Dobbies Garden Centre Ponteland Reviews Summary

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "Staff so attentive and friendly nothing too much bother."
• "Excellent service in the restaurant with table service outside."
• "Me my partner and little girl went had food the staff were so friendly and helpful and the food was delicious all around the centre the staff stopped to talk and made conversation with my 2 year old daughter it was a lovely place to be by far the best garden centre we have been was first class."
• "The staff in the restaurant were working so hard and were so helpful."
• "We are regular customers at Dobbies at Ponteland. The staff are very friendly and helpful especially the lovely ladies that work in the restaurant."
• "The staff are really friendly and helpful."
• "All the staff I encountered were very polite and helpful."

Cons:

• "The staff that were there never gave eye contact."
• "The lady who served me at the till was very abrupt, bordering upon rude."
• "Not enough staff and those that were there had a right attitude."
• "Second visit staff were arguing about who should have their break first."
• "The manner of the staff at the cafe area was appalling and rude."
• "Lunch arrangement & our first coffee was fine, but unhappy about being told we would have to queue again for a 2nd cup of coffee as there was insufficient staff to serve."
• "Poor customer service. I asked 2 members of staff where I could find an item. 1 gave a general direction and when still unable to locate what I was looking for l asked another member of staff who was foreign and whose English was so poor she couldn't understand me nor I her."

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Cafe/ restaurant has great daily offers and top quality food."
• "Excellent Christmas roast, great value, food was hot and moist, tender and tasty."
• "Scones and selection of cakes were delicious."
• "The cafe is excellent with a wide variety of things to choose from ranging from tea or coffee, scones, cake, and soup to a full meal all if these are delicious."
• "Always go here for plants and at xmas for presents and ornaments had Sunday lunch there for the first time last week and it was lovely bit of a wait but it was worth it meat was tender and good choice of veg."
• "The side salad which was plentiful and tasty with the dressing they used."
• "Good coffee and my raspberry and white chocolate muffin was yummy."

Cons:

• "Ordered 3 toasties with chips, All the chips Cold didn't eat them."
• "Overall the food was disgusting for the prices paid. My bill was £15, I could have gone to the badger next door for less!"
• "Visited today for the first and last time. Asked if they did small roast dinners and was growled at by the gentleman carving the beef."
• "Cafe Absolutely disgrace whilst waiting in q which we knew due to covid saw the chaos with staff trying to plate dinners up seen one waitress didn't know where to put dinner down on surface so put it in top of cooked potatoes which was touching bottom of plate when ordered sat on table that had not been wiped down then waited 45 minutes for 2 cheese toasties that were cold and conjealed."
• "The fish finders were of the cheapest quality and were tasteless."
• "The eggs were quite the worst scrambled eggs we had ever seen."
• "Scones were dry and hard."

Cleanliness and Organization

Pros:

• "We went to the cafe which was very well organised with details taken and tables set out socially distanced apart."
• "The shop is overall decently clean and the service was friendly."
• "Nice cafe with a good selection of food and cakes. Eating areas were reasonably clean."
• "This was my first outing in 3 months. I was very nervous. Everything was very well organised."

Cons:

• "The cafe looked dirty, there was lipstick still on a mug that had supposed to had been washed."
• "Garden centre in shocking mess, low staff levels qued for half an hour for bad customer service in the cafe to then get served vile food that cost a fortune and not what we asked for."
• "CV19 cleaning not very good. I watched the cleaner clear away the dirty dishes in the cafe and then cleaned the tables, but the chairs were never touched, they were left with the virus on them."
• "The disable toilets at 12.00 were smelly and unclean."
• "The window sills and windows are dirty and don't seem to have been cleaned for months."
• "Ponteland was fab, however we went to Morpeth one previous Sunday and you wouldn't think that they were from the same group, absolutely terrible, staff hadn't a clue, really gone back since the days of Heighleygate, don't think we, ll be visiting there in the near future, cafe was terrible, no choice, dead flies on the window sills, they need to come down and see how Ponteland is run!"

Value and Pricing

Pros:

• "A great garden centre, fantastic layout."
• "Comprehensive selection of goods on offer, gardening and otherwise, and a pretty sizable grocery/market area."
• "Dobbies garden centres are always comprehensively stocked with good quality items."
• "You can basically find everything you need in one place here."
• "Excellent range of indoor and outdoor plants and shrubs."
• "Good variety of things to look at. Very good selection of plants all looking healthy."
• "Big garden centre with lots on offer."

Cons:

• "Standard modern garden centre where gardening stuff is a low priority and confined to the outer edges of the premises. If you want Christmas decorations or other random tat then this is the place to go."
• "Although this is a busy place and i have been several times before the christmas displays had a run down feel with many not working or messy displays and flat batterys in a lot of samples, the food was ok although a bit pricy."
• "The £7.50 price was well over priced for what it was."
• "It's a little expensive, but Dobbies generally are."
• "Very expensive compared to other garden centres."
• "Sadly I was overcharged for 9 tomato plants. The cashier charged me for all 9 at £1.99 ea. 6 should have been charged at £1.49 ea."
• "I am disappointed that dobbies has become a convenience store called sainsburys this has changed the way the garden centre looks and it has lost its appeal."

Customer Experience

Pros:

• "Nice day out if you pair it with a trip to the badger."
• "Spot on garden centre, it's very big and thus very well stocked."
• "Incredibly eclectic range of goods."
• "Called in to this garden centre yesterday and purchased two lovely lamps in the sale. They are so nice that I rang to see to day if they had any more and if they would put then by for me. The assistant whom I spoke to was most helpful."
• "A recent purchase from the outdoor department did not come up to expectations. One email and an exchange of calls and it was satisfactorily sorted."
• "Always a great experience.. They have loads for sale, the food hall is excellent with local produce and the restaurant is first class."
• "Liked the link with community projects this weekend including the local craft fair and dog show!"

Cons:

• "Our party was 3 adults and a small child we all agreed the whole experience was disgusting."
• "Dobbies ruined Christmas!!"
• "I’ve never been so disappointed in an eatery before."
• "Very disappointed, haven't been since before lockdown but won't be going back in a hurry."
• "I don’t think we will use the cafe again."
• "The whole experience after that just knocked off the edge to stay and spend our money."
• "Just went for a coffee after collecting my wife from the airport. The queueing system was such that the coffee was next to the till...and being Sunday lunchtime....the queue was lengthy with people ordering food. There was a self serve coffee point which was empty....Left in frustration. ...will not return."