The Botanist

Have been to The Botanist many times, and the food and drinks are always amazing! It’s a great spot, great vibe.
Unfortunately we held a hen’s there late last year and the service was pretty bad (from the bar staff) We were upfront about why we were there from booking, so if they have issues with large groups of females it should have been noted. It was a lunch booking and in no way a typical hens (not a penis straw in sight). Being a group of about 20 females on a hens we were ordering a lot of cocktails (something you guys fame yourselves on) The attitude we got when ordering cocktails was disappointing. A friend being told she had had enough cocktails already by the bar staff (mind you this was her first cocktail) and then rudely being told it will be at least 20 minutes until they are ready in hope we would order something else. With every order we got an eye roll and attitude and even mumbling under their breath. If you don’t want to make cocktails, maybe consider trying for a job at the pub up the road pouring beers.

Great location. Awesome and very friendly staff. Cocktail menu is amazing and the wine list is very solid.

Definitely a bar-​first atmosphere, but don’t let that stop you from stopping in for some good food. Always forget how much I enjoy good pan-​fried halloumi, and these guys do it up right. On a day where I am slightly less hungry, this plate alone would have been a nice light meal. But I was quite hungry, so I also ordered a set of four tacos, two beef, two chicken. I’m aways on the lookout for anything that might resemble true Mexican food in Australia, and these were actually some of the best I’ve had here. Good sized, sturdy tortillas. It also didn’t hurt that the server offered up a nice selection of various hot sauces to go with the order. Definitely worth another go in the days ahead.

The food is great and staff is friendly. The place can be loud when it’s peak time over dinner hours.

This place has the best drinks, a really nice atmosphere and the staff are attentive and great overall.
The drinks can be a bit $$ but that’s to be expected, like most other nice bars in Sydney. Have been to the botanist many times and will continue to do so.

On weekends I often drop in for a drink. Sometimes order a meal. The atmosphere is special because recorded Music played is unique for instance rare blues songs. It is very popular with locals hence a packed house means service can be slow but worth the wait. The waiters are polite and efficient.

Great food that is served quickly. However the service is decidedly slow. They could have sold us many more drinks if the wait staff came to the table more frequently.

Stopped for pre-​dinner drinks at this new bar. Excellent selection of local beers, wines and ciders. Really nice storyline and theme here being relaxed and inviting but hip

This was by far one of the best meals we had in Sydney… great food, great service, great ambience, delicious cocktails, great wine list…
Hard to find anything bad to say ;-)
Definitely a recommend :-)

Great bar and restaurant right in front of Milson’s Point station. A little bit on the expensive side, but worth the money. The quality of food and drinks is brilliant.
Came here once with a birthday group, and we ordered a set menu that cost around $ 40 each. So much food. Too much food for all of us to eat — and each dish was as good as the last. If you don’t want a set menu and just want to order something from the menu — go the burger. Any of the burgers. All good.
And then there is the cocktails — different and fantastic, and will suit anyone. I personally don’t like sweet cocktails and this was not a problem.
So if you are in the area, and want to try a pretty cool place, make sure you stop off here.

My second time to the Botanist & I loved it! I first went here a year ago for a Xmas lunch and was impressed so when we needed to organise a late Friday afternoon work meeting with drinks this place sprung to mind! This time around we ordered some share plates of Haloumi, Beef & Pork Sliders, Corn Chips & Guac along with some fries. Everything was delicious although I loved the fries & beef sliders they were outstanding but everything was really great. They do some amazing looking cocktails, unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to try them but maybe next time!
Love this little place in Kirribilli!!!

Wonderful bar. we love a Wednesday cocktail the Botanist to break up the working week. The staff are always welcoming and what ever old fashioned cocktail I ask for .they deliver in quality, taste, chutzpah and no need for me to explain the ingredients… I highly recommend the Sidecars… delicious and dangerous… just the way a cocktail should be. My partner is a coeliac and I can confirm this is a venue thAt is very cool and understanding of food allergies… if your not a coeliac even better great choices again… if you plan to eat I suggest booking and if you fancy a cheeky cocktail choose a week night easy drinking easy company and the Botanist is not too crowded.

Coeliacs, Vego’s and Cocktail lovers… this is a hot spot for you!
Great location in Kirribilli not far from the harbour bridge steps two doors down from the Kirribilli pub. The décor is like being in an indoor garden with iron fittings and ropes to hold the plants, wooden floor ceilings and beautiful wooden tables for groups with well built bay window seating areas.
Note: The chairs are very high and if your taking a little person may not be appropriate as I saw one little girl take a very hard hit to the head when she fell off the chair as the seats are very high.
The food is manly shared plates that are well portioned. For two people two plates is more than enough (I suppose it depends how hungry you are in the end).
Best of all YOU CAN HAVE COCKTAILS FOR BREAKFAST IF YOU WISH!!! Believe you me cocktails on a sunny Sunday morning is a real treat to start the day!
They truly no their cocktails here and pay homage to «The Botanist» that use to reside their.
We had the slow cooked pork belly with quince pasted, roasted brussel sprouts in walnuts (I know! brussell sprouts… yuk right?) NO it was beautifully presented and tasty dish! of course I had their signature cocktail to go with it’s a huge plate! two mouths are better than one;p
Lamb salad …(full on meaty salad! extremely refreshing)
Pricing is excellent… and by excellent I’ve paid more than $ 60 at other cafes for just a boring breakfast and coffee but it was value for money at this place and I started my day with COCKTAILS 3 to be exact!!!
Visit it you won’t be disappointed as the staff a very friendly, well informed!

This new bar in Kirribilli is heaving — seriously, tough to get a seat or a table, and the barman tells me it is like that every night, and I can believe it.
Ambience kind of old English with some of that currently very trendy sign writing in the style of the 20’s and 30’s. But waaaay too loud, the walls need softening somehow as the rabble was making a dreadful din and I could hardly hear myself think. Shocking.
Bar service is of course slow when the bar is so incredibly busy, but the mixologists are clearly pros with juices made fresh and the array of cocktails dazzling.
Would like to have tried the food but with an hours wait for a table and not allowed to eat at the bar tables (quite mystifying) we moved on.
Great spot, though.

Great place for a few drinks and some great food.
The share plate vibe is a perfect match to the casual atmosphere.
The food is consistently good, particularly the cerviche, the chicken curry and the chilli prawns (don’t order the fattoush though, go to a Lebanese restaurant to scratch that itch properly).
Wine by the bottle is pretty reasonably priced, and there are some gems on the wine list. I can’t vouch for the cocktails…
Smart folk make a booking. Everyone else has to wait. Be prepared for that, even mid-​week!

The Botanist’s namesake was an «eccentric, often-​rude man» according to a spiel in the ornately illustrated cocktail menu, and while The Botanist is hardly eccentric amongst its contemporaries across Sydney — serving up the kind of sangrias, sliders and soul music you could find in just about any hip new bar — it certainly inherits some of the rudeness. You’ll notice this on first approach, when you’ll be redirected from the spacious and glassy original entrance of the building back up the street and down a cramped stairwell that bears more than a passing resemblence to a fire-​standards regulated emergency exit. It’s an unconvincing illusion, designed to trick people into thinking The Botanist is a hidden gem. They needn’t bother. Kiribilli’s nightlife scene is so dead that you couldn’t hide a family barbecue there, much less a pretentious cocktail bar.
Having said that, I like The Botanist. I like sliders, sangria, and soulful, funky music — The Meters’ Fire on the Bayou was playing on my first visit, which made the long wait for the cocky bar staff much more tolerable. Slow is usually forgiven at a quality cocktail bar, but the results here don’t quite justify it. My rum-​in-​a-​coconut was missing the lime, which is kind of the whole gimmick, isn’t it? The bartender who laboured over it was clearly green but that doesn’t excuse him for not taking the obvious cue from Harry Nilsson’s classic.
Ultimately the reason to visit is the food — not because it’s wonderful, but because it’s good value and interesting. The cauliflower fritters, spiced and served much like onion bhajis… with cauliflower… come in a generous portion, and the ceviche is fresh and tasty, if a bit baffling beside four chewy slices of sourdough bread — why not use crisp papadams or tortillas? It’s a menu designed for both reliable feeds, with puffy pizzas and mini burgers, and tapas-​style sharing. That’s a fine line to walk, but The Botanist’s kitchen does it confidently.
You could argue that it’s exactly this rude confidence that has allowed The Botanist to hollow out a local niche for itself so quickly. It became popular no sooner than its doors opened, and it’s consistently busy. A word of caution, however: jerks may quickly win attention, but they’re much less likely to win hearts.

Yep, I totally agree that this is the best place in Kirribilli! Is it cheap? No. But everything else about it is good to amazeballs. Food was not as good as I’d hoped — sliders missing flavour, ceviche lacking punch.
But the service is wonderful, the wine list is actually bloody good (a rarity, I find) and it’s got a great atmosphere. Maybe the music is slightly loud.
All up, loved it and will be back. Many times.

Best new thing to happen in Kirribilli for a long time. The last time we were this excited was when Dominique opened Epi d’Or a few years ago :-) The locals will understand this well.