Garden Hotel — Restaurant in Dubbo

We stayed at Garden Hotel, Dubbo, while backpacking around NSW using a TrainLink Discovery Pass. Our criteria was Budget Accommodation close to train stations. Our Queen Size room with Shared Bathroom was comfortable. We used the community kitchenette to prepare our meals. Staff were a bit reluctant to let us use the laundry but did agree. We ate in the hotel Bistro on a Friday night. It was a great community atmosphere with the Salvos seeking donations and two kids' sports clubs selling raffle tickets. I always save money where I can, so am happy to 'Pay it Forward' with donations to charity. On the Saturday, we went to Dubbo Zoo by Bus. The Bus Stop is opposite the Garden Hotel, near Aldi. Zoo tickets are $6 cheaper if purchased on-line. You can also use Zoo tickets for two consecutive days. If we knew this we would have stayed longer! The Zoo has 5.6km of walking tracks in a bushland setting. You can also drive, hire bikes or electric carts. There is a veterinary hospital and platypus conservation centre - but we did not have time to check those out. Garden Hotel is within walking distance of parks, recreational facilities and Dubbo CBD. At night the main street looks really beautiful as there are fairy lights in all the trees. We...

We stayed at Garden Hotel, Dubbo, while backpacking around NSW using a TrainLink Discovery Pass. Our criteria was Budget Accommodation close to train stations. Our Queen Size room with Shared Bathroom was comfortable. We used the community kitchenette to prepare our meals. Staff were a bit reluctant to let us use the laundry but did agree. We ate in the hotel Bistro on a Friday night. It was a great community atmosphere with the Salvos seeking donations and two kids' sports clubs selling raffle tickets. I always save money where I can, so am happy to 'Pay it Forward' with donations to charity. On the Saturday, we went to Dubbo Zoo by Bus. The Bus Stop is opposite the Garden Hotel, near Aldi. Zoo tickets are $6 cheaper if purchased on-line. You can also use Zoo tickets for two consecutive days. If we knew this we would have stayed longer! The Zoo has 5.6km of walking tracks in a bushland setting. You can also drive, hire bikes or electric carts. There is a veterinary hospital and platypus conservation centre - but we did not have time to check those out. Garden Hotel is within walking distance of parks, recreational facilities and Dubbo CBD. At night the main street looks really beautiful as there are fairy lights in all the trees. We...

It was my first time dining at this place during lunch, and unfortunately, it will also be my last. After placing our order, it took nearly an hour before we actually got our food. We waited for a long time without any updates, so I went to the kitchen to check — only to find out that they had completely forgotten our order. There was no apology, just a casual request to keep waiting.

Eventually, they brought out one of the starters, but even that was not what we originally ordered. I had to confirm with them twice before they told me the original item was no longer available and substituted it without informing me in advance. After another follow-up, they finally refunded the difference for the wrong item they charged us for.

As a customer, this was an extremely poor experience. What made it worse was the unprofessional attitude and lack of accountability in resolving the issue. I would not recommend this place to anyone considering dining here. I’ve been in Dubbo for a long time and have never had such an unpleasant experience. I won’t be returning, and I certainly won’t be bringing any friends...