Gordon's Bistro in Rochdale

Well stocked, reasonable price loads of new stuff

Aquatic team are very helpful and a pleasure to meet always cheerful

Met a friend for lunch yesterday, really disappointed with the bistro. Lady in front of me had been waiting 45 minutes for her meals, Two of the serving staff stood with their backs to the hot counters and the customer queue chatting to another girl not wearing the same uniform. Girl with hair down to her bottom was flicking her hair off her face and then put my cup on the tray with her fingertips inside the rim of the cup. Surely hair that long should have it tied sufficiently so that approx 50cm of hair isn't loose - it should at least be plaited and secure. Our food when it eventually came was mediocre at best - 'mature cheddar' was NOT what was served with my jacket potato. Very disappointing as we had traveled some distance to meet up with a view to this being a regular arrangement.

Went tor lunch today only to be very disappointed by the quality of food. I had a Brie and bacon pannini with chips. The Brie cheese was OK but the bacon was randomly cooked. Some of it was fine, but one whole rasher was undercooked and very unpalatable. The pannini had gone soft and the chips were cool and not tasty at all. I left most of them as well as the undercooked bacon and half of the pannini. The salad was very oldfashioned with the obligatory slice of cucumber and rough slices of onion. My daughter had a breakfast, which she said was disappointing and tasted greasy. My little grandson had scrambled eggs and beans on toast. There was a massive amount of scrambled egg which was off-putting and it was almost cold. The beans, on the other hand, were piping hot. There was no straw with the drink although the nice person behind the counter brought him one. I have been visiting this bistro on and off since it opened and at times the food has been excellent. But at other times and especially today, I wonder why the standard has slipped. A shame.

Gordon Riggs has everything, however I had never tried the Sunday roast, it's the best, great selection, real meat not processed, worth every penny. Wish I'd have taken a photo!! Choice of meats, Turkey, beef, gammon, mash, roast pots, cauli cheese, carrots, peas, brocoli, huge yorkshire pud and gravy, very tasty. No wonder it's busy!!

Lovely clean baby changing facilities and toilets on both floors. Booths in the cafe were great for feeding baby. Tea brought to table for me when staff saw I was on my own with a pram. Lovely range and well priced :)

Gordon Riggs brilliant place for gardening equipment gravel and flowers and plants or fish

A good welcome and the food is available hot or cold drinks you can also get plants for the garden too

Christmas has arrived at Riggies not quite finished but as fabulous as ever

The teabag in my small teapot gave me very weak tea in spite of squeezing it with a spoon and giving it time to infuse. The Bakewell slice was far from fresh and I struggled to cut it with a fork. The service was shocking...staff carrying on a conversation while supposedly attending to me. Staff training and supervision are obviously lacking. I will not be back and a friend whom I told about my experience, told me that she and a friend went recently and were so disappointed and have no intention of returning either.By contrast, the lady at the cash till downstairs and the very pleasant chap who lifted the compost into my car for me, had excellent customer skills.

Went in for breakfast today and not impressed at all. Poor quality sausages undercooked. Breakfast tea awful. Tomatoes raw/tasteless Cheap baked beans. Some were brown. Overall chemical taste to large breakfast. Will not be rushing back.

As usual a great place to look around and buy some wonderful stuff for the home. What made today special was a young lady named Grace, who was working in the restaurant. Such a warm and welcoming girl, was kind, polite and had a smile that lit up the room. A garden centre restaurant is not the cheapest of places to eat, but with service like hers, you hardly feel the money slipping through your fingers 😀

Love it here and so do the kids. Cafe is is massive. Loads of fish and a huge tank with massive fish for the kids to look at too. Plants are always well looked after and looking great. Bought loads of things throughout the years here. Themes throughout the year keep us coming back. Halloween and Christmas are not to be missed.

Staff is very friendly, only problem I had is that my house plants have white bugs on them.

Anthony in the plants section is fantastic. Went out of his way to help us with plants for our tarantulas. So enthusiastic and can tell he's passionate about his job. Absolutely lovely to see

Love a trip to Gordon Rigg so much to see plus a great cafe

Great for plants homeware also sell small amount children's toys. The bistro has a good menu and does a carvery on a Sunday. Enjoyed our time there

I choose the mature cheddar welsh rarebit and actually asked the lad on the till if a mature strong cheese is used. I was informed it was. My insipid cheese on toast arrived and when I informed the staff that it wasn’t a Welsh rarebit I was informed that the mustard that is referred to on the menu was under the (bland, my words) cheese. £9 for a bland cheese on toast is a rip off. Maybe the staff need educating. The lad on the till needs to tell the truth re products used and the catering staff need to look at a receipt for Welsh rarebit as cheese on toast isn’t Welsh rarebit.

Decent garden centre if a little on the expensive side

Very good cafe 👌 Excellent selection of garden furniture etc

Nothing properly cooked. Only ate the egg and even that has some shell still on it. Sausage tomatoes bacon toast all under cooked. Coffee was only just warm very very poor

Warm coffee. Under cooked sausage bacon tomatoes toast shell still on the egg very very poor. Teenagers serving didn't know what to do when I took it back very very poor

Hi, the bedding out plants we purchased earlier in the year have yielded a wonderful array of colour in our garden, hence the saying you only get what you pay for, thanks to all at Gordon Riggs.

Lovely plants and well looked after, reasonably priced. Lovely restaurant upstairs.

Not very good today at all, order mistakes in the bistro, excessive grease on food which made me feel sick with me having to leave the breakfast, bad coffee and tiny tea cups. Far too expensive in regards to the poor quality food. All topped off with an injury due to a defective walkway which staff said they have already raised to management. The garden centre is definitely getting worse.

Edited review.... After an initial discrepancy over a display model Japanese archway in which i felt i as a customer i was not dealt with correctly, i was contacted by general manager John Jackson who dealt with my issue in a very polite and professional manner. As a returning customer to Gordon Riggs for over 30 years this is very welcoming as i want to stay as a customer and it's a relief to see they do place customer satisfaction as a high priority... Thank you John

Tuna cheese toastie was amazing and coffee good too would definitely be back ❤

Good service pleasant staff well worth a visit

Great value for money staff very helpful great customer service

Jason was a fantastic help. Thank you

One of the nicest garden centre . It has everything one needs for the gsrden . And very healthy plants .

Really good afternoon loads to browse round ,lots of ideas

Good garden centre cafe, basic food 🍲, but thats all you need from a garden centre. I like the style with the booths. Prices pretty decent,nowhere is cheap anymore.

Reasonably priced and tasty food from Gordon's Bistro with good portions. The garden centre has loads of indoor and outdoor plant options, plus homeware and gifts. This one is bigger than the Gordon Riggs in Walsden, so if you're looking for homeware or garden purchases, this is the one to visit. If you're looking for a day out and a garden centre to look around and buy smaller items, go to the one in Walsden.

They were not keeping the distance

Called in today and had a wonderful day out, good food in the Bistro, bought 2 pots and a few plants, as you do, until we got back home to Bradford, and started planting the plants just bought, luckily I had gloves on, as in the bottom of 1 of the plants was 4 pieces of glass, my partner never wears gloves gardening so could have been a different story, moral to the story, always wear gloves for the unexpected.

We went specially to have a lunch and a look around the garden centre. We arrived at 1pm and ordered a meal for 2people, they had a sign up stating a 30 min delay so we waited and waited 2pm came and went. We complained and was informed that they were short staffed. 2.05 arrived still no food requested a refund as there were 4 more couples in front of us waiting for food. We have been on other occasions and have had better service someone needs to come up with a better idea of how to run a restaurant efficiently. Maybe have sandwiches prepped in the fridge. The staff were very off hand when we asked how long the food would be. Absolutely appalling. Regards Jane

Good selection of plants bit more expensive than usual.

Brilliant selection of plants, what I like about Riggs, is that they will put random old reclamation bits within planting, a rusty old lawnmower, a mangle, gas cans...not just row upon row of cutesy garden gnomes etc (which they also sell) There's plenty of ideas to make me think about. At the Rochdale one they also had fish tanks (unsure if I saw these at the Todmorden one) There was a most alluring hot dog/ filthy burger smell coming from somewhere, but we couldn't find it. Visited Gordon's cafe which was... OK. got the fish finger butty which was a bit greasy (deep fried battered fingers), but was good value for money - though its got my poor stomach on a reflux session for the rest of the day 🥪🫢

Best houseplant dept in the area. Good quality plants at a fair price.

Our experience was excellent. Ryan(Big)was very helpful and had a very good knowledge and was able to advise us on which plant we needed.

My daughter and I had breakfast, a vegetarian breakfast for me and my daughter had crumpets, I have no idea how crumpets can be undercooked!, or how serving toast that looks like warm bread is acceptable. I asked for it to be browned more and the toast came back 10 minutes later and looked the same. Cold mushrooms, inedible sausages and the worst breakfast I have ever had! I think a cafe should always be given a second chance but unfortunately not this one, even if it was free!

Went to cafe on sun first time fir a few months dont no if someone else doing catering had a bacon barm 1 slice of bacon husband had sausage 1 sausage no mushrooms like you used to get and prices the same disgusted wont eat there again shame really lv the garden centre

Lots of choices, no matter what you're looking for. There's a cafe on the first floor so you can get cuppa in between taking it all in.

Waited 45 minutes, it wasn't very busy for cold chips and peas, the fish cakes were hot. Soup hot , but the chips ordered with them never came . Severd on badly chipped plate .Not a patch on Riggs cafe at Todmorden ,won't go again.

Can't fault it they have everything you could possibly need staff are knowledgeable and friendly prices are generally reasonable

Enjoyed our visit. Also a very nice restaurant with fair prices

Plates cold chips cold, salad slopped on plate, sausages well under cooked inedible fatty bacon , excellent service, lovely staff,

I buy fish from this store, I have never had any problems and the service is at the highest level.

The café is a great place for socialising with reasonably priced food, which is exceptional, and attentive and polite staff. Toilet facilities are clean and there is a large free car park.

Had a full breakfast at the bistro it was a little expensive but was worth it also you should check out the various indoor and outdoor plants they've got some really lovely ones plus they've got a sale on for their Christmas stock

Visited the garden centre today. Bought an unusual garden ornament for my landscape garden. Thrilled with the design which will sit in pride of place!! Staff friendly and helpful. I will return!

Bought a Christmas tree on 14th December. It must have been cut down from the forest months ago. Needles were falling after a few days. Almost bald by January 5th! A poor do.

Great food and service shame about the facilities

Friendly staff. Well stocked. Food in the cafe good.

Thank you so much for having the best Father Christmas for miles around! The chips and cake weren’t bad either!

Visited Gordan Riggs to get a new artificial Christmas Tree. Our previous tree was old & tired. Christmas displays are fabulous. Got what we needed, price reasonable. Decorated the following day. Clothes dept was a surprise to us, we haven't been for a while. We'll be back soon.

Great food at fair prices. Friendly staff and good atmosphere.

Lovley little restaurant..cup of tea was nice and the toasted tea cake was big with plenty of butter .really enjoyed

Amazing displays for Christmas 'things' and of course everything plants/garden Food is great and not overpriced.

It's the most funny place to go,but not in a good way,free car park, items on sale not very well organized everything seems to be all over the place, no signs for tills and exit staff unhelpful,there was a Christmas fair Gordon Riggs staff on a stall selling pies and Cakes when asked about if all the pies had pepper in them they didn't know and didn't have any information for people with any allergies totally useless,when I purchased two pies at £5.50 each they could not work out the price without a till.The cafe sorry bistro upstairs but there's a small lift food at what I would call a Cafe was very overpriced and not very appetizing. Would not recommend going there.

Nice place expensive like all garden centres

Good place to shop and have a brew.

I had a fantastic experience at Gordon Rigg Garden & Gordon's Bistro! The garden center offers a wide variety of plants and gardening supplies, and the bistro serves delicious food. The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful. It's a perfect place to spend a relaxing day surrounded by beautiful greenery and enjoy a tasty meal. I highly recommend it!

We express our deepest gratitude to Gordon Rigg Garden Centre for their exceptional service and the incredible offer they provided us for our palm trees. The delivery service surpassed all expectations, with a driver who demonstrated unparalleled skill and expertise. The meticulous planning and preparation by the staff to transport these magnificent palms were truly remarkable and awe-inspiring. We extend our sincerest congratulations and heartfelt appreciation to all involved.

Just had cheese on toast and the cheese was like chewing gum. Absolute rubbish.

Had a look at all all the Christmas Halloween stuff. Well organised, will be nice when finished.

Visited hear today and had the "small" breakfast. Not a bad price, but every time I've been to this one and the Walsden one, you get an absolute mass of greasy mushrooms on your plate and normally a minuscule rasher of bacon with a rock hard grilled tomato. Think I need to do soup in future!!

We had a lovely family carvery at the bistro excellent x I go most days and staff and food are excellent my second family. Xx

Love garden riggs the cafe is great food, excellent variety of plant

Visited today 2/9/24 and must agree the restaurant is slipping badly. It doesn't feel welcoming no more, it closes at 4pm but the staff were sweeping around your feet before 3pm,makes you feel you shouldn't be there. Also the coffee was the worse I've had there, hope it was just a hiccup.

Want to thank publicly the colleague who works there who ( didnt manage to grabb her name) when i filled my trolley went and got a second trolley to help put my purchase of 5 large flower pots in. Came to the till and then to the car and helped pack them tightly in the boot. She then even took both trollies back so I didn't have to. Outstanding customer service thanks again and wish I'd got your name so the centre could forward my thanks.

Ordered banana milk shake with no cream. Came covered in cream Milk shake was more like a blancmange. Only had one taste and left it. Not a bit jice

I came into your garden centre on the 12th July 23 to purchase a hanging basket. I want to say thank you so much to Tracey for taking the time to help me pick one. She is an absolute credit to Gordon Rigg.

Nice garden centre with alot of choice helpful staff and the bonus of having a lovely bistro upstairs.

Friendly and helpful staff. Lots of items and plants to choose from. This is also a pet friendly shop🐾

Terrible tinned overpriced soup with frozen bread tinned horrible soup, staff not interested when issues are brought to there attention

Lovely but expensive. Pots outrageous.

We frequently stop at Riggs and visit Gordon's Tea Room to have a drink and something to eat. My wife likes her tea quite weak and this seems to be a major problem as the tea comes in a teapot with tea leaves. when the staff are busy (nearly all the time) the tea is a long time in coming and therefore it is very strong. She used to ask for some hot water so as she could make the tea weaker. This was no problem until about two weeks ago when she was told that extra hot water was now 50 pence extra. The staff have been told to tell customers that the 50p charge is because customers were asking for hot water and then using their own tea bags. How many customers would have the cheek to do this? Rigg's prices tend to be high in the first place so I am sure that they can afford to give customers hot water free of charge.

Very disappointing went to get bedding plants none at all. And prices have got extremely expensive 👎

Excellent place to go for a slow browse through the extensive range of plants. Very knowledgeable staff as well

Very nice garden centre with a good variety of plants ,trees on offer all reasonably priced although some are dearer than others .plenty of choice for any gardner ranging from small potting plants to fully established trees .A good variety of garden essentials ranging from all size and shapes of pots for your flowers to different pebbles and stones for your garden.They even sell fish onsite for ponds .There is a fully stocked shop with a wide range of gifts ,garden ornaments ,furniture seeds ,and much more .There is also an onsite restaurant with a good choice of items ranging from Sunday lunch to a simple sandwich. Highly recommended a visit if gardening is your thing .5/5

Could spend all day in here and we've been coming here for years. 😊 It sells fish for indoor and outdoor. Has a lovely cafe. Has a lovely plant and tree section. Sells animal food such as dog,cat and fish and birds. From dog/cat beds to fish pumps and filters. Outdoor garden furniture from tables to garden pots to firepits Lovely little displays all over of various things from cards to animal ornaments. They do amazing seasonal displays. At Christmas this place is so magical it really is. The staff are super friendly, always willing to help and advise. There is toilet facilities. It does have a carpark. And it's in an easy location.

Not too busy and good range of houseplants and outdoor plants. Great aquactic plant section too

Decided to buy multiple alpine plants. 3 for £10. At checkout we were told some where not in deal. However all the plants we picked were together on display. Checkout person didn't know what to do. No senior person available ( one left for the day and another on lunch) 2 others senior to checkout person walked off and left us standing. Decided to leave all plants etc unpurchased. Awful customer service will be going to Bents tomorrow.

This is more like a greasy spoon cafe. Really poor quality food badly presented. Chips are VERY greasy and the cheese pie lacked cheese. Dirty tables and took a long time for someone to come and clear them, this cafe and the Gordon Riggs Bistro Cafe in Walsden are poles apart. The one in Walsden is different atmosphere all together and food is real quality and served by friendly experienced staff who are happy to help and assist their customers.

Nice little garden centre. But its gone a little bit expensive now. You can get similar quality plants for a lot less at supermarkets now.

Good all. round eatery with a good selection of dishes to choose from, well presented with polite staff.

Brilliant choice of plants and shrubs, pet supplies, and fresh eggs

Lovely space. Lots of varieties of plants and helpful staff. Easy access to on site parking.

Sadly the cafe seems to have lost its way. We visited on Sunday 23rd April and we had to wait 20 minutes for our food even thou the cafe was only half full and the meat joints were sitting at the carvery counter. Then we had to wait for cutlery as they had ran out of clean cutlery. Hardly anyone had any cutlery delivered with their food. One table were given spoons and knives to eat their dinner. There were no glasses for the drinks so mugs were given. The roast looked great, generous portions. However it lacked any taste and some of the food was under cooked. The parsnip fries were really undercooked and the Yorkshire pudding was a heavy lump of stodgy batter that wasn’t fully cooked or fluffy let alone crispy . The meats were dry and tasteless. The gravy was the only decent thing on the plate. £7.99pp would had been a great bargain if the food was actually cooked properly and tasted nice. Such a shame and waste of food and money. We always pop upstairs to the cafe for a bite to eat and it used to be really lovely. But the last few visits have been very disappointing. We’ll just stick to the garden centre side on future visits.

Cheese and onion pie best there is..portions plentiful too.

Love it here 10/10 great bistro 👌

There is a set path to walk now, same as Christmas, and I struggle to walk feels too far.

Lovely garden centre, great cavery. Always get my plants from there.

Great place for plants and shrubs, lovely people and have a good knowledge of things

Lots of stuff fron gardening to garden furniture and things for your pets even has nice food upstairs

Well worth the wait. Quantity and quality Sunday dinner mmmmm the amount of meat you get with a small dinner is fantastic tasty and great value for money

Nice garden center to get some herbs to grow and garden plants are nice too.

Had a great few hours walking round it was luvly, and the cafe was great.