Van Hage Blue Diamond Reviews Summary

Garden Centre

Pros:

• "Really enjoyed looking round this beautiful garden centre."
• "Usual garden centre selection... Indoor, outdoor stuff, candles, plants, lantern, garden plants, water features, sheds, they have it all here."
• "Very noticeable was everything was spotlessly clean, unusual for a garden centre."
• "Fantastic garden centre and quality products if you are minted!"
• "It's huge, well laid out, packed with stock. Anything and everything you can imagine."
• "Love this place, there is a wide range of excellent products from flowers to candles to gin and cakes."
• "Fantastic garden centre with beautiful healthy plants and friendly staff."

Cons:

• "CLOSES AT 5!!! Really really disappointed today."
• "The highchairs were filthy, plus the biggest cobwebs hanging down from the windows!"
• "Garden centre half empty and chickens in pens was the only lifeform."
• "They didn't have much stock inside or outside."
• "The outside selection is nothing special now."
• "Particularly dislike the farm animals."
• "Sadly the management have taken a good business model and broken it. Won't be going back!"

Restaurant/Cafe

Pros:

• "Had tea and cakes here, which were very nice."
• "The Lasagna served with a good salad and garlic bread was beautifully presented and so tasty."
• "While there we saw that the restaurant was open with outside tables so we had a bit of lunch. Well set out, lovely food and friendly service. Will definitely go back."
• "The breakfast is by far the best in Peterborough currently although a little expensive but the service more than made up for it."
• "Popped in for a coffee and a piece of cake. Huge selection of home made cakes, scones and cookies."
• "The lunch we had was excellent, Fish and Chips cooked to perfection."
• "We had breakfast in the restaurant which was excellent."

Cons:

• "Cafe experience. Cross contamination poor allergen control."
• "Met up with two members of our family for lunch Absolutely appalling in their cafe, food was cold and we got drinks in paper cups which were cold and half full."
• "The meals were not that good... salad with peas in before it was not as good as previously supplied."
• "Lunch was therefore disappointing."
• "Visited the restaurant staff were apathetic bordering on rude."
• "Sadly marking this down to two stars due to the Cafe’s total disorganisation."
• "The cafe served us undercooked food at ridiculous prices."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "The staff are helpful too."
• "Staff very friendly and helpful."
• "Fantastic staff, so helpful and polite."
• "Staff were lovely, we sat outside and a table was laid with a cloth just for us."
• "What an exceptional team of staff, we are so grateful to them!"
• "Staff were so professional and carried on even with this distraction."
• "Friendly staff and clean toilets."

Cons:

• "The blonde woman serving not only refused to make eye contact."
• "No staff to be seen!"
• "Shocking service, under staffed or staff not doing what they should be doing."
• "Staff walking around trying to clean tables but it doesn't take 10 minutes to clean a few tables."
• "Too few staff so service is slow so we gave up and went home!"
• "We stood waiting at the cake counter for at least 10 minutes, we was totality blanked by the man and lady on there."
• "Also the cafe staff came across unfriendly and there were no customer service skills."

Pricing

Pros:

• "Premium products at premium prices."
• "The clothing department (which sells reasonable priced clothing etc)."
• "The breakfast is fantastic value 6 items for £2.99 which includes tea or coffee or squash."

Cons:

• "Nice but grossly overpriced in my opinion."
• "The buffet breakfast has now changed to a choose your table and order at the counter for a set breakfast. Very expensive!"
• "Fancied a coffee n cake but thought it was expensive, went to Starbucks at Sainsbury's instead."
• "The price of the food is excessive compared to the poor quality."
• "The food and drinks in my opinion are well overpriced."
• "Food is overpriced and under par. Very poor selection, too."
• "Very disappointed in the quality and price of food in the restaurant, I'm not paying £10 for fish and chips which looked like it had sat on the hot plate for some time."

Accessibility and Layout

Pros:

• "Large multi store shopping park on Frank Perkins Parkway near Peterborough. Modern facilities, free parking."
• "We only visited the two stores and spent most time in the garden centre. Great place, never knew about it before, right off the main rd and so easy to find, even I managed and I'd never been before! Highly recommended."
• "The place was spotless and well set up for visitors safety and social distancing..plenty of gel at the entrance."
• "Plenty of parking. Parking is free."

Cons:

• "A security system needs to be put in place in the parking area."
• "Not easily accessible for disabled people who use an aid to walk?"
• "Corporate decision makers really need to consider making the store a more accessible friendly layout."
• "Corporate policy disregards any consideration for the mobility requirements of their customers."
• "By the time my elderly mother had walked the distance that she had, She was desperate for the toilet but that meant going back to the exit and reentering the store via the entrance."
• "We will never return to the store with the layout as it is."
• "Why is it that with Blue Diamond there is never a direct route to any dept. without having to go all around the houses."