Shopping Guide: Dobbies Garden Centre Edinburgh
Shopping Guide for [Business Name, if available]
Why You Should Visit
- Extensive Selection: You'll find a wide variety of products, encompassing garden and home shopping, as well as a sizable food market. The location offers outdoor gear and jackets too.
- Convenient Dining Options: There's a coffee shop and restaurant on-site, providing a place to eat and relax during your visit. Note that there are two counters for getting coffee and cakes, with the second located further inside the restaurant.
- Family-Friendly Facilities: The location caters to families with a dedicated play area for kids up to 4 and 3-10 years old, and a separate outdoor play area.
- Dog-Friendly Area: Specifically, the right-hand section of the cafe, close to the outdoor garden centre, is designated for dog owners. This area also offers table service.
- Event Hosting: You can host a child's birthday party in their Soft Play Area.
- Santa Grotto Experience: They offer a well-organized Santa Grotto experience with allocated time, activities for kids, and the opportunity to get photos. Children receive a present from Santa.
Why You Might Consider Alternatives
- Cafe Service Concerns: Be aware that there are recurring complaints about slow and inattentive service in the cafe, including long queue times.
- Cafe Cleanliness Issues: You might encounter unclean conditions in the cafe, specifically in the seating area, with stained chairs and tables that are not always cleaned. Dirty dishes on tables and food on floors have been mentioned.
- Menu and Food Quality Variability: There have been complaints about food quality, including burnt toast, cheap ingredients in breakfast items, and potentially small portions. You should also be prepared for items on the menu to be unavailable (e.g., certain kids' menu items, some Sunday roast options).
- Staffing Issues: It seems the cafe often suffers from being understaffed, which contributes to slow service and uncleared tables. Some staff may appear uninterested.
- Table Service Inconsistency: In the dog-friendly section of the cafe, despite table service being indicated, there have been reports of waiting a long time to be served.
- Poor Responsiveness to Issues: The staff might not be very responsive to customer complaints about food quality or service.
- Lack of Attention: Be prepared that you may have to get your own cutlery or struggle to get any attention from staff. There also appears to be a lack of staff checking in on you.
- Payment and Billing Difficulties: There are mentions of the inability of the till to add coffee to your bill and difficulties finding someone to pay the bill.
- High Prices for Poor Service and Product: Given the level of service and product that are mentioned, some items don't appear to be worth the price.