The Dun Cow

We celebrated my aunties birthday here. The food was amazing, service outstanding and the staff were friendly and helpful. They all came out to bring the cake and sing Happy birthday and it made the night special. I highly recommend this place as a must visit. The fish and chips were incredible too!

What a lovely place! Food was so tasty, everything cooked beautifully. I had the seafood and chorizo stew which was amazing. It arrived quickly and the service was very friendly and attentive. The staff were very accommodating of our two messy children, their food was also lovely and great portions. Our one year old nearly finished all his fish and chips which is no mean feat, it's usually only daddy's Bolognese that he would eat all of! Top class all round, thanks to all the staff for a wonderful family meal. We live quite far from here but will definitely be back next time we are this way.

I visited The Dun Cow today with a few friends for lunch and the food was outstanding. We all had the cheeseburgers but these where not just any cheeseburgers, the meat was cooked to perfection, the dressings in the burger touched ever taste bud possible, not to mention the chips!! The staff and service were exceptional to say the least. I can’t wait to go back!!!

Visited the dun cow this evening after arriving at our holiday cottage; easy walking distance from the church and lovely views on the walk up do you could see the pub. Spectacular views all the way to the sea from the pub garden, despite the chilly weather. Good signage and hand sanitizer available on arrival and friendly staff to greet you and explain the system for ordering/ paying for food. Excellent beer on tap, good menu selection and speedy service. Waiting staff were polite and helpful. All food was delicious!! Best fish pie and steak we'd tasted in ages; food also came quickly and we would very much like to go back on a warmer day and enjoy more of the view with some different items from the menu. Thank you The Dun Cow

+6

Visiting the Dun Cow is now a bit of a highlight when we're in the area. They serve a great selection of really well executed dishes - from light dishes if you want to quickly refuel and move on - to some fantastic fuller choices for a larger leisurely lunch or dinner. We arrived early for our reservation and they were happy to seat us. It's a very relaxed atmosphere with young staff who all pay attention to the detail. I hadn't had a buger for ages so I went for that. It tasted flame-grilled, it had so much flavour. Do try to make a reservation though. It gets busy!

+2

Stopped off here after a day out exploring Cley and Wells due to the excellent reviews on Google and was not disappointed, so decided to add another. Nice warm welcome from the staff who were really attentive. We hadn't booked and were lucky as there was a free table. Limited menu but a number of specials. Food was excellent, the steak I had was cooked to perfection and very tasty. Sticky toffee pudding desert was also very tasty and well presented. There was a good selection of local beers on tap and a large beer garden at the front over looking the coast with some great views. If I am ever near there again I will definitely come back!

First visit for my sons birthday and will definitely return. Great menu and food was lovely, what made the experience 5 star were the waitresses. From the hostess greeting at the door to our table service - fabulous!!!!

Had haddock and chips. Fish used to be bigger but was still fresh and flaky. Excellent Eton Mess dessert. In a nice spot along the coast road. Always busy. Best to book. Nice atmosphere and friendly service. Highly recommended.

Wonderfully different menu but still a large proportion of fish on the menu which is understandable due to the area. My partner had delicious pork medallions with mash and vegetables which was beautifully presented. I had the Mackerel chips which were very good. Good Covid protocols in place and a view to die for from the garden.

Lovely relaxing lunch. Amazing views. Delicious food - fish stew so tasty and rarely available rabbit dish. The goats cheese on the dessert menu was also a surprising treat. Friendly service. No negatives. Will be back again soon.

Fabulous dinner tonight at The Dun Cow. We loved the tuna tempura and the mussels and not forgetting the delicious basque cheesecake. Service was excellent. It’s recently changed hands and the new owners are super friendly and accommodating.

Booked a birthday meal here while on holiday, after several years of wanting to go. The staff were extremely polite and obliging. The food was definitely next level! We've never had garlic bread like it. The cheeseburger and fries were brilliant as well. We will definitely book next time we're holidaying here. A huge thank you to all the staff.

Fabulous location. Beautiful table in the sunshine. Excellent service. The mushroom bruschetta and the cromer crab were both excellent. Really fresh salad garnish extremely unusual in this day of bagged salads and very nice indeed. Well done

First rate meal. Great menu, mainly locally sourced product. Charming service by professionals. Good wine and beer, a roaring fire, parking and dog friendly - could you ask for much more? Well half the price, but that’s not reality! First came here c.35 years ago with my Mum when was just a pub, seen evolve into today’s fabulous eatery! In fact when my Mum passed her cottage was auctioned in the pub……Today I was here with my children and grandchildren and lots of fond memories flooded back. Thank you, especially Eden who was our primary server, with colleagues made a lovely evening!

Incredible little spot with a gorgeous garden overlooking the Salthouse salt marshes. Food was delicious - burger was one of the best I’ve ever had! Lovely fresh mackerel special as well. Definitely visit!

One of my favourite pubs in the whole country. Great food and drinks - had the lobster and chips which has become a favourite there. Good range of local beers as well as the usual stuff. Fantastic beer garden with loads of room and views over the marshes, out to the dunes and sea beyond. A great place to spend a few hours on a summers day. Highly recommended!

Excellent food, friendly and helpful staff. Really enjoyed our visit, fresh and local food with good daily specials.

Nice place with delicious meals in reasonable prices. Meals taste very good and they are propely made. Vegetarians and Non-vegetarians will find something for each group. Burgers, halloumi, salad ect - delicious. U have to stop there for lunch.

Great pub and restaurant. Very friendly staff and local well cooked food. Good ambience and everyone willing to help and accomondate us. Also a lovely settibg as well. Would highly recommend and we will no doubt be back in the future.

We found this place after a trip to see the seals and I am so glad we stopped here. We had the ploughman’s and it was delicious and plentiful. Staff were incredibly friendly and nothing was too much trouble. The views were amazing the pub was cozy and outside spaces were really pretty! Lots of choice on the specials and all reasonably priced. We recommend this place to anyone in the area!

This is a really nice, relaxed pub. A great selection of drinks, very good food (the burger is awesome) and the staff are super attentive.

A fantastic meal, all of us happy with our choices. Excellent service too. Teamwork and communication between the delightful staff was faultless. Thank you Team Dun Cow and thank you chef.

Loved this place. Good it's delicious, service was great (it a busy) and atmosphere buzzing. Loved it and if in the area I would make a concerted effort to go back. Go try it

The food was generally very good although the fish with the fish and chips was generally seen as a little greasy by 4 people in our party who ordered it. It would be great to have some simple grilled fish on the menu as opposed to fried and filleted fish in sauce. For instance local grilled mackerel would be great

My only disappointment was I came with hankering for a roast and ended up with the fish stew, which was delicious and my lovely date said the fish and chips was Fab. Lovely friendly place all-round glad I went. Had a non alcoholic Peroni it was ok 🤷😉. If you are lucky enough to find this on your holiday you would want to stay for a nice adult drink.

+1

Lovely food. Only marked down because of limited main course options for pescatarian. Dog friendly dining.

We called on a January Saturday lunchtime. Busy but fitted in. Nice staff, beer (Adnams) and food. Highly recommended! Revisited today. Fish and chips simply the best ever! Service friendly but slow. Good ales.

+4

Lovely food , altho would have liked a broader choice. Good service. Great place to have lunch or dinner. Fantastic beer garden for the warmer weather !

First visit here after meeting up with family in holt. They definitely saved the best restaurant for the last day! Was great to find a nice well presented pub that still allowed doggies! The kids had the burgers which looked delicious whilst we had some local seafood including the crab and the fish pie. This is a favourite if my aunts due to the extensive gluten free menu they have Fish and chips were wonderfully cooked but portion was a small for the price, especially the amount of chips. Service was a tad slow which always feel doubled when you’ve got two restless kids with you- but other than that it was a great place to meet up and enjoy time with family. Some lovely views and walkways nearby to burn off the calories with the dogs

Standards today fell short today. Collie cheese barley warm, one come out with our lunches, so we had to share. Apple crumble and custard not great. Apple pureed and custard barely warm! Pork loin and veg really tasty & very nice, 3 slices of meat was a good portion size. Staff very nice and helpful. Today's rating 6.5 / 10

Lovely restaurant with amazing friendly staff, food served quickly and the garden in the back facing the marshes was amazing on a warm evening! Only small criticism would be the food, we were looking forward to the fish and chips and burger but it didn’t live up to expectations sadly, not bad but not amazing either BUT all up the experience was amazing for a lovely Sunday evening.

The outside seating is really lovely with plenty of tables and a really nice view over the fields. I had the burger which was nice but in my opinion needs a burger sauce as it's slightly dry. I also had a brownie which was 10/10 so I would reccomend trying that. The service was quick and the waiters were friendly so all in all it was a really nice place to eat. Don't forget to check the specials board inside before you order.

My wife and I had dinner here last weekend. Very friendly and attentive staff, albeit a little on the scruffy side. The food was delicious, fantastic oysters, muscles and lobster. Could do with a cocktail menu however have a small collectionof gins. A lovely oak beamed building which is very cosy and great views of the marsh, if your lucky enough to get a window view (we were). We dressed up for dinner but jeans and t-shirt seem to be fine, if you happen to be passing. Dog welcome too, but nope "yappy" ones (so the sign said). We would definitely go back.

The staff were friendly and welcoming and the food was overall very tasty. However, I was disappointed to have felt a bit rushed. We had the table for an hour and a half but were asked twice by different staff members if we were ready for our mains despite still clearly eating our starters. We also started our table reservation early as we were the first of the day. Other than that a great experience.

2/5 stars We visited this pub at 2 pm on a busy day. Despite being told they were booked out inside, a few tables were available outside where we decided to sit. Unfortunately, the service was slow and inefficient. I waited a while at the bar to order drinks, and I was surprised by the high cost when paying - it would've been helpful to have pricing displayed more clearly. Nearly equal to central London, but this was steep for just 2 drinks. We saw signs saying "No bar crawls" - not that we were planning on doing one. When it came to ordering food, I was told to wait outside again as the kitchen was overwhelmed and couldn't take more orders. It would've been nice to know this upfront so we could've decided to leave. After that, we got table service, and food arrived about 50 minutes after we walked in. We both ordered fish/seafood dishes that needed minimal cooking. The food was good, well-seasoned, and we finished it all. Despite the decent food, the overall experience was lacking in service. I felt somewhat ignored at the bar when we arrived. Oddly, when we left, I noted that the tables that were supposedly "booked out" inside were still unused. After debating: Considering the service issues and the price of drinks, we're unlikely to return.

Well... I don't know what's changed. We went to the Dun Cow last year and it turned out to be the culinary highlight of the trip. We were excited to repeat the experience this year, but alas, it was but a shadow. First off we ordered a couple of starters which we indeed quite tasty. Seeing how quickly those came out we got worried the mains we ordered would arrive too quickly. One goes for the dining "experience" after all, not just to fill a belly. The very polite staff informed us (oddly they seemed surprised at the request) that that's no problem and that we should wave them over when we're ready and that the braised chicken leg, which was one of our orders would take 15 mins to come out. When we were ready (no longer than 10 mins) we ordered our food (Lamb burgers w/ blue cheese sauce + Braised chicken left w/ bbq sauce), expecting it would take the mentioned 15 mins. Unfortunately the food started arriving pretty much immediately, meaning it was prepared beforehand and shoved under a heat lamp. Not ideal. We were still quite excited for the food however since we had such a great experience last time! Unfortunately the quality seems to have tumbled straight down. The braised chicken leg that was advertised on the specials board was very far from special. The bbq sauce it was swimming in must have been straight from a McDonalds sachet and the chicken itself was supremely underseasoned. The lamb burgers barely tasted of lamb and were underseasoned. That being said, the chips and blue cheese sauce were tasty. The house wine was also very nice and reasonably priced. We were quite disappointed, but decided to get some dessert too since what we had last time was amazing. More disappointment I'm afraid. The cheesecake was badly cooked and not of the right consistency, while the chocolate marquise w/ vanilla ice cream and pistachio cream was (against all odds and with great effort I'm sure) made to be incredibly bland and boring. We found out that the venue is having a change of hands, so I'm guessing the old chef just couldn't be bothered anymore. The only thing I can say to the new management is good luck and please take note from the mistakes of the previous owners. Old review: Absolutely delicious food! Lovely cozy pub, great atmosphere, the staff were nothing but professional, friendly and accommodating. Great experience, would go back in a heartbeat. The only tiny wrinkle was that we wanted to finish off the night with some espresso coffees but the only kind offered was filtered coffee.

I've visited The Dun Cow twice now, first time was underwhelming, but given the reviews, I decided to give it a second chance. Some aspects are good, others poor for what type of place it seems to be. Oysters arrived NOT on ice, sweet shallot vinegar which didn’t pair well and the Oysters themselves were very lackluster (also no Osyter fork provided). The Fish Platter was mediocre - Pickled Herring which tasted off (which after ours arrived, the board changed to Crab for the same cost!) Shell on Prawns which were chewy and half was just the heads in a bowl and also not served with a garlic aioli (when we ask for Mayo, a bottle of Heinz was plonked on the table). Two of us had the Tuna Rolls which were the best part of the meal and were nice. Chunky Chips were just standard and nothing exciting No music, and no ambience sadly. It's a shame, as it's a lovely spot but also upheld by younger staff, which I think shows.

Visited 2 weeks ago unfortunately the senior management ( husband & wife ) have a shocking attitude & it’s fair say that we have never experienced such poor hospitality . Zero ambience , no music & food debris underneath the tables . The food average, my husbands pasta was swimming in water? Salthouse itself is lovely such a shame about the pub .

Not the welcoming pub I was expecting from the reviews unfortunately. A group of ten of us called in for a drink after a nice walk around the beautiful local area and coast, but were told we would only be welcome for drinks if we sat outside (in mid February). Needless to say we didn't stay. I think this venue should consider categorising itself as a restaurant if it doesn't want to welcome people calling in for a drink.

Experience - Horrific Atmosphere - None Staff - Friendly Went for Sunday lunch 11th January 2026. Literally entered the front door and one of my dogs was attacked by another dog. No one from The Dun Cow, Norfolk, took responsibility. No one made me aware of the Manager on duty. All very surprising considering their policy is “keep dogs on leads and ensure they are well behaved, especially in busy areas”. Taken to a table in the annex. No atmosphere whatsoever. This was also surprising, considering that we booked a table in November 2025. I can’t believe for a minute, that at that point, November 2025, all tables in the main room were booked. Ordered the Sunday roast, pork. What is the one thing that you expect with a Sunday roast pork lunch/dinner….crackling. None whatsoever. The main meal looked and tasted processed. Staff were polite and friendly, but like I say at the beginning, no Manager to be seen to apologies for the initial reception. No pro-activity at all. Having been in the service industry myself for well over 30 years and looking at the state of pubs around the country, a piece of friendly business advice. In this day and age of economic turmoil especially in the service industry, change your business plan. It is no longer good enough to be doing things you were doing 10/20 years ago and stop heavily relying on local trade. (They will support you whatever). You need new business/clientele and for Lord sake, if you are going to allow pets, which is a brilliant thing, then make sure every member of staff knows your exact rules/policies and knows what action to take if a dog attack, on the premises, occurs.

We were so disappointed! This was my favourite pub to come too whilst on holiday up here for the stunning tempura fish and chips, well no longer! The fish was your bog standard greasy thick batter and little fish, with no taste at all, sticky toffee pudding was dry and claggy! Staff not as friendly as before (maybe we caught them on a bad night!) and has led us to cancel our second booking, gutted!

Lovely English pub located near the coast, great beer garden and friendly staff. However the food was terrible. The grilled pork was overcooked, too tough and tasteless. The seafood platter was impossible to eat, tiny shrimps were completely bland and crab meat completely covered in mayo. They should get inspired by simple Mediterranean cuisine - simple flavours and cooking methods for seafood. Saving grace was the local crab pot as a starter, very nice . The menu should be more confident and respectful in it's use of local produce. So much potential.