Hawley Garden Centre in Dartford

Tasteless coffee, slow service, staff no enthusiasm, staff smoking outside the entrance. Only went for the car cleaning.

Once sat down we placed our order of 3 sandwiches. Prices are steep for what you get. I ordered a BLT, it stated it came with a salad which consisted of a few pieces of lettuce, half a baby tomato and one thinly sliced cucumber. A few tortilla chips were thrown in also. Service was really slow aswell. 50 minutes for this to be brought out. Not ideal. You expect garden centre cafes to charge more but others have the service to back this up. Im not sure id return unless services improves.

The cost of a breakfast is £5.50 but for a sausage sandwich on white bread is £5, states comes with salad and crisps but twice now this is not the case, I visit many cafes and none have charged a fiver for a sandwich, there is no justification for this price

We visit the Cafe at Hawley Garden Centre most weekends (due to being in area) and one of the reasons is to have the Full English Breakfast. Fantastic produce, great portion sizes & cooked perfectly - we would absolutely recommend this meal at the Cafe. The staff are always very friendly and helpful too.

We decided to try the breakfast as we were in the area We ordered the full English with toast Arrived promptly The food was excellent Lovely ingredients and all well cooked Will definitely visit again

We walked in a family of 4- at 12:30 there was a table of 4 left which was marked as reserved from 1:30pm when we enquired whether we could use it as we wouldn’t be anywhere near 1 hour and quite short with us said no and walked off. There were 2 empty x table of 2 quite close and whilst I was tempted to the 2 together to create a table of 4, I felt that I didn’t dare for fear of being shouted at…. Unfortunately neither of the 2 staff members interacted with us and decided to offer this as a solution so we walked out - absolutely awful lack of customer service- AVOID

First time visiting the coffee shop, nice atmosphere and very good service and welcoming highly recommend this, this was a birthday party for 4 , they supplied baloon and nicely decorated table

Visited Hawley garden centre cafe in several occasions during the week for lunch and on a sunday for sunday lunch. All the food we gave ordered has been excellent well cooked and hot. The staff are friendly and hard working and nothing is to much trouble for them. We like the food fo much we go at least once a week.

We are very happy that the cafe is open again! The food is good and the staff here is always friendly and welcoming. We visited often before lockdown and are looking forward to many more visits :)

Having walked from Central Park in Dartford on a very blustery day, the Cafe and Farm Shop were a delight to find. Delicious freshly prepared food and an extremely reasonable price. The Farm Shop had some wonderful local produce where I purchased even more delicious Pork Chops and Sausages. The Garden Centre itself is a veritable cornucopia - fabulous to explore. Well worth a visit.

I was really trying to review the cafe. It's ok but nothing special. I visit often and always feel it needs a revamp. The garden centre is very good. Lots to see both flowers and gifts

Atrocious service received from the shed department. Very unhappy customer as feel the shed is unfinished, they have refused to fix the problem and want to charge me more money! They have no interest in the fact that I am dissatisfied. Would usually support local businesses but will not be returning to HGC and will be advising others to avoid. What happened to customer service?????

We were told 10-15 minutes as kitchen busy It took 45 minutes for food to arrive, overpriced and ran out of certain items on the menu, Won’t be going back. Would have complained but manager wouldn’t come out of kitchen

I have used this garden centre for many years. They have a large selection of plants of all types all the year round and the quality has always been very good, there is also almost anything else you would want for the garden. Attached to the centre is Dartford Portable buildings and there is also a branch of Maidenhead Aquatics inside the main building. There is also a small café. Plenty of parking and a car wash as well.

Was recommended to visit the Cafè @the Hawley garden center, so pleased we did. Had a big breakfast and was so worth the wait, best eggs I’ve ever had out and everything was served hot and fresh.. the staff were friendly and nothing seemed too much trouble.. Would recommend to anyone

Reading other reviews puts the garden centre in a negative light. We went here to try the breakfast and see what Christmas items were on sale. We like the Christmas display. It's not as big as Ruxley or Polhill but both of those are bigger centres anyway. We thought there was plenty of choice and some very nice items, although one particular childs toy was priced as being reduced at £9.99 from £19.99 and we saw it later in Aldi for £7 but there you go. We enjoyed our filling breakfast but we did have to wait almost half an hour for it to arrive and the cafe wasn't busy. The sausage and bacon were lovely, finally somewhere that knows how to cook a sausage properly. The eggs didn't taste fresh, the mushrooms lacked colour and the bubble wasn't something I'd want to eat again. The tinned tomatoes were fine but the toast was lacking a good spread of butter. There was only two of us but there was a good 5 minutes more wait between mine and my husband's plates arriving. We decided to have something sweet to finish. I had the chocolate/orange cake which was very nice but I'm guessing bought in. My husband had the jam sponge and custard. He was dissapointed to find it was a supermarket tinned sponge. We would eat there again but it's not in our top 10. Staff were friendly, venue clean and prices a bit high for what you get.

Called here to initially look at solar lights and walked through to a totally depressing Christmas section. They’re was literally no one there and I’m not surprised... everything looked like it had been dragged out from last year! Drove straight up to Ruxley Garden Centre to cheer us up .... no comparison.... magical & busy ..... Hawley you really are missing a trick here!!!

I've been going to the café in Hawley garden centre for a number of years and I have never been disappointed. The food is always tasty and the staff are very friendly and are always willing to help. Their vegan chocolate tart is amazing! Very creamy, rich and chocolatey.

It never quite ticks the boxes - fairly regular bill of fare for dinners & specials, so-so breakfast menu (why do caffs make double egg an 'extra' or only with the 'double-everything' option?), but I've never strayed from 'brekkie' so cannot comment on other meals. I have the usual "XL" as experience tells me it is still small - small eggs, stubby sausages, 'biscuit' bacon, spoon of lumpy bubble, one tinned tommy and for dessert - the slice of toast! Add on a cuppa (milk added almost immediately so has no chance to brew!) and you're into £8+. Caffs offering 'small' eggs signals moves to improve profit rather than quality/service/trade so is always disappointing, the two sausages were very nice but barely big enough to make up one regular sized one, the bacon was (and always is) too thin for the amount of cooking they subject it to so is dry and biscuit-like (certainly not juicy and flavoursome of my preferred 'rubbery' consistency but neither is it crispy as is often liked by others so I'm not sure who they're trying to please!), flavourless bubble retains sufficient lumps so you know it was once potato but only a hint of cabbage so hardly a signature recipe and only one tomato so the entire meal is all just a bit 'dry'. The toast is always an afterthought so I'm left waiting to slide my egg onto it! I guess they have a one-armed chef who likes to work solo as the speed of service is remarkably slow; I have walked straight out if there's been more than 3 before me.

An amazing garden centre with a huge choice for every budget. Great choice of outbuildings with competitive pricing and installation.

Popped in to grab lunch, on my lunch hour from work, as i have heard the food is excellent. There were 3 people in front of me. It took 15 minutes before i even got to the front of the queue, there looked to be some lovely items on the menu, however i couldn't chance waiting for food, so had to grab a cold sausage roll & leave. They need more people need hiring for lunch times. There were garden staff wandering around, maybe they could lend a hand

Very disappointed ... have used this family run centre for 35 years' ... my daughter purchased some roses for our ruby wedding that were badly diseased .. the company stated that once the roses had been paid for they wanted nothing to do with them ... I sent photos with a email that was ignored ... Myself or my family will not go back and would advise you to avoid Hawley Garden Centre and go to one of the many that around and do not sell defective goods and will give you a better service

Good range of plants and garden products. I bought a couple of planter pots that were good value. Also the staff were able to offer good advice on plants.

Went to the aquatic centre inside garden centre for advice as I was losing some of my fish in my pond and they where so helpful with there advice and recommendation on how to resolve my issue,they even done a ph balance test for me for free,will def be using them in the future,fish all fine now.

Popped into this place and had a look around the centre! We also went to the cafe! I had poached eggs on toast and my wife had mushrooms on toast (she said it was delicious)! We had a mini dessert with ice cream (this was a generous portion)!

We bought a plant on the 29th but had to take it back on the 31st as the plant labelled as a hardy plant . After our purchase and after checking on line with the RHS web page we found it not to be hardy the plant in much of the country. It cost us £9.99. As we spent over £70 and expected to buy more plants we thought about returning it or exchanging it only to be told that they do not exchange or refund as it was their policy for 27years.

A wide range of all things for the garden, I bought some seeds, friendly staff who are knowledgeable.

Visited as a family. Nice garden centre however avoid the cafe. My sandwich was stale and dry. Overcharged also. Cafe could do with a good clean.

My main port of call when i need anything from plants to some fencing (and a cup of coffee) good friendly staff who are knowledgable and give good advise when needed.

Needed some information on maintaining my garden pond,the staff there where friendly and very helpful,will be going back there.

Nice garden centre good rage of product , food is nice but its like pulling teeth waiting for it. But worth a look

The counter service was very slow only one server. Cake selection was ok and my scone was average taste.

Came to Hawley Garden Centre with my son and daughter. We purchased some hot drinks and when we got to the table we realised that two of the three cups were dirty. No big issue as they sorted that. However getting a clean spoon was another issue. The spoons were so dirty that I asked a member of staff if I was looking at used spoons. He replied 'no it looks like we are having problems with them being washed properly...'

I contacted many garden centres recently, trying to source a particular range of pots. Jan (the owner) was very helpful, going out of her way to liaise with suppliers and then liaise with me. I will be shopping at Hawley Garden Centre again!

Eaten here a few times now, and is always the same, food is ok, nothing the write home about, but not bad. It’s always hot when you get it but then again it should be if you take into consideration the time that you have to wait for it ! So pluses and minuses here. Thin I they need another person cooking to bring the wait time down.

Called in for lunch although relatively quiet...6 customers we waited for nearly 15 minutes for our meals. We were told when we ordered to listen out for our number to be called. Should have known then...number 13.watched the waitress slowly work her way around the cafe with a plate in her hand...she then walked outside and came back in still aimlessly wandering around with her plate. We called to askif it was smoked salmon and scramble on toast? Dunno was the answer. So we peered over YES!! Unfortunately by this time the egg and toast were cold. So I took it and asked for it to be warmed. When I got a replacement it was slammed on the table in front of me without a word. Shame...cos the food was good but it seems none of the staff have any social skills. Would definitely not return. A smile and an apology goes a long way. Avoid!

I have used this garden centre as it is local to me on quite a few occasions and I like to support local businesses. Upon most visits I have never had to ask for any advice or engage with staff to any significant level until this Saturday when I asked one of the staff a few questions.

The young woman behind the counter had all the charisma of limp lettuce leaf. Don't expect any please, thank you or listening skills. The sandwiches were very tasty and crammed full of good honest ingredients. Give it a go if you're hungry and thirsty.

The sandwich I ordered took ages to come, when it did eventually arrive it was dreadful, I ordered a Prawn and seafood sandwich, the bread was not very fresh, the prawns, you could count on one hand. the seafood sauce, was spread so thin, you wouldn't know it was there. I should have complained at the time ,at the price they are charging. needless to say I won't be returning.

I purchased a Clematis plant for my dad's birthday, I needed to get a particular one and they only had one left priced at £16.99. It was a very small one (very few shoots) and as I am not an experienced gardener I didn't know what to look for in a plant, however this garden centre is meant to be a good place so I trusted that they sold good quality plants. I gave the plant to my dad who is a very keep gardener and a few weeks later he told me that the plant was dead.... he had done everything that he could to see if it would grow but it had not and died. He contacted Hawley Garden centre and spoke to a member of staff who advised that they do not refund of exchange plants,he then asked for the contact details of someone higher up who he then emailed. The reply was as if the person had not even bothered to read his email and the person who he spoke to on the phone had said things that my dad had not even said ( basically being fobbed off). He emailed back with a few facts and points but has not received a response. I took the plant back today and requested a refund, most of the staff knew about the situation (obviously had a staff meeting about it) once again I was fobbed off with pathetic excuse after excuse and told that the weather has not been good (this has nothing to do with it as my dad has seen many of the same plant in other garden centres that were well grown) and that there is life in the roots. I was also asked why I brought the plant if I didn't think it looked good!!! Again I advised them that I am not an experienced gardener and trusted they were selling quality plants. So I am £16.99 out of pocket with a dead plant and my dad has no birthday present. Absolute disgrace. I will not be returning here again.

First thing to say is that the cafe isn't run by Hawley Garden Centre - as someone else pointed out, it's privately run WITHIN the Centre....second thing to say is that they only accept cash payments.......! Once you've absorbed those details,enjoy the Sunday lunch, the omelette and chips (the chips are absolutely delicious ) , the quiche and chips, the toasted sarnies etc., - the menu isn't huge but what there is, is always done well. It gets very popular so service can be slow, especially if the retired contingent is in, but it's a little gem if your timing's right - please give it a try.

Limited menu. The cafe is situated in the garden centre shop It is a good place to have a cup of tea and a snack

Good place for really good plants and a lovely little restaurant. Everything seems fre as h and tasty. Best ever scrambled eggs on toast about!

We came to look for a particular plant and decided to have a snack and a coffee in the small cafe within the garden centre. The prices are reasonable but overall the setting/service/coffee and sandwiches were nothing special, just average, we did not have to wait very long but another customer was moaning about the wait for (hot?) food. There was only one person on the counter that we could see. There is an outside seating area. The Garden Centre normally has a quite comprehensive stock of plants, however on this occasion they were out of stock of the variety of plant we were after, the staff were apologetic, knowledgeable and as helpful as they could be, they were able to tell us when the plant we required will be in. There is plenty of on site parking here.

one of the best cafes iv visited in the dartford area, had a diverse menu reasonabily priced and food was served quickly with a smile will pop in again as it was a good visit had by all

Popped in after a long walk around the garden centre. Nice variety of menu. A nice coffee with a sandwich is not to be missed. Did notice the amount of OAPs there for brunch, reasonably priced.

Pequeño gran jardín. Personal amable y servicial. Terminamos comprar nuevos muebles de jardín y fue llevado al coche para nosotros. Nos visita a menudo. El único aspecto negativo es la cafetería es muy lento para llegar sirve como es normalmente una chica que sirve en frente y ella está tomando pedidos. Pago y efectuar las bebidas

Mesas sucias sin recoger, té de puchero que estaba frío en el momento de la comida llegó el servicio mediocre, no esperaba en un café restaurante condiciones centro de jardín, pero debería ser mucho mejor que este!

Mi segunda visita en muchas semanas. Me encanta aquí. El personal era muy servicial y muy entendido. Gran selección de plantas, muebles de jardín. Es como un tardis. Parece pequeño desde fuera, pero wow es enorme por dentro. Hermosa cafetería demasiado para recargar sus niveles...

Si quieres visitar un café que sirve sándwiches hechos con pan rancio y luego gritó por ser grosero (cuando no había dicho nada) - creo que el tema se llama rebota, entonces este lugar debe ser lista top.

My friend and I went into the caf'e in Hawley Road Garden Centre for a sandwich and coffee, we waited...

Lovely bacon sandwiches mid morning, good menu for lunch all freshly cooked. Always busy at lunch time and sometimes a long wait for food.

Lovely surroundings and wonderful fare served by welcoming and friendly staff that could not have been more accommodating towards me, my family and friends. I highly recommend the restaurant here throughout the year, not only at Christmas. With particular thanks to the Manager.

Booked the Christmas lunch for 4 today. Three courses, food was excellent and very reasonable price. Would thoroughly recommend a visit. Lovely attentive staff, followed by mince pies and chocolate, couldn't eat anymore, so full. Thank you to the team at The Cafe in Hawley Garden Centre.

Have you every had a breakfast which is artificial, tasteless, lukewarm and cooked well before you ordered? I love my cooked breakfast and have had lots of these, they fill a hole but are not what you would call tasty food. BUT I had a breakfast this morning at Hawley garden Centre which was amazing. It was hot, yes actually hot food! Well cooked, really tasty and cooked quickly while we waited even though there were quite a few people waiting to be served. This food is absolutely brilliant, the chef is clearly passionate about food, and puts a lot of care in what they serve up including the presentation Parking is no problem with lots of unusual things to buy if you have time to wander around. So if you have a couple of hours take the family out for breakfast and visit this garden centre, you won't be disappointed.

What a lovely cafe my friends go here here every week so decided to give it a go . GLAD I DID!! There was 6 of us we all had breakfasts didn't have to wait very long at all it was hot and delicious the staff are lovely with a friendly atmosphere ....There is lots to choose from from there menu and also do lovely homemade dishes.... Will definitley be going back for a dinner ....A BIG THUMBS UP FROM A VERY HAPPY CUSTOMER

Today,13 of us cyclists called in for a coffee and a snack. All orders were efficiently taken, the food was tasty and well priced, and served with a smile.The bathrooms are kept very clean, and the men's have an " amusing" addition ( you will see when you try them).

As all garden centres this seems to offer a lot more than just garden items. Parking is very easy with a facility to get ones car cleaned too.

Haven't been here for years but visited to get my summer bedding and decided to stop for brunch in the little restaurant. Very good value meal, sausage & egg roll and lovely cuppa - nice atmosphere - food very fresh and nicely cooked.

Go here once a week food is all freshly cooked and cater for my disabled client food and service is always excellent

Food did not come as advertised- asked for poached egg with smoked salmon on granary bread. Received scrambled egg on white breathe. Scrambled egg was disgusting and waitress very rude. Very unaccommodating

Took the family to the restaurant as a treat. Beware the Vegetarian breakfast only consists, of a hash brown, a scoop of baked beans and lots of tinned mushrooms, with toast. It should have been named a Vegan breakfast. Costly and a real disappointment, an egg would have made all the difference. Staff consisted of a few teenagers.

9 of us called in for breakfast.The orders were taken efficiently and we had a friendly welcome.Try the breakfast specials, which are good value and tasty.The bathrooms were very clean.All in all, a good place to stop.

15 of us called in today at around 11.30 am for breakfast. Albeit the service was a little slow ( hey,15 of us descended all at once, and only two kitchen staff on duty), the food was clean and well presented, and the pricing was good.The bathrooms were also kept very clean.Would I recommend ? Most certainly ,yes.

A wide range of all things gardening. Not a huge place but plenty of choice. What more is there to say

Can be crowded here but we went for an early lunch and there were plenty of available tables. Good range of choice for main courses; limited choice for cakes. The person at the till taking orders was customer-friendly and so was the person who brought food to the tables. The advertised lunch special for the day included Lincolnshire sausages -extremely tempting but we chose one of the all-day breakfast options. The hot food was excellent, on plates just about warm enough. The coffee was fine; the tea was a little weak -better to let the customer decide when the teabag should be removed.It was a freezing day, and the Cafe's plentiful supply of heating, together with comfortable seats made for a most relaxing mealtime.