The Botanist in Sheffield is quite hidden away in Leopold Square in Sheffield city centre, close to…read morethe City Hall stop on the Supertram network. It's probably the only bar and restaurant to also be a maze, its HUGE and other than outdoor seating it surely doesn't feel like you're entering a restaurant. They have 3 sets of two doors but strangely only one is in use and there is no sign for this, once inside you basically go back on yourself into a dark, dingy, horrible corner where they have the lift. After leaving the lift, finding the main restaurant is equally as puzzling and difficult.
Admittedly, the decor in the restaurant is unique and innovative and true style of The New World Company restaurants, albeit I preferred the Media City branch, there were many similarities with trees, huts etc. It to me felt like an old bank or barn but refurbished, possibly even a potential wedding venue.
I dined here during an ongoing promotion where they offered 40% off the food bill in January and ordered my regular Chicken and Chorizo Hanging Kebab which would usually come to £13.95. I did notice the menu to be slightly stained and sticky however service was reasonable with the waitress (Becca), seems to do a lot, despite not being overly busy she seemed to have a huge workload due to them appearing understaffed and she still worked in a friendly and polite manner which is commendable.
They do also offer a set menu all year round however this still at £12.95 for two courses this still ends up costing slightly more than the 40% off promotion, so I have no idea why I was offered it. Also, I found it strange that they labelled dairy-free and vegetarian on both menus but only NG (non-gluten) on the regular menu, meaning if you did order from the set menu, you'd have to cross-check between them.
Sadly the slight cleanliness issue which arose with the menus seemed to continue with the cutterly (ready on the table) which also wasn't entirely clean sadly which also is uncommon by usual Botanist standards.
I did enjoy the majority of my kebab, while I do feel the garlic seemed to taste more overpowering and heavy than other branches, I did also find the meat on the ends to taste a little chewy and overcooked, while the middle was fine. It still had some good flavours and was rather enjoyable and certainly warranted good value for money, even at 50% off.
Certainly not the best branch of The Botanist I've been too, but my food was still pretty good, as was most aspects of my experience. I do feel a lot of small improvements do need to be made, however, only warranting a three-star rating for now.
