The Bothy — Restaurant in Rotherham

My wife and I had afternoon tea, yesterday. First impressions were of a very nice venue, and welcoming staff on the front desk. We were taken to our seats and the lady explained the afternoon tea structure and pointed us towards the menu of teas and coffee that were available. Within a few minutes a fresh jug of ice cold water arrived. Strangely the young girl didn't utter a word, just plonked it down and left, no reply to our thanks. Five or so more minutes past, ten or fifteen minutes after being seated, and we were wondering when our drinks order would be taken. Fortunately we managed to grab the young male server, who was busy rushing around and to be fair to him he took our order with no complaint and was very cheery and polite. The afternoon tea arrived and was fantastic. Clearly all very freshly made and of excellent quality and very tasty. The only complaint I had about the food was one of the scones must have had an accident in the oven as it was almost wedge shaped, I wouldn't have thought anyone plating up would have accepted to put it on a plate in all honesty. We'd almost finished the sandwiches and savouries when our drinks finally arrived however, which again was disappointing, especially as we'd slow timed the sandwiches to wait for a drink. All in all the food was lovely, the setting is very nice and the Java coffee was excellent. The whole experience was sadly let down by the service. An elderly lady on the table next to the till had to get up after her mains were taken away to ask for a dessert menu and we did note that after the food arrived and we'd not managed to eat all the desserts, at no time did any of the servers approach to ask if everything was ok with the food, it seems to be standard practice in every restaurant? We did consider that with waiting times for drinks, being freshly made of course, it may have been better had the drinks order been taken when we were seated. Overall a nice venue, great food and worth a visit to see...

The bothy it's self is wonderfully decorated and the front of house staff are pleasant. Unfortunately our visit yesterday (29/02/25) was a bit disappointing. There was obviously an issue in the kitchen as we were seated at our table at 13:30 but didn't get our lunch served until 14:45(ish). It wasn't until nearly an hour later that the waiting staff acknowledge we'd be waiting for "a while" and offered to refresh our tea and coffee. Once our meals arrived the vegetarian tikka masala was tasty and filling but the fish and chips were a bit disappointing. The fish itself was fresh but the batter was a bit soggy and chips slightly over cooked. So, after removing the batter and picking out the best of the chips & adding mushy peas we did get enough to eat. As compensation we were offered free cakes to take home, which I noticed several dinners took the offer up. However, we declined but appreciated the offer. I'm sure waiting time for service isn't usually this long and we appreciate that food is freshly cooked so it's not going to arrive instantly but I think we should have been informed on our arrival that there was an issue of some sort and we could have made the choice to stay at the bothy or go to one of the other eateries on site. It's such a shame as we'd made a special trip to visit the bothy. The rest of our visit to the garden centre, gardens and shop was enjoyable...

After being a little surprised that I had to pay my bill for the afternoon tea as a deposit. The rest of the booking online was straight forward. Booking a time and date. We arrived about 5 minutes early. The person at the front of house asked us to wait for our table, this was fine. The decor of the restaurant was very pleasant and welcoming. The seating was a mixture of formal and less formal both inside and outside. We were taken to our table. We were asked if we would like a drink. This order was taken and the drinks were promptly brought including a tea that was part of the afternoon tea. We then waited nearly 30 minutes for our food to come. This was 30 minutes after our booked time. I could have understood this wait if we had not booked and we all having different hot food. Nobody came to apologise or inform us that there was a delay. When the food came I was a little disappointed. We were talked through the food and what was on the plates. Someone came about four or five times asking if we wanted more drinks. The bread on the sandwiches was dry. The scones were warm. The cake selection looked like bought cakes instead of being made there. Overall it was a disappointing experience and we probably won't return. The price was not...