Dobbies Garden Centres - Cadnam Reviews 316

While my friend and I were queuing for food in the restaurant in the 27/03/2026 we watched a young lad in the kitchen with an apron on dishing up the food, mostly fish and chips, just using his bare hands, then wiping them on his dirty apron and proceeding to dish up another dish

Over a period of many years , this is the first time I have had cause to complain re the restaurant. Today we ordered the new addition to the menu, beef burger with chips etc, the meals arrived after approx 15 minutes, at best the chips could only be described as warm, i enquired , where is the coleslaw, the reply was, the chef said we have no coleslaw, no apology, this meal should have been stated as unavailable. At £12+ per meal, this was unacceptable

Lots to like about this garden centre. Good cafe , fair selection of plants and most staff are knowledgeable and helpful.
However...
At the till we met a member of staff who lacked every skill needed to interact with customers. No eye contact...not a glimmer of a smile...he was a thoroughly miserable individual who obviously needed training .
It spoilt our visit !
Come on Cadnam - make sure that customer's last interaction with your staff is a pleasant one.

I waited 20 mins at the counter to order my drinks, 1 coffee, 1 tea. My coffee came but not the tea. I continued to wait and noticed the young boy was asking others for their drinks orders. I managed to get his attention and eventually got my tea for my friend. Meanwhile my coffee was cold!!. My other friend who was in line behind me had to wait until people behind her were served before she got her drinks. We also ordered food. I put in my order for a burger and after that my friend put in her order and we went to our table.... an hour later my friends' food came and mine hadn't. I asked the waitress where my burger was and she said she'd find out, that perhaps it had to be especially cooked??? I waited a further 10 mins then went back to the counter because the waitress hadn't come back to me. The young boy at the counter asked in the kitchen and came back and told me it takes a while to cook a burger properly. I told him to cancel the order because my friends had finished their food and I didn't want to eat alone. Ten minutes later the burger and chips was brought to me!!!! The burger looked nothing like the thick juicy burger shown in the menu. It was thin and dried up and definitely NOT beef. I couldn't eat it. It tasted like it had bacon or artificial flavours in it.
In the past we've been disappointed by the long waits for drinks, but this was just too much. We had been there almost 2 hours!!! And the food was awful. A beef burger should be made from beef and not look like a piece of dark brown cardboard. We will NEVER attempt to eat there again. We noticed many people did not finish their food!!!! This was clearly seen from the piles of half full plates on the uncleared tables. I paid £12 for rubbish and am disgusted. No apologies from the staff either. We arrived around 1pm and left around 3pm, a total waste of time.. Thankfully my friends had salads so didn't have to experience the terrible cooking!!! I can show photos of the food if needed... I wish I'd read the reviews before coming here again.
By the way, while at the counter a man brought back his wife's prawn sandwich .. it contained 2 prawns!!!! However, they did make her another sandwich and I'm sure they put more than 2 prawns in that one...

The lady at the till was lovely, showed how to complete the Dobbies card, and nothing was too much trouble. The discount was very good, and we purchased more plants than we needed as they were such a good price.

Good food in the restaurant but more customer interface training needed for the front of house staff in the restaurant. Several customers waiting for service but not acknowledged or eye contact made or any explanation for the long wait to take the orders. Otherwise a good experience

We went to buy bedding plants from the Cadnam branch. They are under cover so had had no rain. There were trays and trays of withered dried-out plants which had clearly not been watered for days. The soil was like dust and the plants had hardly any roots. Such neglect in a so called garden centre is awful.

We had breakfast a the restaurant on Saturday coffee was fine the breakfast was not???
Tomato was that hard could not be cut
Egg was floating in oil
Bacon was cold
Toast was not toast
Beans were cold
Girl on counter did not have a net on hair as it was long ???

Many times items in the menu are just not there!!!!! Today Cadnam did not have seasonal specials like Chicken, ham and leek pie and no seasonal toasties with ham hock mozzarella.... After closing a number or centres in Hampshire and the south. This greatly reduces choice, and the club membership is no longer worth it.....

Pretty good all round.Restaurant good,prices fair,but it's not a gastro pub,as many reviews on here seem to think it should be.. Pricing of merchandise needs to improve,as many items are unpriced..Nice helpful staff.

This poor rating is not for the garden centre which is quite nice and obviously has good management as the goods are organised and presented well. My poor score is due to the staff member on the till. I waited 20 minutes (as I was keen to get home before traffic I was looking at my watch! The lady on the till was taking an age to serve the last before me and she was just talking about anything and everything whilst there was a queue. It wasn’t important conversation it was gossipy chats with no awareness of the queue.
She didn’t care less. She was being paid whether she treated customers equally or not.
It was so disrespectful. The woman in front of me said I bet you’re getting annoyed aren’t you. No apology. The staff member didn’t stop chatting. I said nothing of course as I couldn’t think quick enough and don’t like confrontation. The staff member was at fault. She had no respect for the queue.

She needs more training. .

The garden centre azaming and also the staff are to and very helpful but the day I was in they was not much to buy and 1/2 the shop was closed off to the customer . But I love it they it was the last time I could spend with my dad at the restaurant my dad pass away year go .

Not the best garden center in the local area, tea rooms look like a school canteen empty atmosphere even when busy, plants are reasonably quality but I get better cheeper at the local inexcess , staff are not knowledgeable and the place is dirty and shabby and weedy used to be a lovely place until Dobbies ruined the site just needs a good tidy up

I got the plants I wanted with no problems and we had a snack in the restaurant. All in all a good trip.

There was nothing in stock for plant watering systems/time clocks or irrigation hose

Always have a positive experience at dobbies. Staff are helpful and products are top quality. No complaints.

Disappointed when l planted my 4 trays of 20 lobelia that in each tray there were missing plants in each.🙀

We visit Dobbies quite a lot and today visited the cafe, the food as a general was ok, but the accompanying salad was tired, old and tasteless and some even going brown , also paid extra for a portion of slaw, which was slightly small, for the amount paid, hopefully things will get better next visit.

Food mediocre, They definitely don’t know how to make cappuccino. Staff not pleasant. Think I’ll give this place a skip as the staff’s attitude stink.

What you ask for, you don’t get!!!!

Some stock eg electric strimmer had faded in the sun but still asking full price. Not everything is priced