Dobbies Derby Restaurant in South Derbyshire

Sign as you enter the restaurant says to order at the till with your table number and your food/drinks will be brought to the table for you. This is not true, you have to queue, serve yourself, pay and take your own order to the table. There are no trays at the start of the long and slow queue so you have to juggle plates and drinks as you move down the line. You have to serve yourself from raised cake stands that are ill-balanced and not easily reached (whilst also juggling other items). The hot drinks are then ordered at the end of the line, holding up the rest of the queue while you wait for them to handed to you so you can then pay...and then they offer you a tray! There were 3 staff behind the counter, two doing drinks and the till and one just stood about, nobody helps with service. The cake and drinks are very nice, a little overpriced but you expect that at a garden centre, but the overall experience puts me off going there. It's simple - remove the sign, put the trays at the start, same staff required, one serving food FOR you, one on hot drinks and one on till. Put the till separate to the line (empty back wall) and then nobody is held up, if you just want a cold drink and cake then you can bypass the wait behind the hot drinks folk and go straight to the till

A quiet morning with no more than 10 other tables occupied, still resulted in a 15+ mins queue for two coffees. Unfortunately the whole cafe needs a revamp and better staffing.

The Garden centre is well stocked, everywhere is clean. The food in the restaurant is very nice. What isn’t so nice is the tedious wait to order any food & drink. 20 mins to purchase a piece of cake, & there was only 4 people in front of us. The service is without doubt the slowest we’ve ever come across. Everytime someone orders a coffee it adds 5 minutes to your wait. Come on Dobbie’s. Sort it out. We’re local & we know people who stay away because of the long wait for food & drink.

Can things get any worse here? I am been going to this cafe for many years , long before Dobbies took over but they certainly have not improved it. For weeks during the WINTER months there was no heating just some space heaters which unless you sat almost on top of them were useless in such a big 'conservatory' style venue, The food is generally acceptable when you can get served. The queues are often very long and as many of the clientele are elderly, this long period of standing is far too much. The cutlery and condiments stand is often empty and the glasses for water are not very clean. I do not blame the staff who are excellent and very good natured considering the stress they must be under and it is obvious they are expected to do too much . Having been to Dobbies Restaurant at Chesterfield it is so different. It seems Dobbies are not bothered about their Findern store,

Not enough staff had to queue ages for a coffee. Had lunch later, long wait for meal. The food was good, bit overpriced. It was very uncomfortable heat wise, no air. Very stuffy and warm

Just experienced Doobies restaurant and won’t be going back Ordered 2 coffees jacket potato with cheese and beans and Cumberland sausage and mash with veg The mash and veg came cold the veg looked like it ghastly been boiled to death the gravy cold and transparent Jacket potato also cold and very small Took it back and said they will give me another meal when it came it had just been microwaved The manager was lovely and understanding fortunately hadn’t experienced the rest of the garden centre so saved a bit of money there!! Got a refund but won’t be returning

Absolutely awful. Was told there was a 25 minute wait when I eventually got to the till to pay ( which probably took close to 20 minutes to queue up). The young lady was very polite when taking the order. After 50 minutes the food arrived and was mediocre at best. They couldn't even make a 3 item toasties correctly. No apology from the waitress who served us,about the long wait. If you want expensive rubbish food ,love waiting about for an extremely long time and awful service , then this is the place for you. If not don't bother coming. The gentleman who has special needs was extremely polite , it's just a pity that all the staff didn't follow his example of customer service

We visited on Saturday afternoon. Disappointed with the changes in the garden centre (gift section is now mostly toys, sainsburys is now trimmed down and a Waitrose) we visited the cafe for coffee and cake. There was a large sign telling us to find a table then place an order at the till giving them the table number and they would then bring the order to the table. So first you have to go up to the counter see what you want, then to find a table, then back to place the order, then back to the table and wait. Well, we tried to follow this but when we approached the counter to place the order we were told to serve ourselves and then come and pay. We got to the till and only then were handed a tray to put the cakes on and when we paid we took the tray ourselves to the table, collecting cutlery on the way. The cake and coffee were very nice but the faff of all that and then to have to try and reach over the raised counter to serve ourselves (the cake stands are on their side of the counter) was all just a farce. There were staff just stood the other side of the counter doing nothing and just watching us and they were not friendly or polite at all. Self-service is fine, but don't advertise table service then, provide trays and don't make it all so difficult

Today mothers day, Sunday 10th march we attend this Dobbies for breakfast as my daughter was treating her mother to breakfast. We arrived at 10:30am entered and found a seat was not to busy, Issue number 1 Dogs being aloud in food area i had to move out of the line for breakfast as a person stood right behind my family with a dog right next to the open fridges with cake and food in them not very good practice and hygiene with having allergy to dogs i had to move away . My daughter ordered the breakfast for her mum and little boy who has a hidden disability and came to the table i had to go to due to dog allergy. after 35min we had to ask when the breakfast was going to be arrive as my daughters little boy with his disability was getting upset. After speaking to a member of staff the breakfast still did not arrive and once again had to speak to staff and explained the child with us had a disability and was getting upset and as by magic the children breakfast arrive then 5 mins after that the adult breakfast arrived so all in all just under 1hr from ordering. The breakfast was not very good quality for the price presentation poor and we could not understand the reason it took so long for the breakfast to arrive, The child meal the scrambled egg was like rubber over cooked and there was egg shell in it, how can you get scrambled egg wrong as a chef ,after finding this the child would not eat any more. This was meant to be a Mothers day treat which was a massive let down, we were not the only customers who had a long wait, this will be the first and the last time we go to |Dobbies for any food. O yes on the way out there was buckets in the exit catching the rain that was coming through the ceiling maybe u need to put so kind of barrier to warn the public so they don,t fall over them health and safety

Called today for afternoon tea . The whole experience was excellent with wonderful, efficient service from Lauren. A good selection of sandwiches, really fresh. The scones were also lovely with a good selection of cakes. Plenty of coffee. We would certainly call for afternoon tea again.

Went in for coffee - now you would expect sugar to be available. Imagine the surprise when having ordered and paid for a coffee to be told no substance, they had run out!!!!! Complete joke really, only they were being totally serious!!!!

I had occasion to visit this restaurant to meet up with a friend who is disabled and in a fairly large electric chair. This venue was chosen as it is reasonably accessible and has plenty of parking space. The meals were duly ordered, my friend chose the roast lunch @ £12.99. When it was serve with a small jug of gravy it looked very nice indeed. However when sampling the meat, this was cold. I duly returned it to the counter and was told they would replace it. However, this was not to be the case as on the second occasion it was still cold and by this time my friend decided to change the meal and ordered fish and chips. That was fine, except that he had to wait for his meal and watch me finish mine. Not only were we cold ourselves, but there was no heating apart from a small electric appliance around which four people were crouched.

The Restaurant are very cold had to keep coats on. Ordered Sunday roast. It came meat was cold. Sent it back twice in the end had to change order. No sorry for the inconvenience or any explanation no customer services. Shave visited numerous occasions no problem.

Been here for afternoon tea and festive afternoon tea. Superb selection of sandwiches, scone and cake. Excellent customer service. Many Thanks.

Went for some lunch with our 4-year-old. We had been at easter and the kids soft play was closed then disappointingly, however, it was closed again on this visit. Is it ever open? The staff look to be doing their best but the queue to the till is desperately slow. Could the hot drinks person take orders before the point of sale? Possibly could speed things up. The quality is fine and the staff seem to care, but the service is glacially slow and the kids play area seems permanently closed.

Really long time to wait to be served, over 20mins .Eventually got 2 coffees and wish I hadnt bothered as they didnt taste of hardly anything. Think the coffee was missed being put in the cup!. Sofas dirty and seating area really hot. Wont bother again .

Unfortunately no sandwiches, toasties or jacket potatoes available after 15:00 as kitchen closed. Website and menus indicate these are available after 15:00 as it only main meals not available.

Major issue with flys on coffee machine on rim of cups had to ask for clean one's all so flying around tables very slow service 20 minutes waiting for 2 coffee's, buckets everywhere for leaks flooding around plant areas very poor needs some TLC

Visited with my dad who wanted to treat me as I was recovering from a broken ankle. The weather was fairly hot this particular day so I went to sit outside. There was no shade in the outdoor bit by the dog area so I went to the outside area at the back of the cafe near the kiddies play area. No shade there either or even any umbrellas on the tables. Inside it was quite uncomfortable like being in a greenhouse. We sat near the dog area eventually as this seemed to have a slight breeze. My dad waited over ten minutes despite only one couple infront. The service was painfully slow and there seemed to be only one other member of staff. Many of the tables had dirty plates on and there were buckets collecting all the leaks from the roof. Not a cheap place either. The only saving grace was the scones were delicious. Needs more staff. I won’t bother again

Went for a meal with my sister and we had a fantastic lunch , can’t praise the food enough and a mention regarding Stephen at the till , his customer service was fantastic , been quite a few times for food and it’s always amazing , always look forward to going

(Following our review of June). A change of staff, working hard but on this day not enough! It seems this continues to be the norm. The newest and most careless mistake is to move the dog area: from an area that had an outside door in case a doggie problem arose, fresh air when needed, partly walled off from the main section... Now: smaller, crammed by a wall in the main section in the hottest. airless spot one can find. We visited a few weeks ago when hot weather and had to leave early as the dog was distressed - evidently NOT the only overheated one either.

Visited here today Thursday 28th Sept 2023. Very slow service. As the waitress delivered the drinks she spilled the drink all in the saucer, no apology, no serviettes given to mop up. I had a bacon and mushroom roll, the bacon etc was just luke...

Absolutely shambolic after waiting 20 minutes for 2 coffees my wife told me we were going. I couldn’t leave it that after having a quiet word with the manager we managed to get our drinks. But to see people turning up and getting served whilst...

The queue for the restaurant was ridiculous, this is the second time I have walked out after waiting in the queue for over 20 mins just for a coffee. There was one member of staff preparing hot drinks at what I can only describe as...

Half the menu was not available. No scones yet again Shortage of staff. Cutlery trays empty Long queues One poor girl on the till. Coffees were just milky drinks served without saucers. When i asked for saucers the chap had to go in the rear...

Been here many times over the last few years. Called today just before lunch for coffees which were free as a member. good thing was the frumpy miserable lady who use to be on the till was in the kitchen. new man on till who...

We had afternoon tea at this visit. Although it was fairly busy, it was well worth the wait. Excellent customer service. A good selection of sandwich fingers, cakes and scones.

[Also see previous review] We travel a lot (including Scotland where the dobbies come from :-) ) and have decided to use Dobbies centres as much out of comparison curiosity as anything else! We have noticed that some branches appear better 'kept' (presumably a prestige-based...

Don’t know where to start ……..! It’s started with a very long queue, we picked what we wanted to order , then was told we don’t have that sandwich, so I picked another one , we don’t have that one either !!! Then asked if...

Terribly slow, had to wait in the queue for at least 15 minutes just to get two drinks and scones, most people in the queue saying the same thing, surely the management at this Dobbies must realise just how poor this restaurant is. We come...

We have visited Dobbies before and have never been impressed with the restaurant service especially the lack of urgency; e.g. 15-20 minutes for a cup of tea etc. Today however there was hardly any queue and we ordered tea for two with scones. However it...

Pleasant staff BUT Have to free re the embarrassingly slow service here. Massive queue and ONE guy doing ALL the drinks and cake service. And I am writing this whilst standing in the queue for the last 15 minutes. Might be worth a review nethinks...

A reasonable selection of cakes as long as you're not later than 3 pm or so, and the drinks are fine, but the service is painfully slow! Have never dared order hot food - cake and coffee is 25 minutes!

Terrible service took ages to bring food and served people who were 4 places behind us in the cue. Waitress attitude was don't careless!!!

We have been regular visitors to Dobbies for many years but over the last eighteen months we have seen the restaurant service decline to very poor. We regularly find that there is no hot food available and no cakes, but today we experienced the no...

Great food and surrou ds. Staff were very good and friendly. Nice cream tea and festive cream tea. Would definitely go back. Nice little sainsburys there and lots of nice plants