H2O Cafe & Restaurant

H2O Cafe and Restaurant sits on the water side of Pittwater Road at Narrabeen, and it earns the name: the deck looks straight over Narrabeen Lagoon. Unlike most cafes on this list it keeps going past sunset, trading 7:30am to 8:30pm most nights and later on Fridays and Saturdays, so the same dog friendly table works for breakfast, a lazy lunch and a dinner with lake views. The sunset slots are the ones worth holding out for.

The dog setup. Listings across Tripadvisor, OpenTable and a Northern Beaches dog friendly cafe guide agree that dogs are welcome in the outdoor seating and lakeside deck areas. Dogs stay outside the dining room, which is no hardship when the deck faces the water, and the sunset shift is arguably the best seat in the suburb.

The menu leans hearty. Seafood pie, fish and chips and the chicken schnitzel are the dependable orders, corn fritters cover the breakfast crowd, and the serves are generous enough that you plan the rest of the day around them. Fish and chips on the deck while the dog settles at your feet is the standard way to end a lagoon afternoon.

Make a day of it

Pair it with a lap of the lagoon path and you have the full Narrabeen loop. Project One Cafe and Lakehouse Cafe are the other dog friendly coffee stops within an easy stroll, and Austrian Beer Bar and Restaurant is the dinner alternative if the group wants schnitzel of the veal variety.

H2O Cafe and Restaurant is at Shop 3/1431 Pittwater Road, Narrabeen NSW, with parking along Pittwater Road near the lagoon entrance. More options are in the dog friendly cafes in NSW guide and on the Narrabeen destination page.