Dobbies Garden Centres Reviews 32,052

Restaurant using paper cups for drinks - not nice at all as could only taste the cup and not the tea which used to be lovely served in a pot and a china cup.

Fantastic custer service very helpful will return

Usual weekly trip to Dobbies for lunch this week, as the menus have recently been changed, decided to opt for a chicken & bacon sandwich, oh dear! The chicken was the horrible from frozen kind and it tasted the same, didn’t eat it , come on Dobbies surely you can do better !

Came today for, what used to be, a famously good breakfast.
I stood in line at the hot breakfast section behind two couples who all said they had been there more than 5 minutes with no staff. After another 5 minutes they all left to go to IKEA or McDonalds.

I stayed to see what happens. Someone came after about 10 minutes and when I asked about substitutions for the breakfast, I was then given a long list of rules and regulations. I went for the Traditional Breakfast and added 2 items.

Sausage - clearly overcooked and burnt
Bacon - wet and soggy
Beans - fine but too many as they covered most things.
Lorne sausage- cold and oily
Potato Scone - overcooked, rubbery and hard to cut through
Toast - cold
Egg - I wanted a fried egg but those available were hardened and actually grey around the yolk so I chose scrambled which were crusty and barely warm.

With a small bottle of water, this came to £13.80 and was probably the worst breakfast I have had in many years with absolutely nothing to recommend.

I gave 2 stars for the staff friendliness but there is clearly not enough as there are multiple dirty tables with some tables being used by customers to pile old trays on.

Avoid eating here.

For the last 3 visits to Dobbies Aberdeen I have picked something up thinking of buying it to find no price on either the item or the shelf it was on. If they want customers to buy their stock please put prices on. Customers shouldn't have to find an employee to ask for the price of goods!!!!

Staff are extremely helpful and supportive

I went yesterday to the restaurant. Wanted fish and mash but I got fish and chips. In the fish there was more batter than fish. The quality has gone down. My friend had peas which wasn't cooked properly. We won't be going to the restaurant anymore as I this is not the first time this happened. Service was very slow. We have to call them to be served as it was taking such a long time.

Lovely, friendly, helpful staff. The same young man kept appearing when I needed help. Must've been fed up with me by the end of my shopping trip, yet he said "that's what we're here for".

My husband and I have been coming to Dobbies in Owermoigne for a year now and usually have a good eating experience. Today however, it’s the first time we have been here this year and they have made changes to their menu. I only drink Earl grey tea and they no longer offer this so I couldn’t have a drink with my lunch. I ordered a vegan toasted sandwich which was only toasted on one side leaving the other side soggy, not very appetising at all. My husbands wasn’t bad, not as good as usual, he said. A very poor lunch sadly and we were looking forward to returning to Dobbies. I won’t be eating here again although my husband might want to.

Manager refused to sell the display polytunnel where there was no stock in store - no stock in the central warehouse and no date for when new stock would arrive. So on what basis will the display ever be sold? No online option, no click and collect option and therefor no option to take advantage of the advertised discount. He was asked on 2 occasions today by his helpful staff if the display could be sold. The first was on the basis that there was no stock in the shop. He said no. Fair enough, we could just order click and collect. He was asked again when it became clear that there was no availability at any store or at the warehouse. Again he didn't seem to want to engage with any explanation and just said no. It seems all that would be needed would be for him to arrange an assembly of another display model when new stock becomes available. Not an option it seems. I feel for the staff and I feel for all the other customers who look at the display to find they can't order it at the sale price and can't buy the display. Disappointing from a store with so many great non-management staff

Waited 15mins to get service and I didn’t receive my food after another 10min wait for a scone. Pot of tea very dirty cup was cracked. Waiters were just walking around not communicating with customers. It was at 10am it was not that busy

Several members of staff in the garden section clearly resent the fact that dogs are permitted. They are particularly sullen and even surly at times. On Thursday while I was looking at tomato plants in the outside area of the garden centre my small dog lifted his leg and dribbled on a metal pillar. A female assistant noticed this and reprimanded me, accusing me of being inconsiderate and causing her to have to "clean up". If I had noticed in time I would have pulled my dog away and in any event he only urinated a tiny amount in a section which was clearly outdoors. The staff in the main shop are wonderful ambassadors for Dobbies and my dog Cosmo is very popular with them, but I doubt I will be returning to the garden area because my shopping experience is spoilt by the staff there.

Good to get some discount for my plants but a staff member didn’t mention the 30 day trial period when asked about the advantage card.

We visited the cafe yesterday and what a disappointing experience.
After we ordered our food we were handed a receipt so we could pay at the till.
We queued for tea/coffee and had to listen to a barrage of shouting from the staff that we could make our own at another machine.
At the till, the woman working there was calling everyone “guys”. Ok guys, is that everything guys, cash or card guys, on and on.
At the cutlery station there were no forks.
So we proceeded to a table without our food to be met with more dirty tables than clean ones
I had to return to the counter to wait for our food along with several other people.
I was handed two plates and then asked did I want chips, well yes I paid for them and did I want salad, well yes I paid for that too.
The cheese and onion toastie was only toasted on one side, the filling was onion chutney, not real onion. The meagre amount of cheese was scattered over the top and melted. It was a slimy mess.
All the while listening to the woman at the till shouting guys, guys, guys.
Such a big disappointment compared to how it used to be.
We won’t be back.

I wish to thank Mathew at Dobbies garden centre Braehead for some great advice and ideas. He was so helpful and knowledgeable.Took his time to explain to my husband how to deal with climbing plants.
Very much appreciated, thank you.
Averil Williams

A very disappointing move by @dobbiesgardencentrespr @dobbiesgardencentres to remove our donated defibrillator & box - because the pads & battery needed replacing. No reaching out, just removed it all.
Apparently this is head office decision to remove all defibrillators from Dobbies stores nationwide. What a step backwards from everything we work so hard to achieve.
We can only put this down to lack of education around cardiac arrest. Truly disappointing 😔.

We visited Dobbies at Birtley, Co Durham and went into the restaurant for a coffee. 2 coffees and 1 scone, jam and cream. I was fourth in the queue and waited for ages for 1 man to be served. Only 1 girl making the coffee. Then I noticed a person using the served yourself coffee machine so I came out of the queue and went to serve myself. No milk. So a young assistant went and got a jug of milk. And I had no clotted cream for my scone so she went and found some. I paid £12.50. Got to my seat and my husband said “ this coffee is lukewarm “ and it was!!!!
There was a microwave so I went and heated both coffees up. The clotted cream was so hard it wouldn’t spread and had to go onto the scone in slices.
As you can imagine we weren’t impressed. When you are charging this amount it should be a near enough perfect experience

Dreadful food
This was our 2nd visit for food (Moreton Park) within past 4 weeks and will be our last!
£29.60 for 2 warm coffees, two cheese and red onion chutney toasties and a measly portion of fries. Our toasties looked lovely but the cheese on the inside was cold and not even melted. Three weeks ago we both ordered fish and chips and unfortunately the batter was so hard I had to take my fish out of it just so I could eat it, the mushy peas were cold and the fries just warm. We regularly visit and also bring our 1 year old grandson with us to the soft play there. We have eaten there in the past and found it ok and we visit a few times a month for coffee and cake. I have a Dobbies card but shan’t be renewing when it’s due. It seems it’s struggling for staff judging by the tables cluttered with trays both in main eating area and the soft play area. They have priced themselves out of the market as far as our wallets are concerned.
We were silly not to have complained the other week and even more silly not complaining today. Lesson learned not going to eat there again, just the free drinks until my loyalty card runs out.

This particular Dobbies in Ayr, looks like its been here quite a long time and is in need of renovation. There's rust on the supporting ceiling beams, flaking plaster and obvious signs of damp ingress on the walls. The chairs in the café are tatty with the faux leather worn off the chair arms. In the clothes section the edge of the carpets to the hard floor have different types of sticky tape obviously applied at different times to address wear and tear. Gives the impression of under investment which doesn't go well with generally pricy clothing. Compared to the local Dobbies at Carlisle, this branch needs some tidying up and some cap-ex applied. A disappointing visit.

Long term customer of this place. Usually love visiting every few weeks. But what an absolute rip off on the strawberry and cream scones. Ordered 3 for myself, partner and mother to find not even half a strawberry inside, just garbage cream from a can and a wafer thin smear of strawberry jam scraped on one side of the scone. Complained to the Manager who said there was supposed to be half a strawberry (clearly not too bright to admit that, as it’s pathetic for £4.25 per scone). Given their prices, Dobbies should be ashamed of themselves. Have a Dobbies membership card I WONT be renewing. Greed personifies.