Woodcote Green in Sutton

I'm not a gardener but I do like to visit Dobbies every Christmas to see all the seasonal items & pick up a few Christmas treats & presents I used to take my mum too before she left us. She really enjoyed it too 🙂

Oh dear such a shame! Woodcote Garden Centre used to be a pleasant place to visit and browse. It's now a corporate, soul-less store. No attractive display on entering, just a huge lawnmower, no gift shop areas, no kitchen shop, no farm shop, no fresh produce. You may just as well visit a supermarket. Not sure where the soft play area is planned but the outdoor play area is looking tired and scruffy. Maybe it will look a bit better when the cafes are open , but it's no longer a place I will want to spend much time in. EDIT DEC 2024 I left this review 3 years ago and I'm.hsppy to say Dobbies has really turned it around. All the negative aspects have been changed. There is now a super butchers and delicatessen, attractive gift area, good restaurant, soft play area and outside play area popular adjacent to the ice cream countrer popular in good weather. Some of the plants are still a bit pricey although there are usually offers available. Just had Christmas afternoon tea there which was very enjoyable. Made welcome by our lovely waitress VICKY who was AMAZING! 😊

Fantastic garden centre. Plenty of parking and we loved the butchers. Highly recommend the cafe too, comfortable and good value

Overall a good garden centre where you can have a reasonable meal, it can get very busy around lunch so you will most likely have to wait to be seated.

Had a lovely Festive Afternoon Tea with friends . Food was very good and they catered for all our needs , likes and dislikes. Vicky was very attentive and friendly would definitely recommend .

Huge garden centre. Lots available. Two places to get coffee. Lots of parking

Not very good. Food was average at best and items for sale were of poor quality.

Christmas time so very busy. We were seated quickly, and order taken. First drinks arrived promptly, however our food was only warm when it arrived. Trying to get another drink was difficult, but when ordered took ages to arrive. Nice garden centre but at busy times they need more staff in the cafe. Plenty of parking and easy access. Toilets were fine.

Love this place. I can spend hours wandering around. Great selection of plants and paraphernalia. Nice little cafe as well.

What a lot of Xmas tat. The wait for food was ridiculos.

Long wait to be seated. Slow service (not the fault of the friendly staff, there just wasn’t enough of them) Food was poor and the coffees were weak. We used to come all the time before Dobbies took over. I won’t be coming back.

Had a lovely day there coffee food was great

Only popped in for 2 coffee's. Joined small que in cafe at 4.00 pm still queuing at 4.25 pm The service in the cafe area is so slow it's ridiculous.

Chris Milan rolling in his grave at how Dobbies have turned his enterprise into a soulless profit machine

No staff!! Waited 25 mins for a coffee and gave up! They took 10 mins to serve each customer!!I told one of the ladies on the till near the exit and her reply was oh yes it’s very popular!!! Joke ! Also too expensive!

I used the Cafe regularly sometimes meeting friends. Staff are nice but queue can be slow at times. Today in the morning it was good. Makes a nice change from high street chains. Coffee is enjoyable and with their reward becomes very reasonable. Sometimes I have a cake to share with wife. Nice walk around store. True one can be tempted to spend.

Went to meet friends for breakfast in the restaurant. The food was terrible it was cold, only one sausage each, and advertising says two. Service is very slow. You need more staff. Would never go there again,

Lovely restaurant and friendly staff enjoyed the Jacket potato with beans and cheese, and salad. Good value for money.

Friendly staff as always and good service

Love this place. Really friendly and knowledgeable staff.

Very busy garden centre, Generic products, Amazing restaurant staff

Food in the restaurant is always very nice

After standing in a queue for half an hour, a server with a bit of an attitude said she was just cleaning our table, when we got to the table after she stopped for a chat on the way to it, it wasn’t clean. There was crockery left and it was sticky. After 15 mins sat waiting no sign of serving staff we gave up and left. Had a lovely meal with quick good service at the grange instead

Avoid eating here. I can’t comment on the food because we waited so long we gave up and left. The server taking us to the table had a bit of an attitude. She said she had cleaned the table but it was sticky and still had crockery left on it. Once at our table we were ignored. We had a lovely meal with quick good service at the Grange. Go there instead 🤣

Previously rated this around 4 stars....now I recommend you do yourself a favour and avoid it. The place is run down, staff seem to be under a great deal of pressure, everything is untidy cafe tables are sticky and covered in other people's leavings. It's a real shame as under the original owners the place was immaculate, well run and the staff were really good. I can only imagine that the owners who are a venture capital fund are squeezing the staff and trying to wring out every bit of profit they can.

Restaurant is unbelievable queued up for at least quarter of an hour for someone to seat us although there were quite a few empty spaces. Then had to wait for someone to come and serve us with a half an hour wait for the food to come. Took us nearly an hour - food not great. Shop fine but will go elsewhere to get something to eat in future appalling service

Since becoming a parent I’ve enjoyed many a trip to Dobbies garden centre, browsing the toy section, enjoying the Christmas decorations etc However, the soft play is dirty. I’d started noticing the connection between visiting the softplay and my son getting sick. I haven’t been for a year, my son hasn’t been sick for a long time, then we were at the softplay on Saturday and sure enough, my son was up coughing all night a few days later. I think the coincidence is too large. I have never seen staff going around disinfecting like I have seen with other softplay. For example, tadworth leisure centre soft play they have someone cleaning the play things constantly! I won’t be taking my child to the soft play again and won’t recommend to others. Please improve the hygiene.

Total lack of proper staffing in Cafe & Restaurants. Long queuesas only in-person in Cafe taking orders and making drinks, preparing foods whilst another was restocking display. Long queue for Restaurant yet lots of empty tables. Why extend restaurants with plenty of seating areas if not enough staff to cope with busy times (happens all the time around Lunch period. It's not Rocket Science that it is likely to be busy!!!!!

Changed a lot over the last few years. Supermarket never been the same 😩 Great for plants and little expensive. Christmas decorations are great.👍🏻

Got some great stuff but very expensive

Lots of help from the staff in the Aquarium area. Very good choice of fish and plants. I often visit the cafe here as by paying £15 per year you get 2 coffees per month free. Such a bargain and a nice chance to relax while mooching round the centre. I do think you offer very good value with your clubcard BUT...... Updated 2nd Nov 2024 Very disappointed with your 20% off EVERYTHING offer Dobbies! All signs displayed the store are very misleading. Many people complaining of this, but I took the time to write this review and feedback to your managers in the hope to make it more transparent next year. Trouble is loads of people grumble... But few actually feed back to stores. See all the photos. See the email sent out which says there is 20% off selected Xmas food, but ONLY at your tills and nowhere else in the store this is contradicted and the full terms and conditions are displayed. Huge banners just before the food and seasonal food area. Big posters everywhere, huge signs at the entrance. Tiny terms and conditions at the tills, which when busy people will miss. Out off ALL the seasonal items I asked to be checked NONE were eligible. I was told at the till NO FOOD has the discount. That's not what your terms in the email say. You should be clearer with this. Just come back from an afternoon tea for a friend's birthday. Tracey looked after us extremely well and catered for vegetarians and meat eaters. Also allowed us to bring extra guests who just wanted lunch or coffee and cake. So thoughtful, so helpful. Made it a great experience. September 2024 Food was really lovely today.

I asked where the fruit bushes are and was sent to the shrubs. And the overflow car park needs upgrading. Difficult to push trolley over.

We met friends for coffee and cake this afternoon. We sat in the dog friendly part of the restaurant We went up to order our drinks etc.Only to find only two people were serving, we had to wait to be served for an unacceptable amount of time. We felt very sorry for the guys working at the servery. They had far too much to do and had to cope with such a long queue. A female member of staff was stocking up cake (which really didn't need it) she should have helped the two guys trying to deal with the queue. Even if she just plated up people's requests for cake and biscuits it would have helped. We probably won't return, it's a shame because this used to be a pleasant experience.

Love this place - it’s much more than a garden centre - it’s complete family entertainment. Genius! They have thought of everything from children’s entertaining to catering for all tastes and meals to gift buying and all seasonal events. The only reason I’ve given 4 instead of 5 stars is that sometimes when going into Dobbies for something specific, it has run out and there’s shortage of stock. But that’s the price for popularity.

Lovely Christmas section Great meal in restaurant

Great garden centre and food hall. Got some very good deli items from the butchers and had a nice tea and cake here too!

Love going here. Has a great selection of everything. Also fantastic butchers which sell amazing cuts of meat and different meat dishes ready to cook! Lovely christmas stock now in

Very Busy place could quite easily spend the day there nice restaurant

Some cafe staff lack customer service, seems unpleasant serving customers. This really puts me off going there to the cafe. The centre itself is very beautiful & lovely, restaurant food is good & the other staff are mainly friendly & nice.

Many items not priced three of my purchases were charged higher differently to the display ticket.will always check next time when shopping

Great range of plants good service at the checkout ,had lunch in the restaurant, wonderful food, great service

Terribly, terribly slow service. Not very friendly staff. Horrible tea. No atmosphere and the tables don't get cleared and cleaned well enough.

Why is it that there is never enough staff in the large coffee shop at busy times !!! Only 2 members of staff on . So slow ! Been in the queue over half an hour . Queue so long and slow . Come on get your act together we ladies like coffee between 10-11

We are regular visitors to Dobbies … been coming 30 yrs when it was woodcote. Not our local centre but worth the excursion. We visit often with our son who has special needs and uses a wheelchair .. the centre is easy to get around with great plant selection and some bargains too. Food in the restaurant part has always been excellent and staff lovely…. Making sure we are comfortable and have everything needed. Christmas displays fantastic. Bonus is the hairdressers outside .. Urban Fox. Hairdressing has always been a challenge for our son .. he is 34! No problem for Sabrina who is patient, kind and cuts his hair so well. ,

Must use better coffee. It's dreadful

Excellent afternoon tea, fabulous staff. Well done.

Food and drink ordered were both cold and service was poor

I love this place. I’ve always been able to find pretty much everything I need here. The customer service is also second to none. I’ve ordered various pieces of garden furniture - some that didn’t end up fitting in the space that I had in mind, yet they arranged collection without any worries, leading to a hassle-free return.

The first time I have ever found a piece of plastic in the food! It was a piece of blue coloured plastic (luckily it was visible enough, mixed in with the coleslaw which was coated in mayonnaise. As soon as I spotted it the waitress offered me a replacement meal however I said that's fine I'll carry on, but I'd like a refund please. She offered a full refund on not only my meal but my husband's as well, including the drinks. As I carried on eating, I also noticed a large piece of cabbage in the coleslaw that was obviously the hard heart of the cabbage and was a nasty grey colour! The waitress looked as disgusted as I was! Another couple of minor gripes - when we first queued to be seen to our table, all we could see was a sign saying 'Restaurant closed'. We nearly walked away until it was confirmed that it was indeed open. The waitress seeing us to our table asked about any food allergies, which we mentioned - nuts and eggs. However when it came to a different waitress taking our order, there was no mention of allergic ingredients and both meals arrived with egg in them - the mayo on the coleslaw and also probably a small amount in the tartare sauce. We managed to navigate that ourselves, as we usually do. The food itself was very good and price reasonable too. The ham in the ham and cheese baguette was amazing, more like sliced gammon; very high quality and not smothered in too much cheese which was to my liking. Salad was tasty although a bit too smothered in a fatty mayo, but OK. Better than dry rocket and lettuce. The fish and chips were very good, no complaints there. Good portion size and reasonable price. We came away happy that the full meal was refunded but alarmed by the food prep standards as someone could have choked on that piece of plastic. One assumes careless and rushed staff in the kitchen is the problem. Waitresses were pleasant and helpful, doing a good job on a busy Saturday lunchtime. The menu was not a patch on when it was under the previous management, we used to go in for an amazing gourmet burger meal. It's now a much reduced but serviceable menu.

Amazing garden centre. The 1 star is for restaurant service. I had to wait 50 min for the chicken finger for my babies , as soon as we received them the chicken was dried and cold and didn't look like chicken to me. 20 more minutes for our main . We ordered one 3 meat roast , the potatoes were stone and cold . The fish and chips was a nice plate . I asked a member of staff to check why the chicken is so dry , she laughs at me and completely ignored us living us and let us wait for her to come back and give us an explanation. Shi didn't bother to go and ask she just waiting in a corner chatting with her colleague.. Very rude from this unprofessional memberof staff. I dont recomend this place to eat . We had unpleasant experience before but we just ignore it because was very busy. Horrible service and food . Sorry Lucian

It was at one time a large garden centre but now most of it has gone over to food. It is a super market , huge restaurant & cafe. Only a small area with bedding plants. Disapointing.

Only went for free coffee & cake ended spending £40 on plants

** THIS REVIEW IS ABOUT THE RESTAURANT NOT THE GARDEN CENTRE I have long been a visitor of this garden centre, before it was a Dobbie’s. We were yet to try the restaurant since its take over, as we’re were regular visitors and always enjoyed the food when it was independently owned. We were passing and decided to try the breakfast with our children. The staff were trying, and it was clear we had a new employee taking our order who was trying his best to navigate out requests. When our food arrived a lot of items were over cooked on the traditional breakfast, and my daughter’s croissant was fridge cold and looked very unappealing, and arrived to the table quite late after asking where it was, 2 orders of toast also never arrived at the table. The restaurant is very big, and has the potential to be great, but the food really isn’t worth the queue.

Huge garden centre with plenty of selection for outdoor garden plants, shrubs, hanging baskets, vines etc. They also have an aquarium. There’s space for the kids to play. Having a Waitrose inside Dobbies was really nice to see. A coffee shop, soft play, barber shop whatever you need you’ll find there.

We enjoy going to Dobbies for the soft play, events, see the fish, and for some cake. Joined the Dobbies club and get to have a free hot drink each month as well as a free birthday treat. Soft pay is ideal for children 2 and under as it is very small.

so far so good, but I wish they have the all day breakfast in the menu

Very big garden centre with loads of parking. Plenty of options, Restaurants and coffee shop inside.

Support Local business!!!! I love Dobbies!!!!

Terrible food. This place has really gone downhill. The service is ridiculous too! So slow!! I really would like to say something nice about the restaurant but can’t think of anything, I have being coming here for over 20 years. Such a shame 😳

This review is about the restaurant - I took mum there last Saturday morning (it had just opened) for breakfast. For context, I go regularly to Dobbies as it’s my local garden centre. Mum had scrabbled eggs and croissant and I had fry eggs, beans and sausage. I have 3 major complaints: 1. Quality of the food - the scrabbles eggs look like the day before and warmed up. The croissant was completely cold! 2. Quantity - the size of the portion was for child, the beans came in the small cup. there was more plate than food. FYI - not asking for massive breakfast. 3. Price - I am all about you get what you pay for so, with that in mind in was a joke for what we got. Really disappointing experience and wouldn’t recommend it. I would have rather gone to my local cafe where it would half the price and better quality. FYI - I went to knights in Godstone this week - 100% better

We go here every week. Always super service at restaurant.

Great garden centre covering everything for the gardener plus food, pets, toys, gifts and a good restaurant which does get v busy

From being great pre dobbies to now the worst place ever food brown slimy lettuce ,below standard ,this is waiting to change hands again

Great garden centre with very helpful staff, if you ever have any questions. Plenty of healthy plants to choose from that will make nice additions to your home. I bought a Ficus Audrey & Radamercera Bonsai Style plant a while back. And they’ve grown very well. Prices are reasonable 👌🏼

Decided to take the family out for lunch and haven't been to Dobbies since it changed over from Woodcote Green - we were very sad about this at the time. Arrived to see plenty of tables but a long queue to be seated. Apparently this was down to being short staffed so they closed a section of the restaurant. Even so, many tables were not being cleared away in the section being used which added to the wait. However, when seated, we were impressed with the selection for food and the fact kids ate and drank for free with an adult main. Made the prices, which were already reasonable, even better. My wife and I chose fish and chips which was really tasty and the kids had the usual child meals. The only downside was either side of the food. Waiting to be seated and then a very long wait to try and pay. Nevertheless, I would definitely come and eat here again as the kids eat for free and there was a decent choice for the adults too. That alongside the plants, fish and other things to look at make it a handy place to visit to use up some time. Edit: visited for a couple of breakfasts this summer holiday too and again, you can't really argue with the quality when the price is as reasonable as it is.

Angela & Denise in the cafe next to the softplay were excellent today. They went above & beyond and really helped me out. Thank you.

Got every I wanted and a funky looking plant pot on the reduced section..very unusual..

Took my mother for lunch. The restaurant was a shambles loads of the tables weren't cleared staff about but not doing much. Our waitress was dour and not helpful said hello 3 times before I got a response. Food ok but not great. Won't be returning.

Great cafe with very nice coffee at average prices. Food is good as well. Didn't actually walk around the garden center but, for what I saw , it looks very comprehensive.

Food. In restaurant below acceptable standard Salad had soggy wilted leaves that were inedible Fish finger sandwich had a bare scrape of butter And fish gingers were the cheapest variety Ham with the egg and chips tasteless And cheesy chips. Cheese very sparse

Didn't have what we required but garden centre large with vast selection of plants,garden equipment, pots etc. Two eateries and play area. Staff helpful and pleasant. Plenty of parking

I previously gave a lower review after moving from Woodcote to Dobbies. After visiting a few times recently I cannot fault the quality and quantity of stock. The staff are very attentive and The teddy bears picnic was brilliant!!

Went for bedding plants had good selection. People that work there polite and informative😀

Two weeks ago I bought some meat (sausages, steak and steak burgers) from the butchers at Dobbies. I cooked it on the bbq for my family that evening. We all ate the same food but I was the only one to eat the steak burgers. The only other thing I ate was some corn and salad, which my family also ate. Four hours later and I was doubled over in pain and vomiting. I was up until 4am and I felt so unwell that I had to cancel all plans the next day. I’ve had a few more bad stomach cramps since then, I’ve seen a doctor and he’s said it’s very likely I’ve had food poisoning. Even today I’ve had stomach cramps! I emailed Dobbie’s to complain last weekend but so far no response. I’d really think twice before buying meat from there.

Lots of nice plants, good selection for the pond, great food shop too, shame the coffee place near the children play area was super slow to get a coffee and the young girl was borderline rude

Lovely food and so much to buy .🌹😁

Went for breakfast and it was really nice. Scrambled egg on toast and traditional breakfast really well presented and filling. Great friendly staff. 04.08.24 went for breakfast today great quorn sausage, egg roll and latte

sad the butchers do not take cash you can only pay with a card

Visited last Monday. The cafe adjacent to the children's play area is really good value for a snack. I had baked potato with beans. The children's meal deals are healthy and varied. The place is clean and tidy. Can't find any fault. Will be going again because I couldn't find the plants that I wanted ( probably looking at the wrong time of year) The Maidenhead Aquatics concession is excellent. The guys that work there know everything you need to know about keeping fish, and are really helpful.

Excellent selection of plants and garden tools, furniture etc. Even had a Sainsbury's in there as well as a restaurant and coffee part.

Main draw was soft play which was disappointing and diminished my 'day out'. At £3 per child you'd expect some level of staff supervision, especially during the holidays. In actuality you get cafe staff checking in bookings then disappearing. Instead, there's a large sign stating various rules including the baby area 'recommended for under 2". The assumption is that children and/or adults will read rules. Not on my visit as kids were running between areas while parents half-heartedly supervised from the side between conversation points. We lasted 30 minutes in baby area having exchanged words and glares over the lack of common sense around babies. I understand if paying staff to supervise will affect profit as it's a cash grab but at least put a gate on baby area. Everything slightly overpriced but could put up with that as nice and diverting day for kids to browse plants, aquarium and children's toys/books. As we left a staff member wanted to know if we'd like to sign up for Dobbies membership. We declined as soft area not suitable in it's current form to justify regular return.

Popped into Dobbie's just to have a look around and ended up getting some beautiful flowers. So much choice and very helpful staff. One of the best Garden Centres I have been too.

Main cafe. Just ordered cake and coffee 10 minutes ago and left waiting while staff took a phone call and walked away leaving coffee on tray with no cake. She made no reference to having to leave, just left talking on the phone. Waited nearly 5 minutes before another colleague came over and asked if there was anything else I needed and then completed the order. Not the first time cafe staff are utterly uninterested!

We had some amazing great value food in the restaurant. Food was served super quickly and Talo was a brilliant host. So helpful and positive. Definitely we would come back again.

Nice displays, great atmosphere and helpful staff.

Lovely place! Wheelchair friendly, good value for money, great cake!! Lots of parking

Soft play is great for the kids and the outside play area free coffee with loyalty card is extremely welcome and good deal on plants

Lovely place for a family outing on summer afternoon! Great collection of plants, a cafe, a restaurant, a super market. A one stop shop. Staff was friendly, service was great. Cafe had a small seasonal menu. Large portions and well priced. They offer Sunday Roast and afternoon tea which looked great but they require a reservation 24 hours prior. Operates until 3pm everyday. Lots of seeds, plants and garden stuff to be tempted by. Definitely recommended for all plant lovers.

Terrible service! Terrible food! This place really has gone done him since it was taken over, but even more so now. My wife was nearly sick, the food was that bad Won’t be coming here again. Such a shame

Feels like a local garden centre even though it’s a chain. Love it.

Best garden centre in south London. very clean and easy to walk around food good and staff are very knowledge about what thay sell. Would recommend Dobbies to everyone.

You could spend the day there. Lovely outdoor seating by the waterfall. Lots of varieties of flowers & trees.

Lovely place to shop for plants, take your children for a play outside, sit, and have a coffee. Nice place to sit and have lunch with friends, but it would be even better if they had more staff in the main restaurant

Good food - garden centre, friendly staff

Had lunch in the restaurant and the cheese and tomato toasted sandwich was absolutely disgusting. The toast was overdone and the filling was very sparse and didn’t taste like cheese. Needless to say I won’t be returning.

I always enjoy coming to this garden centre. It has recently changed hands having been taken over by Dobbies, they are doing a great job and the quality of the service remains high. I have visited Dobbies numerous times over the last 2 years, and I have joined their 'club' which I highly recommend. You'll pay a small membership fee (around £12 per annum) but you'll easily recoup this amount with money off vouchers, 10% off plants etc, and 2 free drinks per month. The drive through compost service is great! Simply drive up, buy your compost, bark, sand, etc and the lads will load it in your car for you. Brilliant! Great restaurant too. I highly recommend Dobbies.

The staff were really friendly and helpful nothing was too much for them we brought a bench and parasols which is going to be delivered

I was very dispointed with my full English breakfast. It was over £9, and for that price I expected better, and more. The service was just ok, we waited ages for our drinks. The breakfast wasent very hot and I should of sent it back. For £9, I got 1 slice of toast.

Never order ham and cheese quesadilla for children party .

Great selection of plants and I love that you can buy infant indoor plants to grow-on instead of spending loads on adult plants. Avoid the restaurant on Saturday lunchtime though...long queues waiting to be seated. Food bland and very overpriced.