The Botanist - a sad specimen!
We chose the restaurant to celebrate our wedding anniversary, having taken a river boat from Westminster on a lovely sunny afternoon. – a big mistake. Although The Botanist was not crowded, service was haphazard – a different member of staff almost every time with a great deal of confusion and uncertainty. The Botanist clearly thinks it's a gastro-pub but the food is nowhere near that standard. A short menu is not necessarily a bad thing – suggesting doing a few things well; however The Botanist's is short but with no evidence of things being done well. For a start one (of three) main course roasts, one dessert and one red wine were all ‘off’ – as may have been others we didn't find out about. Not only that, the dishes we could have were poor. .The portions for both the starters – smoked salmon and pate – were ‘mean’; the roasts at £12.50 each, were smothered in gravy and tasteless. My wife's second choice dessert., apple pie and custard, was dreadful – pastry covering a few huge lumps of apple, with minimal support from the custard. My sticky toffee pudding was tasteless – it may be a Northern dish but it's not rocket science. All in all, very disappointing!