Dobbies Garden Centre Andover Reviews Summary

Facilities

Pros:

• "Car parking space is very good with overflow section so that's always nice."
• "Large free car park with disabled blue badge holders parking right in front of the shop."
• "Wheelchair accessible entrance and disabled toilet available."
• "Most people still wearing masks. Which made me feel at ease. Not over crowded at the time we went."
• "All very Covid safe and felt comfortable to eat there."
• "VERY clean, VERY well set up and organised."
• "Has a separate clothing store and pet store."

Cons:

• "Men's toilets are a little dodgy and 2 taps don't work with wet floors everywhere."
• "Would not have visited cafe if I'd used the Ladies toilet first, they were disgusting, almost every empty toilet was soiled."
• "The cafe area outside windows were filthy - cobwebs and dirt."
• "Pretty hard to negotiate with a wheelchair or a trolly as outside space very uneven and on a slope."
• "Watched the staff clear the tables in the resturant and not once did they wipe down a table."
• "Lots of tables needed clearing and the cafe was incredibly quiet so no excuse for dirty tables."
• "The side salad that cost nearly £3 and turned out to be just a small bowl of wilting lettuce, a couple old wrinkled tomatoes, and few slices of cucumber."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "Good place to visit. Very knowledgeable staff."
• "Staff were friendly and helpful."
• "The cafe staff were welcoming and friendly."
• "Staff are pleasant, plenty of parking."
• "Very helpful and friendly staff, extensive range of both indoor and outdoor plants, pots, compost, accessories etc."
• "Staff were extremely busy but still found the time to be cheerful and helpful."
• "Staff are very knowledgeable and friendly."

Cons:

• "Staff are not very friendly at all."
• "Cafe staff have extremely poor customer service."
• "Staff less than helpful."
• "The staff are young and inexperienced."
• "The wait/service in their restaurant was abysmal, orders only taken at the table plenty of staff on show but obviously only have one person with tablet after a long wait & no order taken we left and will not return in the future."
• "The staff have no customer service skills what so ever."
• "Service extremely poor and the attitude of one member of male staff rolling his eyes at us was extremely rude !!!!!!"

Food and Cafe

Pros:

• "This was a lovely place to meet our friends. There was a range of options in the cafe, the food was hot and came out quickly."
• "Our visit to the café today was made extra special by two young ladies working there."
• "The service you get in their café is very good."
• "We had fish and chips which was absolutely delicious."
• "The brie, bacon and cranberry toastie was delicious."
• "Coffee was 1st class food look great we only had cake but other people in the cafe had good looking meals."
• "The mushroom and pepper toastie was superb, lovely brown bread with seeds and a cup of green tea to go with it."

Cons:

• "Don't eat there! Tierd and dirty."
• "Table was dirty and cluttered with cups, plates, sachets of sauce, sugar granules etc."
• "Chips were hard chicken tough and salad was limp with a lot of black edges."
• "CAFE ONLY Really poor. Coffee was weak, the cake was stale, stock was low everywhere and everything was expensive."
• "When it finally came out after having to ask where it was the bread was stale."
• "No jacket potatoes No soup, so order a chicken tikka sandwich came out not even a bit of lettuce in the sandwich."
• "Coffee was average and cold. My daughter had a bag of crisps that cost a pound! The hot chocolate was poor."

Products and Shopping Experience

Pros:

• "Dobbies at Andover is a good garden centre. It has a wide selection of quality plants, some a bit pricey, and gardening equipment, as well as cards and gift items."
• "Good selection of common herbaceous, bedding and vegetable plants. Common shrubs in good condition."
• "The store is HUGE and amazing .. such a glorious variety of indoor and outdoor plants, as well as garden furniture, books, gifts."
• "Flowers and other gardening supplies look very pretty and have a good scent when you walk in."
• "Planted these lovely plants that I bought from dobbies, they've got a brilliantly wide selection of plants from; Ranunculus Glaberrimus, Clarkia Amoena, Tecoma Stans, Ocimum Basilicum 'Dark Opal'."
• "Fantastic place to go with lots of choice including a fish shop a lovely restaurant had a massive choice of plants for your garden."
• "The plants here are always good quality and there were good offers on spring bedding plants."

Cons:

• "Not very user friendly. Layout is poor and products very expensive."
• "This used to be a pleasant shopping experience, but something has changed."
• "Very small selection of house plants."
• "I used to love Wyevale in Andover, but it's become just another garden centre selling tat. The plants are neglected, unwatered and very unhealthy."
• "Rather disappointing as a garden centre."
• "Building looks tired, stock levels of some items low, and staff could be better trained in customer service."
• "Unfortunately visiting yesterday I found a lot of their plants wilting, dry and dying and their stock has risen steeply."