Dobbies Garden Centre Gosforth Reviews Summary

Restaurant & Cafe

Pros:

• "The scone was gorgeous and they do a good latte."
• "Had afternoon tea today with a friend, couldn't fault it, plenty of choice, everything good quality."
• "Dobbies has a very friendly atmosphere and the cafe is a really good place just to sit down and unwind or meet up with friends/family for a good catch up."
• "The coffee flavour was good and the milk temperature was just right which is a rare joy."
• "Just had lovely Jacket potato with beans and cheese."
• "Good clean well organised shopping options."
• "There's even a little soft play."

Cons:

• "Imagine the worst ever school dinner... that's how terrible the food is here."
• "Very disappointed today, the whole place seems to have went downhill, very expensive, the cafe was disappointing."
• "Abseloute con stay well away from this place proper extortion prices 5 pound a sausage and egg sandwich which was basically an empty bun."
• "Disgusting cafe rock hard scone complained to staff was told to get another one then queued for 15 minutes for 2 coffees then an even longer wait to pay."
• "Restaurant was lacking. Tried twice to get service at the counter and twice I gave up."
• "The cafe is a disaster area!"
• "Over crowded over priced cafe appalling toilets dirty cold in the eating area staff unhappy."

Customer Service

Pros:

• "Visited the garden centre today, staff were helpful and polite."
• "Pets corner staff very welcoming and helpful, credit to their store."
• "Really friendly staff who helped us out with what we needed."
• "The staff at dobbies thankfully spotted it when sweeping up and kept it for me."
• "Great support from various members of staff whenever I go shopping there."
• "Staff are polite and helpful."
• "Very helpful staff, especially for total newbie gardeners like the wife and I."

Cons:

• "Visited today to purchase pond plants. One member of staff was most unhelpful, only giving yes or no answers to questions we asked, and didn't offer any further advice or suggestions."
• "The staff were stressed, un-organised and miserable."
• "I found the staff serving in the restaurant rude and not friendly at all."
• "Staff not at all friendly in cafe, they need to have some customer care training."
• "The staff seemed run off their feet, one even remarked she needed to go home."
• "I experienced a bad service in the restaurant today, I found the staff rude and they had really bad attitudes."
• "Restaurant Staff attitude abysmal!"

Pricing & Value

Pros:

• "Excellent pet selection too-all good quality high branded items cheaper than pets at home."
• "Dobbies is one of the best garden centres in the north east... and stock a large variety of equipment and horticultural products at reasonable prices."
• "Plants and flowers of a good quality, good selection and reasonably priced."
• "The garden section was good and well priced."
• "You can also pick up some great bargains end of season."
• "Wyvale have a good reputation... Great for a cuppa as well as shopping for all things garden."
• "The loyalty scheme is well worth signing up for as well."

Cons:

• "Yes somethings are bit on the pricy side but others arnt, just like anywhere else depends what you go for."
• "Very expensive but lots of choice available and the plants all look well cared for."
• "Plants and pots are usually priced on the high side so it may suit you to shop around."
• "Way too expensive. Has a pretty good range of stuff. All appears decent quality too. But the prices are just far higher than other garden centres."
• "Food nice but very expensive if feeding a family."
• "Excluding the garden, I found the store expensive."
• "I thought £6.25 for a cheese toastie was definitely on the expensive side, salad or not."

Facilities & Cleanliness

Pros:

• "The toilets were spotless unlike the Ponteland branch I visited last week."
• "Parking is normally quite easy as there is plenty of space."
• "A lovely clean, friendly store."
• "Good clean well organised shopping options."
• "There's even a little soft play."
• "Met friends to go for a coffee. Strict hygiene and covid rules are in place and being adhered to."
• "Seen signs saying it was dog friendly and we thought it was great."

Cons:

• "Went to find a free table only to find they all had trays with dirty plates on."
• "Cafe seemed short staffed, trays were not clean and had to look hard to find cleared table."
• "Over crowded over priced cafe appalling toilets dirty cold in the eating area staff unhappy."
• "Covid precautions in place ironically 1 member of staff was clearing trollies in car park that had been left by customers without any gloves on no evidence of PPE."
• "However my mother almost fell in the car park on ice, it was also very dark."
• "The retail departments are ok though overpriced."
• "Lovely garden centre but so very disappointed in the cafe."

Product Selection & Quality

Pros:

• "They have an extensive range of products ranging from plants accessories jams crisps drinks ornaments toys and items for the garden and children play items."
• "Large indoor shop which usually has plenty of bargains and stocks a wide selection of goodies at Christmas."
• "It has quite a large plant selection outside."
• "Went with children to the Santa's grotto and it was really great experience for us all."
• "Their Christmas shop is very well stocked and the decorations are high quality."
• "Lots of in season very beautiful flowering 🌸🌺 plants."
• "Good for bedding plants and common perennials but poor selection of trees, shrubs, ferns etc."

Cons:

• "not much stock compared to Peter Barrett's, first time iv been since it was took over."
• "Very poor Christmas selection. We've been to this garden centre every year for about 20 years for our tree and other decorations. Always brilliant...this year it's minimal and uninspiring."
• "Thoroughly disappointing visit to look at the Christmas shop in Gosforth today, lacks imagination, effort and nothing interesting to buy."
• "Large garden centre but can be a bit overpriced."
• "Never been to it since it became Dobbie's, but what a disappointment."
• "The tuna melt was revolting. It tasted off and smelt worse."
• "Dissapointing. Staff unable to find price for an item as it did not have barcode!"