The Dabbling Duck Pub Great Massingham

Ronald Westrup
2 Star
Stopped off for a beer. Clearly very much an events based pub. No free space in the bar to sit and other rooms/bars closed due to private function. Directed to the barn bar at the back. Sadly the upholstered furniture was less than inviting with stained unclean looking seats. The stuffed squirrel was rather distasteful and the moose head on the wall was not really representative of Norfolk life, having been extinct on this area for over 8,000 years. Overall impression? I won't be rushing back any time soon.
Friday 1st July 2022

Josh F
5 Star
Lovely pub to visit and the food was excellent -it surprised us! Every dish was great. We had mushroom soup (amazing flavour), sea bream, prawns and steak. All were excellent. And it's dog friendly!
Wednesday 29th June 2022

Dan Tansey
3 Star
Nice interior and good service. Very mixed experience with the food. Maybe the chef's day off? Starter of duck pate was bland and unseasoned, served with a fairly dry brioche. Starter of prawns with prawn toast was delicious. Main of dressed crab was poor. Small crab with dry potato salad and yesterday's bread. Sent this back and ordered the prawn curry instead. Very bland sauce, more like a soup, with very ordinary rice and a thick undercooked chapati. My wife had the lamb, which was really delicious, although the potatoes it came with were dry and over seasoned. The staff were really good about it all though. Would have been less than 3 starts without their service.
Monday 23rd May 2022

Melinda S
2 Star
I was very excited about coming to the Dabbling Duck, as I had been years ago and thought it was good. This was our first family meal out since before covid kicked off. Unfortunately, we all felt that our meals were poor quality. I had the burger, which was tasteless and had a tiny limp leaf of lettuce in it, with no other salad whatsoever. The chips on the side were overcooked and again, tasteless. My family had some hand cut chips which they felt were not fresh and had been sitting around for a while. None of us finished the chips. The scampi was better than you can get at many pubs and the fish (from the fish and chips), whilst it looked lovely and had crispy batter, wasn't the freshest. Not enough greenery with the meals. My coke was room temperature and not fizzy. Very disappointing. On the upside, the public conveniences were very clean and the dining areas themselves clean as well, and well ventilated. The staff were lovely too, hence bringing the rating up to two stars. I'm puzzled as to why the Dabbling Duck has such a high rating - perhaps people have low expectations/standards, not sure. Unfortunately the experience was let down only by the poor quality food. £70 lighter for four people, now back to home cooked meals!
Tuesday 28th June 2022

Nicola Jacques
4 Star
Very nice lunch at The Dabbling Duck. Lovely ambience, friendly staff and encouraging to see somewhere busy! Delicious lunch, Roast Pork for my Husband and Burger for myself. Both had Sticky Toffee pudding for dessert with clotted cream ice cream. My Husband's also came with a Banoffee sauce but had mine without! Dog friendly for well behaved dogs on leads.
Sunday 29th May 2022