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The Botanistone star

Address:7 Sloane Square, London SW1W 8EE
Tel:020 7730 0077
Email:
Website:Visit The Botanist website
Price: £48.00Wine: £15.00Champagne: £42.00
Opening Hours:Mon-Fri 8am-11.30pm Sat-Sun 9am-11.30pm

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Welcome to one of the busiest – & noisiest – venues on Sloane Square’s main drag. In fine weather, you’ll have to fight through the crowds of ‘City slickers & random Chelsea bods’ milling around outside to get to the Botanist’s boisterous bar. The restaurant, named after botanist Hans Sloane, is a cool, quirky space, pleasingly festooned with Victorian prints of plants & insects, although it can also get deafeningly hectic. Judging by recent visits, the brasserie-style food is rather uneven. A salad of smoked duck, walnuts, beetroot, green beans & dandelion leaves revealed good sourcing, but lemon sole was marred by soggy, overcooked fish & a strangely sweet beurre noisette. Desserts could feature seasonal treats such as pumpkin cheesecake or ‘fluffy’ rhubarb soufflé, while drinks include some snazzy cocktails & a decent choice of wines by the glass. Prices are par for the postcode, & service runs from ‘inept’ to ‘snappy’.

The Botanist Location:

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Reader reviews of The Botanist:

Read all 11 reader reviews for this restaurant
12 Next
Gemma H.
Reviews: 1

Gemma H. ( 20s, Female, United Kingdom )

A hot friday night in Sloane Square, a group of us went out for dinner and drinks at the Botanist. Usually for us its a place for a quick drink on the way home. Tonight we decided to step out for the evening and make it dinner as well. What a pleasant surprise we had.

The bar was packed the people all out in force drinking on the street frontage herded in by a lovely chap on the door. We went through to the restaurant and sat and were greeted by a lovely chap who was to be our waiter. He was showing a new waiter what to do, but still payed great attention to us.

A lovely gazpacho soup to start, one of my girlfriends had the duck egg which was interesting. Nice but not to my liking. To follow we had primavera rissotto, duck and bream. All dishes took a while to get to us but we were enjoying ourselves so it didnt matter much. For dessert we had the pimms jelly which we shared and it was divine! What a great idea for a dessert!

The cocktails from the bar were great, Victoria Pink and the raspberry collins were some of the best ive ever had. I dont know how… More

26 June 2010
Overall:9
Food and Drink:8
Service:8
Atmosphere:8
Value for Money:8
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Food fiend
Gold Reviewer

Food fiend ( 30s, Female, United Kingdom )

I wasnt hugely enamoured with The Botanist – there just didnt seem to be anything special about the food. The place itself is hugely buzzy so i felt you were paying for the atmosphere rather than anything else. Full of Alexa Chung lookalikes or glam people coming back from Ascot.

I decided on steak which was pretty decent and a better piece than expected. Chips were average as were the other sides. My friend had the gazpacho soup and risotto for main – all part of the set menu. Id say that the selection on the menu was much more limited than the one you see on the web but all the standard fare is there (except a choice of about 5 mains rather than the 10 or so on the web). Service was very inexperienced but friendly enough. Pudding again was relatively average – a Knickerbockerglory – no real skill here but was good. Overall the bill for my steak and pudding and one drink was £45 for pretty hefty bill!

I think the owners also own the Cadogan Arms which is further down Kings Road and offer 50% off food via Squaremeal so i did find myself wondering whether i was… More

18 June 2010
Overall:7
Food and Drink:8
Service:6
Atmosphere:8
Value for Money:7
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Sabrina's Passions
Gold Reviewer

Sabrina's Passions ( 30s, Female, London )

Editor's pick

I’ve been meaning to eat at The Botanist for quite some time but never seemed to find an opportunity to make it there. Every time I drive past it’s teeming with slick-looking Chelsea chaps and attractive blondes sipping on cocktails and chain-smoking Marlboro Lights. Today is no exception; we fight our way through the packed main bar to get to the restaurant which, happily, is a much more calm and less hectic affair.

The menu is not over-complicated with just a handful of dishes for each course, I kick-start the meal with mmarinated scallops and potatoes with hazelnuts and truffled mayonnaise and my companion opts for the Foie gras and chicken liver parfait with toasted brioche. My scallops dish is essentially raw but cooked by the acidity of the marinade, which is lovely and subtle and doesn’t overpower the delicate slivers of scallops.

Crunchy sugar coated hazelnuts and sliced new potatoes are pleasant, although I would have preferred a simple marinated scallop starter with just a little of the mayonnaise. The Foie gras and chicken liver parfait is… More

17 May 2010
Overall:7
Food and Drink:7
Service:8
Atmosphere:8
Value for Money:7
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Squaremale

Squaremale ( 40s, Male, London )

This place has too many covers for the staff and the kitchen to keep up. The service tends to be friendly but haphazard and unreliable, and the predictable food can take ages to come. It's very buzzy, which is good, the tables are all very close together, which isn't, and it's too expensive for what you get. At a pinch it's not a bad place, the lively bar is a good place for a drink, and they make a pretty good job of the cocktails.

21 April 2010
Overall:7
Food and Drink:6
Service:6
Atmosphere:8
Value for Money:6
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Tess G.

Tess G. ( Female, United Kingdom )

It was a complete fluke finding The Botanist, but what a good one! I'd booked tickets to see a show at my favourite theatre – The Royal Court, and my friend and I normally just grab a drink and something small to eat at the theatre bar/cafe, but we ended up there very early, so decided to try somewhere else nearby.

We didn't have dinner, but had a couple of small things from the bar menu, and some delicious white wine recommended by the utterly helpful man behind the bar. Next time we will make sure to have enough time to have dinner here. It looked amazing. Can't wait!

11 February 2010
Overall:10
Food and Drink:10
Service:10
Atmosphere:10
Value for Money:10
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Jason L.

Jason L. ( Male, United Kingdom )

I don't normally travel the west side of this fair city. I end up spending most of my time in my beloved east, but went to this restaurant for a friend's birthday dinner, and we had such a wonderful evening. The food and wine, were absolutely outstanding. The service was great, and the atmosphere very ‘cool’. I'll definitely be back when I venture to that side of town again.

17 October 2009
Overall:9
Food and Drink:10
Service:9
Atmosphere:8
Value for Money:9
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Felix's Guide
Silver Reviewer

Felix's Guide ( 40s, Male, United Kingdom )

The restaurant part I fear is now getting completely over run by the success of the bar. Maybe the management are happy with the money they are making in the bar and taking their eye off the food offering. The food has gone downhill and the service is starting to be a joke. Very noisy so don't eat here if you are wanting a good gossip or of an age were hearing is dropping!

But you can not argue that the bar is a great place to have a drink and to imbibe a bit of the Chelsea set.

9 October 2009
Overall:4
Food and Drink:4
Service:2
Atmosphere:6
Value for Money:5
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Fiona M.
Gold Reviewer

Fiona M. ( 30s, Female, United Kingdom )

Our Sunday lunch at the Botanist last week was great and I'm hoping it'll become a regular occurrence.

The prices are a touch steep for what is in reality a gastropub menu, but this is Sloane Square so that's to be expected. My roast beef was beautifully cooked and the desserts were gorgeous (the rhubarb souffle is really light & fluffy) – there was a table of desserts set up by the entrance and we raced through our main course to get to them!

Service was a bit slow though and we had to wait nearly half an hour for our (reserved) table.

February 2009
Overall:8
Food and Drink:8
Service:6
Atmosphere:9
Value for Money:8
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R.R.Gill
Gold Reviewer

R.R.Gill ( 30s, Male, United Kingdom )

The Botanist is a very buzzy place – the times I've been both the bar and restaurant have been heaving with plenty of people enjoying themselves. I can only really describe the place as adequate unfortunately – the dishes are relatively good but I would expect a little more bang for my buck and can't help feeling that it's not too much more than an overpriced Gastropub living off the relative wealth of the locals. Given the fact that there are so many other good venues in the area it's doubtful I'll return. On the brighter side service is good given the hectic atmosphere and the menu quite extensive – the cheese selection was probably the highlight for me. West End Prices without West End Quality.

November 2008
Overall:6
Food and Drink:6
Service:7
Atmosphere:8
Value for Money:6
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Flying Foodie
Gold Reviewer

Flying Foodie ( 40s, Male, United Kingdom )

Editor's pick

My party of three had a superb time at The Botanist last night. I had been keen to try it for some time due its attractive decor and was not disappointed. Its modern understated dining room is an impressive place to take anyone.

What surprised me more was the food. It is rare that I want to eat everything on the menu but in this case I did. The menu included lots of interesting flavour combinations such as the venison, red onion jam, red cabbage, blackcurrant and sun dried tomatoes main. Many other items had this creative fusion plus great presentation.

Service was snappy and helpful throughout although the red wines by the glass left a little to be desired. Best of all was the price. Three of us had a three course meal and a bottle of wine for £50 each in a setting and with a quality of food that felt worth a lot more. I thoroughly recommend The Botanist and it deserves to become a destination restaurant in its own right.

October 2008
Overall:9
Food and Drink:9
Service:8
Atmosphere:9
Value for Money:9
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