Creative Gardens in Ards

Good garden centre, lovely coffee shop.

Enjoyed a wonderful lunch with family whilst visiting from Australia. Great variety of delicious dishes

Friendly staff, good gift shop, great selection of gardening stuff, variety of plants and a café

Great garden centre. Cafe first class.service first class.great parking spaces.

Was in cafe. Food very good. Plenty of choice in garden furniture and plants also.

Terrible slow service and far too expensive! Meal tasted ok but not worth anything near what they charge.

Heads up for any coach drivers, car park is a disaster in a coach, there's not enough space for you to park a coach without having to move back and forward so you don't block the place.

Marvellous garden centre and cafe/restaurant. Gets very busy though.

The food is absolutely delicious.The people what run the place are very friendly and polite and nothing is to much trouble. Highly recommend this place to anyone.Food is home made and 1st class

The place is good and suitable for relaxation

Love this place! Nicely laid out with clever displays and great variety of plants (bit £££ tho). The coffee shop is always very popular.

Beautiful garden centre fantastic selection, lovely staff

Good choice of tasty food for lunches or just a coffee and snack

£3.09 for a small German biscuit! Has got very expensive given how many great coffee shops there are in the area. Won't be rushing back

Excellent garden centre had a good play area for little ones. The food was amazing! The best rhubarb crumble I've ever had and massive portions. Everyone's food was great would definitely go back again! Loved it!

We called in for lunch at the garden centre. In fairness the food here is always good. The deserts are un real and definitely worth a try. The portion sizes are crazy. We had 2 of the panini's with bacon, chicken, brie and caramelized onion, it was nice. HOWEVER Their queuing system is possibly the worst queueing system in the entirety of Northern Ireland if not the northern hemisphere....if you want to call in for a coffee and bun, be prepared to queue behind everyone in the world ordering a 3 course meal, getting things warmed and so on. It just doesn't work at all, never has and never will. They really need 2 separate queueing systems, one for those just wanting a coffee and those wanting a sit down lunch. This is why you will wait in queue for around 20 minutes at times as its just so slow. If you are in the area the garden centre is alway an enjoyed place for a nosey about. It is pricey, very pricey but sure window shopping is fine.

Great choices, great cafe very reasonably priced, and has been for last 20 years, never any different, clean, fresh , full flavours and textures, always satisfied leaving the cafe. Just difficult to get myself to spend money in the main shops as some stuff is very expensive for what it is.

Traybakes and coffee excellent.

Great cafe and lovely garden centre and shop.

Excellent choice of many things.. and quality food in the cafe

Favourite place to go, everything about this place is nice, love the variety of plants, wish there was more houseplants even though there is loads already, great place for a coffee and food too!

Pot of tea for two and scones then bought some bulbs for the spring Garden x

Excellent variety of plants,shrubs and trees, etc all well laid out . Cafe first class.

Food brill always lovely staff but I think you need to have a separate counter for coffee and teas ,service is to slow if you call in for a coffee or tea.

A lovely garden centre. Great selection of plants. Restaurant very good. Enjoyed our visit.

Perfect as usual scrumptious food and lovely at atmosphere and of course very friendly staff A lovely treat!!!

Me and my mum had a lovely time visiting the garden centre. The staff are so lovely and friendly. We will definitely be popping in again 🥰 I purchased myself a funky little pot as well and I love her ❤️

Fantastic range of products and plants and advice available. And a lovely relaxing coffee shop with fair pricing. Great home baked confectionery available

A large garden center and cafe. There is a large selection of plants (Indoor and outdoor) as well as garden furniture and ornaments. They have a great selection of BBQs as well as fire pits and chiminea.

Many people go there just to spend the day, buy some plants, few delicatessen, lunch or a coffe.

Visited mid morning, coffee and apple and cinnamon cake, a firm favourite, queue moved quite quickly and seating was available inside but was such a warm sunny day able to eat outside, plenty of seating here also.members of gardening club vouchers used to purchase items on offer from gardening section, also good selection of greeting cards.

Went for breakfast unfortunately it was not hot nor was the plate soda bread hard .Yes they were busy staff pleasant as always. Expensive 😁

Lovely garden centre and great cafe. Staff very pleasant

Pretty good value overall..good toilet facilities and restaurant

Lovely garden centre, gift shop and cafe. Would definitely recommend a visit.

Lovely experience with good friends. Especially enjoyed the banana muffin and strawberry cream vegan bun. Also interesting and different shopping experience

Just loved the experience and staff very helpful

Good garden centre, with a large range of items, but can be expensive. Excellent coffee shop. Sometimes hard to get parked as they can be very busy.

Purchased some garden furniture-table, chairs and parasol. Tammy who looked after us was brilliant. Nothing was too much trouble and her infectious enthusiasm and great sense of humour should make her employee of the month!! Soup & wheaten bread to follow was excellent. A grand day out!

Food was decent but overpriced.

Nice place to walk around, a bit pricy.

Out for the afternoon and called in for a coffee and a nice almond bun. Enjoyed it but rather expensive for what it was. Very expensive place to buy plants too.

Coffee and delicious Apple and cinnamon, heated scones, simply delicious, more like a huge slice of cake, so yummy.

Visited on Sunday and first went to cafe, though not very hungry. When you enter, the smell and the look of the food ALWAYS makes you want more than your really fit to eat. Had the absolutely delish potato and leek soup with chicken sandwich, and a raspberry cream tray bake, also a perfectly made 1 shot americano. My wife also had something that was lovely too ( cannot actually remember what she had!!! Price was just over £20+ which is very good for top quality food. Visited garden centre, was able to get everything I came to get. Extremely well looked after plants, which is not an easy feat with plants like cyclamen at this time of year. Decor of garden centre is very inviting and inspiring. Without reservation I would easily say that CG at Donaghadee, (also to be fair at Galgorm and Logwood) are one of the best garden centre groups in Ireland, if not THEE best.

24/09/22 for light lunch to be charged £28.34 for two paninis tea and two tray bakes, given the price you would expect restaurant quality this was not the case. Average panini with processed chicken. Very disappointed.

Agree with other reviews that the restaurant is becoming expensive but it doesn't appear to stop people going to it. Was there Sunday past and it was very busy. Ordered a sandwich, almost £7 (panini costs £9 and toastie £8) though have to say it was freshly made, well filled and presented with side salad, coleslaw and some crisps and actually substantial enough for two. I suppose like others will keep going back as it is a nice hour out to walk round centre and have a coffee or something. Staff who served us in restaurant on Sunday were very friendly.

Always been a favourite for morning scones and coffee. They’ve stopped doing the vouchers for this, but have also hiked up the prices for tea, coffees, scones etc. Coffee and scones for two now costs over £12, even with a regular cup. They have also stopped doing the Sunday hot food buffet and now have a limited choice of hot mains that you can order, which are brought to the table. It’s nice to visit the cafe as part of the experience, but disappointing that prices have been increased to the extent they have.

Always enjoyed the hot dinners here but the menu is limited now. Got lasagne and it was not nice and Im not hard to please. Very expensive too. Better garden centre cafes out there for less money and better food. Lemon meringue was good. Mum had sausage roll which was mostly pastry. Staff very nice. Won't be back for food but will call at the gift shop etc as its lovely

We are regulars to the Donaghadee Garden Centre. The staff are lovely, the scones and traybakes are good too, but the price has steadily increased and today we were shocked at our bill of £45. A latte at £3.89 really is overpriced. A scone of £3.29. The bagel with bacon and cream cheese is nothing better than what could be cooked at home - no garnish or side with it. Sorry Garden Centre - we have been loyal customers but now will rethink where to coffee.

If you like lasagne or bought in goujons that Iis all the menu consist of...I had a very bland and stringy potato and leek soup ... not good . 50 pounds for 4 of us .. Won't be back . Oh and the cafe was cold ..tthe door doesn't close properly.

Very disappointed.long queue which moved very slowly my disabled mother had to stand for around 20 minutes before getting a seat., And another 20 minutes before food arrived. I have to say the food was of poor value. I noticed a bit of a price hike in general eg a pot of tea at 2.49. soup over £5. I have previously enjoyed many meals there but the sausage rolls were not nice nor were the accompaniments . If I go back it will not be for a main course and not when it is busy.

Bought a coconut slice and coffee and when I was half way through it, I noticed it was mostly green mould!!! It had gone to powder!!!! I went back and was offered a replacement ( no thanks) or a refund! I took the refund but feel they should’ve offered to cover at the very least the coffee and given a voucher for a future visit!! I was actually retching knowing I’d eaten this!

Yesterday Saturday 24th July 2021, my wife and I visited the restaurant at Creative gardens, Donaghadee. We ordered one panini and asked for a sausage roll to be heated. After 30 mins waiting I had to ask where the food was. I was told that...

Overall a very tasty coffee and veggie sausage roll, and fantastic Christmas goods. Had one of the tastiest Americanos from here in a long time - it had good flavour, and was perfect (for me) in strength (not too strong, not too weak). I had...

We called in here recently and paid £10.50, yes TEN POUNDS AND FIFTY PENCE, for 2 americanos and 2 scones. Whenever average prices in the area are nearly £2.00 lower, we firmly hold the view that they are charging too much. But, then whilst people...

It was so nice to be able to pick up an activity that my wife and I have enjoyed, but have been prevented from doing for five months due to lockdown and the slow and difficult process of opening up society again. That is going...

Visited this garden centre and felt that it was of a very good standard and had various 'branded' concessions. Daniel in the garden furniture section was more than helpful in spite of me disturbing him putting together some BBQ products. Called into the restaurant and...

Called for lunch Friday 6/2. Had tasteless fish pie. Very little fish in it and vegetables cold. Should have taken it back. Said some time ago that we wouldnt use the restaurant again but will stick to that this time

I agree with the other contributor, two fry’s ordered, came out hard and deep fried!! So disappointed, my dog wouldn’t even eat that!!!

The garde centre is beautiful for a walk around. The cafe is nice enough, always busy, so a bit noisy, service is fine. The food has always been very good in my experience and good coffee.

If there are more than three people ahead of you in the queue, my advice is to abandon hope and go somewhere else. I'm really not sure how it's possible to be so slow. The staff are very pleasant and the food is reasonably good,...

We recently returned and, once again, availed of the breakfast offer and scone/ cuppa voucher and ejoyed it all😊 The only small niggle was the hard bacon (again!)?

Waited 20 mins for a panini which came out undercooked - how is that even possible? The place used to be lovely but it's so over priced. 2.50 for a filter coffee is scandalous. I wouldn't mind if they offered one free refill like other...

The gardening club voucher tea/coffee for £6 now include scones if available, appreciate this as prefer savoury. The cheese scones were fresh and full of cheese flavour, really delicious. Great variety of plants in garden centre as usual.

So...over £20 for a panini, a prawn salad and two coffees, a bit on the pricey side I thought but that’s what it cost. Were it not for the fact that my friend had paid I would have complained. I ordered the prawn salad which...

Went for breakfast last Saturday morning and ordered two frys These were brought to our table after being "cooked". The potato bread, soda, sausage and even the bacon had all been deep fried. While the standard of other food served here has been very good,...

The scones were beautiful as usual, would recommend raspberry and white chocolate. The service has become very poor, staff were more interested in their own conversations which put me off waiting in the long queue. However, I did wait in the queue and I'm glad...

As a regular visitor to the coffee shop, I must admit the vouchers to creative gardens members are becoming less appealing! In the beginning when the vouchers were introduced, there were always two sets of free tea / coffee. This was a great mutual incentive - brings more custom to the garden centre and also the majority of folk will buy something to eat along with the complimentary hot drink. Then the ‘vouchers ‘ became 2 drinks and 2 traybakes £4.50, then £5, and have now increased even more. Gone are the complimentary hot drinks. No breakfast offer vouchers either, only 2 meals for £16. And sadly, there are better value early bird meals in venues close by. My mum and daughter tried the dinners recently and were disappointed. In saying that, morning coffee and scones are always enjoyed, but must admit, disappointment at the vouchers.. always nice to feel custom is appreciated.

Invited an English friend today for lunch. There were many empty tables but a long queue through the door and outside along the path. Hot food was served quickly but it was almost cold by the time we reached the till as there were not enough staff to serve desserts and drinks. There is one queue to cover all and tables are not to be occupied until food is paid for.

The salmon was dry and inedible. The carrots were OK. The potatoes were 'off' and not edible. When we said it wasn't edible we were given a token for a cup of tea the next day. It is unlikely we would return certainly not for food and definitely not for a free cup of tea. Poor staff poor service. Expensive

Recently visited this coffee shop with family. Very disappointed with the service. Long queue with not enough staff to deal with same. Very little food left including desserts. Travel a lot, but found it expensive.

Went for a light lunch. Mother in laws panini was ok if rather light on filling. My tuna mayo sandwich however consisted of two doorsteps of bread with a tuna filling that had the barest amount of mayo and no seasoning, very bland. Worse it was served with a salad dressed in an oily sugar syrup that seeped into everything else on the plate and a handful of cheese and onion crisps which I detest. Would liked to have been asked when I ordered. Had to hunt for a table that had been cleared too. Won’t be returning as expensive for what we got.

We were hungry and my wife suggested the garden centre (ulterior motives) lol. We went into the restaurant, all 3 of us had the "big breakfast fry". It's well presented and plenty on it, a poached egg, a pancake, half soda, two very thick slices of bacon (yummy) and a pork sausage, there wasn't a single bite left on any of our plates, it's not cheap as Fry's go but overall was worth £6.50,. I also liked that they have a water tap for customers beside the seating area with slices of lemon and glasses, it's free of charge so saved us on drinks :) of recommend it if you are passing, also the garden centre is a good venue if you like flowers and trees/plants or gifts 4stars out of 5

We went for lunch I got a half heated up bowl of what they call stew disgusting!! My friend went for a very bland vegetarian dish I won’t be returning again.

Was in creative Gardens cafe in Donaghadee on friday past with friends and thought I would try the new fried brekfast that’s on offer and I must say that I wasn’t disappointed! :) the fry was delicious And the eggs were cooked perfectly! :) one friend also had the fried breakfast and he also enjoyed it very much! My other friend had the vegetarian breakfast on offer which he said was also very good :) the tea coffee etc was also very nice and the food was all out within 10mins of placing the order which is very good time considering how busy it was on this particular day and that I have waited half an hour in other places for a similar breakfast! :) we would denitely all come back again for the breakfast here at creative gardens Donaghadee and would definitely recommend! :)

After walk along seafront and shopping in garden centre store, thought some refreshments would be welcome. Got in before a big lunch queue, though it's all one if having meal or coffee, the cinnamon and apple scone/cake, not sure which description it come under, was just out of oven, must say was simply delicious and quite satisfying. Decent coffee too.

We spend a lot of time in the garden centre and eat in the cafe often and the food is of very good standard so when we heard that they had started to do a fry we thought we would give it a go and have to say we certainly will not be getting it again ...deep fried sausage and soda and potato bread not to our taste good quality ingredients ruined by cooking them in this way...potato bread in particular was inedible very disappointing....

Two friends and I booked to attend the Ladies Night. We arrived to a welcome of mulled wine and shortbread, along with excellent discount deals for that evening. Dinner was a choice of vegetable curry, chicken curry or peppered pork, served with a good helping of rice, salad and garlic bread.. washed down with red or white wine. It was very tasty. To finish off our dinner, we then enjoyed warm mince pie with fresh cream along with tea or coffee. After a good catchup over dinner, we shopped using our vouchers. We have decided this will definitely be an annual festive catchup.

Food here is not only exceptional but extremely good value for money. I opted for the steak pie in red wine with the veg and my partner for the chicken and broccoli bake. Both were absolutely delicious. A really lovely garden centre all round with lots of colour and a real Xmas atmosphere. My one reservation is as with all garden centres, prices far too high and therefore rarely purchase anything other than plants.

Definitely would not recommend for lunch. I ordered the prawn open sandwich which turned out to be a modest portion of prawns and sauce, what I can only describe as a small salad garnish, and a wheaten scone! For £8.95?? Bizarre combination as scone was sweet... My companion had a sausage roll which was badly overlooked. Disappointing and overpriced.

Food is good but service is appallingly slow, so if you purchase hot food on a busy day (as it usually is) it will be barely warm when you reach the table. The problem is that there is only one pay point, so the queue to pay only moves at the speed of the slowest ditherer (staff or customer)! The restaurant needs as a priority to split the queue into those who are ordering hot meals from those wanting coffee/scones, etc only.

Well what can one say... Excellent quality meat and plenty of fresh vegetables. However for a Christmas meal where was the seasonal music and decorations? No atmosphere whatsoever unfortunately.

I didn't want hot food but was made to stand in a queue until the hot food was dished up. Ridiculous. Time to sort this out before more people turn and walk out.

Called for a late lunch and we had panninis. Even at 2.30pm restaurant was busy but no difficluty finding a table in the spacious dining area overlooking plant displays.

Really need to have a good look at how you get customers through your till. Was not impressed today with the waiting time in the coffee shop. Usually worth a small wait but today was just a wait too long only I’d taken my Mum I would have been like 4 other couples who felt it wasn’t worth it ☹️ could do much better

Love the coffee served here, it is always at the right temperature. The scones and tray bakes are all so fresh. I have not had lunch here but if it's anything like the scones and tray bakes you will not be disappointed.

Boring boring salad was so average not even dressing on the leaves coffee bitter and Wheaten bread that looked like a scone was tasteless overall very disappointing and over priced

for a garden centre Creative gardens has a great self service restaurant. good food great snacks scones sweets and very busy at weekends and lunch times. Not sure I like the idea of paying for cream with my dessert!

I visited this garden centre for the first time last week looking for some perennial plants for my daughter's garden and not being a very good gardener I was hoping for some help. I got this help from a lady member of staff called Dorothy who I can't thank enough for her time and expertise in helping me to pick some beautiful plants.

Had eaten elsewhere a little earlier so this review is purely of the garden centre itself.

Funny this. We’re not normally in this area, but found another Creative Gardens hidden up a little country road, with its sign buried in a hedge. You wouldn't know it was there. Nice garden centre though, if rather expensive.

This is a stunning wee garden centre. It has the usual plants and trees but also lots of lovely decorative pieces for your home and garden. The coffee shop is outstanding, the lemon meringue was enormous and tasted fantastic. All the cakes and pastries are made freshly on the premises too. Will definitely be back!

food brilliant plenty off it always busy which is a good sign.very popular place.we like going there as you can browse around the garden centre.food always piping hot.would highly recommend it.

Went for coffee with friends at 650 pm was made feel like we were putting the staff out I realise the cafe closes at 730 but we were finished and leaving at 720 staff glaring over at us we felt very unwelcome and uncomfortable a member of staff spraying the dessert cabinet with a cleaning spray while lemon meringue pies etc still in the cabinet girl brushing floor watching us I appreciate that it was nearing the end of the day but perhaps you need to have more shifts or just don’t open the cafe late because clearly the staff don’t want to be there so unfriendly awful customer service and I thought the food was always top notch but now I’ve witnessed the lazy cleaning routine not so sure !

This garden centre has a good combination of plants, gifts and cafe - making it a good place to meet friends or family for a catch-up over coffee, followed by a browse afterwards. I haven’t given it 5 stars as it’s still on the pricey side compared to other places, even with the Creative Gardens loyalty card.

Six of us descended on this popular spot a couple of Sundays ago and to our surprise found that half of North Down had the same idea. The queue was out of the door! However, we persevered and were rewarded with an excellent lunch. That they were able to keep the excellent food coming was amazing. My only quibble was that the plates need to be hot; by the time I got to the till, paid the bill and got seated my lunch was getting a little cold. It was still super. Highly recommended and worth a visit.

Lovely cheese and bacon scone and delicious cappuccino it was st Valentine’s Day and we reviewed a complimentary heart shortbread. Nice wee touch.

I would have coffee in this place quite a lot which is always quite nice but I was bitterly disappointed by their attempt to extort money out of many of their loyal customers! Myself and my wife went for coffee on Sunday and they had...

There was a cold wind blowing that had a severe wind chill feeling about it, and the cafe was full of people taking shelter and enjoying the range of scones and traybakes. The coffee was fresh and hot..just right, and the date scones were lovely.

Met friends here yesterday for coffee and a catch up. I had a capuchino and a slice of apple tart, heated with ice cream, delicious. My friend had rhubarb crumble with ice cream and a tea. The ladies had tea and tray bakes. All in...