Dorys in Thanet

Beautiful food. We tried almost everything from the small plates selection and it was all incredible particularly the seared trout, sea bream and the daal. Lovely atmosphere and hosts. Will definitely be returning!

I had a great lunch there on a Sunday before heading back to london the food and drink was really good and Emma who served me was lovely. Highly recommend

The food was fine but the service we’ve received is quite upsetting.

food okay, but not great, and quite expensive. service very unpleasant

Authentic and delicious food Amazing service, felt like someone invited us to their home! And seaside views... Perfect evening!

Pics of the food don’t do the it justice! But incredible food, amazing service and delicious wine. Perfect for a night out with the girls!

This place is great! Staff was very kind and likeable, good banter. Many special wines and quality of food is very high. They take pride in using old furniture and beautiful paintings within the establishment. Highly recommended.

We had bar seating for dinner and could see the sunset. Good atmosphere and service. We didn’t love all the dishes, and it isn’t cheap but on the whole it was a great evening. Baked hake was delicious.

I dream about these meals often! The seafood was incredibly fresh, and the service was unmatched. A special shout-out to Emma, who was absolutely wonderful and made the entire dining experience flawless. I couldn't recommend Dory's highly enough!

We had a booking under a friend’s name but when we got there they couldn’t find our reservation. Australian bloke there was rude as well - no understanding

Visited for lunch as a treat for my house guests.  Food was nothing special and doesn't justify the very small  portion sizes or high prices.  However most importantly the service was appalling.  Having worked in hospitality I was astounded that this place still trades, it makes Fawlty Towers look professional.  The girl preparing food behind the counter was constantly picking and munching on bits of food while preparing it in plain sight of customers with no hand washing, and wiping hands on apron then handling raw fish and seafood.  Despite there being about only 6 other people in the place food preparation and service was painfully slow with staff inattentive and shuffling around doing seemingly everything except preparing food and serving customers.   Our  food arrived in dribs and drabs, I had to twice ask for missing items and was told twice that food comes "as and when".  The items in question were cold pre-prepared salads so preparation would have involved simply spooning them into a bowl.   I made it clear that I was unhappy and when the bill arrived I was advised that they had removed the compulsory £1 per person charity donation along with the 12% service charge which is  fortunate as I had no intention whatsoever of paying this. Extremely disappointing experience.  I parted with £60 and  apologised to my guests since nobody else did.    I would not recommend this place and would definitely not return.

Rarely do I feel as hungry leaving a restaurant as entering it. I too feel ripped off by the over priced miniscule fare that was passed off as main dishes.Never again!

Very small place, Lucky to have grabbed a table because we don't book, staff were friendly and professional. Food was good. But honestly I don't think I would recommend if you wanted a full meal. They offer smaller plates of food.

The simplicity of Doty’s is what does it for me. Tasty ingredient-led food, simply and beautifully done and a lovely short low intervention list. Lovely team. Lucky Margate.

When we arrived at the restaurant recommended by Time Out, we were disappointed to find that they were unable to accommodate us despite there were visible available spaces. We understand that restaurants can get busy, especially during the dinner rush, but this was at 5pm. It was frustrating when a white couple who walk-in just a couple minutes before us, were immediately seated and were given the option to choose their seating “seat where ever you like, if you want to seat outside you can”. When it was our turn the host then explained to us that they are fully booked due to 40 expected dinner guests later. Even though there were spaces inside/ outside and were literally served 2 mins apart from the white couple. As a result, we decided to dine at another restaurant. Later, we passed by the restaurant again and noticed that it wasn't as busy as they had initially claimed. We couldn't help but feel that there may have been some bias/ subtle racism, which made us uncomfortable. While it's unfortunate that we couldn't try the Time Out recommendation, we're looking forward to exploring other seafood restaurants in the area. We believe that there are plenty of great options to try, and we hope to have better experiences in the future.

Went with friends, had lovely supper near the seaside. The lady recommended us the smoked prawn with alioli sauce, which was the best prawn I ever had! Somehow the drink was a bit late and the wine we ordered had run out, but the staffs were willing to suggest the solution and we were all happy with it Recommend for smaller party size since the dishes are too good and might have to fight with your friends lol

Dory’s was just the best experience for us! The food was so fresh and there were so many beautiful flavours in each dish, everything was delicious. It is kind of a tapas style, the dishes are quite small, but it means you can try a lot of different dishes. There is also a brilliant selection of drinks, the cocktails and the wine were both great. We went on a lovely day, looking out to the sunset over the sea and it was just perfect! I would definitely recommend booking as people were having to be turned away on a saturday evening. The staff were lovely and helpful but due to how busy it was we had to wait a bit here and there. It was beyond worth the wait though, it is absolutely worth a trip to Dory’s!

Popped into Dory as local but never been. Only seating were bar stools with a metal shelf overlooking the prep area and sullen chef. Between two of us, 4 slices of bread with enough butter for 2 slices, 12 tiny shrimp, 4 sardines in oil, 4 slices of cured trout the size of my little finger and one 15cm bit of mackerel, oh and 2 x 330ml gadds beers. £72.50 came the bill which included a compulsory donation to a margate training kitchen that wasn't noted anywhere in the restaurant or mentioned to us prior to or when receiving the bill. Needless to say we won't be back...plenty if incredible seafood eateries in Thanet that don't rip you off

Pricey but very good. If you‘re low on cash go there and just have the potatoe salad. It was phenomenal

Food was oversalted and overspiced. for some reason everything was served cold. the service was mediocre at best. for some reason our bill included some "donation" (1 GBP per person) and we were not made aware about it before paying.

Food was nice, but you can't justify £20 for a small plate of bream fillet with a bit of sauce and a couple of slices of pepper. The staff were very nice and offered additional bread, but I walked away feeling ripped off.

Very delicious food. The scallops in particular. I've never had raw scallops before and they melt in your mouth. We also had some very delicious wine from Kent which was cool. We tried to go on Saturday but it was full so worth making a booking. Fantastic views of the sunset too!

Such amazing tastes and textures! The sharing plates are to die for. The wine list was extensive but expensive. However the entry level wines on the first page were perfectly good enough. The service was friendly and informed from the moment we arrived. A lovely touch was the charity they support which aims to get young people into full time employment within the food industry by offering training. We had a fabulous meal and will definitely return.

What a wonderful place! There's a great selection of food, including for vegetarians and vegans. I particularly loved the butter beans and aubergines, and the tomato with pesto. Ask for the oolong kombucha, too, which is delightful Speaking of which, the drink was recommended by the inestimable Emma, who turned a good experience into an unforgettable one. Thank you for being a part of our evening!

Just incredible everything!!!!!

SO good!!! Really fresh, tasty and refined food. Lovely atmosphere with great staff! Everything we ate we loved! Now one of my favourites in Margate and will definitely be back and bringing friends!

Dory’s is brilliant. Amazing spot right on the front. Fresh, simply but stunningly well cooked fish is the thing. Washed down with great beers and wines. And hosted by a lovely team. Loved it.

Perfect simple tasty small plates in a relaxed atmosphere... go on... treat yourself! Definitely going back for more or trying out their sister restaurant Angela's. Scoffed too fast to take photos, I'm gen x so that's what we do 🤣

The food was really tasty and fresh. We understand that they try to use locally produced food with organic veggies and their home grown one. The wines thawed we tried by the glass were really very nice. The let down was the cheese as you only get one cheese for £10 , not the usual cheese selections. Also the majority of the food are cold dishes. There is only one warm dish, but only the fish was warm, the vegetables that goes with it was cold.

Amazing food. Service 6/5!!! Location&views - brilliant.

Best place to have a lovely lunch in Margate. We had the best time there thanks to Emma. She was wonderful and extremely friendly. The food was amazing, specially the sardines, potato salad and crab cake. Highly recommend.

A fantastic little tapas style restaurant on the sea front. We sat at the counter and really enjoyed our lunch. A must visit in Margate.

Nice vibe, friendly staff, good & fresh seafood! Highly recommend!!

Go here! Definitely book but make sure you go. Atmosphere great with open kitchen. Food lovely. Our favourites on the day were the artichoke and the sardines. But the butter and bread was also a winner (a weird one I know but good butter mmmmmm). Loved it.

The food was stunning but they seemed to be short on servers. I don't understand the fascination with stemless glasses to serve champagne.

Thank you Emma for making our visit to Dory’s so fantastic. Emma’s recommendations were so delicious. Highlight of our weekend to Margate. My wife doesn’t eat fish, but ate the sardines and loved the food here. Some of our party was vegetarian and there were still plenty of delicious options for everyone. It was my wife’s birthday and Emma finished the night by bringing over a cake and candle and singing happy birthday. Thank you for making the night so special.

Really lovely, creative food here. The type of place that's worth visiting simply because they're doing one-of-a-kind dishes. We tried a crab tart (that looked suspiciously dessert like in appearance until we took our first bite), bass with peppers and horseradish, and a torched mackerel with beetroot - all fantastic and I would attempt describing them if it wasn't easier for anyone reading this to just go and eat there yourself (i would also recommend ordering more than this between two people if you are hungry) We visited on a sunny Sunday afternoon and there was room for us to walk in. Yes, pricey, but worth it for the incredible food and friendly staff.

Wonderful place to enjoy some grill fish tapas

The actual food was pretty good and one of the staff was really nice and friendly (possibly the owner). If it wasn't for her we would have probably gone elsewhere as the other waiting staff didn't seem to be that bothered and it was pretty hard to get their attention. It was our first time in Margate and we didn't realise how expensive so it was a bit of a shock as we hadn't been warned it was a tapas style affair where you need multiple dishes. The actual food we had was good but you definitely need two plates each maybe with bread too so the price per head is high!

Overpriced food. Service went like this. We sat at the end of the room where you can no longer see the sea. The chairs are uncomfortable.

Such a great spot! Amazing food and lovely staff

Great all round place, food, wine, knowledgeable staff and relaxed atmosphere!

Very tasty meal. Mainly cold dishes, but very tasty. Also nice wine. Friendly service and a cozy place to sit.

Lovely seafood restaurant. The food was delicious! 😊

Great experience, we will definitely come back at summer. We spend two days here, and had lunch at here two days.

Every dish we had was superb. Service staff was also lovely. Would have given a 5 but downgrading to a 3 as the front of house/owner was extremely rude. We had tried to get his attention a few times to place our order but it seemed like he pretended not to hear us. Later on, he said he would be with us in 2 seconds but went and served 3 other tables first. Total wait time to place order: 10 to 15 minutes. Then when we were waiting for the last order to be served, he asked if we were waiting on anything else. Almost as if he wanted us out of the restaurant asap. It shouldn't have bothered us if he had treated us the same way he did other customers. There were people who came in before us but he wasn't rushing them to leave. Even if the food was good, the discriminatory service from the owner himself ruined the entire dining experience. When the time came to settle the bill, we asked if okay to pay in cash and the lady server said it was fine. The owner snarkily remarked, 'It's like 2018 all over again.' If the owner won't accept cash, he can just say it and we would have gladly paid by card. No need to be condescending.

Start to finish an immaculate experience, do not miss this place if you're in margate!! Everything we ate was perfectly flavoured and seasoned, service was amazing and wine was one of the best we've had!

The food was good, the service was ok, but the date desert was unequivocally the best desert I have every experienced,

Dory's is a cute little place with a beautiful view of the Margate beach!! The staff were so friendly and welcoming and I had a deliciously cooked Mackerel looking out at the sea!!

I can’t fault the food, obviously very fresh and well cooked. I guess I was hoping for that ‘special’ something.. Would definitely return and recommend

Rude and they made us feel unwelcome.

Favorite spot in Margate. Everything about it was exceptional. Alot of love goes into this place.

A gem of a restaurant! Delicious food in a laid back setting. Loved the cauliflower dish and the salt hake/bean dish. Friendly staff, attentive service and great value for money - will be back!

Absolutely delicious and treated like royalty!

Excellent place. Would definitely recommend and will definitely be back. I like advise booking. Everything we had was great

Menu could do with indicating size of portion. Some dishes were significantly larger than others. Left the restaurant rather hungry as parking had run out. Lovely food but quite pricey for small portions.

The menu is agreeably short and almost entirely seafood. The physical menu is written up on a couple of blackboards and the ever helpful staff say "take a photo of it on your phone so you aren't straining your neck and you don't forget what there is". Works for me, saves paper. A special mention to the chef. On Friday evening just one lady chef. Knocked out the food like a trooper without fuss hesitation or missing a beat. This wasn't rough and ready ordinary cooking, this was fairly rustic cooking done with flare and lightness of touch that is admirable. Everything delicious and good value. The waiting staff (all three of them) are wonderfully eccentric, charming (bonkers in old money) but entirely professional and helpful. Think of an irresistible old aunt who lights up the room and thinks they own the place (which in this case they might actually do). Highly recommended without reservation except you must make a reservation, it's small and busy and it would be awful to miss it. Bravo to Dory's

Lovely people great service very clean

We went to Margate for the day and we wanted to eat something properly done. We found Dory’s from start the member of staff was really great ( lovely lady) . I am vegan and my partner eat normal, I asked for Vegan options (which they have in menu) they were willing to put together a special dish for me anyways. My fiancé had the raw scallops and cheeks absolutely delicious and fresh and my vegan dish was canellini beans, celeriac and brocoli absolutely amazing. The place is cozy and the chef is right there preparing the dishes in front of you. We were explained the place use local ingredients and seafood from their own boats. Great wine selection and desserts, My fiance had a orange rhubarb mess. Great place.

Fantastic menu, and a true delightful eating experience.

Small plates of delicious food and an interesting wine menu that is very good value. I agree it’s not cheap but that view…

Having been to Angela’s beforehand I wanted to try this place and had good expectations. However I came away pretty unimpressed, the food is okay but the portion sizes for the price isn’t quite balanced. You’re paying circa 20 quid for a ‘larger’ small plate and you get one piece of squid on there. Now I know there is something to be said about high quality ingredients etc but honestly. What was the most frustrating part of this whole experience was the level of service. I appreciate costs are high right now but they have two front of house who are clearly overwhelmed. Forgotten dishes, orders, plates stacking up and when I do want to pay I have to ask multiple times for the card machine to be able to do so. Bearing in mind there is a 12.5% service charge it just seems they’re over their heads and need more help. It’s a shame because I personally think service is what leaves an impression, no matter what the food is like and I’ve just come away feeling frustrated and tired from the whole experience.

Dory's was just outrageously good. We were seated at the counter by the cooking area, and had a pleasant on-again, off-again chat with the chef throughout our evening. Our server was also lovely, very helpful, and full of great advice. The wine list was excellent, and the food absolutely brilliant. Super-fresh seafood was cleverly prepared and served in delicious combinations. The team suggested we aim for about 4 dishes for the two of us, which worked out perfectly. The smoked prawns and raw Bream with blood oranges were both particular highlights. The squid stew was outstanding. We also went for dessert, and I really can't say enough about the quality of the custard tart.

very aesthetic place with a small curated menu !

Best meal you can get in Margate… Full stop. Fish pie to die

Fabulous meal at Dory's last night, seated at the bar. The evening was a taste sensation and staff are lovely and welcoming. We will be back very soon!

Excellent service and a nice wine selection; unfortunately every dish was disappointing. The menu rotates so YMMV, but unless you're visiting for wine first and food second, I would suggest the sister restaurant Angela's instead.

The music in there is impeccable. New wave and post-punk bangers all over the show. Food also gorgeous. Would recommend the Haddock.

We had such a lovely evening, we were looking for somewhere in Margate for dinner and were not disappointed. Emma was very helpful guiding us through the menu for food and wine and it was all delicious - it felt an experience! And they were very accommodating of our tiny sleepy doggy too :) thank you so much!

Perfect chilled weekend lunch spot. The crab tart in particular was delicious and a nice selection of English wines

Food is ok but extremely overpriced - £16 for a tiny prawn cocktail which didn’t have any bread or anything alongside it. The cod was bland and no seafood on the menu. I expected a lot more for the price of each dish.

Such a lovely place. Seated looking out to the beach and ordered some small plates and deserts. Really good food. Warm and welcoming service. Will definitely return.

Oh Dory’s, you have my heart! I’ve been lucky enough to eat here many times and I’ve not once been disappointed. The food is always wonderful, the staff are really lovely and the atmosphere is great! Would highly recommend!

Interesting experience but not worth it for the price. 12.5% service charge beware.

Beautiful food with great seasonal local produce done in a satisfyingly simple way bringing out the flavour of the produce. Emma was great and very hospitable. Will be back for sure!

Incredibly fresh and absolutely delicious food, everything was perfectly prepared and the ingredients felt very premium. Amazing atmosphere; sitting watching the sea while eating such exquisite food can't be beaten, and the staff were wonderful, so welcoming and friendly. Highly recommend a visit.

Went there last night. You can’t book it online so we had to queue for a little bit, buuuut we queued watching the sunset so it was worth it. The food is incredible - so fresh, so tasty (also worth the wait). The staff are so lovely and explained the dishes to us, made some recommendations and were extremely kind. Honestly one of the best restaurants I’ve been in a while. They are also supporting this lovely initiative in Thanet to train and teach young professional in the food business - not only in restaurants but in farms, dairy, fishing in the region. For me, that was a lovely touch that really shows how much they care about their region and support local businesses. They ask clients to donate £1 per person - but totally at the clients discretion and wish. I’ll 10000% come back when back to Margate. Thanks Dory’s team 🤍

Delicious and beautiful restaurant. Local beer was great too

Recommended by a colleague who used to work there. Excellent experience and great food.

Came with a group of friends, ordered a few of each dish from the whole menu. Food was great, atmosphere was great wine was great. Company was great but we brought that with us 😁

Everything is 10/10. Ingredients are super quality, dishes are inspiring. The view? Insane when it’s hot weather! We also visited the sister restaurant Angela’s which was different but equally just as good!

We visited margate with the intention to come here for supper, however we were greeted with terrible service. Both the owner and waitress were super rude to us and made it a very unpleasant atmosphere - so much so we had to leave. Although the food is meant to be great, its not worth putting up with their terrible attitudes. STAY CLEAR!!

Went to Margate for the day and had lunch here, the food was delicious and th e fish was especially fresh and awesome. Get there early as can't book and ony a few tables...means you get served quickly!

Some really nice seafood dishes, all locally sourced. Head waitress a bit firm but ok, lovely atmosphere. Probably nice if they had option of bigger plates, as everything was more starter portions.

Super fresh delish food. Amazing service. Great wine. A winner.

Had a great time at Dory's. We were made to feel very welcome by the staff. We had seats at the bar in front of the kitchen area and could watch how lovingly the food was prepared, as well as chat to the chef and the food itself. We loved the passion and enthusiasm that was evident from the chef and servers. We will be back!

San Sebastian meets Margate. Delicious and super fresh seafood and vegetarian small plates

Everything was per-fect Thanks to all the team for the wonderful evening we had. ❤

Had the whole menu with two friends and a delicious bottle of English sparkling red (never thought I’d drink something of the sort). Highly recommended, we could’ve been in Copenhagen but instead we were in bloody Margate. Crazy. Price wise I think some of the colder starter type dishes are a bit overpriced but all in all we paid around £50-60 per person and ate very well. Would absolutely return. Only one thing: wish the prawns would’ve been peeled or served as a crudo because it got a messy. Thanks Dorys!

Thank heavens for Dory’s! My mini break did not start off well, but visiting Dory’s today has gone a long way to restoring my equilibrium. Delicious lentil salad and smoked prawns with aioli, followed by a berry mess. Just yum! The cod roe a little salty but very tasty. The staff were fabulous, extra star for giving me a small spoon to help me enjoy my dessert for longer. Great little restaurant - if you like food, you cannot go wrong!

Amazing food- loved every dish we ordered, especially the raw bass and mackeral buns! Really enjoyed the experience

Fantastic seafood experience. Fresh quality ingredients served with a smile. Interesting wine selection also. A must go to when in margate!

Excellent seafood restaurant serving majority cold seafood and vegetarian dishes - cured fish, etc. Small plates, very creative. Lovely wines and cocktails. Stand out dishes - the torched mackerel, sardines and the crab toast.

Amazing food in this little gem. We drop by and it was busy so we waited an hour and got a table. Had a couple of glasses of an amazing white from Sicily and all the food we had were outstanding. We had mackerel, mussels and crab with a few sides. Love it and the people inside we friendly and took good care of us.

After few recommendations of this place, we were excited to dine in and did a walk in for dinner on the Saturday but no luck as restaurant was pretty busy and we were told not to bother waiting even though it was only 7pm! And not many people waiting outside. We tried again on the Sunday at 5pm and were told by the same front of house guy (who said he is the owner) that it wasn’t worth coming back and that it wasn’t that good! which is a weird thing to say. Very unprofessional and not welcoming! Don’t recommend

Finding Dory? How about find us a table. Me and my gf were recommended the restaurant and followed the walk in policy. Front of house offered us no wait time and was very rude and peculiar. Would not recommend this pretentious place with unprofessional hospitality.

Just ate here with my family. The food was fresh and delicious! Marinated sardines and crab tart are highly recommended

In our party we'd all been here before and had very good experiences. Unfortunately it was not the case this evening. Service level was zero. Our server, seated us then said he'd back in a minute to get the drinks order, he did not reappear until it was time to pay. Finally someone else took our order and served our food. It was just about ok, for the kind of money you are spending you really would expect better than 'ok' The portion sizes are pitiful. Cheek and tart at £9 for a mean slice of fish quiche is a joke, likewise the green salad at £5 is ten green leaves with dressing, asparagus is five short pieces of asparagus for £9. Serious case of emperors new clothes. It's a real shame. It has been good in the past and the sister restaurant Angelas is fabulous, it's arguably, consistently, the best restaurant in town.... but sadly Dory's at the moment is nowhere the same level of service or food quality.

Had a great time here for a friend’s birthday - Emma was especially fantastic, thank you’

Had a lunch today, the menu’s looked much more interesting an balance 11 months ago. Says seafood on front but No oysters, crab etc. Food was just ok, mostly cold & pickled dishes with the exception scorched mackerel. Really good wines , no coffee !!! Nice atmosphere.