Bressingham Garden Centre - Diss

p H. (. M.

Traveled to the cafe for the carvery,
Was not met on entry so the need to book and be seated was not clear, we waited in line passing the water pickup that was empty with people trying to get more, waited patiently to get to the front paid picked up tea and asked for water informing them there was no glasses on the water stand, we then went back to our table to wait our turn, this had already taken too long and with few 2 or 3 people at the carvery you have to wonder what we where waiting for, in this time I went for water to find a kitchen member placing plastic beakers out on a tray, I picked one up and it was dirty I informed him and placed it to one side, picked up another again dirty, asked if you had to pay extra for a clean glass, he was not happy grumbling it was because they are busy, oh I said “so you have to come back when your not busy if you want a clean glass” he picked up the glasses on the tray walked out the back and by the sound of it threw them on the floor or against the wall, the whole restaurant heard this and looked around, I complained to the manager who told me the problem was “they are busy and it was not his job to fill up the glasses” I went back to the table when we got called up they had run out of beef and the food was ok, they did bring out more gravy in an old tin with the label removed, my wife kept sneezing no wonder the large plant hanging over her was thick with dust just like a lot of the restaurant.

Maz B.

Went on Sunday for carvery and to look around the Christmas display. Very busy in restaurant but didn't wait long to be seated, staff are friendly and hard working. We had roast turkey with all the trimmings and it was delicious. As for the garden centre the Christmas shop was amazing well done guys one of the best places.

Clive W.

To be honest I was quite disappointed in the Garden Centre,I didn't do the gardens or the steam section or even the tearoom.
When we parked in the car park I just sat there and looked at this iconic building and my first thought was this beautiful circus like roof looked dirty or grubby it didn't look like gleaming white,and when I viewed from the inside it looked dark.
Unfortunately they were my first impressions,plus you were putting your Christmas displays together so that added to my woes,on the plus side we buy something and your staff were very helpful.😞

Chloë C.

My husband and I went to the steam trains on Wednesday, when I saw online that the garden centre does a carvery on Wednesdays, I said to my husband that we need to go there for lunch for the carvery. Definitely a simplified carvery but sometimes less is more! Loved it and the gravy was amazing! The only thing I would change is the milkshake, would have preferred it to be a thick milkshake, but apart from that, I would definitely go there for a carvery again if we ever come back to Bressingham ☺️ Was definitely an amazing day out. And as we were still there late afternoon, I had to get a Too Good To Go bag for the cakes. Sadly not the cakes I like but luckily my husband loved them so he was a happy boy 😁

Debra N.

Its reasonably high cost to get in but well worth every penny. All rides and exhibits are free inside and unlimited rides on everything (limited to 3 rides on the excellent and well preserved 120yr old carousel). The exhibits are wonderful and the gardens are so beautiful. The food at the café was very good and reasonably priced. Staff were lovely too. Enthusiastic and engaging. We spent all day there with a baby and 3yr old and everyone had a wonderful day. Highly recommended.

Mosey W.

I usually use the Sprowston Garden Centre Cafe which is lovely. The Bressingham cafe is confusing as the layout is unusual and seems to be back to front. The capaccino was not good and tasted more like instant coffee. The vegan cake options were limited. The sausage roll was cheap and poor quality. The pastry on the apple pie was hard and crumbly and we had to pay extra for poor quality, squirty cream.

I would visit the Garden Centre again as bought some lovely herbs and pots but would avoid the cafe.

Meg A.

Pros:
- softplay on site next to restaurant 10/10
- the staff in the shop, are awesome
- the chefs in the restaurant are lovely and the male chef who sometimes brings the meals out, cannot be more helpful and friendly

Cons:
- the staff in the restaurant are either so severely underpaid that they have stopped caring about being professional or helpful, or kind, to customers. (Including rolling eyes etc) OR they just choose to be really slow in service, never smile and treat customers like they've just run over their favourite pet.

If it wasn't for the restaurant staff letting the whole place down.. this place would be a 10/10 every time.. but the way they treat customers is beyond bad- and it's all of them. Which can't be a coincidence. I even saw one of them rolling her eyes and bad mouthing my family's table- we were laughing together- at a normal volume. And she looked at us as if we were vermin.

Andrew D.

This is a two part review, one about the restaurant and the second about British Garden Centre's refund policy.

We have always enjoyed visiting the Garden centre and its fairly local to our location. The store is stocked with nice goods and is huge.

That's the positive stuff out of the way and one I would give them credit for.

However on our last visit a couple of things occurred which are worthy of mention as a warning to fellow shoppers so you are prepared.

1. Their refund policy.
They do not refund anything that isn't faulty. We returned an expensive item that wasn't suitable for purpose (complete and sealed). They refused to refund the item instead would only give a gift card or exchange. They use cleaver wording on their receipts so as to dupe you into thinking any returns will be refunded to your card. So be really careful when buying goods if there is any doubt about their suitability. Its a policy that favours British Garden centres but not the consumer and I will be questioning this with citizens advice in due course.

2. The poor quality or rather quantity of food in their restaurant. Ordered 3 bloomer sandwiches around £30. Arrived with practically no filling instead a few bits of salad and the bread wasn't the bloomer we expected. I know the price of food has risen in the last years since covid but its a blatant rip off. So if you are eating in this restaurant - avoid the sandwiches!