Dobbies Garden Centre Northampton Reviews Summary

Customer Service

Pros:

• "Staff friendly and helpful."
• "Can't praise Dobbies staff enough ... Liz and Alison were so empathetic and helpful."
• "Staff were extra friendly which is always a bonus!"
• "Spoke with a member of staff who was knowledgeable, polite and very helpful."
• "All staffs are really friendly and ready to help you!"
• "The staff in the restaurant are really friendly and helpful."
• "The staff are very friendly and helpful."

Cons:

• "The usual gaggle of staff standing around looking at the ever growing queue of customers."
• "They had no idea what we ordered and came over multiple times to check when we were in the middle of a conversation."
• "The guy that served me today was pretty grumpy, in fact."
• "One thing that could have made our visit better was the person who served us, maybe he needs training on how to be welcoming, friendly and approachable."
• "After my trip today to this ghastly understaffed organisation, I am appalled and disgusted by one of the miserable staff who accused me of shoplifting when I haven’t even shoplifted there."
• "Very rude staff. A staff member muttered some rude comment at us as we were looking for a parking space."
• "None of the cafe staff smile, they are all bloody miserable."

Restaurant/Cafe Experience

Pros:

• "It was nice to see the dining room alive again."
• "Had the Macaroni Cheese in the restaurant. Really good."
• "This was great really lovely lunch and great outdoor plants."
• "They have a great extensive menu and it’s all cooked fresh to order."
• "Food was excellent had a problem with our order but could not be helped manager and staff were all really nice and could not have been more apologetic we will definitely go back again we had a lovely time as it was a get together for our family many thanks for the good service."
• "We chose the afternoon tea option and all I can say is we were all very impressed!"
• "The meal was lovely and as for the Chip Shop Chips - don't think I have ever had any better!"

Cons:

• "Not impressed to having to wait 35 minutes for a toastie and a sandwich."
• "Went here for a bite to eat, and was very disappointed with the garden kitchen restaurant."
• "The food was not great by any means."
• "The food was cold."
• "The Cafe was absolutely disgusting."
• "We were in the restaurant and somehow they completely missed my meal off the order."
• "The service while eating in the cafe was diabolical."

Facilities & Environment

Pros:

• "Lovely open spaces inside, not all squashed in and lovely inside/outside seating area for cafe."
• "Store was clean and nicely laid out, very roomy which is good in these difficult times for social distancing."
• "Plenty of parking and all on one level."
• "Really good garden centre, nice lunchtime meal plenty of seating room nicely spaced apart."
• "The soft play is just the right size, not noisy, contained and is air conditioned!"
• "Lovely garden centre with a wide range of products."
• "Bright, spacious, clean building with a large range of products from several outlets like Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Padders, and Maidenhead Aquatics, etc."

Cons:

• "One dog made a mess under an adjacent table which creates obvious hygiene issues."
• "Sadly the toilets massively let it down. They are absolutely grim and in need of gutting."
• "The table we sat at had heavily soiled seat cushions."
• "No hooks in the toilet cubicles to hang your handbag."
• "Shelves seemed very empty for an early afternoon visit."
• "There were a lot of empty shelves and was messy."
• "The child play area at Dobbies Hardingstone is very badly managed."

Product Range & Quality

Pros:

• "Did not realise there are kitchen products and lots of other stuff."
• "Many other retailer concessions within the garden centre, which helps attract interest alongside both a good quality cafe and a small soft play area for the under 5's primarily."
• "A good variety of products with some decent deals."
• "Concession Mountain Warehouse and pond and aquarium shop inside."
• "Good aquatic selection at Maidenhead aquatics."
• "Lovely gift selection."
• "Great garden centre with a couple of concessions (Sainsbury's, Mountain Warehouse, Pets Corner, etc)."

Cons:

• "Forget getting any lunch they stop serving cooked food before 2pm."
• "The only one I could see was Pavers shoes, and there seemed to be a selection of food from Sainsbury's, which I found a little confusing!"
• "The food didn’t come in time as we had drinks."
• "David Austin roses in stock too but unfortunately not the varieties I wanted."
• "Finding someone who knows anything about plants is nigh on impossible."
• "I was surprised to see that there are fewer concessions than previous visits."
• "Sadly what was once a packed Garden Centre every weekend is now more of a ghost town. It’s quite empty inside, a distinct lack of plants for a garden centre and is now looking like a sad loss to the community."

Value for Money

Pros:

• "A nice place to have a browse and a coffee."
• "A Waitrose next door to pick up any other food shopping whilst you are out."
• "Plants are well looked after."
• "Expect to pay a little more but worth it for finding something a little different in the garden centre."
• "Good quality plants. Can be slightly more expensive than supermarkets, but much larger choice and generally better quality plants."
• "They also accommodated for my daughter who is a vegan and I was very impressed with her food."
• "Prices are relatively reasonable (it us a garden centre, after all!)."

Cons:

• "As far as a garden centre is concerned there is quite a good selection of plants and garden equipment but, basically, it is a very expensive gift shop and expensive cafe and they still have the cheek to ask for £3 for a child to play in the soft play area, even if it is only for a few minutes."
• "Large range of standard gardening supplies, but a bit pricey on some items."
• "Heavily over priced."
• "All a little expensive for my liking but a pleasant atmosphere."
• "It's not cheap."
• "Heavily over priced. We use to visit every Christmas. But since Dobbies took over to much has changed."
• "The cafe was good, but lost a star due to the price and the fact my ham and cheese toastie had almost as much fat as meat on the ham slice in it."