The ultimate guide to bottomless brunching your way through Bournemouth as a student

Do you love a bargain? Like getting your cocktail on while ramming your face full of food for 60 to 90 minutes? Yeah girl, me too.

As an act of service, I have attended and reviewed many of the boozy bottomless brunches that Bournemouth has to offer. Through this review, I will include prices for transparency, food insights and the top tier recommended cocktail at each venue.

For the record, I do have clothes on so don’t get too excited. Bandeau’s are made for us spring girlies who get too hot after one dribble of rum hits their tongue, ok?

Here’s my unsolicited take on the Bottomless Brunches Bournemouth has to offer!

Turtle Bay

This is the most generic bottomless brunch you’re going to get. Accompanied by the sound of the restaurant’s usual reggae playlist, you can be rest assured that you will be falling off your chair after this two-hour sitting.

DRINKS: My absolute favourite drink is the Tropic Like It’s Hot. This green liquid will leave you feeling like Katrina & The Waves. Walking on Sunshine baby.

A close second is the Island Ice Blast for a nice take on the typical, Long Island Iced Tea. This colourful concoction will leave your teeth stained blue, but be warned… you may reach the point of no return. You know, when you start giggling uncontrollably, confessing all of your sins and contemplating a quick tactical chun’ in the toilet before you have to call United Taxis?

FOOD: On to the scran. The bottomless includes any brunch dish, wrap or burger, with any sides being an additional fee (lame). There are many veggie, vegan and a few gluten free options are available here. If you like spicy food , this is the place to be and I cannot rave enough about the Motherclucker Burger (VG).

Overall Rating: 9/10, great drinks and good food (if you can digest things properly). Could spice things up with some themed music brunches but the student discount perks (available via the Turtle Bay app) might just even things out.

*Warning: This bottomless brunch gets out of hand. Your girlfriend may become rowdy, you may fall off a chair and you will fall asleep as soon as your sorry self manages to get home. I will not be inserting photos of aftermath I have faced after a trip to Turtle’s BB, as I have a girlfriend and would like to keep her once this is published. *

Price (as of May 2024): £34.20pp

Dancing Jug

Ah, Dancing Jug. A personal favourite of mine as this was one of the first dates I went on with my girlfriend! This two and a half hour long bottomless brunch is top rated for me in the drinks department, but the food was super standard.

Monday to Friday is your best bet, as Dancing Jug in the Triangle gets busy on Saturdays.  I was lucky enough to attend on a Tuesday, and I received premium service from the waitress who I will still claim, made my drinks stronger than my date’s.

DRINKS: The drinks were a nice mix-up from most bottomless venues, as they had a variety which were not the bog-standard cocktail lists you will find at your local boozer. My personal favourite was the Cola Bottle. It definitely made an impact on what kind of verbal monstrosity I was managing to spew out at the pretty girl sat across from me.

FOOD: The food was a bit bang average BUT was incredibly filling! Lots and lots of chips, which I particularly enjoy after a few (dozen) beverages. P.S, on Sundays the food options include a Roast (lamb, beef, chicken or veggie options available). What is not to love about that? Though, I have not tried this yet so it could be like biting into a rubber chicken.

With all of this in mind, I do want to mention there was one other customer in the building at the time. He was entertainment enough, but I do feel like the quieter days may add to your alcohol consumption, but really take away from the overall atmosphere.

Overall Rating: 7/10,.  Longer length of time, and a good mix-up from Turtle Bay!

Price (as of May 2024): £28.95pp

Boom Battle Bar

Standing out from the other bottomless brunches, Boom offers unlimited food, drinks AND a round of Crazier Nolf (which is basically a series of mini games).

DRINKS: The drinks themselves were pretty standard in my opinion, with somewhat slow service due to this being a fairly new concept for Boom. Therefore, there are no drink recommendations for this brunch. Oh well, I guess I will have to attend another in a few weeks to assess properly.

*Brownie points for their brunches being themed, with blaring music to accompany it.*

FOOD: Food wise, you get a selection of street food. The food itself was simplistic, with huge portions. Enough to make you feel sober even when you’re seven cocktails deep. Kudos to my server who had all the knowledge on allergens, cross contamination and more. I suggest the chicken wings (GF) or nachos (VG/GF), they were proper scrumptious.

Overall Rating: 7/10. This brunch had so much potential. Good food portions but it is currently not known enough by others to have a “vibe”

Price (as of May 2024): £30pp

Slug And Lettuce

Slug and Lettuce, Old Christchurch Road … to be specific.

DRINKS: The staff at Slug OCR always slay with their attentiveness, and the cocktails are exactly what you think they will be. You quite literally, get what you paid for. This makes the bottomless simply ok.

I want to note that I do not find these drinks that strong. It is safe to say, I did not even doubt my stability on my high-rise chair, which for a bottomless, doesn’t bode too well. The drink choices are slim pickings (literally a choice between five cocktails), but the best out of an average bunch will be the Sex On The Beach. Sometimes, you cannot beat a classic.

FOOD: Slug in general, is not the best with allergens. Their online index is even a bit naff. I do not recommend if you can’t hack cross contamination, or will need to pop to Buscomint so your date doesn’t think your have the digestive system of a child.

Overall Rating: 5/10. You get what you get here and honestly, just pop across the road to Turtle Bay babe. It is only worth going to if Slug have a themed brunch going on, as I hear their ABBA themed one is gag-worthy in all of the right ways.

Price (as of May 2024): £33pp Sun-Fri and £35.95pp on Saturdays (rip off)

Honourable Mentions

There are a multitude of Brunches I am yet to tackle. For example; Post’s Absolutely Dragulous Bottomless Brunch (£36pp) looks certifiably banging. I will add it to my list of To Do’s and report back in a second edition of “Brunch your way through Bournemouth”.

Disclaimer: All of these brunches offer alternatives to cocktails, such as lager, spirits, wines and  a variety of soft drinks. I just cannot help myself.