The Alchemist Nottingham — Restaurant in Nottingham

My boyfriend and I walked into the Alchemist Nottingham with high hopes, it being his first time and me excited to share the theatrical experience with him. We were greeted by a waitress with little character, (no smiles here) and ushered to our table. I remained positive, wanting to make sure my boyfriend had the full effect of what I have known of the Alchemist from previous visits to various locations. We ordered drinks and food simultaneously, and underwent an unacceptable wait which was recognised by who we assume was the manager of the evening, who told us they ‘hadn’t forgotten about us’ (which was reassuring, being the only customers at this point). Strangely, half of my own drink arrived and was plonked down with no further instruction. This was almost immediately followed by our food. Feeling pretty hungry at this point, we tucked in and then 5 minutes later the remainder of my drink arrived, served by another member of the team. So by this point, we had interacted with 3 different people. I think there’s a saying about too many cooks around the broth. This led onto a disorganised explanation of what to do next with my drink, I believe the member of staff was under the assumption I should know as the customer how to continue? For anyone who has been to the Alchemist before, you’ll understand this isn’t the norm and some assembly is required. The criticism here is, particularly as we were 1 of 2 seated tables at this point, it would’ve made much more sense to simply be waited by just the one member of staff. It felt as if, because it was quiet in the restaurant, those members of staff present were stumbling over each other on what to do.

Anyway, still remaining positive, we opened up a dessert menu having finished our main meal and were greeted by a dead bug. I called a member of staff over and asked them what the normal process was for guests who are given a menu containing dead bugs, and he was unsure how to proceed but no apology followed and we were asked ‘where the bug came from’. I explained certainly not us, and I said ‘a free drink wouldn’t go a miss to rectify the issue’. The member of staff then swept the menu from the table and, unsurprisingly, the offending bug fell to the floor. He turns around and explains ‘it’s fallen on the floor’ and, at this point, it’s hard to find the words. ‘No beep Sherlock’ one wants to say!

The manager from earlier in the evening comes over with the one gratuity drink and arrogantly says ‘I’ve brought this over for the horrible experience you had with a dead fly’. I explained it wasn’t a dead fly, but thanks anyway. At this point, still no apology.

Safe to say, the service charge was removed from our bill and sadly, whilst I still remain a fan of the chain, I wouldn’t recommend the Alchemist Nottingham to friends...

No recommend

I was disappointed I had been wanting to visit the restaurant for 3 months, unfortunately every time I was in town I couldn't get a table or access to the bar. When I finally got to go... I took a couple of friends with me who were visiting from overseas. Arriving there, I was really happy to see a fantastic drinks kenu, great decoration and the creation of a clear Alchemist styling. But the service was going well until the moment that less than 20 minutes after I said it was our first time and we wanted to try out most of the classic drinks, one of the attendants came to our table asking if we could order food right away before our table time ran out. (I'm sorry what took me to the place was the drinks, so I hoped to drink as much as possible and enjoy the experience) - although they did come back afterwards informing us that we could rest assured that we wouldn't need to leave early (wow). After a while we ordered the food and continued trying other drinks but in the end we realized that the food was taking an unbelievable delay of over an hour so we complained to the attendant who was surprised and immediately verified that the mains were indeed ready... We couldn't believe when we perceived that the food had been cooked a long long time ago but forgot to bring it to the table so it had gone cold but they decided to being it as it was. The team clearly knew there was an issue as they quickly left the food on the table with no explanation of what had happened, then disappeared. It took 10 mins (even with an empty restaurant) to get staff attention to complain they had brought us stone cold food after a really long wait. I made it clear I wanted a new meal, which they promised to do, but all they did was heat up our food and it was ridiculous to see the chicken chopped up to hide the fact that it was the same chicken I had taken a bite out of, and thrown into a pan to re-heat. Then the staff told me not to worry as it would be 'sorted out on the bill'. In fact absolutely nothing was done to make up for the issue and I was charged the full price for everything. One of my friends didn't even eat as they had lost their appetite completely after being reserved old food and having to wait such a long time for it. It is unacceptable to pay for an experience like that. In fact I was overcharged for the drinks and had to help the staff count howany prosseco glasses I had to correct the charge. As a minimum the staff could have been better and just communicated better and of course not charged for late, reheated food! Evaluation of drinks 8 out of 10 could be less bitter, less sweet I believe the expectation was greater than the flavour but it is worth seeing the drink on your table and having the alchemist imagination in a...

Visited the alchemist nottingham for the first time ever as a surprise from my partner and I doubt I will be rushing to return. Upon arriving my partner was able to walk in without any questions until the security man on the door stopped myself twice asking if I had ID coming to grab my arm whilst asking, as this was a surprise and I had never been alchemist before I didn’t know I needed any at all. My partner told the security person that we were here to eat and this being said the woman was getting ready to seat us but the man was still hovering and said repeatedly that I would not be served alcohol which is already explained was fine to me not having my ID. I ordered the 6oz steak which I asked for “cooked through” as this was the only cooked option out of the two, the other one saying “pink”. When our food arrived i noticed my steak was very much pink and rare, as I had not been before I asked a server if this was cooked through, in which his response was “I don’t know, is it not”. I stated I didn’t know but it didn’t look like it and then it was then taken back to the kitchen. Once finishing our meal we paid our bill and headed out of the resturaunt. Upon leaving, a server ran out side asking if we had paid our bill, whilst he said this the security man from the beginning had come behind me and my partner as if we had done something wrong. I told them we had paid a server inside, I also stated our experience had been poor today to which the server replied “Its just because we have had two walk outs today” My partner proceeded to show the server his Apple Pay notification of the receipt we had just paid to which the server replied “that looks about right”. The vibe from the beginning was not what I had expected and unfortunately felt watched the entire time even though both me and my partner were dressed like everyone else and polite. I found the staff unprofessional and the communication between them unsatisfactory as being chased out of the venue and being asked if we had paid infront of members of the public was embarrassing. Not what I thought my first ever experience at the alchemist would be like, the 2 stars is for the food only and the one server that served us in such a...