Dobbies Garden World Restaurant in Medway

Ridiculous. There was a long queue for drinks and cakes which took 25 minutes to get through. The poor lady serving was trying her best but just did not have any help. She had to not only take the order and payment, but also prepare the drinks as well. Oh, and the cake wasn't that great either, overpriced for what it was.

Wanted cakes , limited fayre now it’s changed . Quite a soulless noisy vibe now and chairs not comfortable . Preferred other layout, it was quicker plus space for cakes and drinks have limited uninterested staff (huffed and says a tea cake would be a long time to do as it was busy ) Members find up to 30 mins impossible to hold trays and stand . I used to go at least twice a week , barely once a month now .Such a shame .

Generally a good experience once you have got the order. Queueing takes for ever due to its popularity and staffing levels . Teas and coffees are fine , scones can be variable in quality though

Booked an adult and kids afternoon tea and paid extra for hot chocolates. The food was lovely but the table wasn't fully set, service was slow and we had to go and find the one member of staff working to get drinks. It wasn't the staff members fault but there just wasn't anywhere near enough staff and service suffered. I don't know that I would come again or if I did I would come at peak time as there would probably be better service.

Disappointing from start to finish. There were two members of staff at the restaurant desk who clearly didn’t want to be there. Didn’t say hello or welcome, just told to follow them to a table. Ordered a hot turkey and stuffing sandwich which arrived with no stuffing. I asked where it was and after a visit to the kitchen, the waitress returned to tell me they had run out - would have been useful to be told that before ordering. It came with a small pot of gravy which was tasteless, so it was a completely bland sandwich, made worse by a bland level of service. My recommendation would be to go to one of the other garden centres that offer far better food and service.

Had an afternoon tea booked here for this afternoon. The restaurant was blazing hot with no open doors for any air in. They have huge fans on the ceiling, allegedly they do not work. Staff very poor, had to get up multiple times for drinks (might be worth bringing your own drinks to the restaurant). Only time staff showed any attention was when it was 10 minutes to closing time and she made a point of letting us know that she was leaving at 4 on the dot. The food was okay and filling, but the heat made the cakes sweat a bit.

The iced drinks we could not finish the chicken coronation sandwich each where left very dry etc the table was dirty the sfaff were giving out wrong orders never again

Did some garden shopping and stayed to have a spot of lunch was not disappointed lovley meals and snacks can be busy frequented visit . Lots of garden furniture , plants and shrubs, flowers

I love popping to dobbies for a coffee and cake, I feel like you can't go wrong with a Dobbies scone! While the staff are obviously busy, especially at rush hours, I have always felt that the servers and hostesses have been very personable and make time to help me if I need it.

Staff were rude and were even having a go at each other in the restaurant. Various people having to ask to be served. When our meals arrived, one was wrong and had to go back and then when the correct meal arrived, everyone else had finished theirs. After waiting for over 10 minutes to be asked if we wanted anything for dessert, we called over a member of staff who just huffed at us before getting somebody else to take the order. We ordered coffee and cake, but the coffee turned up about 10 minutes before the cakes did. The idea was to have coffee and cake. Wouldn't use the restaurant again and would rather go next door to the Tesco cafe.

Very disappointed today. I have been trying to renew my club membership online for a week, but the site not working. My wife and I decided to go to the store today for lunch and pick up a few bits and renew my membership in store while we were at it. I passed the store in the morning and I would pop in and renew now ready for our lunchtime visit. There was only one till open and no one at customer service desk, with one lady already waiting and complaining about terrible service. After a couple of minutes someone arrived to serve her, called for extra help on the radio and disappeared for a couple of minutes. When she returned she dealt with another customer on the other side of the till that only just arrived, to which I then walked out thinking I'll do it later. When we arrived for lunch we went to customer service, still no one there and still one till open with a large queue. Three were standing chatting, one eventually told us to join the queue and went back to chat. By the time we got to the till we were then told the price had risen by 25% which I was not previously informed about from your emails, I questioned this, and the young lad called over one of the young ladies that had been chatting. She didn't seem interested and said unless I could show something with the old price she couldn't help, and she couldn't check as like me couldn't check the website. With this we walked away for second time today, to a very sarcastic Thanks then, have a nice day! It seems you have got rid of the nicer more helpful older staff and renewed them with younger staff with a very bad attitude!

Awful service would not recommend to anyone. Had to stand at the till for 20 minutes as no one else was there and staff were just standing around chatting. Then got seated and was told someone would come over to take our order but had to wait another 10 minutes before anyone could take our order

Called in to book Afternoon Tea fir a group of 7. Yhe restaurant was closed but Duncan found the restaurant manager Zars who came and took our order Both were friendly and helpful and went the extra mile. Excellent service thank you

My sons fish fingers were reminiscent of something Jamie Oliver would have campaigned to have banned in the early 2010s. My sandwich wasn't great but I was really upset by what my son was served, the fish fingers were actually grey inside, like the clammy grey of my disappointed soul. I realise I've mentioned this twice but they were that bad. This is a shame as we'd been before and it has always been reasonably nice.

Awful food, expensive for what it was. My ham egg and chips had a handful of lukewarm chips, two congealed eggs and two thin slices of ham stuck together. My daughters sandwich had hardly any Brie and wax small, how they claimed this had over 800 calories beats me! The little ones fish fingers were grey and the peas hard. The only nice thing we’re the chips and they were nearly cold! I won’t be back🥲. The staff were friendly but the service to seat and order was very very slow!

The staff are disgustingly rude everytime we come. Had to stand at the till today with no one else there while two members of staff finished chatting before they would serve me. It’s as if you’re inconveniencing them!! The two free drinks aren’t worth how wound up I get everytime I come

Had breakfast with my elderly dad aged 94. The staff were marvellous and accommodating towards him. The food was hot and service excellent. We were not rushed.

I had afternoon today at Dobbies with three friends as a treat. I have had afternoon tea in the past that was really nice. Today was awful the sandwiches were poor with very little filling, scones did not taste fresh and weren’t very nice overall the quality of the food was not what it used to be. The.staff were lovely as usual just not enough of them available.

We took our nephew to the soft play which was fantastic and so clean. However the queue to buy drinks in the cafe took 25 mins! For 2 coffees.. the women behind the till were amazing and working so hard but maybe there isn’t enough staff. Food was nice and coffees good. Just terrible waiting times. No trays available either

Whilst they cannot help needing work doing to their tills stopping everything from working properly, their back up plan was a car crash. Coffee could not be served from the cafe area, instead I had to be seated in the restaurant. No one really seemed to know what the plan was and it took a fair amount of time for anyone to serve me. No menu or anything to look at. I ordered a skinny cappuccino, I asked for syrup but the waitress didn’t know what this was. When this finally arrived there was no froth, so I doubted whether it was actually a cappuccino, a large amount of it was also in the saucer. On tasting, I could only describe what I think dirty dishwater would taste like. My colleagues arrived at this time. We kept asking for someone to take an order and for my drink to be rectified. This took over 20 mins. Initially my replacement drink was forgotten, when it arrived, it was frothy so looked like a cappuccino BUT it did not taste like one, hot water with a bit of colour is all I can do to describe it. What an appalling experience and one I do not tend to repeat.

Lovely staff At breakfast today really helpful and couldn’t do enough for us but complete contrast at the till for the garden centre horrendous staff particularly the older miserable blonde lady who obviously was having a bad day !!! Grumpy, unhelpful and clearly didn’t want to be working this Saturday 16th September! I will think twice about shopping here if the staff are trained in customer service like this! Shocking to say the least!!!!!! Perhaps re train your staff dobbies as my mum who is 73 and retired was deeply upset by this awful member of staff!!!!

Disappointed again, we wanted a simple lunch of Caesar Salad as when we last went sorry not available no lettuce. Gillingham Dobbies is next door to Tesco's, a 5min walk and they could have purchased as much lettuce as needed. We settled for something else, we finished our lunch and sat for about 30 mins with staff passing so many times we lost count but no one cleared out table or asked if we needed anything else. In the end we called someone so we could pay the bill. Last visit to Dobbies I think.

Arrived 10am and taken to table quite quickly. 10 minutes later walked out as no order taken, although 3 tables seated after us had their orders taken and one had even had it brought to the table. Queued up for coffee to use our Dobbies Club Plus free drink. 20 minutes later had our drinks order taken!! Poor restaurant management, not enough staff at the coffee bar. Empty tables not cleared.

Today was an awful experience, firstly wanted breakfast but told it finished at 11.30am it was 11.32am we said nevermind Sunday roast it is we was seated asked what we would like to drink .. after a few minutes the table server announced no Potatoes been delivered sorry no roast dinner ...I'd noticed the place was rather empty and it had atmosphere of a cafe. Disappointed with Dobbies will not be returning again.

Such a shame they changed what used to be a thriving restaurant. Not a great choice of food, slow service, won’t be retuning

Usually really enjoy eating here, but not this time! We arrived at 2pm as a family group for a late lunch, was told most of the hot menu was unavailable. Once we had ordered, we were rudely told we couldn’t order anything else after that,...

Waited for more then 10 minutes for someone to come and seat the couple in front of us the man said he would be back in a couple of minutes we waited and waited only to observe him standing chatting to other members of staff...

I went as a first time customer with my dad, his partner and my two small children on a Sunday in the hope of going for brunch. We arrived at 11.10 as we had seen online that breakfast was served until 11.30. However despite arriving...

Awful breakfast- price gone up from last months visit. Seated fine, got drinks, long wait for food. Breakfast both came out with very black toast. Requested replacement and waitress took it back. Some other items on plate cold. Started eating slowly - still no toast,...

The service was excellent, the food and drinks good, it was served by Dawn who was very helpful, friendly and professional.

We come here regularly as we are members so get 2 free coffees a month. It’s July now and there are no chairs outside. The whole patio area has been cleared of any tables and chairs. The restaurant gets extremely hot. They have air conditioning...

I thought we would try breakfast here. It's altered in the fact they bring your drinks and breakfast to your table so its nice and hot. Had 2 traditional breakfast and 1 small breakfast with poached egg & toast. Really lovely 😍 highly recommended 👌...

I have to say I really enjoyed my meal here yesterday with my dad. I reviewed this place eight years ago with 2 stars. now it gets 5. It has been totally refurbished. In fact, the new layout confused me at first because I hadn’t...

Awful would give it one star if I could!! Waited ages to have our order taken, a stroppy lad brought out a can of coke which when I opened went everywhere they replaced it with another volcano!!! When I said the second was the same...

Disgraceful service from start to finish, ridiculous cueing system, then took ages to get served , I got my substandard breakfast and then 10 -15 minutes my wife got hers long after I had finished and hers was cold , we got a refund and...

Sunday lunch waste of monies 2 slithers of what they said beef 3 roast pots (which look like frozen ones ) 3 small bits of carrots spoonful of peas 2 peices over done broccoli yorkshire seem frozen ones The mash was thrown on top Gravy...

Awful place. Tried it as hadn't been in awhile. They should really put back that nice bakery they had. Restaurant is needing someone to train the staff in their new system. Does not work at all. Staff do not seem interested when you speak to...

New system as restaurant has been re-jigged, now have to queue to be seated. Waited approx. 10 minutes in queue, to be told that no tables were available for another fifteen minutes. There were empty tables in view. It appeared that the restaurant is under-staffed....

Booked in for afternoon tea as a birthday treat for my mum. There were 4 of us including my 6yr old daughter. This was our 2nd afternoon tea here (the first being a couple of years ago). It will probably be our last. There seemed...

Completely gone down hill and have stopped doing all their speciality food goodies, the shop is not fully stocked and is very expensive with not much choice and the restaurant now very unimpressive they have reduced their selection of cakes and they aren’t that special...

We went for afternoon tea at 3pm. We asked the lady on the till who said we needed to book online. I will add that the restaurant was almost empty. There was no data signal so we found another member of staff and asked the...

Terrible service. Nobody at front desk.Waited 10 minutes to be told 10 minutes to be seated but could not say how long the food would be. Since the refurb the service has been poor often waiting over 15 inures just to get a hot drink....

We used to love coming to Dobbies both as a family and to see friends. It’s a disaster now. The staff are still friendly and polite but rushed off their feet and serving off a half empty menu. Such a shame as it really puts...

It used to be much better before the new layout was introduced. The queue to order restaurant food was enormous. Whoever dreampt this up needs to think again. And considering there's a soft play area now the selection of children's food is awful. My granddaughter...

Weird set up. Queued for 20 mins to get coffee and cake. Only 2 staff, one taking orders and payment, toasting sandwiches and plating cakes, the other making drinks. They were going as fast as possible and were polite and friendly but the woman making...

Recently visited for Sunday lunch. The meat was poor, no vegetarian option. The potatoes and yorkshire puds were frozen. The gravy was so salty!!!! Did not enjoy the meal and will never return Sorry but this was one of the worst sunday roasts thst I...

Well… this is now over complicated and awful! Who ever thought this new cafe lay out and system would ever work? Came in at 11:30… was told we couldn’t order from main menu till 12.. no problem at all. So we order our drinks and...

Not enough staff in coffee cake area.. 20 min wait..staff flat out trying to cope.. Then till went down...which added more time to wait for those behind us...it's a disgrace..1 more member of staff would make all the difference at 11.30am...one of the busiest times...

Our family often comes up to dobbies to shop and have a meal. Went to the Gillingham garden centre today. To be told that we would have to wait 10 minutes for a table. My father uses a walker and no way could do this....

Went for a breakfast in the newly refurbished and redesigned restaurant. It is no longer self service but table service. A pleasant waiter food was served fresh and hot unlike to old system whee it got cold after waiting for drinks and to pay! A...

Went in for a coffee and stood in a long queue for nearly 15mins and didn't move and that was just drinks and cake till. Christ knows what they were doing behind there but we walked out in the end as couldn't be bothered to...

Costly drinks, a slice of cake thats more like a slither, stale scones There is a much better value tea and cake place in Rochester.

Booked Christmas lunch for a group (we've enjoyed these in previous years). The recent changes to the restaurant area have unfortunately turned it into a soulless, echoing space. The staff were as welcoming, helpful and efficient as ever but there was zero atmosphere - no...

Try to avoid the cafe/restaurant, had 2 visits Xmas service is now painfully slow 30min for coffee maybe even longer for food 50min. Someone needs to sit down with management and ask why. Also the change has brought what was once a community atmosphere and...

We noticed the changes at the Dobbies cafe/restaurant before Xmas when we experienced an astonishingly long wait to be served-we put this down to a new layout/ system and Xmas crowds. However, sadly the situation hasn’t improved: 40 minutes wait to buy coffee and cake....

Such a shame they’ve changed the menu and entire restaurant. Took ages to be served even on a mid week lunch visit. The flat whites tasted like lattes, sent them back, tasted just the same again, food was very average and lots of previous menu...

A friend and I visited for breakfast on a Saturday morning at 9.30. Pretty empty when we arrived and were seated quickly. Ordered hot drinks, avocado on toast and a full English breakfast. Both drinks arrived lukewarm, and by the time we had eaten were...

Awful sums it up. Freezing cold in restaurant area, had to put coats on. Sandwiches & scones flavourless. Cakes abysmal. The coffee was undrinkable because it was so strong, asked for boiling water and another cup to pour half away and top up with water....

Spent 10 minutes waiting to be seated only wanted a coffee and a cake the lady informed us there was a 25 minute wait on drinks and food . Didn't bother

The staff were great. We did have to wait but we were told that there was a large party in. We were happy with that. Once our order was taken everything was very efficient and, by the way, the food was great. A good menu...

Whoever planned the logistics needs to think about a different career. Only been twice since the changes. Minimum queue time 30 minutes on each occasion just for a hot drink. Just ridiculous. Even the monthly 2 drinks as a loss leader won’t remedy the desire...

The restaurant has changed since refurbishment gone down hill in all ways you have to queue for 15 mins to find staff working hard unable to cope with the work or replace the stock will not be back

Have visited 5 times since refurbishment . Now table service NO LONGER self serve. Previous visits were awful but some graduate improvement however this time will be our last. Shown to our table by a server whose body language and voice suggested she did not...

We usually go here once a week for coffee and a mouch around the store. Last week we queued for over 20 minutes. Today there were 24 people in front of us so just didn’t bother. We noticed a lot of people were just walking...

Oh dear! Sadly I think the service industry is in a bad way and not the time for Dobbies restaurant to start full table service … they have doubled they staffing costs which is up to them but sadly don’t have the staff to cover...

Ordered breakfast for two. Tea came first with a dirty cup, then breakfast which was stone cold. Sent it back and came back stone cold again. My Wife left everything and just had the toast. Thank goodness for Danny (Kitchen manager) who spotted the problem...

This was the first time visiting since 2019 and it was so different and disappointing, waited ages for the waitress to take our order, we chose fish and chips but apparently not available. My husband chose the festive roast and I chose macaroni cheese. My...

Excellent service and excellent staff food is excellent quality and price range is very good also after eating a walk around the garden centre is well worth it not brilliantly cheap but excellent quality

Visited today and the restaurant has gone down hill. The selection of cakes has reduced. They are kept in a chiller and they don’t look as good as they used to probably due to cutting costs. I chose a Viennese whirl which due to it...

I am just copying and pasting my complaint to dobbies here as a review. We used the soft play and afterwards being hungry and our babies needing feeding, we thought we would stick around for some lunch. My friend saw the leaflets all around advertising...

Just visited new revamped restaurant at Gillingham. Layout great spacious and airy. Enjoyed Table service prompt efficient service. A good meal in pleasant surroundings .

Dobbies has just reopened after a restaurant refit. The old restaurant was good, friendly atmosphere. The newly opened restaurant was different: We had to sit where we were told The seats were hard and uncomfortable The chips were not very warm The sandwiches were not...

Didnt like the new lay out, very echoe, more like a canteen atmosphere. Much preferred the old style of Dobbies. Food not very hot, and the seats uncomftable.

We loved it here. The food is a tad expensive but it is nice. The soft play area is clean and well kept, my little boy loved the toddler area.

We have used this cafe many times in the past today you have to wait to be served at table it’s now taking three times longer to be served than when you ordered at till seems like a backward move to me

I went with my mum and daughter for an afternoon tea. My daughter has a nut allergy and I felt reassured and confident with their food prep after the manager took time to have a chat. The food was perfect, including a specially made children's...

Been here in the past and was disappointing then. Nothing has changed. Enticed in with kids eat free offer - my 2 year old daughter chose pizza and that’s exactly what she got - a frozen pizza on a plastic plate - no side or...

I am not going to write a long review, but to say this place is expensive is an under statement. Two tuna panini’s, coffee, can of sprite and a cookie was £21. The can of sprite was £2.10, how can they justify that. Loads of...

It was for a very dear friends 82nd birthday, there was eight of us in the party and I couldn't believe how much Afternoon Tea at Dobbies had changed no lovely white table clothes anymore, sandwiches very disappointing the cheese ones had Kraft cheese inside,...

Tried breakfast here after we stopped going because of the poor service before the pandemic. Nothing changed The service is very slow and the food is cold Not even luke warm. This is made worse by the amount of time you need to wait for...

What an absolute shambles. My partner and I paid £2 to join their Christmas event this year. We thought it would be great to get out, get some new Christmas decs, have an nice roast while were there, get our free glass of bubbly and...

£7.50 for a toasted cheese and onion sandwich on thin bread. One thin slice of cheese served with a few luke warm chips. What happened to their chunky sandwiches. Not impressed at all.

I am not one to write a poor review but I am shocked and extremely disappointed with my last two visits to the cafe at Dobbies. The standard and value for money, in my opinion is poor. Let’s hope the management do something about this...

Garden centre and shop is ok. The latte served in the restaurant was dreadful, it was watery and tasteless, should have complained at the time but didn’t want to make a fuss.

Afternoon tea waste of money! 3 people we got 1 pot of tea 3 different sandwich fillings the size was no more than 1 sandwich between 3 people. Scones was dry and old with basic cakes on the top tier. Not worth £13.95 each!

The restaurant area looked closed as we arrived at 3.30 yesterday but we waited as people were sitting outside. After a few minutes, we were told there could be a 10 to 15-minute wait as it was busy, but a gentleman took our details within...

We went to dobbies to have a look round as we wanted some plastic flowers which we bought but only about 10 people in the whole store but plenty of good value meat from brogdal which is in the store plus a small little sainsbury...

We enjoyed a lovely top quality breakfast here last Saturday and were delighted to find the weekend breakfast deals meant that Saturday and Sunday breakfast were buy one get one free! Amazing top quality ingredients beautifully presented at a bonus price. Great choice and good...

1st visit in quite some time and everything to keep it Covid safe was brilliant, the spacing between tables so nothing was overcrowded and all very open. Letting a small handful of people in at a time to queue up for food which was good....

Hubby and I decided to treat ourselves and our 2 year old son to a cooked breakfast today. On our arrival we was asked for our track & trace details, then we ordered our breakfast (I ordered the breakfasts and hubby got the hot and...

Visited Dobbies at Moreton mid afternoon today. The average age group here is senior to put it politely as am I. Everything was as expected, some are better at social distancing whilst others don’t care or are oblivious. Nothing new there. When I reached the...

Bought 2 vegetarian and one regular breakfast. Excellent service with strong social distance rules. Plenty of space between tabled

We all had the roast dinner on sunday could not fault anything.We could not believe the generous helpings that we received well worth the money and lovely staff very helpful.

Neaver go back here again food disgusting dry burnet how thay serve it arfull advitised fish chips none left why have posters up lady on servary rude bad service

This was very mixed. Felt covid safe most of the time hand sanitizer, distancing rules and masks. The menu was ok nice choices. The value was brilliant on a Tuesday during August. We utilized the OAP deal which is £7.95 for two courses (main and...

Afternoon tea for 2....... what a waste of time and money. The staff said hello and added a few grunts about sandwiches and tea or coffee. Out came the 3 racks of food..... slices of sandwiches that had obviously been prepared ages before we got...

Three of us called in on our way to a further destination hoping for a late lunch (almost 2pm after unforeseen delays to our day out). It was a weekday so we were hopeful it wouldn't be too busy. Luckily it wasn't busy when we...

I hope you have thrown away those disgusting filthy tub chairs. So dirty and worn through that they cannot be cleaned. I know they are not in use now. Do not put them back as a nurse it turned my stomach. Food expensive too few...

The tub chairs in the restaurant are disgusting. They need to be completely refurbished. You wouldn’t let a dog sit on them. They feel greasy and are worn through to the fabric. It is such a shame as when this restaurant was new it seemed...

Recent visit,must say staff are amazing,work there socks off,friendly.sure they are overworked,very reduced staff levels. I was amazed in cutlery area,they have serviettes in containers,but on this occasion were literally thrown over area ,new packs not put in containers,really.somebody just opened packs and left them,to...