We tried Lincoln’s new Turtle Bay and its student deal: Here’s our honest review

Turtle Bay has finally arrived in Lincoln, and because it has launched a new student deal for bottomless brunch we went to try it out and see if it’s worth it for Lincoln students. Three of us from The Tab Lincoln had their two hour bottomless brunch for £33.70 per person. While Turtle Bay is a popular destination for bottomless brunches all across the UK, Lincoln is new to its buzz, so we appreciated the opportunity to try it out for ourselves, to admittedly mixed opinions.

When we first walked in the vibes were great. The Jamaican reggae theme of the place is everywhere you look, from the tin shack-style bar, colourful rusty signs, and reggae music taking over the speaker. It’s definitely different from your usual bottomless brunch location in Lincoln, so its originality in ambience could be appealing to some students.

Unfortunately, when we were ready to order food, the kitchen had run out of gas and half the menu was unavailable, including all but one vegetarian option for the veggie at brunch. It was a shame we didn’t get to have the full menu when we went, and all other option on the menu was an extra £4.70 each, which, as a student, is an extra fiver you might want to save for a rainy day (or more likely the bar after brunch). But on a usual day, it had a fair few brunch options to choose from that are more on the breakfasty side, with a few brunch classics like smashed avocado on toast, or the most likely choice for students, burgers.

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Despite the limited food options, most of the staff were great and tried their best to accommodate our food order and we ended up ordering two of the burgers, the jackfruit and then their regular “beef shack” burger, and a chicken wrap as well as some of their sides for an extra £4 each. In all honesty, we weren’t crazy about the food.

Of course, we were limited because of the kitchen problems during our visit, and while the wrap and beef burger were decent brunch meals, the jackfruit burger was a big disappointment especially as it was the only vegetarian brunch option available that day. We also paid a little extra for two sides of mac and cheese and, in our opinion, they were bland in comparison to other places and not worth the extra few pounds we shelled out for a cheese craving.

The drinks were definitely the highlight of the visit. With the whole cocktail and mocktail menu to choose from, we were spoiled for choice of beverages, a luxury most Lincoln bottomless brunches don’t offer. Our favourites from the visit were the Green Mango mocktail, their Pina Colada and the Vanilla Passion Mojito, but if those might not be your taste they are three of the 30 cocktails and mocktails included with brunch so there is bound to be something that tickles your fancy.

Even the drinks we didn’t enjoy as much were good cocktails, and the only complaints we had were about our personal tastes. They have made an effort to be creative with their new cocktail menu, which we saw when ordering Turtle Bay’s take on a Long Island ice tea mixed with a Tango Ice Blast (the Island Ice Blast).

Where Turtle Bay does deserve praise is in its effort to make its bottomless brunch more affordable to students. The company has just launched a new free brunch student deal where for every three people you bring to brunch, the fourth goes free, which definitely takes away the financial deterrent that might stop students from choosing to go to one. If you want to check out the deal for yourself, you can find out how to get it on the Turtle Bay website.

However mixed our experience was, the new location is still a good choice for students wanting to hop on the bottomless brunch trend at a lower cost, and, our experience aside, is somewhere that we would give a second chance.

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