A couple of years ago I visited The Botanist Marlow to try their bottomless brunch which I absolutely loved. So, when I was invited to try The Botanist Marlow new autumn menu* involving hanging kebabs, deli boards and pie dishes to name just a few, I eagerly jumped at the opportunity.
However, it wasn’t quite the same experience as I enjoyed last time.
The Botonist Marlow: Our Visit
Since becoming new parents earlier this year, dinner dates aren’t really our thing anymore so we (my husband and I with Austin, our son) were booked in for lunch at The Botanist Marlow on Tuesday at 1pm.
With its aesthetically pleasing highly Instagramable decor and pub-style atmosphere, on arrival we were warmly welcomed by a member of bar staff before the manager came over to greet us. We had been looking forward to our visit for a couple of weeks so were eager to get settled with a drink and browse the new autumn menu.
New Autumn Menu –
Drinks
The drinks menu was very appealing, with an extensive variety of cocktails, gins, wines and ales. To begin with I ordered the passion fruit & basil crush cocktail, and my husband ordered the English Mojito. Both arrived well-made, visually appealing and tasty.
So far, so good.
New Autumn Menu – Starter & Main Courses
Examining the new autumn menu, there was a really pleasing variety of options available including vegetarian (that’s me), vegan and gluten-free meals.
My husband fancied a starter of Frank’s hot wings with ranch sauce (DF), followed by one of The Botanist’s ‘famous hanging kebabs’ – chicken and chorizo with garlic butter.
Frank’s hot wings were well received, but my husband felt that the theater of the hanging kebab distracted a little from the overall taste, which was okay but nothing to shout about.
As I prefer to go for a main and a pudding when I go out for a meal, I ordered the vegan jackfruit curry with coconut rice, but waited to order dessert until later. The selection of desserts on offer all sounded delicious so I was looking forward to satisfying my sweet tooth.
New Autumn Menu – Sides
We also ordered a side of champ mash, and broccoli with almonds that we thought our son would be okay with as he’s in the process of weaning. We were also informed that the restaurant were out of sweet potatoes so it’s fortunate I wasn’t in the mood for my fave sweet potato fries.
Is that chicken in my vegan curry?
Yes there was. Although jackfruit can resemble the appearance of shredded meat, what I was looking at (and later tasted to be sure) was definitely chicken!
The Service
The first thing to say is that all the food that arrived on our table (even my curry with the rogue pieces of chicken) was well presented and looked appetizing. The broccoli and champ mash sides were tasty and Austin devoured them willingly (as much as any seven month-old baby can).
But, the service we experienced during our lunch to sample the new autumn menu was poor. It began well though as we were seated in an area of the restaurant that had room to park our pushchair, and have Austin in a highchair. We were then given a few minutes to get settled, review the various menus, and place our order.
Unnecessary delays
Once our drinks arrived and my husband had had his starter delivered and eaten, there seemed to be an unnecessary delay before our main courses eventually came. Remember I haven’t ordered a starter so I still haven’t eaten at this point and we had been at the restaurant a while.
Once our main courses did finally arrive, I took a couple of minutes to photograph our meals before our waitress was back asking if everything was okay with the food. Neither of us had had a chance to actually taste our meals yet so this was a little premature.
I wasn’t at this point really concentrating so we just did the British thing and said yes to be left alone, but that’s when I noticed the chicken and then suddenly nobody was around to raise this with.
Eating alone
By the time my meal had been corrected, my husband had finished his lunch and was now in charge of keeping the baby entertained as he had also finished eating and was getting a bit restless. I was now eating my lunch effectively alone.
I can usually forgive errors but conscious that our parking was up at 3pm, it was now twenty past two and we still had dessert to order and eat, and ideally another round of drinks. But again we were left just sitting in a restaurant that was far from busy.
Gave up waiting
I went off to change Austin a little after half past two, and when I came back 10 minutes later dessert menus were on the table but by now I was just pissed off and made arrangements to leave.
If I was a paying customer I wouldn’t be giving the restaurant any more of my time or money, so I didn’t think this should be any different just because I had been given the privilege of trying the new autumn menu for ‘free’.
I am gutted we left without being able to try the dessert menu which was so disappointing, but the poor service let the whole experience down.
Until next time x
*I was invited to try the new autumn menu at The Botanist Marlow in exchange for a review. All opinions are honest and my own.
