The Ark in Poole - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

Overpriced, overcrowded and rude staff.

Told the kitchen was being closed down a hour before closing so my kids dinner plans was ruined. Should make this clear especially after me asking for a menu half hour before.

I've been to the soft play twice recently with my 1 year old. On both occasions an older child has been playing in a boisterous manner in the under 3 area. On both occasions I've had to get a manager to remove an older child from the area after they nearly hurt my 1 year old. The area isn't watched closely by the staff and the age restriction isn't enforced. I will not be returning.

The Ark is a nice place to take the kids on a rainy day. Beautiful views from the windows and an outside seating area. £9.50 per child for two hours of play isn't too bad. There are better play areas out there for the same price or cheaper. There were a few people without socks on or wearing shoes which I found disgusting. No one was there to monitor this or to tell the individuals they needed to wear them. Could probably do with better signage on the entrances to make people more aware of this. There is a sign near the under 3's play area, to the right of the counter which you wouldn't really notice unless needing the toilet and another one on column which no one really pays attention to. No member of staff asked me to read the rules or if I understand the terms and conditions prior to setting the children free. Plenty of signage about not bringing your own food or drinks into the Ark and several about safeguarding children. The staff were polite and friendly. I think the food is a little over priced for what they have to offer but this is a personal opinion - Paid just over £10 for 3 ice lolleys. The car park has cramped spaces and can be awkward to get small children out of the car or if one is a little larger than the average person when cars are parked so close to another when parked well within the lines. I like the idea of a locked gate at the front of the entrance which can only be operated by a member of staff behind the counter. Means you don't have to worry about your child vanishing out of the building if you have taken your eyes off them for a short time. The only downside to that, you may have to wait several minutes before a staff member notices you to let you out...A small price to pay for security.

Great softplay with good food & coffee! Both my children (6 & 3 years old) love it here and have done since they were very young. It's a good size, and clean! You can also get a decent lunch and/or coffee while the kids play. Throughly recommend!

A decent take away coffee in a lovely setting.Just need to get the staffing levels right to help the two rushed off their feet in the coffee shop.

Sunday 2nd of June myself and my mum went for a hot chocolate at the ark. We know it was 10mins until closing so had them to take away. All I can say is I hope the young lady that served us doesn't show the same attitude throughout the entirety of her shift. Know thankyous and receipt was just grabbed and chucked in the bin, good job I didn't need it. That's not really what shocked me though, once she had put the order through she turned her back to the till before closing it, leaving the till open with cash in whilst making our drinks, all the while with her back to it. Good job it wasn't busy and good job that we're not thieves as to the wrong people that could have been all too easy.

Great place to bring the kids aged from toddler up. Let them burn off energy in the soft play while you enjoy a coffee looking out over Poole Park. Feels safe, secure and clean with friendly staff.

Really friendly staff and a nice quick service

We visited poole Park today 17th May. We were sitting on a bench waiting for my daughter to pick up her son, as we sat a duck came out of the bushes that looked as is something had attacked it, it had a broken leg and an injury to its back, the poor duck collapsed in exhaustion, we phoned the RSPCA who gave me a local number which I rang and they were sending a warden to take care of the poor Duck. My wife went into the Ark to see if they would give us some bread to feed the Duck while we waited for the warden to arrive, she was told by staff at the Ark they are not allowed to give bread out, did they think we were trying to get free bread and do they not have a sympathetic bone in their body.

Food was poor - basic oven chips, basic unhealthy white bread panini/baguettes. Shame a little more care wasn’t put in to the food because the outside area is nice. The soft play is a decent size but not massive. Outside playground is decent. Everything is over priced for what it is, but free parking.

Went Ark 2/04/24 the play area is average looking tired when you really look round as your children playing its looks worn out chip marks on tables scratches look up at ceiling great big black.mould mark.as around other parts of ceiling and windows floor not good Watched table and chairs being cleaned gentle wipe over then high chairs stacked on top of each other yet bottoms not cleaned so whats the point most customers use it as coffee meeting with friends then let their children play not paying toomuch attention Overall very average tired and a bit grubby

I'm giving 5*s for food, service and atmosphere, I cannot fault those. Unfortunately my overall rating is a 3 as there are only 2 disabled parking spaces! It's an extremely "tight" car park as it is but really not very car friendly for disabled people at all

What a great day we had! Children had a fantastic time in the soft play with a lovely selection of food. Facilities were great and staff could not have been more helpful. After lunch we then did some pottery painting. The children had such a great time and cannot wait to go back!

Lovely white chocolate muffin 😊

The staff were really friendly and pleasant, and very helpful, fair priced for all budgets

Still down on the cleaning side, but the soft play has improved a bit in comparison to what it was.

Doesn’t take cash, this is not communicated until you have made the order at the till. Young males in ladies toilets. Not a huge selection to choose from, asked for an item off the menu and they were not available.

Had a lovely mother’s day pottery painting session, plenty of space, dogs welcome, could eat there too and no rush to finish. Everyone’s pieces came out really well too. Would recommend.

We went for the under 3's new play area. Fantastic! Very clean. Away from bigger kids. Will definately go again. Only downside is that parking spaces are so tight. Once you get a space,you cant get out! But parking is free at least.

Would like to mention Natalie and Amanda from the ark cafe that makes my client and myself very welcome, when they have time they will come over and have a lovely chat with us , best coffee in Poole, thank you for looking after my client and myself Karen care worker .

Staff are always awesome. The equipment is also very clean and varied

I don't normally frequent places which are card only. But too late when I got to the till.coffee and cake delicious.

I often bring my Grandchildren here and it's a great place. Lovely food with good choices. Recently I have been served by a gentleman called Charlie and would like to compliment him on his excellent customer service.

A brilliant place to take children. Wide variety of equipment for them to play on.

The Ark is a good name for this café because it's a bit of a zoo! It can be very noisy so don't go if you want a quiet chat, but the views are lovely. The coffee was weak and I like mine strong, so I won't be going again, but for families taking part in the pottery painting or soft play there I can understand the attraction.

Refunds should be given for adults using cafe in soft play. Very noisy but children love it.

We attended the soft play area with my autistic grandson who likes soft play. An incident happened with a very rude disrespectful manager. We were not sure of the rules and outside the play area we had a tiny sip of wine out of a tiny bottle. Immediately the manager came charging over, admitting to not understanding the rules she threw the drink away and ordered us to leave in a very abusive rude way. We are a respectful family and the whole thing traumatised me and our little boy. I have told family and friends avoid this place it’s terrible. Incidentally a mother of a small child joined in calling me an “alcoholic “ and will have our child taken off us. The whole thing was a terrible and upsetting experience.

Good hot drinks after chilling out in the playground. V good and helpful service. Quite noisy but that was only to be expected on a Sunday!

I popped into thé cafe with my husband and daughter ordered food and drinks which we thought was expensive, we were going to do the Christmas special offer in soft play and pottery but after eating we were just to cold to do that, this place needs the heating to be put on!!! We sat eating our lunch in our coats and hats as it was just to cold to take them off, we were not the only ones that were doing this, there were other families complaining about how cold it was in there, we will not be visiting this place again until they have some heating.

7 pounds for a 13 months old? Not very good value for money. Won't be returning.

Very wet day and not, busy. Staff friendly. Very clean including toilet.

Such a calm quiet place to paint & create

Lots of freindly staff and great food. Ice rink is no longer there, but the pottery painting that has replaced it is fun for all ages. Best service is during the quieter hours

Really great time for the family at the pottery cafe - brilliant customer service and really helpful staff

I’ve never been so appalled at the state and price of a softplay. Looking at other reviews this is not a new issue. I was charged £8.50 to bring my 15 month old into the soft play so was expecting good things. However the smell when you walk in makes you immediately gag. It smells incredibly strong of old urine and there is no doubt this is due to the lack of cleaning. I have never smelt any soft play like it. The soft play is split into two parts, a toddler area for the under 3’s. Well if your child is of walking age this is far too small and lacking anything they would even want to play with. It’s simply a soft mat, tiny ball pit and a couple of soft animal things to sit on. The other area which was for older children was dangerously overcrowded. I’m not sure what the limits are for the venue but it felt like they were double over capacity. So this brings me to the main question of, why are you charging a just walking baby the same price as an 11 year old? My daughter was far too small to even be able to gain access to the older children’s section and too big to sit in the toddler section. On another note, if you’re coming here is a parent make sure you’re ready to stand the whole time as there is no where near enough seats to accommodate for the amount of people they let in that door. Kids were tripping over parents legs as they sat in the main small walkway with nowhere else to go. Children were gathered around the toilet doors having to eat their snacks or have drinks because there was so little space. I have never been so dissatisfied with a single place.

The staff were really pleasant apart from the manageress - whom was rude and miserable; luckily her staff were nice and saved the day. It's a bit loud inside so no good for those sensitive to acoustics, seats were comfy enough, toilets were ok but could be better, we tried some chips and they were very nice but a bit expensive for the volume you get .

We had our daughter's 7th birthday party here - a pottery and soft play party. Becca, our party host, was excellent; she was always available but let the party fun flow! The pottery really engaged all the children and they even made a commemorative plate for the birthday girl. There was a really good selection for the cold food option - sandwiches, hummus & crudites, fruit, crisps and popcorn. This was then followed by ice cream. The children were then able to burn it all off in the soft play. Thank you, our daughter had a brilliant time.

I won't be visiting the Ark again whilst they refuse to take cash. Cash is legal tender and should be treated as such. You are cancelling out old people, vulnerable people etc by doing this, it's not Ok.

We had a party at the Ark for our daughters 6th birthday party on Sunday. Becca was brilliant and had everthing organised, would highly recommend as a kids party venue. We went for the cold food option and the kids really enjoyed it. They were able to paint a pot in a large open space, with access to lots of colours and a good selection of ceramics to choose from. Becca also cut the cake and put it onto the party bags, another job we didn't have to do! Thanks Becca and the Ark for a lovely party.

Lovely play area when it's not packed the bigger kids tend to fly around not considering the younger children. Also now costs £9.50 for my 3 year old to play for 2 hours, used to be cheaper needs to be more limited when busy

Me and my work colleague have been in several times now after a long walk with a client. Everytime we have been in we have found the female staff have been particularly lacking in customer service skills. No hello, no pleases or thank you. No smiles and treated with contempt for daring to place an order with them. Very much being left to feel like your an inconvenience for wanting a drink and a slice of cake. Also the buisness is still using plastic disposable cups. No need for that in an establishment like this. We will unfortunately be taking our custom elsewhere!

Took grandson he absolutely loved it.

Worst place to go if you have SEN children My girl is autistic and loves it there, I understand it gets very busy which isn't a problem but when I ask the staff how long the wait is being told "I don't know" didn't help I said could I get a rough estimate as my girl is autistic and she doesn't understand waits and sends her into meltdown so if it's a long wait I'll go elsewhere to save massive melt down The lady working just shrugged her shoulders at me and started talking to another customer For a place that's for children they are not understanding about children's special needs, I wasn't being rude I was just trying to avoid a melt down which causes my daughter to hurt herself But I was ignored and my daughter went into meltdown while I'm trying to actually get attention from staff.

Had my sons 6th birthday party at the ark on the 18th march 2023,,, it was amazing 🤩 the staff were so so helpful,, the party food was delicious,,, and all 18 kids were happy and didn’t want to leave at the end loool ,,, definitely would recommend the ark for any childrens party!!!! Will definitely be back!!!!!! Thanks the “ark” for a stress free birthday party! 👌👌🤩🤩🤩

Visited today (14/3/23) with my friend. We both have young babies (8 months and nearly 10 months) who are weaning. We entered the cafe to feed our babies and was going to order food for ourselves after this. We fed our babies with food we had brought with us as there are no food options for babies on the menu. As we were cleaning the babies up and preparing to order ourselves something a member of staff approached and very rudely said “Ladies you can’t bring your own food in here and you haven’t purchased a single thing since you have been here. You wouldn’t do that in any other place”. When we stated that we were going to order something we were just sorting the babies out first the member of staff just walked away. We bought ourselves a drink and left as we felt too embarrassed to sit and eat food, especially as we felt like the staff were now watching us. I have been to the ark previously and fed my baby with food we have brought and staff have never commented before. Very disappointed! If we are not allowed to bring our own food in to feed our babies then options should be put on the menu so that we can purchase something they can eat, NOT fish fingers, chicken nuggets or a sandwich!!!

Nice cafe. Only had a toasted teacake, but came with plenty of butter and jam. Great service from the staff. Lovely place for the kids to have a tea party.

Kids had a great time very busy but managed well

Took my Wareham Walkers (walking group for ‘older people’) to Poole Park for an hour long walk after which we went to The Ark for coffees and other refreshments. We have done this annually for about five years with no problems. Good service and free parking but this time there was a change: No Cash allowed! To our great surprise the very polite staff explained that ‘due to break-ins’ they no longer accept cash payment for items purchased - you can only use a card … or go thirsty! My wife and I only wanted a couple of coffees but our cash was refused! Having no card, but having my phone, I (reluctantly) paid the small amount using this. Surely in a park location, with children (and grandparents with grandchildren) around it’s not too much to ask that they can buy small items with cash? Not many children possess credit cards!!

Unfortunately our order for 4 people was paid for but didn't pass through to the kitchen hence we waited over 45minutes to be served. Manageress kindly replenished our drinks but obviously there is a problem that needs sorting before the busy summer season.

4 year old loved soft play, however the slides were too slippery. Whilst there 2 kids hurt themselves on the slides and so most avoiding using them after the first try. The ball drop was brilliant for the kids.

18/02/23 Use to bring my little girls here years ago and 1st time back here with my little boy, definitely won't be back again. Extremely packed with kids & family not much space to move around and to sit down. Must have a limit at busy times and not overload number of people in the play areas. Cleaning is definitely an issue dirty floors with food pieces and tables are not wiped after each Use. No assistance or anything - use to have a assistant on top of the slide long time ago. 10 years old and over kids running around bumping to little ones which is very dangerous.

We visited for lunch with our grandson during half term and were expecting it to be busy, which it was! When we went to place our order the assistant informed us there would be a half hour wait for food, which we accepted, but in fact the food arrived in approx 20 minutes so well done to all! Food was very good, as was the service, and tables were cleared and cleaned promptly as people left. Great place for reasonably priced food, especially with children in tow!

More than 30 minutes waiting for a panini, a bake potato and a kid menu with chicken goujons… and it is not busy at all. Ridiculous waiting time for a place which the main reason you would visit is because your kids are hungry. The menu and the food is limited and basic and expensive for what you get. Bring your own food and eat outside. UPDATE: -We were served 45 minutes later. -The crisps were rancid, like if they have been outside of the packaging for a long time. At least, they served just a few. -The goujons for kids a bit burned, and taste like being fried in reused frying oil. Avoid this place for eating.

Decent soft play, but wish the section for the smaller children was policed better. I'm fed up of having older kids going feral when there are smaller vulnerable children in there, and the parents are either on their phone or chatting with their mates completely oblivious to what their children are up too. Also paying entry for an adult seems ridiculous, especially when most likely the accompanying adults will be buying hot drinks, at least! I also find the car park a pain. No parent and child spaces despite it being for a soft play? Not to mention the spaces are so tight, getting my daughter out of the car is a pain in the arse. The car park needs a rethink. We do however enjoy the painting cafe. The loveliest lady works there and has always been so great with my daughter when getting prints done. Nice coffee too.

Coffee could of been a bit hotter I bought a flat white and it was like warm .

Ok if 3 staff serving otherwise queue is horrendous/slow. Only 1 coffee machine. Bit pricey. Nice coffee though. Update - 3 months later, still horrendous waiting 25mins for baguette !!!!

I go the Ark twice weekly for my coffee and cake during lunch breaks. Facilities are always clean and service efficient and friendly. I took my grandchildren, ages 1, 6, 10 to the Xmas Disco, pottery and Santa, they had a fantastic time. There are usually three staff on shift when I visit and they always ask me how my days been, what are the kids up to. The staff names are Natalie, Sherry and Becca. Thank you for making my visits pleasurable. I am sure there are many more staff I do not get to see who are just as friendly, especially those in the kitchen who people don't usually get to see. Thank you all.

The soft play area is okay but the food is extremely over priced and inedible. I paid over £7 for this 'panini' which was a baguette heated up in the microwave. It was meant to be tomato, mozzarella and pesto. The tomato was freezing cold, mozzarella barely melted and 'pesto' was in fact parsley mixed with butter. It tasted even more disgusting than it looks. I can't believe they can get away with charging the earth for the food then serving something so disappointing. Will not be visiting again.

Not bad value for money for two hours and an extensive soft play. Frustratingly tiny car parking spaces but otherwise pretty good.

Visited from time to time but this visit was extremely disappointing. As usual we went to the cafe. Service was very good, Amanda? was very professional, helpful. However, the cafe was freezing! We were suitably dressed for the weather, and hoped to enjoy a drink and snack as we usually do, but it was so cold and we didnt hang around. Even the staff looked very cold. Not a happy warm visit, a big shame it was so cold inside the cafe. I hope things improve, as i used to like it a lot. I would no longer recommend.

Great value for money, my daughter loved every minute! It came to £8.50 for both me and her, this was for 2 hours! The staff (Maddy) are really friendly and couldn’t be any more helpful. Definitely one for a rainy or cold day!

Zero hygiene and unbelievably rude female at the desk today. Also, I don't understand why adults get charged. Is there an adults play area I wasn't aware of?

We popped in for a coffee and a hot chocolate and we were impressed with the service by Natalie, my partner even asked me to photograph our drinks.

Excellent value for kids play area. Breakfast and refreshments available at reasonable prices

Visited today for coffee and cake, staff were ever so nice. I had a hot chocolate which would recommend, thank you to the staff Natalie, Maddy, Reece and Becca for making it a great experience

My Daughter had a brilliant time at The Ark for her 7th birthday party. The party room was perfect. The food was perfect and allocated party staff were amazing. I would definitely recommend this venue.

Wewnątrz lokalu mało przytulnie, ale na szczęście pogoda dopisała i mogłam usiąść na zewnątrz na tarasie z ładnym widokiem. Kawa bardzo dobra, lody też, ale brownie dość wysuszone i twarde, trudno było je pokroić łyżeczką, a widelczyka nie podano. Ogólnie fajne miejsce żeby zatrzymać się na kawę czy lody podczas spaceru

Nice coffee with a friend today, lovely to catch up☕☕

A great play area for younger children. However it is expensive. One child, two hot drinks and a fruitshoot drink over £17.00. Plus n ice lolly at £2.20 I just have a dislike for places that have a captive clientelle over charging for basics. So if you have more than one child be prepared to part with a lot of money. Can't fault the staff though, very friendly and helpful.

A great morning with 7 kids painting pottery. Very efficient and relaxed. We were looked after beautifully by Amanda. Thank you.

My Panini was great. Really enjoyed half of it as I had to share with my fiance whose panini didn't arrive. So with drinks and a side order of chips that is 5 items ordered and read back to us by the cashier. How hard can it be???

It was ok, we went with a friend who had a 7 year old, we had a 5 month old, we were charged £5 to get in but my partner sat on a table and didn't come in the soft play, I went in but I'm not sure why people who wouldn't be using the facility would be charged, considering we bought 2 cans of drink which for some reason were flat, we had a portion of cheesy chips which looked like they were reheated from yesterday, an ice cream and two teas, if it is totally necessary to charge per adult it could at least include a hot drink? Now that it's also timed. We spent quite a lot of money and I can't say it was great

I visited the Ark with my friend and had an awful experience. We were treated with absolute disrespect and unprofessionalism. We were not made to feel welcome and staff treated us with racism. Not a place I would recommend at all.

A few days ago my friend and I had an awful experience….untrained and very roud staff! Also very racist and unprofessional, I wouldn’t recommend it at all to anyone, to do not go through the awful treatment that we had…

Stopped off at Poole Park while out for the day and found The Ark by accident and it's cafe, had Jacket Potato with tuna. Great service and good value, child friendly with soft play and pottery painting on site

Went down for a few coffees and a slice of cake with a few friends for my birthday. A really nice friendly girl called Allison helped with my order and carried it across to my table as difficult to do as was pushing my friend in wheelchair really appreciate all your help Allison will be back again soon

My Daughter loves this soft play so do I, its clean, presentable and the team are super friendly and patiant with kids, food and cakes are freshly served, special mention to Meddy, she always smile and switched on, has a great integrity and very polite☺️

Amazing customer service, lovely food, clean, great with the kids, thank you to Ella, Louise, Maddy and billy ❤️

Lovely afternoon at the ark thank you to Ella, Louise and maddy for excellent customer service and lovely coffee

I have been visiting the Ark for years and have had mixture of experiences. I have been attending recently as a Nanny during the week and have always been really impressed by the services Becca has provided in soft play. I have attended on busy...

Great gor a snack and drink ,we had 2 teas and 3 currant toasted tea cakes £8-'60p.

Good run around to wear kids out

Been coming for years and always had good service and lovely coffee and cake. Friendly atmosphere and fairly priced.

Bit crowded but staff were working well and friendly and helpful

Very nice setting for drink and a walk around the park. Staff very friendly

Large cafe. There is a separate area inside which is dog friendly. The menu is adequate but not very large. I ordered a panini but was served a bagette. There is a pottery making area on site too. Also a kids indoor soft play area. Outside is playground and sandpit.

Considering you pay a premium to attend this soft play and sometimes can’t even get a seat, to say I was appalled to be asked to put my daughters packed lunch away is an understatement!!! I had already purchased an overpriced gross coffee.

My daughter had her 7th birthday party at The Ark on Saturday and from start to finish, the staff were absolutely fantastic. My 2 daughters love pottery painting so this was the ideal party. They all started in the soft play, then had food/cake, and...

Disappointed as I always go to the soft play with my son, he’s only 8 months old and he can’t eat chicken nuggets, I normally buy him the fish fingers but he hasn’t been eating stuff like thst so I was feeding him his own...

How you can charge 2.10 for a tea is un real. You have young families coming here stop Ripping people off its water tea bag and bit of milk. The price for entry is a lot too for a small play area. The ball machine...

Soft play is so overpriced, £20 to take two kids for a little play. Wont be returning.

What’s happened?? Used to love coming here, but No More!! A Crazy £7 for over 3yr olds And even more ridiculous is £2.50 per adult!! £12 for 1 child to play!!!! That’s insulting!!! Toilet doors don’t lock, floor and tables are dirty! 2 tables have got used plates and cups on them since before we came in (which was 25 mins ago and they are still there). Someone had to ASK for a table to be cleaned so they could sit down and that staff member still didn’t clean the other tables!! If my 4yr old hadn’t been so excited about playing then we would definitely have walked away!! So glad we bought our own drinks as we now can’t afford to purchase anything while we are here!!! Won’t Be Back, Along With Many Other Parents.

Very dirty and people near us sent their food back.

Not a very inspiring interior. No doubt very pleasant to sit outside - and even more so once the miniature railway opens. We only had coffee (fine) so can't comment on food.

Great service. Happy and polite staff. All ways willing to help.dods are welcome. Food and drinks are really tasty. we Go most morning during our dog walk. Poole Park has loads to offer the views are beautiful. Sit out looking over the lakes. Wat more could you want.

Dogs allowed but not necessarily welcome. Asked for a black americano and still asked if I wanted milk. Also asked for a bowl of water. Did not compute. Ok, a glass of water. That's over there. I also noted an ad for.a.number of vacancies,all at chump change wages,no doubt. Sat out at a picnic table. The masked avenger came to tell me dogs not allowed on the table and that one is not 'normally' allowed to smoke here. I asked what 'normally' is and was told I wouldn't be not allowed to smoke outside if I were to come back when it's busy. Not likely.

Wow loads of empty tables..massive long queue.. too few staff trying to run three different businesses at the same time (restaurant+kiosk+kids party softplay). Took 50mins to get food.. avoid lunchtimes when the sun is out. Crazy tabling method. You will be confused by people at tables with look like they have been given order numbers and are sat waiting for food. Then once you have queued for 15mins they ask for a table number.. when you note the yable number which is screwed on a metal llate to the table... they tell you that its not the correct number. Once you get the food.. its ok. And not overpriced. Just a shame to see they shut down the ice ring to have more tables and the tables are empty and people are leaving before ordering due to the queue.

Worst coffee in Poole. Plus service extremely slow. To avoid

Sorry but you would be better talking to Noah! But i will say the Tea was good.