The Botanical

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Overall Rating

5.6

The Botanical Average based on its 26 reviews
Calculated using a Weighted average

Food
8.3
Drinks
3
Ambience
5.3
Service
4.9
Value
6.5

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The Botanical Details

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The Botanical Address

169 Domain Rd
South Yarra VIC 3141
 Map
The Botanical Menu
The Botanical Website


The Botanical Contact Info »

Cuisines

Asian Fusion, Modern Australian, Vegetarian


Chef

Cheong Liew & Tom Milligan


Prices

Average Meal Price $71 - based on one entree & main course only

General Price
Entrees $4.00-$23.00
Mains $34.00-$74.00

Breakfast
$6.00-$19.50

Lunch
Entrees $4.00-$36.00
Mains $25.00-$42.50

Dinner
Entrees $4.00-$38.00
Mains $33.00-$66.00
Desserts $16.00-$25.00

Prices last updated:  06/2009


Bookings

Bookings are preferred


Rooms & Capacity

No of Seats 140


Hours

Mon to Fri 7am - 11:30pm
Sat to Sun 8am - 11:30pm


Specialties

  • Saltwater duck
  • Red roasted Snapper
  • Octopus Salad

Serves

Serves Breakfast
Serves Lunch
Serves Dinner
Serves Late Dining


Classifications

Restaurants
Cafes
Bars


Categories

Bookings Online
Restaurant Bookings

Business Facilities
Meeting / Banquet Facilities

Dietary Standards
Cater to Special Diets

Dining Atmospheres
Fine Dining
Good For Groups
Hip and Trendy
Romantic and Intimate

Dining Features
Bistro/Brasserie
Entertainment / Music
Has Bar
Has Cafe
Licensed
Outdoor Dining
Private Room

View
Park View


Payment Types Accepted

Amex
Diners
EFTPos
Mastercard
Visa

Parking

Ample or Convenient Parking
Free Parking
Street Parking



Help us correct a mistake or add more info!



The Botanical Awards

2010

The Age Good Food Guide 2010 - One Chef's Hat


2009

The Age Good Food Guide 2009 - Two Chef's Hats


2008

The Age Good Food Guide 2008 - Two Chef's Hats


2007

The Age Good Food Guide 2007 - Two Chef's Hats


 more…



Overview of The Botanical

Set beside Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, The Botanical Dining Room upholds a 150 year old reputation in fine dining excellence. With dark solid oak features, chestnut leather chairs and contemporary artwork, the restaurant is formal and elegant, yet modern and inviting. This is reflected in an innovative menu which breaks convention in terms of course order and encourages sharing. All dishes are beautifully presented and might feature Roast red snapper fillet served with leek fondue, celery and spring onion jus with calamari shavings, or Wood-grilled Wagyu sirloin with cardamom pepper crust. A sommelier select reserve wine list will complete your Botanical Dining Room experience.



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    User Reviews of The Botanical, South Yarra

    Page: 1 2 3 Next

     

    Displaying: 1 - 10 of 26 reviews



    2 Not Recommended

    Food  2      Drinks  3      Ambience  3      Service  1      Value  1     


    Management void of true values. The only value must be the amount of $$$ rolling in, which explains the kind of staff they employ - lazy and untidy waiters and waitresses, a supposedly renoun and reputable chef (never trust references and referees - ever) who would benefit from a basic hygiene course, and so we all had a case of bad flatulence followed by diarrhea the same day. Moral of the story - do not judge a book by its cover or future employees by their references. Check them out on the spot. Forget CVs. glowing brochures, and the rest. Put them on the task, no help, and see how they perform. Who cares if they are likeable - make sure that they are first capable and then likeable, not the other way around.

    Aug 04, 2011 

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    sagitarius
    1


    5.3 Average

    Food  7      Ambience  9      Service  1      Value  4     


    Faulty Towers in a faultless setting! We had to chase up staff constantly and ask for a wine list, then menus, what the specials were, if we could have some bread, where our friend's beer had got to, if we could all have a water glass (yes overlooked again!).

    A comedy of errors from start to finish from the very good looking but completely inexperienced staff, who took the term "waiting" quite literally, all clustered in the front of the restaurant while an hour passed between drinks (oh yes your glasses will get cleared too without an offer of another bottle but your dirty plates could sit for eternity unless you ask for them to be removed).

    No wonder the place is empty, there's a good reason for it. There were no oysters which we didn't discover until after our plates were on the table and we were waiting for them, there was no more Boags beer. The list goes on and on. The only plus of the night, the roast beef was delicious, thank heavens for that but our friend's limp schnitzel went back practically untouched.

    We were told it was bad but chose to give them the benefit of the doubt. We will dine out on the night's experience but what an insult to the memory of the Bot, which was a great Melbourne institution.

    Dec 14, 2010 

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    notfussyreally
    1


    2.5 Not Recommended

    Food  5      Ambience  3      Service  1      Value  1     


    Our "waitress" couldn't find a wine list but thought "there was a wine from Tasmania and one from France" I ordered the one from Tassie and I think she actually went to Tassie to get it. Or maybe she got lost on the way to the bar and forgot what she was doing. The Botanical is very entertaining, but avoid if you are hungry or thirsty.

    Dec 06, 2010 

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    hungryhorris
    1


    0 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

    5.8 Average

    Food  10      Ambience  8      Service  1      Value  4     


    The food is still great but the staff are terrible (tuck your shirts in for one) stuck up management and children as waiters.

    Mar 09, 2010 

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    yorkshire
    5


    1 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

    8 Recommended

    Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  7     


    Food was great and the staff were friendly. A bit expensive for sure but worth it.

    Dec 22, 2009 

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    jp85
    4



    1 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

    4.5 Below Average

    Food  8      Ambience  3      Service  1      Value  6     


    This restaurant is a shadow of its former self. Sean Donovan is a great cook but the restaurant has lost everything it was famous for. This was our favorite restaurant and we'll prob never bother going back. Service was absolutely atrocious.

    Aug 09, 2009 

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    pixaus
    1


    0 of 2 readers found the following review helpful

    5 Average

    Food  5      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  5     


    Let me start by saying I did enjoy my meal here, I was just disappointed with the quality of both the food and the cooking. The starters (appetizers) were both very good. The mains (entrees) were adequate - we ordered the ribeye @$49.5 and the entrecôte (shell/bone in strip) @$66. Both were unevenly cooked (there is no excuse for uneven/incorrect cooking).

    Based on a discussion with the waitress and the cooking per another table we had ordered the ribeye medium-rare and the entrecôte rare. The ribeye was 60-70% medium and the entrecôte was mostly medium rare, except about 20% of the meat near the corner of the bone which was actually excellent. The ribeye was quite a reasonable cut and decently marbeled and fatty, just overcooked. The entrecote was just ordinary for the extra price. It was thin... I had a discussion and was told it was at least an inch (2.5cm) thick, however it came as about 1.5cm and was for the most part too fibrous and not delicate and melt in the mouth as I would expect for a strip steak of that price. IMO the restaurant let themselves down by cutting the steak too thin... a strip should be between 1-1.5 inches to cook properly.

    We did not have dessert, just a dessert wine, as the menu didn't grab us. I should note that the desserts we saw did look quite appetizing. Overall, we were disappointed as the steaks did not measure up to steaks that we have had both locally at Rockpool (Melbourne) and internationally at places like Peter Luger's, Wolfgang's, the Strip House, BLT, BLT Prime, etc (NY), Smith and Wollensky and Mortons (Chicago) and SW Steakhouse (Vegas). That said currency converted at $66 my steak was US$44 so cheaper than steaks at most of those places which are about US$45-48 + tax and tip so about A$80 on a comparable basis at current exchange (0.67).

    So while I enjoyed the meal, I would not eat here again and would probably only go to Rockpool for "good" steak in Melbourne, but someone less fussy who hasn't eaten at the same steak restaurants would probably quite enjoy.

    Feb 08, 2009 

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    preat
    1


    6.5 Recommended

    Food  9      Ambience  5      Service  3      Value  9     


    The food at The Botanical was excellent. The service was unusual – it had its good points and bad points. We were seating very quickly however once seated, the service staff were slow to take our orders however once we ordered the food came out within 10 minutes. The service staff were very quiet, I greeted a waiter when he came over but he didn’t say a word. Odd!

    The bread and balsamic vinegar were excellent! I started with the poached truffle egg which was delicious; my only wish was there to be more of this delightful dish.

    My partner had the pork salad which was very different in flavour but was fabulous. I had the entrecote truffle steak and whilst the cut of meat was very good it was not nearly as tender as my other halfs, the flavour was absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to go back and have this again AND the portion was HUGE! I struggled half way through the steak; one could easily come to this place and only order mains.

    My partner who was never a fan of truffles has been converted because of these two dishes. My other half had the Charolais grain fed rib eye with hot mustard coleslaw, bone marrow and parsley salad. It was not nearly as rich as my dish but the flavour was excellent and the cut of meat was melt in the mouth. The amount of mustard they gave us was a ridiculous amount; lucky it was in a bowl. We had a few cocktails which were very good even though they took about 20 minutes to come.

    Overall an excellent dinner. Highly recommended. Great food for a special night out!

    Jan 15, 2009 

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    shoeminx
    7


    6.3 Average

    Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  4     


    Great food, except hideously overpriced. $33.50-45.50 for a main is not correct, my steak was $58. Absolutely delicious food, however the service was a bit odd - at times it was excellent but then we'd be left alone for large stretches of time. There was a mix up with the sparkling wine we ordered, and we ended up being served a $160 bottle of champagne without realizing! However the management were willing to go halves on the difference which I found fair, and they dealt with it in a very professional and pleasant manner.

    They really need to work on the ambience - tables are too long as mentioned in other reviews, meaning you're too far away from your partner. It's very loud and there's a noticeable drop in temperature as you walk from one end of the restaurant to the other.

    If the food were priced a bit better I would have no hesitation in recommending this restaurant - the "Hanger Steak" I had is one of the best steaks I've had. However things really are very expensive for what you get, there is a noticeable lack of polish to the place which lets it down. Hopefully they can improve on this.

    Sep 19, 2008 

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    mech
    17


    9 Highly Recommended

    Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     


    This restaurant is one that deserves its two chef hats award. I was quite surprised to walk in a place that was filled with customers. But what occurred to me was that they were all satisfied diners.

    My boyfriend and I were whisked away, being swept off our tummies by their entree, main and dessert accompanied by recommended wines for each course. What I personally love there were the tuna sashimi with grilled prawns and aged t-bone steak (which was the special for that night).

    Will definitely go back to this restaurant soon. There's nothing like a night of pampering with food and wine.

    Sep 07, 2008 

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    lkgene
    4

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    Displaying: 1 - 10 of 26 reviews









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    Special Offers for The Botanical

    Special Offers Special Offer 2-Course Lunch $35

    2 courses with a glass of wine $35.

    Every day from 12noon till 2.30pm.

    Special Offers Sunday Roast $28

    Enjoy the mandolin duck or the Berkshire pork roast, $28. Available in the wine store and the bar.

    All day from 12noon.


    Print Special Offers for The Botanical Print Offers  |  Terms & Conditions

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