Dobbies Garden Centres - Dunfermline Reviews 511

Millionaire shortbread lovely mocha nice egg sandwich only ok

Always enjoy our Dobbies membership benefits, discounts off plants (which are always well looked after and healthy) and of course the two free hot drinks every month and let’s not forget the birthday treat, two additional drinks that month, plus cake for two! Plus the staff are always so friendly, it’s a pleasure to visit!

First class staff, helpful and friendly.
Waitrose food excellent.
Restaurant experience first class, Coffee and scone most enjoyable.

The garden centre has lovely things and the cafe staff are great but your menu is not as good as pre covid

Able to find what we were looking for. Staff always friendly and helpful.

We returned from our summer in the early hours so had no food in the house we went to Dobbies for a cooked breakfast and I found a black curly hair in my breakfast I was disgusted. A few months ago I came for a breakfast and had to send my latte back as it had lipstick on the cup and also my partner had blue plastic on his sausages. I'll not be returning for breakfast as after a second chance we were really disappointed.

Just left Dobbies in Dunfermline after a less than satisfactory meal.
Nicoise salad had no potatoes, no olives but had two slices of cucumber which had been quartered.
If you like lettuce and broad beans this is for you.
My husband had a luke warm baked potato with peri peri chicken but the sum total of this was one piece.
There was one small tomato with a tablespoon of coleslaw.
Really poor. Couldn't even complain as none of the sullen faced youngsters came near us.

Cafe area is huge but sadly the service leaves a lot to be desired. I’ve been a few times and keep hoping it will get better but sadly it doesn’t. It is so slow. While I was waiting in a queue of 1 to be given one of the 12 plus empty tables people who wanted more than a coffee were being turned away. It makes no sense. Clearly a staffing issue but must lose them a fortune

Good coffee and delicious scones and a great choice of gardening plants.

Nothing was too much for Malcolm from the Dunfermline store. He went above and beyond what was required of him. I can't thank him enough for sorting out my requirements.

Love going to Dobbies always a great place to shop and visit the coffee shop, but why does the restaurant close at 3pm gone a few times only to be disappointed.

Good stock levels and great customer service.

We have not been to Dobbies for 18 months(ish) because the staff at that time were unhelpful in the extreme. We have a problem with mobility and we need a trolley so that we can move about. The staff at the time would not accept this etc. To cut a long story short, we went in this morning, to pick up some stuff from Cotton Traders. We thought we might try a cuppa. What a difference! Ellen met us and let my wife take the trolley into the restaurant, was really pleasant and helpful.
The rest of the staff were lovely too.
It was certainly an encouragement to come back.
What a difference!
Thanks Bronagh & Ian Rowe
Sat 8/07/23am
Special thanks to Ellen!😁

Sat in restaurant for over 5 mins, the only server on was talking to a lady at another table and nobody came to take my order. It was 9.30am so not busy at all. Got up and walked out.

I would not recommend Dobbies restaurant in Dunfermline, for quite a while now, every time you try and go to eat there is always at least a 20-30 min wait for a table even though it is only half full! last time we reserved a table we sat for 15 mins waiting for out order to be taken before we had to chase it up. We would rather travel to Stirling or one of the other Dobbies than visit our home city of Dunfermline as we've never had a problem in any of the other ones we've visited. The system is different in the other Dobbies and it works so maybe the company need to look at what is wrong in Dunfermline as there are many other people not happy with the place either. The food is lovely when you get the chance to eat there.

Very good garden centres with plenty of choice, if a little expensive. Nice cafe in Dunfermline.

on 14th may we went to the dunfermline dobbies and unfortunately I took unwell while in the shop blood sugars plummeted and I had to get something sugary there was a woman at the entrance to the restaurant area who gave me a can of juice and let me sit while sugars came back up the lady checked on me during my time sitting there (she didn’t even charge me for juice) she spoke to her supervisor about it and no charge sorry didn’t get ur name but thanks for what u did if any bosses see this please pass on my thanks to the lady from the dunfermline store she was a credit to ur company

Service in the restaurant is appalling
Slow with no management supervision inexperienced youngsters muddle through orders

As regular and generally satisfied customers of Dobbies restaurant, me and my partner went for a further visit, ahead of a planned plant purchasing session in the Dobbies garden centre.

On this occasion, while standing in a fairly long queue, we accepted an unexpected invitation from a member of the staff to take a seat and receive table service.

After waiting at least 10 to 15 minutes, without any member of staff approaching our table to either take our order or inform us they soon would do so, while also frustratingly watching the queue diminish well past the position we had previously occupied, I decided to rejoin the queue for self service. At no point in the further period from me rejoining the queue and then returning to the table with my purchase, which wasn't very expedient, did any member of staff even approach the table where my partner had remained.

When eventually being offered to place my order, I requested, as I regularly do and always have received, for heating up of a scone. I was informed at this point that the facility for heating such items wasn't available, not unserviceable, just not switched on. I subsequently enquired if the scone could be heated up by an alternative method, as clearly the restaurant was in full swing, turning out a multitude of hot food at that time. The subsequent response at least didn't totally dismiss my suggestion, however I was then told that the serving staff weren't allowed to leave the service area to undertake such a request. I then made what I thought was a reasonable further suggestion that the staff member could ask one of her many visible colleagues to go and get the scone heated up on her behalf. At this point, the unjustified but obviously now disgruntled staff member surprisingly did leave the service area unattended, so with the scone in hand, approached another member of staff in the distance, but then promptly returned to tell me that no available member of staff were permitted to operate the facilities (microwave, etc.) to heat up the scone. As I watched the hot food continue to arrive at tables, so still curious that the request could not be accommodated at all, I reluctantly accepted that I would have to return to my partner with an unheated scone, to accompany the usually very satisfying Cappuccino.

So now back at the table with my purchase, looking forward to eventually enjoying the fruits of my labour, the straw that broke the camels back moment eventually arrived, when the Cappuccino was discovered to be luke warm at best.

Given the preceding events, the whole experience was now considered irrecoverable, so the situation was fully explained to another member of staff and a refund request was politely made, but although thankfully it eventually was, unfortunately it was not promptly executed. For the avoidance of doubt, none of the items were consumed at all, other than a small taste of the luke warm Cappuccino.

To my further surprise, having paid for the items with a card, as per the preferred method detailed on the Dobbies website, I was informed that the refund could only be made by cash rather than my preferred card refund, so I obviously had to reluctantly accept, before heading off trying hard to dismiss this whole experience and not let it influence the day ahead.

So that's at least 40 minutes of my life passed that I wish I could get back ... but more fool me, probably even more time wasted writing and sharing this episode beyond me and my partner!! Hopefully though, it may encourage Dobbies to improve on their offerings to potential future customers if they are inclined to take the plunge after reading this.

Really good choice of plants. Fair prices