The Botanist Reading - (Near Berkshire, South East)

4 /5 Kayla L Sampson: The overall atmosphere is rated a 10. I can only recommend the burger, fries, and calamari. The Asian ribs were delightful, but I advise against ordering the burger, particularly the one with mac & cheese. I found that burger to be quite unpleasant, and I cannot recommend the lamb kebabs as they were distasteful. However, the customer service was truly exceptional. The prices are standard, which suggests that you receive what you pay for, yet I wish the food quality was higher. There is only one item I would return for, which is the burger, but I likely would not revisit unless it was simply to enjoy sitting at the bar.

5 /5 Gayathri Gopal: I had a wonderful experience at Botanist Reading. The ambience was amazing and the food was really good – the lamb kebab, in particular, was excellent. A special mention to Vivianne, who was very attentive and explained everything in detail, making the experience even better. Great service overall! 5 stars for sure!

2 /5 Robin Ireland: Over priced, understaffed and underwhelming. We arrived, having booked a table and confirmed we worked be coming. We were seated and then things ground to a halt. Incredibly slow service - Over 15 thirsty minutes before an order was taken so we preferred food at the same time. We then waited again - another 10 minutes for drinks to arrive and well over 40 minutes before food arrived. When asked about tonic to go with a particular gin, the response was slimline or normal - very odd for somewhere thats based on botanicals. We sent "The Allotment" board back as it arrived half empty. Even when it returned it was not as advertised; The "rainbow heritage carrots" were suspiciously all orange and looked a lot like bog standard carrots. The pork belly bites were tasty, but when the side salad on the plate is bigger than the dish you ordered something seems off. The hanging kebab was as advertised and really quite nice.

2 /5 Sue Phelps: We were really looking forward to our visit, sadly, despite the gorgeous decor we were very disappointed. We waited 25 minutes for our drink & food orders to be taken, even though it was very quiet in the restaurant. It was only after I got up to order some drinks from the bar that we were finally served. Our food was left on the kitchen "hatch" for what seemed to be forever. And so of course was almost cold when finally served. Food was mediocre and cold. Really expected more, very disappointing and expensive for such poor service and food.