Otter Garden Centre, Ottery St Mary Reviews Summary

Layout & Accessibility

Pros:

• "Plenty of parking. Wheelchair and pram friendly."
• "Plenty of parking available, easy access for pushchairs and wheelchairs....definitely recommend a visit."
• "There is plenty of parking with disabled bays right next to the front entrance."
• "Plenty of free parking available. Wheelchair friendly and on site toilets and baby changing facilities."
• "Very clean and plenty of staff to assist, was very impressed with disabled access."
• "A lovely, airy, spacious building with friendly staff and a great selection of product from garden to clothing. Easy parking too."
• "Large free car park."

Cons:

• "Very confusing layout."
• "Had to walk so far to get to the café and then all the way back in to get to the clothes shopping."
• "The only downside is that there appears to be only one loo block, and that is in the outside area."
• "Toilets a long walk away, through three departments, across a yard outside."
• "The only downside is that the toilets are sited outside, and given today's very damp weather that was quite significant!"
• "You cannot reenter the building the same way so you have to navigate your way back another way."
• "The disabled bays at the front of the store have been removed and some opposite in the general car park."

Product Range & Shopping Experience

Pros:

• "They have a huge range of products ranging from garden, house items, clothes, candles, children's items, crafts, gifts."
• "Brilliant garden centre! Absolutely massive! Big plant section and lots to look around!"
• "It has the perfect mixture of wonderful plants and garden supplies as well as beautiful gifts, books, furniture, cards, artificial flowers etc....plus a really good restaurant/cafe."
• "A very large garden centre with lots to see."
• "A fantastic garden centre which has sooo much to look at. But, as with many garden centres it is slightly pricey on items. Huge selection of gifts and the food is great."
• "It's like a Theme park for grown ups. Not just plants, but kitchenware, clothes, shoes, jewellery, toys, craft and more besides."
• "Everything you need for the garden, etc under one roof."

Cons:

• "Ordered a patio last week, delivered today...Strong on pricing, very low on customer service."
• "Same menu for 15 years, never changes except for the price."
• "Expensive plants however they are healthy."
• "Smaller portions. Bigger prices."
• "Sadly we made a visit to by some plants only to find 75% of this garden centre was taken over by items for sale that have nothing to do with gardening."
• "Seems quite overpriced for somewhere that grows there own plants."
• "Great range of products, although expensive."

Customer Service & Staff

Pros:

• "Restaurant had good choice with pleasant staff, and of course the present Covid19 regulations applied, the food was good and satisfying value for money."
• "The staff must like working for this company as they always are smiling and happy in their work."
• "Really helpful staff, masses of choice and gorgeous location."
• "The plant section is amazing with helpful knowledgeable and friendly staff."
• "Very friendly and helpful staff."
• "Staff are friendly and very helpful and knowledgeable."
• "All the staff are very helpful and friendly."

Cons:

• "Delivery not as contracted despite double delivery costs."
• "I found some of the staff here rude and not very interested in customer service."
• "Grumpy and unhelpful girl who took our food order."
• "Some staff look grumpy, like you are bothering them."
• "I frequently shop here but find 'certain staff' quite unapproachable and abrupt."
• "Lady in tree section didn't seem interested in helping me today."
• "Staff very poor at dealing with the complaint and total lack of interest."

Restaurant & Food Quality

Pros:

• "The Sunday lunch which was fabulous compliments to the chef."
• "Good cafe and restaurant available and easy access to all."
• "Lovely food, reasonably priced. The roast dinners are delicious, nice Crispy roast potatoes yummy."
• "Food well presented, didn't wait too long for it to arrive, and it was delicious."
• "The restaurant is spacious and the menu delicious."
• "The café always impresses, and the food and drink is top-notch, especially their own elderflower sparkling water."
• "The food at the garden centre is fabulous and absolute value for money."

Cons:

• "All the cutlery was dirty and the 'toasted' tea cake was so burnt we didn't know whether to try to eat it or put it in an urn."
• "Finally received our roast 25 minutes later to which was served cold."
• "The other choice, Mushroom that I had was, to put it bluntly, disgusting."
• "Even the restaurant was poorly organised and served mediocre food."
• "Macaroni cheese was a small bowl with a few pieces of pasta swimming in a runny sauce."
• "The portion size of the cake (Victoria Sponge) had halved compared to pre-Covid times and the cream was the sickly fake variety."
• "The milkshakes were very watery and had no flavour and the meal was tasteless and dry."