Blanco Botanic Gardens Restaurant

Disorganized — adjective — functioning without adequate order, systemization, or planning; uncoordinated. This describes how I felt about the service at this restaurant. I am unsure why there is such a huge amount of hype around this place when the staff were quite inattentive and did not work systematically.
Forgetting orders, misplacing cutlery and getting the bill wrong is certainly not what I expect from a 2014 award winning restaurant yet all of these mishaps were part of my visit. When paying a decent amount for lunch (at least $ 55 for 2 courses), I left with a sour impression rather than a positive one.
After receiving the incorrect bill (which said our food cost $ 0.00), I was tempted just to walk out, I mean the bill said we don’t owe them anything, but in deciding to do the right thing, there was quite a wait to get the attention of the staff in order to have them correct their mistake. You would think that they would check the bill before they hand it to the customer.
Around 20 mins spent waiting for the bill and another 10 – 15 for the correct bill meant there was a lot of waiting to do. The views were nice but it was difficult to appreciate them when you were trying to get the attention of the staff.
The food was a bit bland. I had the asparagus with quinoa and while it was nice, it was not amazing by any means. Dessert was good but nowhere near worth the asking price. Presentation was clearly the outstanding element here as opposed to taste.
I recommend Serafino in McLaren Vale if you want to dine fancily. The staff there are great. Unfortunately for the Botanic Gardens, a lunch I was looking forward to turned into a lunch I would rather forget.

Another Adelaide restaurant in such a fantastic location that they don’t think they need to try.
The service was slow, the portions tiny (the waitress even advised is to order a few side dishes in addition to our two main courses as the serves were very small). We ordered side dishes AND stopped for a bite on the way home.
The food tastes pretty ordinary. They managed to cook some chicken until it was dry but undercook some fish!
The menu is as limited as the serves are small.
I envied the people up in the 5^th floor cafeteria of the RAH next door, tucking into their ‘roast of the day’. At least they’d leave satisfied and would only spend a few dollars.

Massively overrated. Yes the food is tasty and presented well, and many of the vegetables and herbs may be sourced from the Gardens, but the prices are incredibly high. This may be the opinion of someone from a middle class upbringing who’s used to larger, heartier meals from the cafés of Rundle St; but my richer friends have made this restaurant out to be much more than it is.
The beef was tasty and incredibly tender, and the kingfish was cooked perfectly with good sides but the tiny serves left me hungry with one meal costing the same as three meals elsewhere. I can see the appeal if you want to go to a classy restaurant, but I can’t see myself going back even if someone is paying.
And as usual for a restaurant of this style the coffee is mud.

Or small group came here for a Festival of Food lunch. The atmosphere is lovely, overlooking all the greenery that’s in the middle of the gardens. The food is quite nice. Well presented and the taste quite ok, but not what I thought outstanding.

The Botanic Garden Restaurant is a multi-​award winning restaurant and catering venue in the Botanic Gardens specializing in Modern Australian Cuisine.
The Restaurant is open for breakfast on Saturday’s Sundays and public holiday Mondays only and is open for lunch from Tuesday to Sunday. The Fare is very much fine food, with wonderful service and finely set white tables in the pavilion like structure which overlooks the lake in the centre of the Botanic Gardens.
Evening Meals are by appointment only, as the restaurant effectively operates as an event space. If you have the cash, I am sure that it would make for a fantastic venue to host a function of some sort or other, but I imagine it would be pricey.

This café is in a beautiful setting, overlooking a lake in Adelaide Botanic Garden.
SERVICE AND WRAPS
The service is generally prompt and the waiting staff are really nice. I’ve even had an experience where the chef came out the kitchen to deliver my freshly made salad wrap by hand.
It proved to be a really tasty yet healthy lunch that day at work. The wrap was packed with ingredients such as marinated eggplant, Spanish onion, red and green capsicum and mixed lettuce.
BREAKFAST
Breakfast is served at weekends and on public holidays. You can get nice cooked breakfasts, such as Eggs Montréal — poached eggs, sorrel, smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce on toasted croissant, or fresh dishes such as fruit salad, with organic vanilla yoghurt, fresh mint and peach schnapps.
Although the café is open from 11.30am on regular Mondays breakfast is not served. Along with wraps there are muffins and ordered-​in dishes such as toasties.
LUNCH
The lunch menu generally has some interesting dishes on it. My partner enjoyed some Deboned Salt and Pepper Quails with pickled shredded salad, crispy onions and chilli jam at this café, while I enjoyed a hand-​made gnocchi with creamy wild mushrooms, lemon thyme and three-​year-​old aged pecorino cheese.