Dobbies Garden World - Lisburn

The only reason this restaurant review receives one star is because it cannot be avoided. Despite vowing never to return after a previous terrible experience, we found ourselves back at the restaurant, only to be greeted by the same unhelpful staff as before. Upon arriving at 2:15 for lunch, we were met with a lack of available food options but received no polite explanation, just glares and grunts from the employees. Being a vegetarian, it was difficult to find a suitable meal, so I settled for cheesy chips as there was no bread, salad, or option for a sandwich. After queuing to pay with no one appearing to assist, I sat down to a cold meal. My daughter had to return to the counter to pay for the food and order coffee, which was lukewarm and took a long time to make as the staff were preoccupied with personal conversations. It is clear that the management of this restaurant is unaware of the negative reviews on platforms like Trip Advisor. My recommendation is to travel a few more miles up the road to Ashvale Tea Rooms, where the food and service are top-notch.

I went for lunch because I hadn't been there in a while. It was a big mistake! The hot food was lukewarm and of very poor quality, so I ended up leaving most of my meal untouched. It wasn't good value for money at all. I won't be going back.

We came to let the children play in the soft play area, but it was closing soon for a private party. I asked if we could pay to let the kids play for 30 minutes before having lunch, but the staff member didn't even know about the private party and was letting people in. When we tried to order sandwiches for the kids, we were told they only had cheese left at 1pm during a busy lunch rush, which was ridiculous. We paid £13 for 4 lattes that we couldn't drink, which were replaced with 4 more undrinkable lattes. They also didn't have the syrups we asked for. The child's sandwich had stale bread and another customer was complaining about being charged for a kids' meal despite an offer for kids to eat free. The cashier also charged us for the kids' meal. I want to clarify that this is not a complaint about the staff, as I have worked in hospitality and understand these issues may be out of their control. This is a complaint about the poorly managed restaurant, leaving their staff to struggle in terrible conditions. Overall, a complete shambles of a place.

Horrendous!! Where do you start. 'Restaurant ' is stretching it a bit. Very poor selection, very poor quality. Only reason I ate was because of hunger. Tuna and cheese toastie thing. Worst place I 've visited. Hyperinflated prices! Avoid this joke people, please.

Horrendous service and food. Powdered scrambled eggs for breakfast. The manager then argued with me even though the waitress confirmed it with the chef and apologised because “we shouldn’t be able to tell”. Seriously Dobbies, do better