Il Botanico the italian coffee - Oxford

Em G.

Delightful experience, picked up some pastries for my colleagues, one who’s obsessed with pistachios, one who’s gluten free, and one who’s a chocolate lover - managed to make them all very happy.

Service was brilliant, had a lovely chat with the person behind the till who gave good recommendations, and let me pick the specific pastries I wanted. The pastries are very rich, especially the lobster pistachio tail but it was incredible & huge. My other colleague reported that the Nutella cannoli is her next obsession.

Very good selection even when they first opened.

Fatema H.

Great place to coffee, and the service is switch and efficient! There’s also a great selection of pastries, and even gelato. Heads up though, if you’re looking to work here, this isn’t the place to do so. The upstairs seating is cosy and cute, but the internet is terrible (both 4g connectivity and the store’s wifi). Great to dip in though!

Dessi V.

Wow!!! This place is truly incredible :)!! The staff and the owner? was really lovely and helped us pick their lovely desserts! I had the cannoli which was the biggest I have ever seen and the taste was the best ever!! The savoury pastries looked great and the gelatos looked incredible too! Looking forward to coming back again and sitting upstairs! Highly recommend this lovely cafe :)!

Frank H.

Brilliant atmosphere in here, really nice small and cosy and the two staff on were lovely too. The coffee was amazing and probably one of the best tiramisus I have ever had in my life! I highly recommend coming here!

Seher D.

Little coffee place with a nice location and cute atmosphere with the plants upstairs. It’s a real shame that the pastry I had tasted like it was made 3 days ago.. I hope this was a one time thing and that the lobster tails filled with Nutella will be sold fresh next time, otherwise reduce price to avoid waste or don’t sell at all… the coffee was good though.

Samuel K.

*Updated*

The café owner has contacted me to resolve the issue. It was encouraging to hear that the owner is proactively addressing the staff issues and trying to improve. Based on this, I would consider revisiting and revising my review to 3 stars.

Cakes: a variety of delicate selections to choose from. We ordered the Sicilian pistachio, lemon meringue tart, and tiramisu. The cakes were lovely, but it's difficult to fully appreciate them after encountering such rude staff.Drinks: Two iced lattes, a latte, a frappe latte, and another latte. Unfortunately, nothing special—just okay.

Service: extremely impolite. I believe we were served by the same staff member mentioned in other negative reviews. I can confirm my experience was also very disappointing. She tried to convince me that a frappe latte without blended ice was a better value for me. I asked twice, but she continued to challenge me, insisting on serving the frappe latte without blended ice. She was remarkably discourteous. I don't recall ever being served hot coffee and cakes on disposable plates and with disposable cutlery when dining in at a café.

Atmosphere: the entrance was inviting and cozy. However, the upstairs area was left untidy, as shown in the picture, even though the café was not busy.

Overall: A huge disappointment due to unprofessional staff. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Klaudi

The vanilla vegan tart with raspberries was great. The arancino was pretty good, there were lots of truffles, but I think there is a space for improvement (for example in terms of batter).

Jessica W.

Really disappointing experience. The service was unfriendly, and the food was both subpar and extremely overpriced. The cannolo I ordered was filled with a watery mousse—nothing like the rich, creamy filling you’d expect. The cornettò pastry was rock-hard and stale, clearly sitting around for far too long. Even reheating it at home didn’t help.

On top of that, it was overfilled with hard pistacchio filling, making it difficult to eat. Given the price, I’d honestly be better off flying back to Sicily, where I could get far superior pastries for a fraction of the cost.