Dobbies Garden Centres - Ayr Reviews 546

We are regular customers at doobies restaurant Ayr. We very disappointed at how much the food and coffee prices have gone up we feel that the price rise is to cover giving children a freel meal.
We have been going through out the years we feel that the regular customers are being fleeced to provide free meals for the summer for children.

It wasn’t a great experience. The queue and slow service to get our drinks ruined our visit to Dobbies Ayr so we were not surprised that we could not find any weed removal tools. Powder and liquids but no tools. Having lost so much time we had to shorten our visit and miss out some areas of potential interest.

Helpful staff and a good selection of indoor and outdoor plants.

On this visit I purchased a lovely green glass type jug with lid (not actual glass but plastic) which I thought would be perfect for sangria, priced at £9.99.
Very happy with my purchase until I was home and trying to remove the sticky label!! (Not the 1st time this has happened, I might add.)
So, I am not happy as I’m left with a horrible sticky residue on a lovely looking jug that I can’t remove with soapy water; however I don’t have the will to return it.
I’m determined that If I make such a purchase in your store (Ayr) then in future I will expect the till assistant to remove any sticky labels before I buy. 😠

The centre well laid out,good selection of plants,staff helpful.

Very helpful staff although it is still very slow to get coffee in restaurant.

We are regular visitors to the Ayr branch of Dobbies, but on this occasion in the restaurant there was a couple with 2 dogs which were constantly barking. The whole restaurant occupants were complaining I went to the manager and while waiting I was confronted by the female owner who was extremely rude and said she would rather listen to her dogs barking than listen to me. Dobbies say they are dog friendly but it’s high time they considered their customers who would like to enjoy food in the restaurant without the racket of continuous dog barking.
While waiting on the manager a kitchen worker/server came out to talk to the owners and made a fuss of both dogs clapping and having them jumping up on her. I have been in the food trade all my working life and I would never allow food handlers to touch animals or have them jumping up on their coveralls.
A review of food handlers and their actions is long overdue here and drastic action is required here.

Have been a customer previously, both food and non-food.
On Sunday, along with my wife, we went for a snack lunch. How could Dobbies get everything so wrong?The food counter was grossly understaffed and after a wait of 20 minutes we ordered toasties and chips. How is it possible to get toasties correctly grilled on one side and the other side not even warm and still in the state of bread. The young girls were lacking in basic competence and getting no help from 'seniors'.Should have been much better managed.
Only one person at the checkout till and we joined the queue with 18 customers in front. By the time we got the length of paying our toasties were cold. Once more what were management/supervisors doing?
The entire operation was lacking in supervision and reflects badly on senior management.
I owned a bistro style restuarant with 70 covers for 15 years so I do have knowledge of operating fast food operations. This was terrible and not really value of a 1* rating.

Went for lunch - great choice of food. Had our free coffees which is always nice. Browsed around the shop floor and garden centre. Bought some Easter goodies and then headed into Waitrose. A lovely morning out and a pleasant shopping experience.

I find that the staff are very knowledgeable and very helpful and the variety of goods on display are really varied.

Friendly staff and the garden centre is always looking well organised. Cafe serves great food and the Waitrose food hall provide high quality foods (convenience store at a cost).

Went to the cafe today...Polite staff, doing their best.
Ordered toasted sandwiches...served promptly however the wait then to get a hot drink was ridiculous.
Not enough staff! Same on the till.
Coffee was made fresh but was no where near hot enough by the time we got through the till.
Toasted sandwiches not great and the cake was dry.
Toilets were dirty and messy. I will not be visiting again.

Please streamline your cafeteria area, every time its absolute ages just to get a coffee!. Staff are lovely, foods great, but really you need to review your queuing protocols.

Restaurant great as per usual. Disappointed in the garden area, very little to choose from

Dobbie’s is a welcoming garden centre in Ayr. Well stocked and the restaurant food is great.

Tye cafe could be cleaner , tables not cleaned trays left.

I felt sorry for the over stretched staff working. Obviously cut to the bone. One person serving coffee with a queue that required at least 3 people. Tables not cleared. It is no pleasure to go there.

Dobbies are always bright clean and staffed with polite professional people. The prices of their products although are sometimes higher than normal. There is always something I want to buy due to the large variety of items.