The Watch House Cafe & Pizzeria

The Watch House Cafe & Pizzeria is a family-run local spot at 14 Fishing Point Road, Rathmines, on Toronto's western shore of Lake Macquarie. It runs breakfast and lunch through the week, then turns the kitchen over to woodfired pizza on weekend evenings, with dogs welcome at the outdoor tables the whole way through.

The dog setup

Dogs sit with you at the outdoor tables, kept on lead. It is a casual, community-style setup rather than a dedicated dog section, so if the alfresco row is full, check with staff before assuming there is room. The outlook across Fishing Point Road towards the foreshore reserve gives a dog something to watch, and the whole strip is an easy walk from the lake path.

Worth knowing

Day service covers all-day breakfast, wraps, rolls and schnitzels, with lunch from late morning, plus coffee and cakes. Pizza nights run on selected evenings, roughly Thursday through Saturday from 5pm to 8pm, which turns the same room into a family dinner option; check the venue's Facebook page for the current pizza schedule before planning an evening around it. The kitchen wraps up early afternoon on day service, around 2pm, so breakfast and lunch is the safe window for a dog stop.

Getting there and parking

Rathmines sits off the main Toronto-Wangi road, with street parking along Fishing Point Road near the shops and the foreshore reserve. The village is compact, so park once and walk.

Close by with the dogs

The Rathmines Dog Exercise Area is the obvious off-lead stop nearby, and cornerHAUS Milkbar at Toronto covers the next coffee leg up the lake. Harry and Lola's at Speers Point is the pick on the drive back towards Newcastle.

More options are on the New South Wales dog friendly cafes guide and the Rathmines destination page.

Max: tie the lead to the chair leg, not the table, because the waiters cut through the alfresco row constantly on pizza nights.