Dobbies Garden Centres - Gosforth Avis 428

Visited this GC at Gosforth on a very rainy day with my elderly mother, daughter & 17 month G/daughter as was told there was a soft play area. We did not take the buggy inside & i’m pleased we didn’t as there was hardly any room for use of a buggy or for wheelchair users, The place had some lovely items, however it felt cramped & we passed at least 3 very large buckets to catch ceiling rainwater, it was single file access near the shoes section, which a few customers were commenting on. We could get a table in the soft play area, however each table was crammed with previous customers plates etc & we had to clear a table ourselves. We brought a high chair to the table, but the straps were broken. We ordered food, which was quite expensive, however ample food on the plate, me & my mother had omelette. Upon leaving the GC, we couldn’t believe how many dogs were in the building, we’re all for dog friendly places, however i think every dog owner was there with their,.. some rather large dogs out for a walk in there due to the weather outside! Within 4-5 hrs of leaving, my mother & i both felt unwell, with nausea & severe stomach cramps, my daughter was fine & we can only put our sickness down to us both eating the omelette,.. My advice is, don’t take a buggy or wheelchair, don’t go on a rainy day & don’t have the omelette!

Ordered a cheese and onion sandwich cold panni arrived alos ordered beef burger with bacon bacon was ready onion rings overcooked and hard as a brick

Paid £42 very expensive quality of food appauling looking from every ones else plates this was the general opinion.

Has dramatically declined very disappointed the person who brought the food grey haired wasn't very polite at all

Very disappointing

I used to love this garden centre, I went today after having not been for a very long time. Unfortunately it was extremely disappointing.
The place generally appeared upside down.
The cafe experience was very frustrating . Tables were covered in dirty dishes & we had to clear a table for our use. The tray rack was full & the member of staff was reluctant to take the dirty tray from us. The carvery had a huge Queue. only beef left & it was early afternoon. Had to wait for staff to replace the gravy so lunch was getting cold. My pot of tea was already going cold after waiting in such a long queue. No forks for cutlery & staff seemed to think it was for me to go searching for one.
Service wasn’t great & Lunch was disappointing to say the least.
Toilets were in such a terrible condition. Doors were hanging off , no toilet paper. I absolutely Wouldn’t return.

Had an Afternoon Tea there today. It was excellent. Table set with nice linens, cutlery etc. Our server Margaret gave us the best customer service and made us feel special by checking if we needed anything. Food fresh, tasty, more than enough, refills given freely and were provided with boxes to take home the leftovers.

Great selection of Houseplants.... well kept. Alie helped me select a suitable plant for a difficult position in my home. She was very helpful and knowledgeable. Would recommend her help to any one.
Bought some Frozen meals and again a great selection although quite expensive however you expect to pay for quality.

Great Service, Excellent Staff Friendly & Helpful. Well Stocked & Clean & Tidy Garden Centre. Highly Recommend.

I love the choice of plants and accessories. The plants are always good quality.

I visited Dobbies Garden Centre, Gosforth ten days ago to purchase some garden furniture. I was told by the assistant that the item was temporarily out of stock but to call back in a week or so and the item will be here.
I have just left the Garden Centre after asking the same assistant, has the item been delivered yet.
No eye contact with me, and a definite NO was what I received. She then continued chatting to her assistant colleague!
I managed to ask another assistant, a very helpful assistant by the way, what was the problem with delivery?
This item has been discontinued!
I offered to buy the display item. Any discount because it’s ex- display?
A discourteous NO !!!!! came from assistant number 1. It’ll save you assembling the item at home!!!
Tomorrow I’ll travel to Cowell’s at Kenton Bank Foot and / or Plantsplus, Ponteland to hopefully purchase my item of garden furniture.
There Customer Service is FIRST CLASS.

Good products and helpful staff

Really frustrating that all parents pay the same price for the children to play in soft play but some parents do not watch their children & other children can not play because of this! Really glad a member of staff asked the children to stop climbing the slide while we were there as my granddaughter could not play due to this. The member of staff did really well in asking the children to stop - the play area was really loud but the staff member did not shout he just spoke loud- he politely asked the children to stop climbing the slides for health and safety reasons.

Been once before & service wasn’t the best we only really go for soft play. Served a couple days ago my Alison & Margret this time around so much better - lovely & friendly! Totally made up for the first time around!

I visited Dobbies at Gosforth and had a light lunch with friends. I was very disappointed with my lunch it was only a sandwich but as I am a celiac the bread was Gluten free.
It was the cheapest GF bread that you can get and accompanied with one small desert spoons of slaw, and one small spoonful of green bean salad. It looked unappealing and cost a whopping £8.95 not impressed at all.

The service at Dobbies Gosforth cafe is the worst I have experienced of any cafe in the North East.

Friendly and helpful staff.
Some good offers available especially with dobbies card.

Dobbies are a nice relaxing shopping experience. Somewhere to take elderly people to enjoy a look around and then to have a drink and chat.

Friendly and knowledgeable staff and a well stocked centre.

Café queue was shocking, 3 staff and waited half an hour, they had one for hot food, one for teas and coffees and one to take money, apparently people had got vouchers through the post !! Management didn’t get staffing right, we had been before Christmas and it was the same !! Not a nice experience 🤔

We always enjoy our visits to Dobbies, ee can generally get everything for the garden along with some new ideas.
The one blot we would say is the lack of staff in the cafe which means you sometimes have a lengthy wait to be served, that said although the staff are under pressure because of the staffing problem they are always polite and friendly.
Yes we would recommend a visit to Doddies.

My last experience was not ‘great’!!
In the restaurant there is one lady who is always very pleasant (and I have informed her of this). Most of the other staff working behind the counter in the restaurant are miserable and quite unpleasant!! However, on my last visit, working alongside the lovely lady was a youngish dark haired young girl, who was also very pleasant and once again I remarked to them both about how nice it is to be served by staff who are friendly etc.
The staff on the checkout tills for plants, gifts etc are also quite miserable. What has happened to cheerful customer service. Quite disappointing really :(
Also, the restaurant was VERY cold!!