The Botanist Ipswich

Popped in on the way to the theatre last night. It was happy hour, Christian made us 4 fantastic cocktails. I have to say these were the best cocktails i have had in a long time. Impressively made with alot of care and attention. Would definately return.

Dreadful experience. Booked an early dinner (5.45) to celebrate my son's 40th birthday, with one of his friends, before moving on to an event at the nearby Corn Exchange. Visited earlier to drop off a balloon for the table. It wasn't there upon arrival & they had to find it. Spoilt the surprise. Ordered drinks & starters, which arrived arrived promptly. To be fair, food was good. Mains didn't arrive. At 6.30 we let waiter know we had to be out by 7.20 for a show at 7.30. He said food was ready & on its way. Still no food at 7 pm. By 7.10 we decided we wouldn't have time to eat it, so decided to leave. As we put coats on, food arrived. Explained to young waitress that it was too late. She went to who was presumably her supervisor (nothing indicated she was even a member of staff - no badge, & scruffy appearance). I heard her tell the girl to take the food "down to the staff table". I approached her and said we had to go. She was very rude. I pointed out we had chased the food & let waiter know the position, & said I didn't expect to pay for the 2 starter courses. She was very rude, saying, "well, you're leaving anyway". Totally spoilt the celebration for my son. Sent a complaint in the next day, but no response. Will never go back, or recommend this badly run restaurant.

awful experience. Had a table booked for 17:45 on Valentine’s Day. Staff were friendly enough and we ordered very quickly. But when the food didn’t even turn up after an hour and a half, spoke to the manager and said if it’s not here in 10 minutes we are leaving and not paying a penny for the drinks we had already consumed. Food didn’t arrive so simply got up and left. Everywhere was booked up being valentines so had to settle with a KFC!!

It seems we had a similar experience to a few other people who booked their work Christmas meal at The Botanist. Admittedly we all enjoyed the food, but it was overshadowed by the frankly shambolic service. We waited almost an hour for our mains despite the restaurant being pretty quiet, but to make matters worse, upon requesting our bill before desserts due to over-extending our lunch break, we then repeatedly asked to have our desserts to take away. At this point both waitresses disappeared for about 20 minutes, possibly to buy some containers for our desserts. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced poorer service in a restaurant and definitely won’t be eating here again in a hurry (ironically).

TLDR: Very Slow Service, Poor Quality Food Preparation, Burnt Chicken, Stale Cous Cous, Excellent Christmas Tree Decoration. Visited The Botanist in Ipswich on 17th November 2025, and honestly, I’m shocked at how bad the experience was. We had a table booked for 4:30pm and were ready to order immediately. Despite this, our food didn’t arrive until after 5:30pm. And the reason quickly became obvious: the manager and another staff member were far more interested in redecorating a Christmas tree than actually running the restaurant. This left one young staff member trying (and understandably struggling) to take orders for the entire floor on his own. When the food finally arrived — two “Great Sharing Kebabs” — it was a complete disaster. The chicken was burnt, the cous cous was stone cold and tasted foul, and the overall quality looked like it had been thrown together by someone who wanted to go home early. We would have complained on the day, but after waiting so long, we just wanted to eat whatever was edible and get out of there, especially as it was meant to be a birthday meal. I emailed the restaurant afterwards to give them the chance to respond and put things right. No reply. Not even a generic apology. At this point, I can only assume they still haven’t responded because they’re probably still decorating that Christmas tree.