Dobbies Garden Centres Reviews 32.076

Looked online before we visited for lunch to confirm they did gluten free bread. However they woukd not do a sandwich for my daughter using gluten free bread until she had filled in their app, which did not catwr for her dietry requiements so a complere waste of time. She just wanted a sandwich with gluten free bread and no cheddar cheese as she isn't allowed dairy at the moment. Too much to ask it seems. We won't go for lunch again !!

Dobbies(Dunfermline)- Complimented the two youngsters behind the cafe counter who had to deal with frustrated customers in a 15 minute queue. They were cool , calm and professional in their approach.
Dobbies need more staff to deal with weekend surge or work smarter with current staff (and management).

A lacklustre so-called 'garden centre's that really looks as if it's on its last legs. It looks unattractive as you drive in; where's the shrubs and trees to suggest they even exist as a garden centre. It's dull, scruffy, boring and extremely tired looking.

Inside you are greeted by dead and dying houseplants. How on earth they are expected to thrive in a cool dry atmosphere is beyond me. Does anyone realise they need humidity?

Ventured into the main plant section outside to see the majority of plants were desperate for water, shriveled, wilted or dead. This place must be losing money hand over fist with the amount of dead stock they must throw away.

The rest of the place lacks originality and creativity in display. When this store first opened it was a really decent place to find interesting items and the plants were well looked after.

I'm sorry but I'm used to visiting Barton Grange nr Preston which is of a standard Dobbies seems unlikely to even dream of achieving.

Shut it down. It must be hemorrhaging money and I don't think it'll be missed. You can find much healthier plants in nearby nurseries.

Items bought were damaged. They replaced them and sent them to me and they were not the same items. No response so far. So I have paid £40 for items I did not order.

A lot of the vegetable plants where far from fresh, furniture in cafe really does need cleaning, and the waiting time for service in the cafe is far to long, a lovely place to visit but one which seems to need a bit more loving care

The search engine on their website is useless. I was looking for a Red Hot Poker plant. I was given 1447 red items. I searched again for the official plant name of Kniphofia and got nil results. Finally I tried Poker plants and got 4 results including path clear and plant food. Hopefully I'll find what I want from another garden centre?

Visited this GC at Gosforth on a very rainy day with my elderly mother, daughter & 17 month G/daughter as was told there was a soft play area. We did not take the buggy inside & i’m pleased we didn’t as there was hardly any room for use of a buggy or for wheelchair users, The place had some lovely items, however it felt cramped & we passed at least 3 very large buckets to catch ceiling rainwater, it was single file access near the shoes section, which a few customers were commenting on. We could get a table in the soft play area, however each table was crammed with previous customers plates etc & we had to clear a table ourselves. We brought a high chair to the table, but the straps were broken. We ordered food, which was quite expensive, however ample food on the plate, me & my mother had omelette. Upon leaving the GC, we couldn’t believe how many dogs were in the building, we’re all for dog friendly places, however i think every dog owner was there with their,.. some rather large dogs out for a walk in there due to the weather outside! Within 4-5 hrs of leaving, my mother & i both felt unwell, with nausea & severe stomach cramps, my daughter was fine & we can only put our sickness down to us both eating the omelette,.. My advice is, don’t take a buggy or wheelchair, don’t go on a rainy day & don’t have the omelette!

Today, I was appalled to find the Carlisle branch in such a disgusting state. The restaurant still makes a lovely cup of coffee, the crockery and cutlery spotless, but the restaurant itself was filthy. The wicker chairs had food crumbs sticking to the seats. The tables had not been cleared for hours, congealed food on the plates, they still were not cleared after we finished our coffee. In the corner beside our table, was an arbor on display, it had two hanging baskets hanging off it full of dead brown ivy. There was a huge siders web in the window, and dead flies and bees everywhere. Outside the weeds growing in between the pavers at least 3" tall. An elderly lady with a water spray was watering the plants (including the dead ones). I spoke to several other customers, who agreed with me, that they couldn't believe the amount of dead and dying plants. The poor girl (the only one on the till) deserves a medal, she was run ragged, she called for help, but no one appeared. She could only apologise to us for having to stop serving, while she got the signing in book for a member of staff, they keep away from the till. She was back almost immediately, but another 6 customers, had appeared by then. Despite all these complaints we did however spend over £100, but we will not be going back. I will send for my plants and pots over the internet, as this is an experience that has been most enjoyable in the past, was ruined by lazy people not doing their jobs probably, and not being supervised properly.

Needs TLC. Toilets are very tired. Air Conditioning on during our visit on a cool day. Cafe was too cold. Seats were dirty & need cleaning.

Toastie’s only available on white bread, where normally other cafe’s offer brown/wholemeal.

Not a great experience and I would not recommend

I wanted to use birthday offer which is 2 pieces of cake (stopped drinks with it!)
No gluten free cake so could not buy just 1
As need to get 2 pieces at same time.
Ordered chai latte told no chai powder!
So not able to have my drink that I wanted either!!

The cafe is very popular and there was a queue when I arrived. I want to praise the bearded assistant who despite being understaffed with a new recruit on the till was very hard working, professional and supportive of the young man at the till who was trying hard but making mistakes. The bearded guy sorted the mistakes, dealt with customers who had the wrong order, made the coffee with a female assistant’s help and just about kept the show on the road.
The queues were long and they needed more help though! But well done to this person !

As mentioned before, quite a few plants did not survive??
No response from Donnie?
What’s the point of feedback?
Won’t be ordering again from them.

First time of visiting the cafe here after being put off with huge queues on previous visit.
Will be our last one now as this is the quality standard of there tea pot and don’t even get me on the cup!!!

The cafe has gone down hill. Poor service no cream scones when the offer is on. Only 2 girls serving , tables not cleared, no restaurant anymore. We used to love a trip up. But unless we are getting our free monthly coffees we go else where. Sorry to say this.

Had to stop here on way home from family emergency to get food the cheese and ham toasties we order were filled with thick mustard which we were not aware off I like mustard but we were unable to eat the food due to the amount in them a waste of £11 person over priced over seasoned totally over rated

I re-registered for a Dobbies card during a visit, which became live at the end of April. Shenstone has been a really nice destination in the past for myself and my family, particularly the restaurant. My first revisit was with family and a baby. Honestly, the food was as good as I remember but the furniture is really very dirty and I really don’t understand why. The staining looks historical, not from the last 24 hours. I would definitely return for the food (if cleanliness is improved) but I really wouldn’t recommend the destination to anyone else at this point in time.

Close down - please . Hold my refund over 4 days and keep seying will take 14 days to get my money back, only because they can't provide product on time. Staff there don't know what they doing.

As a regular visitor to Dobbies until December last year I was shocked to read the reviews about the food there. That was until yesterday. Hubby and I visited gor breakfast, arrived before 10.30am to be told that the agency chef on duty hadn't set up yet for breakfast. By 11.00am he still wasn't ready!!! At 11.15am we were told we could order either a bacon or sausage roll but no breakfast. I ordered one of each, the sausage one was okay, unfortunately, the bacon was absolutely rock hard I thought I was in danger of losing my fillings.
One bright thing the young man on the till Aaron is an absolute asset to the company, polite, friendly and helpful. I felt sorry for him having to keep asking the chef when he was planning to start cooking.

Dalston near Carlisle: Terrible food again, fish although in a 'warmer hood' was cold, this was unpleasant and a health risk. Again the shrubs on display were disgusting many of them dead, frosted or deseased, they should not be on display who in their right mind would buy them? This branch should be shut down.

4 ladies had a wonderful afternoon tea on saturday May 2nd which had been prebooked, and so avoided any queues. It was good service, lovely section of cakes and sandwiches and great value for money. The experience was made better by strolling round the garden centre choosing lovely plants. We were spoiled for choice but after joining the loyalty club a discout was deductd from the bill. However I must state that people applying to join after us caused massive queues and no more were allowed to join after a while. Overall a super afternoon out.