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Reviews (Current Rating Average: 4½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
E TA left this review about The Botanist
Well described by Blackthorn, below, this historic building is a pleasant place to sit, impressive in its architecture and has an historic feel about it – even the clock was still on Greenwich Mean Time. The muzak was too loud, though, which spoiled what would otherwise be a relaxing atmosphere. It feels more like a colonial club than a pub, though the service falls far short of such a concept. The young female serving staff were rather clueless, while the bearded troll behind the bar was surly and indifferent to the point of rudeness. He was also lazy, and we had to insist on getting a full pint in the glass. There is no real ale – Camden IPA was the sole craft offering, and it was expensive. We didn’t eat,but the nibbles were also expensive and didn’t look like good value. There is a new bar opened in the cellar, called ‘Beneath’, which calls itself ‘the darker side of botany’, but it’s just a late night cocktail bar in a cellar, nothing special. It was a good place to come and look, but I don’t feel inclined to come back for food or drink.
On 26th August 2022
- rating: 4
[User has posted 3285 recommendations about 3250 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about The Botanist
A recent opening in the popular Milsom Place development, this occupies the site that was formerly the short lived Confessional cocktail bar in the basement and the Burger & Lobster restaurant on the ground floor. I debated whether to mark The Confessional as open, but since this is a larger establishment occupying more of the building, I opted for a new entry.
A narrow entrance hallway with plenty of foliage hanging from the ceiling then opens out in to an impressive octagonal room with high ceilings, mezzanine balcony and an octagonal roof window. The central bar counter, which was also octagonal, had a large tree growing in the middle of it, and the foliage theme continued with numerous pot plants dotted around the room. Flooring was black and white tiling around the bar counter, with dark wood strip elsewhere, whilst the walls at ground level were clad in very pale wooden boards. Higher up, and around the edge of the balcony, was some quite intricately carved plasterwork. There appeared to be some sections of exposed brickwork, and although I didn’t inspect this closely, from a distance I suspect it was just brick effect wallpaper. A semi open kitchen was off to one side with dark green glazed tiling, and a number of cabinets were around the perimeter of the room containing more botanicals and glassware.
There did not appear to be any real ales on offer, although there were four keg fonts on the bar. What these were offering though is anyone’s guess, they weren’t labelled and there was no chalkboard or similar as far as I could ascertain. The menu listed a surprisingly decent collection of bottled beers though, including some from local micro’s. They also had Sheppy’s cider which went down very well. Service at the bar was quite slow, firstly it was difficult to get to with punters sitting at stools all around the perimeter, and when you did get there the bar staff were spending most of their time making cocktails.
This certainly is not your traditional pub, but more of a bar / restaurant no doubt aimed at a younger demographic than myself, although to be fair there was quite a mixed age range in on our Saturday afternoon visit. The architecture is certainly quite impressive and I may well return to sample the food, but it’s not somewhere I’m likely to return to just for a pint.
On 20th May 2019
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1948 recommendations about 1861 pubs]