Dobbies Garden Centre Andover Restaurant in Test Valley

A complete shambles. One person on front of house. The queue took ages. Asked for soup...ran out. Then jacket potato with Tuna... ran out. Placed order of jacket potato and beans x 2 people. We waited 30 minutes and asked where our order was to find they had lost it! Enough was enough. We got a refund and left. Sort out your cafe .

Popped in for a quick bite and not disappointed. Service was fine and the food was great. Good portion size and hot. Soup was excellent.

I'm sure that this is a good cafe, however the last 2 times that I have been I have given up as the queue was far too long. With taking young children, a 10 minute wait is too long for a drink and a cake. They need to increase the number of staff serving.

Visited this morning the café area is filthy with birds freely flying around and depositing excrement everywhere, and considering the cutlery and crockery is openly stored, the lack of hygiene is disgusting. The floor is filthy and the chairs should be burnt.

We ordered two Traditional Breakfasts that were on offer at £14.00 for two.I was charged £15.90. When I questioned the cost I was told “it is your fault you should have asked for the discount “ At the side of the counter there was a large poster saying Two Traditional Breakfasts for £14.00

This place does not deserve my loyalty, but I’ve visited on a number of occasions, and now walked out on a number of occasions. The food is ok, basic but ok, but you’ll be lucky to get any as they regularly run out of items on their small menu and close the kitchen at seemingly random times. The service is an absolute disgrace. It’s incredibly slow and the staff don’t seem to care. Even on occasions where I’ve stayed here and waited for my food for 45 minutes I’ve never seen a table cleaned during all of that time. The whole place needs a refresh or deep clean, it’s not a pleasant place to eat when you have to clean your own table and furniture. You’ll often wait a few minutes at the counter, even when quiet, for someone to serve you, and when they do appear don’t expect them to acknowledge you, they’ll chat to their colleague who has frustratingly ignored you to make drinks for those few minutes first. The kitchen seems to just close whenever it feels like it, with no consistency, so definitely don’t bother visiting in the afternoon. If you’re lucky enough for it to still be open, they likely will have run out of many options on their limited menu, but don’t expect any remorse, apology or sympathy from their untrained and seemingly unmanaged staff. We actually did complain about this once, and to our great surprise got a call from the manager who was very nice and apologetic. He offered us a voucher for our next visit and to personally come down if we mentioned his name at the counter. We made a visit after a few weeks, only to be told the kitchen was closed that day due to unforeseen circumstances after queueing for 10 minutes. A tip - put a sign up for things like this to save the poor staff, who seem numb to having to explain this to unsatisfied customers and therefore come across as not caring. Needless to say we didn’t bother claiming the voucher. We continue to visit this place because of the garden centre, and I honestly don’t know why. On our most recent visit (Sunday 25th June), we came to buy a tree and tree stakes. We visited the cafe first as we were hungry, and at 11.35am could hear in front of us the attitude of the staff member telling customers not to expect any lunch before at least midday because it’s breakfast up until then, she sounded like she was trying to put people off. It worked. The menu says lunch is from 11.30. Needless to say, not for the first time we walked out of the entire garden centre without purchasing anything, and went to a different garden centre where they value your custom. Dobbie’s should close this cafe down as they aren’t capable of running it, and it’s actually losing them business because as another review shows, people are leaving and not even buying from the garden centre because it’s so bad in here. Avoid!

Absolutely dire food, bacon was over cooked and tasted high and off. Eggs were swimming in fat. Toast was only toasted on one side. We couldn’t eat it and got a full refund. There is clearly a staffing problem. Hire some decent cooks. The chef and waitresses are not performing any quality control when cooking or collecting food from the pass. The restaurant should be closed down or inspected.

Just awful, in every regard. Long queue to order, filthy tables and chairs. Chairs should literally be thrown out. Waited 30 mins for food which was then lukewarm at best and really small portions

Visited on a bank holiday. The Friendly staff managed the high volume of orders efficiently (lots of customers) and our food arrived in a reasonable time. Had goodly sized jacket potato with cheese with a generous side salad. Potato (in my opinion) was cooked well. Ambience was good. All in all will return again at some point.

Fantastic breakfast , service wonderful , helpful ,clean and tidy. They have seating for pets only ,which is purfect for us . Very understanding on my dairy free , lactose free allergies. Very understanding with me bring my own bread in . Staff couldn't be more helpful

It takes a really long time to get through the queue, I think there are not enough staff or coffee machines to adequately meet the demand for the café during busy periods. Also they seem to frequently run out of things, for instance they had no herbal or fruit tea last time I was there. And they've stopped doing gluten-free cakes, which is gutting! As someone who's very gluten intolerant I used to enjoy going there for coffee and a slice of cake - sadly not any more. Plus I now get a Dobbies Club birthday voucher for cake that I can't eat, thanks for that :-( It's 2023, they should be catering for people with food allergies.

Very quiet when we visited, but had to wait at least five minutes for an assistant to appear to serve us. Didn’t have first two items I asked for, so settled for the fish finger sandwich. Disgusting! The cheapest, grey looking fish I’ve ever had. What a waste of money!

Don’t waste you money went for a breakfast waited 45mins for food and the restaurant was dead all food was lukewarm at best beans were still cold toast was only toasted one side scrabbled egg over cooked and looked like it had come out a packet and was barley enough to feed a small child we had half a piece of bacon between 3 of us which tasted like McDonald’s bacon will not being visiting again

Visited for a light lunch and wasn’t impressed. Had a toasted ham and cheese and although the salad and coleslaw it came with was decent and plentiful unfortunately the toastie had one side toasted with other only lightly done. Also had to return the cup which came with tea as it was dirty. Reflects a sloppy standards within kitchen. Recommend only sticking to cup of coffee.

Honestly super grateful to Angela and another lady who's name I think began with a S! Your customer service was out of this world Despite not having any clue that a afternoon tea had been booked they prioritised ensuring our experience was above and beyond. Honestly so grateful for everything and the afternoon tea was by far the best one I have had in a long time Thank you very much for the experience you have provided today and thank you for making us feel amazing despite that not once did I see any of the staff take a breather Dobbies is very lucky to have such committed staff.... thank you again

Went as we had lovely food in a Dobbies near us. Paid over £22 for two tastiest and chips. Waited 40 minutes and wished we hadn't. Food lukewarm and untoasted toasties, with very little filling and a few chips. My partner noticed after eating his...

Lunch with the grand daughter. Lovely selection of food - loads of cakes. We chose chicken blt, avocado ciabatta - huge portions and very tasty. Friendly staff especially Sarah the manager who all made time for a little chat as we selected our food Highly...

Ordered a £4.25 Breakfast roll - voice of 3 fillings. Arrive with an egg, one sausage and half a slice of bacon. When asked if I could at least face a full slice of bacon the staff were very dismissive and said that’s as it...

We had the misfortune to try this poor excuse of a restaurant today (sat 13 aug) … and omg I felt liked I had time travelled back 40 years to a transport cafe … apologies to all transport cafes back in the day … believe...

We enjoyed stopping here for a cuppa and a sweet after our walks around Abbotts Ann. Garden centre is worth a visit as well.

We visited and had coffee and cake whilst shopping in the garden centre. Nice place. Service a bit slow but it was busy. Good coffee and tasty cake.

A group of 5 of us had lunch here. We all ordered sandwiches/toasties and they were great! 3 of us ordered the vegan toastie and were really impressed. Would have been nice to have a few other vegan/vegetarian options other than egg or cheese (often...

Where do I start... Half the Menu was not available, the food was in edible. The Leek and Chicken Pie was rock hard, the mash was cold and my gravy was like tar. They had hardly any items on the kids menu so my Daughter...

The manager of this restaurant needs to take note of all the recent customer reviews with a theme of slow service and long waits for food, learn from feedback, improve and manage customer expectations in the event of delays. We experienced this poor service and...

We visited today for afternoon tea for our friend's birthday. Staff were lovely and food was great. So much better than the food we had on Sunday (raw jacket potatoes and old salad). Thank you to Amy and Caitlin who sorted it out for us....

We were seated immediately but then took 15 minutes for someone to take our order. There was only 2 things available on the children’s menu but instead of saying that the girl let us request every other thing first. In the end we had to...

Went pre 19 July restrictions lifting so table service only. Was told on arrival if we wanted breakfast it would take 50 minutes. Not given a menu. When someone eventually came to take our order and we asked for a toasted teacake they said this...

Usually you can expect really lovely freshly prepared food in a garden centre restaurant. But not this one. Staff were ill trained, in a rush and muddling up orders bringing the wrong things to peoples' tables... I could not even eat what was served to...

The renovated cafe/restaurant is nice. Good first impressions. The service was average. Americano coffee … cup half full. Latte ok, out of a machine. I had toast. Option of white or wholemeal… I want nice bread, not just a thin, small piece of cheap supermarket...

Most of the menu not available. They said they had no delivery of vegetables, salad or fruit. Burger chips salad and coleslaw - example, no chips no salad or coleslaw, when asked if there was a price reduction because of this the answer was No....

We visited on Saturday for afternoon tea. We were a party of 6, one vegan & 5 regular teas. There were only 2 young serving staff & it was a busy day. Our vegan friend had a wrap, 2 'sausage rolls' & cakes which were...

Absolute awful service from the manager I believe. I was there with my 3 children, husband and mum and dad to have a drink and some cake. Two of my children wanted a hot pudding. We ordered then 10minutes we were told it was a...

Stopped for coffee and rest break on way home from Dorset. Expected a wait due to table service but there’s only one girl serving and it’s busy so a ridiculous wait. Asked twice and told doing tables in order, she then proceeded to do tables...

Friendly, helpful staff. Good choice of excellent cakes for afternoon tea. Pleasant seating area. Will definitely return

This was our first trip out after covid restrictions were lifted on outdoor dining. We needed a few things from the garden centre so decided to call for a coffee and a cake. Covid procedures are very good with a meet and greet service to...

Had breakfast at andover Dobbies and where it used to be very good now it has been taken over by Dobbies it is now dreadfull. There were three tiny mushrooms that none of us could work out how they were cooked, they had the texture...