Dobbies Garden Centres - Edinburgh Reviews 794

TrustScore 3 out of 5

2.9

Melville Nursery, EH18 1AZ Lasswade, Mid Lothian, GB


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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for Mark@Dobbies garden centre Lasswade who helped myself and my neighbour pick out plants for a memorial garden. Mark has tremendous knowledge and so helpful whilst maintaining a p... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Very poor selection & quality herbs, The 3 I bought 2 weeks ago have all died - poor roots. Also expensive!! I bought much better herbs & cheaper at Mortonhall garden centre & I’m delighted with... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

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... See more

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Customer service was rude when we arrived at soft play The soft play area was absolutely Baltic Outside temp was -4 inside temp was not much better All adults are sitting with winter coats o... See more

Company replied


Company details

  1. Garden Center

Written by the company

Dobbies has been the home of gardening for over 150 years. You can trust us to provide quality products, expert advice and inspirational ideas for you outdoor space, whatever size it may be. But it's not all about the greenery. At your local Dobbies, you'll find all you need for your home and garden, plus delicious food and drinks in our restaurant. Visit www.dobbies.com to find out more.


Contact info

  • Melville Nursery, EH18 1AZ, Lasswade, Mid Lothian, United Kingdom

2.9

Average

TrustScore 3 out of 5

794 reviews

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Very poor selection & quality herbs

Very poor selection & quality herbs, The 3 I bought 2 weeks ago have all died - poor roots.
Also expensive!! I bought much better herbs & cheaper at Mortonhall garden centre & I’m delighted with how they are growing 😊.
Dobbies the shop seems quite nice but I think I’d only stop by for the food. & gifts deps
Sue

May 7, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Polytunnel Palaver

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

April 19, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Waited 15mins to get service and I…

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

April 18, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Rip Off Dobbies Cream Teas

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.

April 12, 2026
Unprompted review
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Rated 2 out of 5 stars

It’s very rare that I complain but….

It’s very rare that I complain, but the young lady who was preparing the coffee at about 3.30pm completely let the other team members down.
Firstly, the teapot she presented us with, not only was horribly stained, it looked dirty. The person behind me in the queue mentioned this too.
I asked her if it would be possible to change it. No words. No smile. Nothing. Just snatched it and made another one.
I then waited for the milk. Another team member brought a jug and I simply asked if it were mine. She huffed, and literally slammed it on my tray, then poured another one, as the one I claimed was apparently for the people behind me.
I asked if I could have a teaspoon. She said very sarcastically “ sorry honey we haven’t got any, if you give me a chance I’ll get some’.
I asked if there were any on the tables and she said no.
I waited and waited. Hot drinks going colder. I asked again, to be met by the same patronising attitude and being called honey again.
Her attitude was literally appalling.
In the end I went to my table, found another member of staff and explained what happened. She was a credit to the team. Went and found some spoons, asked if we needed our drinks refreshed, which we declined and was very apologetic.
Fortunately we come to this branch weekly, and apart from the odd tepid coffee, we know the staff are lovely.
If this was my first visit, it would definitely have been my last.
This young lady needs customer service training urgently!!

February 24, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Waited 25 mins for food

Waited 25 mins for food. Not the staffs fault. There was a shortage of staff and guys who were working were running from side to side to order, serve and deliver food.
WHY DONT DOBBIES ADD A QR CODE SO THAT YOU CAN ORDER AT TABLE. ESPECIALLY THE DOG AREA WHERE SERVERS ARE VERY RARE.
Food was good but service time made it unacceptable. Soup and sandwiches, and kids lunch box. Coffee and coke.

February 22, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Won't use proper full milk in their…

Won't use proper full milk in their coffees yet sell large cakes and biscuits full of sugar. Majority of their customers are older, many with pre or type 2 diabetes,chronic inflammation, Obesity, and one or more symptoms of metabolic syndrome, many of which are caused by these sugar bombs. If the fat in the milk was unhealthy in the first place, then nature wouldn't put it there. It contains all the fat soluble vitamins (especially vitamin D) that the body needs for optimum health.

November 28, 2025
Unprompted review
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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful breakfast...

Don't go for breakfast unless you like it cold and dry. After ordering a vegetarian breakfast and a vegan breakfast they came within a few minutes. How can they cook that fast? They can't it was cold and eggs dry like it had been sat for ages under a lamp "a broken one" and they served the vegan breakfast with normal butter... won't bother again.

November 21, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Kids products being sold damaged or incomplete

Twice now I have bought kids products (toys and book) where pieces of the product have been stolen whilst in the shop or are damaged. This is just unacceptable and demonstrates how the shop has generally deteriorated over the years and is no longer a premium shopping experience. A sad decline from its heyday 10-15 years ago. Whilst I live less than a mile from the shop I rarely consider visiting anymore since it has become so run down .

August 23, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Underwhelming

On the last few visits (yesterday and last month), we have experienced, almost cold coffee. We asked if they could be reheated, but they said they could only pre-heat the cup, and you have ask for that. We did that, but it made no difference, so we asked if they had a microwave. My husband explained why, and was responded to, with a flat "no"..... We also had an issue with the croissants, which had obviously been taken out of the fridge/freezer shortly before display. All in all it was a very underwhelming experience on both occasions 😒

August 19, 2025
Unprompted review
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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Avoid this garden centre

Avoid this garden centre! I had a serious accident in their car park, I broke my leg. Slipped on loose stones tried to save myself and my foot went into a pothole went over my ankle fell to ground. Fell awkwardly and broke my leg. If this pothole had been filled in before my accident I probably would have just skinned my knee. Did the management care? Did the heck couldn’t even apologise. They were quick enough to repair the pothole and area around it!! It’s a while ago since this happened but just want people to know what kind of place this is!!! I’m never going to forget it as I very long scar on my leg!! 2019

May 11, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Great service from Cameron!

Great service from Cameron!
I ended up choosing a few more plants than I’d planned so had filled my trolley up, but still needed bark and compost. Cameron saw I was struggling and immediately offered his help… even pushing the extra trolley to the till then out to my car where he loaded everything up neatly.
A real credit to the garden centre team - thanks Cameron!

July 13, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

£350 worth of plants - 1/3 destroyed, 1/3 missing

We ordered £350 worth of plants. We opened our front door to find 3 battered boxes had been delivered - we had no idea they were arriving today. The plants had been overpacked into the boxes with the result that half the plants have snapped stems. 18 items are missing. We called Dobbies and they told us that they would not help us by phone and we had to email photos of what we had received. We are so angry at the state of the plants that we have received. We have no idea if Dobbies believe they have sent us everything or not (they haven't). It's a total disgrace. I will not be using Dobbies ever again. I am angry that this is deemed acceptable for a premium priced garden centre. I have photos of the whole experience.

June 10, 2025
Unprompted review
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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

WORST TASTING COFFEE

Their coffee tastes terrible, weak and watery. For some reason they only use low fat milk in their coffees which makes them taste watery. Also this causes the foam on the coffee to quickly shrink and break up, so by the time you get it to the table, the cup is little more than half full. If a customer insists that they want skimmed milk in their coffee give them that option, but for the rest of us proper milk please, your customers will thank you for it.

May 1, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Dobbies, Edinburgh Filthy seating in Restaurant

Filthy seating in Restaurant st Lasswade, Edinburgh. This was the case a couple of years ago and it’s worse now. Slittered and huge stains on seating. Reported to Customer Services at Lasswade, Edinburgh and Head Office no reply!
What a way to treat your customers, really disgusting.

April 15, 2025
Unprompted review

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