The Botanist Lincoln — Restaurant in Lincoln

Following our earlier review we had been invited back so with a day trip planned I accepted the offer. We were seated upstairs which gave us a great view of Lincoln and allowed us to people watch while we waited. A much better experience this time with the food as amazing as our previous visit but plenty of it this time. My friend whose first visit it was really enjoyed it too.

I'm not sure I'd risk an hours drive to come just for a meal for a special occasion but will definitely return again if we go for a shopping trip/concert/cinema visit in the future.

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Our first visit for my birthday/our wedding anniversary so we prebooked and let them know we were celebrating. Arrived a little early and were seated without any acknowledgement of our celebrations which I thought was a bit odd. Why ask if your not going to acknowledge it? We had a lovely view over the city and the upstairs area is gorgeous so we were looking forward to our meal. Ordered drinks which mine came in a can! Had it been brought out poured in a glass I wouldn't have thought twice about the price of it. Ordered our starters which were delayed as they were dropped! Not a problem these things happen but if you've done something like that then you'd think the rest of the evening would be very attentive but not here. Starters removed we were asked if we needed anything so we asked for more napkins as we'd used the 2 there with our starter and could we get a carafe of water please. Our main course arrived and you could count the amount of meat on the hanging kebabs with my husband saying he could eat that on his own and even I had to agree I probably could too. We'd upgraded our fries but after going to the toilet I noticed another couple having the same meal but there was double the amount of fries on theirs (they hadn't upgraded) oh and still no napkins or water! After finishing our meal and waiting for a while I eventually got some napkins from an unoccupied table. Our mains removed we were asked if we'd like the dessert menu. After the size of our main course we'd already decided we'd go elsewhere so I politely declined and husband asked for the bill. It came on a mobile phone app with the wait staff leaving it with no explanation of what to do with it. We checked to make sure we hadn't been charged for the water and noticed there had been an optional gratuity charge added and also the chance to leave a review which we did. No-one had returned to take it away so i went to ask a member of staff how to get the gratuity removed and was told someone would come and sort it. If that had been me alarm bells would have been ringing and I'd have checked everything was OK. Gratuity removed and still not asked if everything was OK. We paid and waited for the phone to be removed but no-one came so no longer wanting to stay there we left.

A lovely venue and food/drink was delicious but we felt most of it was overpriced for what you get. Husband has since contacted The Botanist UK and we were going to leave it at that but you have emailed me to ask me to leave a review so here it is. As my husband said you made my birthday memorable for all the wrong reasons although its made the decision of where to have lunch on a girls day out next week easier.

Edited to say after looking at other reviews I think chef must have been having portion problems as the photos are showing huge kebabs with loads of meat and veg which is the complete opposite to what we had. We could count the amount of small chunks on each kebab and how many slices of veg! I really wish we'd taken photos now. Mentions of staff wishing people happy birthday, free shots etc too! I'd have been happy with a "happy birthday and congratulations on your wedding anniversary" when...

Out for a lunchtime celebration. This was my first visit. We decided to have the hanging kebabs one garlic oil and the other without the garlic oil exchange for sweet chili... We upgraded to the chilli fries on one and the chunky fries on the other ordered the mini season salad, onion petals and coleslaw. My daughter found all of it very nice. She did leave a bit of the hanging kebab. For me the hanging kebab was very peppered and I'm not sure what else was on it. One of my onion pieces should not have been on the kebab it was the skin edge but it happens so not the end of the world. (It was more skin than onion). But overall the kebab was alright. Only get the chunky fries if you're feeling hungry, otherwise stick to the chips/ fries. The Caesar salad is so heavily garlic and seasoned, grilled lettuce has a nice taste one of the nicest parts of the meal. Coleslaw was different but enjoyable, Have to say it seems to have a lot of mustard seeding again, seemed overly seasoned. Onion petals definitely recommend it's an upgraded alternative to onion rings they are in a Salty maybe chilli seasoning comes with creme fresh but really nice. Our server if I remember correctly with Charlotte. She was lovely. Offered recommendations, drinks served quickly. If you don't like too much ice do say cos they come very iced but I don't mind that there's personal preference. Overall I would go back. I would pick an alternative meal, I would try the kebab again as they'll have different chefs which are different seasoning levels to the food.

Tried again..... Staff that were our waiter's , were lovely and couldn't have been more helpful.

Sadly again the food wasn't something I would shout about. Chicken burger had a small bone, which cut my daughter's gum... This wasn't the restaurant fault was a supply issue as guess these aren't made fresh on site. Hanging kebab, small bits of chicken sadly was dry. Burger was nice. Katsu curry was poor and not value for money, rice tastes like it's pre-made and then microwaved, I was gutted about the onion petals with no flavour, just salt ... Coffee was cold and the table drank it black so no excuse. They did give us a fresh one but still no better . Coleslaw 💯 times better then before.

No updated pictures but the kebab doesn't look like that now 😔... Lest hope it was a bad day...

But again our waiters were lovely and that is what I felt I paid for...

So after finally getting around to trying the new store based within Lincoln Town centre, the only word i have is disappointing.

Firstly the seats we were placed in were the main highway, with everyone elses food and drinks going past but apparently none of our own.

Received a nice welcome and greeting from our server Tom who apparently only speaks to you when he initially seats you and takes your order. Starter was brought out after around 25 minutes, our drinks just before. After finishing these we went on to wait for a further 50 minutes without a single person asking if we wanted another drink or with an update on our mains.

After being told MULTIPLE times by people on the way in that our table was only booked for an hour and a half, you would think that they would be able to muster up the effort to bring out our dinner so we could enjoy it in a decent time frame without rushing. With only 10/15 minutes left I decided it was time to leave as everyone else in the whole restaurant was eating, even groups of people who had arrived 20/25 minutes later than us. Their server also regularly checked to see if they would like a drink... must have been nice for them.

From this I had a simple I cant be arsed apology from the Server Tom who clearly only cared about himself and talking about his snakes... Zzzz. Next came Hannah, who was apparently the manager on shift. She apologised and made clear that i didnt have to pay for a TINY starter and the sole drink we had ordered... She went on to tell me and ask me what she could do? It doesnt take a genius to work out that we wouldve only liked more time to be able to sit and eat our food and enjoy it. Instead she ushered us out the door without a care in the world.

Incredibly poor customer service, from all staff areas including management. The 6/7 different servers who walked past without even collecting our plates or seeing the bare empty glasses on our table you should be proud. Great initiative from absolutely no-one.

Also another massively disappointing feature is the fact that its called the botanist and is full of cheap knock off plastic plants. Totally ruins the decor inside and to be honest you should be ashamed of your name.

Average cocktail - couldnt write cocktails as apparently 80 minutes is too long to...