what a huge disappointnent!". From the booking process things didn't go well and this should've been a sign for me to walk away. Rang up to discuss allegergens due to one of my daughters have an egg and peanut allergy. Phone got sent to head office who tried (7 times!) to divert it to Bournemouth restaurant with no success (line just dropped or nobody picked up). My suggestion to take my number was refused as "something they don't do". Arrived and explained that I could not get through earlier and nobody had responded to my email or earlier phone messages. Was shut down and told I should discuss with my waiter. Given we had stated it was a birthday meal this could've at least been acknowledged too. Waitress arrived and I explained my daughter wanted the burger after I had seen the allergy menu. My daughter explained to the waitress what her allergies were and settled on the burger Then when askinf about the burger sauce and bun the waitress said it was a mayo sauce and had a egg washed brioche bun. My 12 year old daughter explained that both contained egg and the waitress responded that we're looking at the allergens chart wrong (we were not). In the end we found out it's vegan mayo and no egg wash on brioche and waitress was providing incorrect information that contradicted the allergen chat. Cocktails.... Worse mojito ever.... Full of ice. Definitely not worth £3, let alone the full price. Dark and stormy. Ordered 2....but they may as well been different drinks. One was full to brim with ice with little liquid.... Other was fully liquid. Waited 30 minutes for the bill. I ended up going to bar to ask for it. Food.... Overly salty. Not particularly nice and definitely not good value. The layout was great.... But let down by port management, service, drinks and food. Happy for you to ring me to discuss as the meal (a birthday meal which was specified on booking) could've been so much better. We asked for a bottle of wine and a few glasses. Waitress noticed we would be serving a glass to my daughter (16). She asked for ID and mentioned driving licence as an example. Clearly unaware that a 16 year old can have a glass without ID if with parents. I moved my wine glass next to my plate and was told by the waitress to out it back with the others. I only suspect so she could pour it with the other altogether. A bit rude, especially since I explained I'll pour my own later. Also, why did she feel she needed to bend over my wife to pour all the wine glasses next to my wife. Poor table etiquette and reflects poor/no training. This needs a radical overhaul for me to...

Food very salty, bar staff and FOH team lack experience

Nice host with a great greeting live music on Thursday night great touch. But rest downhill

To start hard to order at bar

As the team lack a knowledge of cocktail specs! So, they using their phones to make cocktails nothing wrong in that! but side effect it taking them long to make 1 cocktails resulting in very slow service & not of all of them are happy to make all the cocktails as I ordered old fashioned my server refuse to make it and made me wait till her colleagues finish serving others!

Dining section

Nice layout in restaurant

The allergy QR is explained at the time of being seated.

Bowl to popcorn to begin with as we were about to watch a movie & it was a horror movie left a bitter taste afterwords.

Again the floor staff doesn’t seem like to have the passion I sat on table no 2. Sorry, didn’t get the servers name but seems like she there but not there or very overwhelmed.

The food omg it was very salty real salty clearly can see chef like his salt.

1 item in our starter order was the pork belly bites salty.

the mains we went sharing kebab with couscous and normal fries. Again very salty the lamb was dry.

I did mention about my lactose intolerance which I am fine with may contain & I did the qr allergy thing to see the list.

When we finish the stater the mains are about to arrive the male waiter approach us guess( he is supervisor or experienced floor staff). Personally I think his approach wasn’t very friendly & the way he talked put the whole dining experience off for ourself.

That we can’t have sharing kebab because of my intolerance. Guess you are suppose to tell me that in the beginning not 40 mints after I placed my order or especially when finished my staters.

I did know they have veg kebab in that which has halloumi in it ps I did asked my waitress about it before I ordered first but due to her lack of knowledge about menu & no substitutes been offered! So, we decided my wife can have the halloumi.

I think there should be floor supervisor or another experienced member to support the team or proper training day for the team.

Now the question

Would I go there again?

May be for beer or live music but not for food and...

Came in for my friends birthday meal on the 30th June and one of our friends is allergic to chilli, she ordered 3 dishes 2 came with allergen flags but the Hoummous and pitta she ordered came with chilli chickpea houmous(which should have been removed or altered) without realising my friend has eaten this dish then realised she was having an allergic reaction. I told the manager on shift and all she did was come to the table and say the kitchen is a nightmare and how they’ve tried so hard to be good about allergies. She didnt check what medication was needed or whether she needed medical assistance and im severely disappointed. My friend then had to go to the toilet to be sick so I told a waiter that they should let management know that she was being sick because of their mistake and still no management proceeded to come and check if she was okay. The manager also attempted to give us some sort of apology that the kitchen would be getting a “severe bollocking” and that she “loves arguing with the kitchen” , still without actually checking that my friend was okay she then came over with a form (45 minutes later) to do a follow up for the next day. Our whole table works in hospitality and also holds a general manager and head chef of a restaurant, I then exclaimed that I was disappointed as there was no sense of urgency and no human interaction to check she was actually okay, to then further attempt to apologise she said her main priority was to call her manager to check their allergen policy as apparently when they opened they did not have one. The food was lovely and our service was adequate until this experience. And I’m severely disgusted with how this was...