Botanica

Preliminary review.. saw folks sitting on the patio so w3 decided to stroll in. We have always loved the patio and thought it was the best in Wildwood; the restaurants just always struggle here. The new owners completely remodeled the inside. Looks like a great bar. Open and airy. Staff were friendly and greeted us promptly. We were told they have cajun Italian which intrigued us. Unfortunately, we walked in at 8 pm and they had shut their kitchen down already, apparently b/c they ran out of food. Hope they can get it together quickly and keep folks coming back. We'll give them a second chance.

Tonight my husband and I were honored to be invited to family and friends night. Alex was our server and she was so funny, sweet and nice! The inside of Botanica is so crisp and clean and modern. I loved every angle of it. Drinks: We ordered the Lion Tamer cocktail and Bavarian Hefeweizen. Let me tell you the Lion Tamer I could drink all day and never know there was any alcohol in it, that’s how good it was! Appetizer: We ordered the buttermilk biscuit with pimento cheese. As much as I hate square biscuits, Ben Welch killed it! This biscuit is huge and fluffy and melts in your mouth, and the pimento cheese was so good! Entree: My husband ordered the the catfish. He cleaned his plate. He’s never ate eggplant before and loved every bite of the eggplant. I ordered the gnocchi. This dish is like heavenly potato pillows in your mouth. All the flavors meshed well together, especially the extra little surprises of cauliflower. So good! Dessert: We ordered tiramisu to go. Haven’t ate it yet but it looks and smells wonderful. We are way to full to attempt this dessert tonight. Thanks Ben Welch and Botanica team! Everything was really really good! I ordered

Enjoyed dinner tonight at Botanica. It was a good dinner overall with just a couple things we didn't like as much. We had the blackberry bourbon smash and lion tamer cocktails. Both were good, though the bourbon smash had a bit too much muddled berry. We started with the crab zeppole starter. It had very good crab flavor and the remoulade was great. I wish there had been 4 of them (even if they were smaller) for better sharing. The pepperoni pizza was good, though the pepperoni reminded me of the ones on a Tombstone frozen pizza. The garlic fermented honey added a nice sweetness. The noodles in the tagliatelle were inconsistent in their doneness. The lamb and sauce were good though. It was dispointing to see them not serving the full menu that's on their website due to being shortstaffed. I wish they had noted the limited menu on their website or Facebook page. Our server was friendly and attentive. The ambiance wasn't really what I expected from a place where dinner was over $100 though. The lights were bright and there were multiple TVs with football on. Not necessarily a bad thing, but unexpected.

Wow, just wow! Botanica in Wildwood will love up to every expectation you could have. The Zeppoles are truly awesome; light, airy and full of delicious flavor with a knockout remoulade. The handmade Tagliatelle is full off rich comfort and so filling. While you're at it, might as well have a perfectly cooked Roman style pizza (the pepperoni with the fermented garlic honey is amazing). I can't say enough about the food, but don't forget the cocktails! We wouldn't expect anything less from the creators of Six Mile Bridge. How lucky is Wildwood!

Amazing! We sampled brussels, pizza and pasta and they were all amazing! I love that they have a great, yet affordable wine list including Bonanza (Caymus) along with an array of options. The service was incredible, too! You could feel the passion.

Sweet potato pizza is an epic fail invention, I taste steamed potato slices without any seasoning, some mild taste cheese, and a few tiny pieces of pecan candy. As you can see from the photo, it doesn’t look appetizing and it doesn’t taste good either, very dry and has no flavor profile. The broccolini and Brussels sprouts on the beef dish are burned outside but the vegetables are still very very raw. I felt this is a very unforgivable mistake for a $31 dish. Chicken is the only dish that turns out ok tonight. The lady who brought our food to our table didn’t care which dish to who, set one of the dishes on one of our sliver ware without notice, didn't say anything, and walked away. We wonder why this is one of the restaurants that get nominated for James Beard Award.

Celebrating 31 years of marriage with a nice dinner at botanica! First visit and overall a very nice meal...the drinks were fantastic and the wedge salad may have been the best dish of the night. I had the lamb tagliatelle which was good, albeit slightly under seasoned. Wifey had the gnocchi, which was very good. Both entrees were healthy sized meals. Capped off the dinner with tiramisu! It would be nice to have a few more pasta and entree selections...

We loved getting to experience this delicious new restaurant last night. We are already craving the Tagliatelle (lamb shoulder ragu, nduja, gremolata, bechamel, cured yolk). We also shared the delicious roasted chicken. Super moist and flavorful. Not pictured are the delicious starters we got: Sourdough whipped lardo, salt, herbs Crab "zeppoles", chive, old bay, cocktail sauce, remoulade, gremolata Would recommend any of these dishes and this wonderful restaurant to anyone. What a gem of a place!