Running Horse in North Norfolk

Nice seating areas, decent drink options (all the girls were very dissapointed that there were no espresso martinis!!) loads of parking, nice staff and food was quick thanks to elizabeth

Had a great night out with the lads had a few drinks and some lovely food.Great service from great staff -Elizabeth went above and beyond for the group

The Running Horse in Fakenham is not just renowned for its delightful drinks and delectable dishes but also for its outstanding staff. The team at this inviting pub goes above and beyond to ensure every guest feels welcome and well-attended. Their warm hospitality and attentive service create a friendly atmosphere that makes each visit a pleasure. Whether you're a regular or a first-time visitor, Jordan's dedication to customer satisfaction is evident in every interaction, making The Running Horse a must-visit destination for a truly enjoyable experience.

A frequent customer, always great service from Jaz and Ellie. Most importantly, always great food. Couldn't fault it if I tried, and as almost weekly visitors, we've had enough chances to try.

A great location with plenty of parking and lots of room and space around tables. Very friendly staff, thank you Elizabeth and Jasmine. Reasonable prices

Great service and the staff couldn't do enough for our girlie night out. , very friendly indeed. We dined before the band started and the food came out nice and quick and very hot . Great selection on the menu m.Lovely service from Elizabeth and jasmine

I had a great evening here, the food was fabulous. I enjoyed every aspect of my experience from the parking to the seating. i just wished they had a wider variety of drinks maybe espresso martinis or something along those lines. i would like to thank elizabeth for being excellent staff

Came to the running horse for a nice family meal, the staff were very accommodating and nothing was too much for them. Having 5 kids seating arrangements can sometimes be an issue, but we were seated promptly and near the indoor children area. Very clean and tidy and the food was absolutely delicious. The Manager Hazel brought the food over to us and I must say, she was great. Answered all our questions and engaged with the children which made our experience one to remember. Thank you Hazel and team for a great time. Can’t wait to return.

Love love love this pub! From sharers to salads, burgers to kebabs, mega mixed grills to veggie burgers, this place has something for everyone. And you will not be disappointed. Food is always top tier, and the best around. The staff are always friendly and up for a chat, Jordan, Hazel and George are perfect for the place and you can tell they strive for customer satisfaction, as nothing is too much to ask. Beautiful cold clean beers on tap which is the cherry on top. They run fantastic quiz nights, bingo nights and even had a band performing when I was last in. Great vibes inside here and definitely recommend to everyone I know. Thank you Running Horse!!!!

Had a really nice meal her, lovely staff very polite, nice and clean, plenty of parking and reasonable pricing. Thank you elizabeth

Great atmosphere lovely staff thank you Elizabeth and jasmine .

Staff were very friendly, lots of choice on the menu and the food was delicious

Played darts and pool, came up with my 8yr old, Great time.

Thursday steak deal, fabulous meal, cooked to perfection, delicious. The staff were friendly, courteous and attentive. We'll be back

warm welcome, clean and tidy, easy parking, good choice of food, very reasonable prices, food well presented and tasty Very easy to book online. Everything you could possibly want for a pleasant dining experience.

Had a really nice meal here , lovely staff, nice and clean, plenty of parking, reasonable price 👍🏻.

Very friendly and helpful staff. Food came out nice and hot. Id definitely recommend, came to the live music on Friday and the atmosphere was great. Nice to see people out enjoying themselves

Great value and service, food good

I came here on Easter Sunday with the family for lunch. Excellent and prompt service, and food was delicious. Very good value for money.

I popped in for lunch with my elderly father. He ordered chicken and mushroom pie, chips, peas and gravy. I ordered a steak and cheese baguette with chips. It was a week day so there was room for us as we hadn't booked. There was plenty of parking. The staff were great. The place was clean. My Dad was pleased with his meal. His pie was a good size and had plenty of filling.I was a bit disappointed as the steak in my baguette was chewy and had some fatty grizzly bits in it which I couldn't eat. The baguette was fresh and the onion and cheese sauce in it was very tasty. Just a shame about the steak as half of it ended up in my napkin. The chips were lovely. The best I've had in a long time.

Great food, staff and great choice

Was pleased about the speedy service and the food was lovely. We’d got an extra drink somehow (probably our mistake) but that seemed to have been traded for a missing sausage on one of the meals. The seating arrangements was adequate and the atmosphere of the place was very nice. Enjoyed very much and looking forward to coming again in the future.

Was not very pleased with the size of the portions had to ask for bbq sauce as there was very little on It was a poor meal and we both had really poorly tummy through the night We do come to you for food 3 times a year whilst on holiday and it's normally a good portion and edible

Seated promptly, staff professional and friendly, food was hot and tasty.. well be returning soon!

Staff work very hard. Food is straightforward and standard pub fare..plenty of room inside and car park can get busy .

Don't eat the Sirloin Steak. And don't complain about it to the staff. They just roll their eyes as if to say. Not another complaint about the food. Oh, and don't bother thinking HQ gives a damn. They don't. Try it and see.

Automated booking and apps not working, understaffed, waited far too long for food, not great quality food, starters poor value for money

Upkeep, service, cleaning etc were good, nothing unusual for a chain run pub/restaurant. Average prices. General menu content was about the same but am appalled by your approach towards food intolerances/allergens & lack of labelling. The footnote text explaining your approach sounded just lazy & frankly, rude. Only reason we stayed rather than trying to find somewhere more accommodating was time pressure & travelling. I think the only reason I'd ever go back would be for the same. Pathetic

All I’ll say is … that roast dinner was £16. We weren’t the only ones complaining about the paper thin meat. Avoid, don’t waste your money or time. Whoever is making the decisions to cut back like this, you’re walking a fine line that won’t do the restaurant any favours.

Lovely service from staff for Mother’s Day .The tables were decorated as well as fresh flowers around the pub giving off a welcoming feel .The roasts were perfect .Thank you team running horse

I booked in to the running horse for myself  and my family at 12:30 until 2pm on the 30/03/2025 and travelled from Norwich to Fakenham as we have done many times before.because in the past it was been great value for money and very good costumer service. We have been regular customers over the last 5 years and have nearly always enjoyed our experiences however this weekend was the worst experience at the running Horse I have ever had. We arrived on time  and  ordered our food around 5 minutes after arrival. We ordered 2  x bees roasts 1 x large beef roast. 1 x steak with a jacket potato. Our food took around an hour to arrive.  So arrival of food to the table around 13:30. Our beef was extremely tough to the point I nearly asked for a steak knife to cut it. It was hard to swallow and at one point I thought I might choke.. Genuinely the toughest beef I’ve ever seen and if a waitress had actually asked how my food was I would have told her it was extremely tough. She didn’t though which is unusual. my food was also cold and their weren’t many potato’s on the plate. Our Yorkshire puddings were not properly cooked and very mushy / anaemic. My large beef  didn’t appear to be any larger than anybody else’s. My mums steak included  onion rings and these weren’t served straight away with the food in addition she was only given two small onion rings  and she was disappointed her food was also cold. My son who is 4 was served a roast turkey kids meal. Maybe I’m to blame for this but the kitchen had already poured the gravy over his food so he refused to eat it. I did maybe think it would have come in a gravy boat / pot and that could have been optional or upto the individual as to how much if any gravy they wanted and where. After this we ordered deserts for my mum and niece. The deserts took quite a while to come out and at this time whisky waiting the waitress told us we needed to hurry up and leave soon as the table was only booked until 2pm. Were were pretty annoyed about this as the food had taken to long to arrive we barely had time to actually eat it. They did eventually come back and allow us another 20 minutes to eat our food however at this point we felt under pressure to eat quickly. We were made to feel unwelcome and it was all round a bad experience. Had the food come out within a decent amount of time this issue could have been avoided. Overall a really poor experience after few years of fairly good experiences. It’s definitely not the same place as it was a couple of years ago and it’s no longer on my list of places I would think about for small special occasions as it was before. The value for money aspect feels like it has been lost. The customer service and food are a million miles from previous experiences . A very very big shame.

Lovely food , quick service and polite staff. Would deffo recommend!

Visited here this evening and the service was outstanding, greeted us quickly and got our drinks to us in very good time, the food arrived quickly and it was delicious and hot would defiantly recommend this pub and will be returning. Service from Hazel and the team was amazing.

Great tasty food, very polite staff and clean surroundings what more could you ask for! 💥 great job guys/gals i will be returning 😀

We was put on a high table with tall chairs. I asked if we could sit opposite as my daughter finds it hard sitting on them. Waitress said NO. nobody came and sat on that table so couldn't see what the problem was. So many tables with plates, glasses, food waste which people had left and nobody had cleared. Look disgusting. Meal wasn't to bad but will not be returning 😡

We booked in for 5pm a family of 4 2 adults 2 teenage kids for mothers day. We arrived 10mins early and were seated straight away the place was very busy, and were told there was a 20/30min wait for food. The menus were covered in sauce and the table was covered in salt. I ordered food from the bar 4 starters 4 mains and 4 drinks, the bill came to £89 less a few pence and the time stampnon reciept was 5.02pm. The starters came out at 5.15, daughter Garlic bread with cheese was burnt all round the edges, my wings were cremated , sons chicken bits were fine, wifes prawn cocktail was fine. We had finished starters by 5.25, we sat with the dirty plates and bowls until 5.45. At 6.20pm i had to go to the bar and ask where our main courses were, the girl appologised and went to see our food came out at 6.25. The wifes Thai curry with Prawns was hillarious the 5 prawns sat ontop of the curry STONE COLD and clearly had been deforsted and just placed ontop of the thai curry AFTER it had been microwaved. My daughter just had fries. My sons plain burger was as cold as the wifes prawns, my cowboy burger WOW i coukdnt chew through the bacon and the top of the roll had been toasted and left to go cold so was like eating charcoal. My daughter fries, my fries and my sons fries i woukd say had been fried and then refried atleast 3 times because they were just dry and had no insides. Not once were we asked if everything was ok. We didnt even ask for a refund or anything because had i have gone to the bar again i dont think i would have been polite. The issue was NOT the staff, the issue was the sheer lack of staff, we saw 3 girls doing the bar and all the waiting on tables. The staff looked like they had been run ragged. On Mothers day with a place that size the staffing level was a joke, as an ex publican i can only say this must have been down to poor management. Listening to one of the girls chatting to 2 regulars at the bar i was shocked to hear her say she had no real break since opening and probably wouldnt get one for the rest of her shift. We have NEVER had a bad experience here during the day mid week but this was just horrendous from start to finish and we will NEVER return on a weekend.

Had the most amazing lunch at The Running Horse for Mothers Day. Everyone looked after us with a smile. A special mention to Hazel who met us with a smile We will definitely be back soon

Absolutely amazing service, staff are very polite and the food was perfect!

Had to wait over an hour for our food not enough serving and those that were thereto serve were rushed off their feet very bad management and food not up to standard very poor.

Lovely place to eat out for any occasion, I visited with family ,lovely meal steak cooked just as wanted and also a sundae for dessert that arrived quickly .All served with a smile as well as warm welcome from staff on arrival . Always great to eat here, the prices are good for the quality and the staff are fantastic .

Can't really comment on anything as we booked a table and a majority of the food wasn't available. Not happy, wouldn't recommend

Was told we could sit anywhere which we did and waited and waited until I went to the bar and ordered food and drink. Fish finger sandwich with fries and a cowboy burger. Fish fingers were burnt and ones you can buy at the shop, malted bread was dry with one and a half fish fingers in each half of the sandwich with a mountain of lettuce £8.75 I paid for lettuce. The cowboy burger was burnt and crispy. Won’t go there again no atmosphere, food awful

Don't read too much into the atmosphere rating, it was late lunchtime, Monday, the pub was quiet & quite empty. It's a big pub, the food was excellent, nice to see real ale on the bar too, Marston's Pedigree & well kept too !! All in all, a good pub.

Food was ok, roast dinner was a little disappointing. Tiny little shriveled roast potatoes and the meat was a bit dry. The dessert was really nice.

Came in with family for lunch, the food was lovely, the pub was a clean and welcoming environment and I was served by Jordan who was more than helpful.

One very helpful and polite male member of front staff, female staff not so good in our view. Meal just ok but some items had been cooked too long, and so had dried up, with Bacon almost dried to nothing. I remember that plate sizes used to be larger,whereby prices have increased, Restaurant shrinkflation looks like. I'm afraid we won't be returning on a regular basis like we used to.

Clean surroundings, very pleasant personnel, Philly Steak baguette was cold & poor ingredients (especially the processed cheese), chips were stone cold, Cheese & beans Jacket Potato was too sparse with cheese & beans.

Party of 12 we were served by jasmine and ellie, we thought they were very polite and prompt with any and all of our requirements. thankyou running horse fakenham!!

My 16 year old son (who has ASD) loves the Running Horse. I decided to treat him to tea out on Saturday evening and make use of the 30% off mains offer. I checked the online table booking system and noted that there were tables available for every time slot so I decided not to book. We live around 5 miles away, so this is our local restaurant. When we got there, the car park was half empty. However, there was a notice on the desk as you enter stating that they were only taking bookings and not walk ins. The restaurant was only 1/3 full, with unreserved tables everywhere. I looked on the online booking system and there was still plenty of availability, with the next slot being at 6:30pm (10 minutes after our arrival). I booked this time slot and the restaurant cancelled it. We were turned away and when I queried it, I was told that they had stopped taking bookings at 4pm because they had "a couple of parties in". There was an 80th party going on, with a maximum of 12 people. Many people book a restaurant to celebrate a loved one's birthday, but that doesn't mean the restaurant has to close for them. My son was very set on eating here and did not want any other food. This is the only restaurant chain he will eat in and so I had to make a 30-mile round trip to The Greenstone in Dereham. This restaurant was extremely busy, with only 2 tables that were not being occupied. Despite this, we were not turned away and were served our food within a very reasonable time frame too. Fakenham Running Horse seem to make it a habit of shutting their doors when they are not even half full, and this is a frequent occurrence when they are running their 30% offer. Dereham were not running the same offer, so our meals on Saturday cost considerably more, not to mention the additional fuel cost. Very disappointing experience.

Best gammon & chips I’ve had in so long!

Absolutely disgraceful not any staff and out of most food not recommended

Just had roast dinner with hubby, can honestly say they were the worst food I have ever tasted, waited ages for food, was cold when we received it, paid for large 😆 what a joke, small blob of smash, 3 tiny roast pots burnt so not edible, Yorkshire puds were hard that you could crumble them in your hand to dust, gravy was coloured water. Wanted to give no starts but cant Won't be returning

Very poor I booked online on the same day reservation number DMZ-16895736539 for 18.30 travelling from dersingham to be told on arrival there was no booking, was not met with a friendly reception would not visit again, you should not be able to book online if there is not a table available, there should be something on the website to say tables cannot be guaranteed if booking after a certain time which I did not see on the website.

We visited this evening to celebrate my partners 40th birthday. We came as a party of 17. Upon on arrival we received no hello just have you got a booking with us, plus we was told there was no fish available no pizza or steak and that the chips were now fries. I am sorry but had We had known this sooner in the day we wouldn't had gone and probably have found somewhere else to take our group. We then went to counter I wanted to order the chicken and ribs (wasn't stated originally) but was told no chicken wings. The woman who served me was not very welcoming she had obviously had a bad week. (She made certain to tell me it had been a he'll of a week) she didn't smile she was rude and actually quite blunt. We then had the food come to the table it was Ok but my partner had scampi with no lemon, he asked but was told they had ran out so could he share with someone else who had scampi on the table sorry what. But then when we got to dessert. We was told 3 items weren't available so half the party refused to have anything. This is a shambles considering we was a party of 17 and celebrating my partners big 40. Instead it is a meal to remember for the wrong reasons. There was hardly any staff apart from 2 girls and apparently the manager cooking. What a joke.

Great meal, good service - lovely friendly staff

Had a lovely steak baguette and a few pints. Service is always friendly. The lovely Jordan 😍 is an asset.

I visited The Running Horse on Sunday and had an brilliant experience. The food was absolutely fantastic—every dish was cooked to perfection, full of flavour, and served promptly. Jasmine and Ellie provided great service. They were friendly, attentive, and ensured we had everything we needed throughout our time there. Highly recommend The Running Horse for both great food and top-notch service!

Over an hour for main course to arrive and then it was tough beef, soggy Yorkshires and under cooked stuffing.

I would like to say what lovely staff you have, especially Ellie and Jazz, who went above and beyond.

It was a lovely lunch for my mum's 80th birthday. We had a lovely table in a quiet area as asked when booked online. The food was fantastic especially the Vegetarian burger. All round a lovely lunch

Lovely place to have a meal and dog friendly which is a big bonus for me as i always have my lad with me when I'm out.

Delicious food staff were lovely

Very friendly and helpful staff, the food was great. Place was clean with a pleasant atmosphere. Highly recommended would definitely return.

Well looked after by Jazz and Andrea, Lovely service, food was good value for money.

We went here for lunch on Wednesday the place was almost empty we ordered our food and an extra portion of onion rings the order arrived with three onion rings when I asked for the extra onion rings i was told that’s it three pounds twenty five pence for tree onion rings can’t believe it never again.

All was good, and the service much better than usual, thank you.

It started well and we were greeted by a happy member of staff who cleaned the table we were shown to as I noticed it was dirty. We ordered via the waitress as it was table service, and all five meals and two sides were ordered. When the meals came out we were missing one and we had an apology and was told it had been missed off the ticket, however it would now be cooked, so due to the delay we wouldn’t be charged for that dish. On completion of our mains we ordered two desserts and a latte. The desserts took some time and eventually arrived at the table, however the latte was missing. On managing to get the waitresses attention in regards to the missing Latte, once again we were told it had been missed once again on the order and we received an apology. The food was okay, not the best, but the service could do with a lot of work.

I don't even know where to start! I love this place, since I've been with my partner we decided this was our date night place ( just for the steak) never had a problem with anything. Now we have a puppy and he can join us too. Highly recommended. We've been going over 3 years and never had an issue. Don't always see the bad reviews, that day was just not how you liked it, go and see for yourself. You won't regret it 👊

It was so good, we’ll definitely be going back again. Excellent!

Good Food and Drink as described in the Menu. Modern Pub conveniently placed across from Morrisons

Lovely meal, friendly staff and good service. We couldn't fault it.

Food was really good..been in a couple of times now and not had a bad meal in here,good value for money and a reasonable plate full. The staff are friendly and helpful.

A very disappointing visit. Firstly there was no fish available. The Pizza menu had changed. I therefore ordered Chicken Tikka and my wife ordered Hunters chicken. Finally after 41 minutes the meals arrived. The mango chutney was missing from the curry and there were no onion rings with the Hunters chicken. After requesting the chutney an abysmal sized thimbleful arrived. I have given the food 4 stars as we could not fault the actual quality.

This is our "go to" place when we visit my mother in Sheringham, and have been frequenting for a few years now. We've never had a bad experience here. The food, whilst not fine dining is always tasty, well prepared, and well presented, and never breaks the bank! The staff are *always* extremely pleasant, and usually happy to have a quick chat with my mother who is usually housebound (so whenever she is sout in the wild, conversation with everyone is fair game!!), whochcreally goes a long way. Alas, my mother is moving down to south Suffolk very soon, and we won't be in Fakenham anywhere near as often, so we will really miss The Running Horse!!

Food was bad. Especially the Sunday roast that came out cold and veg was raw it was just horrible.

I came to use the electric car charger and had a meal while I waited for it to charge. The food was nice. Even tho busy we got seated straight away (and we hadn’t booked) ordering from the app was simple and the food arrived quickly. Very happy :)

The worst hunters chicken ever so bad even the staff didn't know what to say about it terrible

Thr food was great, it all came out in a timely manner and tasted good. The only disappointment was that I requested the ultimate spicy beef burger, however the lady at the counter informed me that they had no pulled pork. I asked if I could still order the burger without pulled pork and she said that wasn't possible. So I ended up ordering the ultimate southerfried chicken burger. It was tasty and I did enjoy it. I'm not sure why it was not possible to have the burger of choice without the pulled pork? Other than that the service was good and the staff served us with a smile and were polite.

Pleasant atmosphere greeted by staff & shown to table explained how to order, when ordering asked if any allergies. Quick efficient staff at bar when ordering, food nice. Clean environment. Enjoyed everything made an exciting visit with family over from New Zealand even better. Menu had plenty of choices for everyone.

Great pub and not to pricey as some and its local but most of all the ambiance and the atmosphere are great love coming back at least twice a week

Friendly and helpful service. Great menu with lots of choice. We had scampi and gammon, both cooked and presented well. Shame the coffee machine was out of order, otherwise it was a great experience

Excellent service with a smile. Great food. Will be going back

Just had a lovely time at The Running Horse with some friends. 😃The food was served nice and hot with plenty on the plate. Dessert was very nice . We all had a lovely time with great atmosphere, all the staff were friendly definitely recommend 👍

Great place to eat, do so often, also had christmas dinner there which was excellent, well done all, and thank you for a great experience.

We paid a visit here today for Sunday lunch, had turkey roast dinner and was lovely. Good food and service was good too and very friendly staff. I love the atmosphere here , feel relaxed. Just need to book my Xmas Dinner there now.

We went here with our parents and children for the festive menu on Christmas eve. It was absolutely amazing value for money the table was set out lovely, with crackers and Christmas decorations. The festive Christmas dinner was TO DIE for as were the extra sides we ordered. And the deserts also outstanding. The waitress dealing with us was lovely and checked in on us to make sure everything was OK. I highly, highly recommend them especially their festive menu. Will 100% be back for that next year! Will also be back in January to celebrate my 30th! Thank you all so much. 100% for effort!

Oh my oh my , you know when a pub is on an industrial estate it’s not going to be good. The food was cold, chips uncooked , peas cold , pie cold in the middle. My burger was dry , bread roll was stale, I’ve had nicer from mucky macs and the fries were rock hard and cold. Tables were sticky and wobbly, sauce bottles not cleaned down. Awful place. Avoid.

Warm friendly place to eat out with family and friends. Foods not bad either.was very busy when we went but still got the usual excellent serve as usual *****

Asked for a quiet table when booking and the table position was perfect, we stop here every year for a meal after visiting The Thursford Christmas Show. The table was nicely decorated the service was excellent from a very nice lady who looked after us and nothing was too much trouble. The drinks were brought to the table so we didn't have to wait at the bar. The food was excellent, we had prawn cocktails and pate to start and Christmas dinner and a festive burger for mains, we really enjoyed all of it. Excellent all round.

Great food,service and atmosphere Sirloin steak was delicious will be returning thank-you guys

We had to wait 50 minutes between our starter being taken and our main course delivery. When we queried after 30 minutes we were told it was being plated up. 15 minutes later and we had to chase again. It was not full, nor were we there at a peak time. There were tables all over left dirty, with left over food on plates for the whole of our visit. I understand that they may have been understaffed but we were not pre warned of any delay in food (otherwise we would have chosen somewhere else) and staff seemed to be avoiding customers rather than facing and explaining delays. Will not be eating here again.

I popped in for a coffee while waiting for a friend who was at the gym! I received a lukewarm latte (if you can call it that) and very watery too and I struggled to find a clean table! They certainly hadn’t been cleaned from the night before in the games area! Good atmosphere I admit and people seem happy enough with food! I’m not eating! Service is ok!

Expensive, poor quality, tiny portions, lots out of stock, service was poor, a poppadom came out and was soggy, the bar women served 5 groups before me when they just arrived, we had to go and get food elsewhere after it was that poor.

Had the philly cheese steak baguette but it was more of a long roll. Chewy steak. Probably the worst "baguette I've had. Put me off going back. Was going to have pizza but off the menu due to "delivery" issues. No check back or clearing plate after. Put me off going to another Marstons pub.

Pub is starting to feel like it used to!

We had to wait 5 minutes to be settled. Waited over 30 minutes before we had our dinner. Had a Sunday Roast beef the roast potatoes were small and over cooked over cooked carrots Could only just see the red cabbage and peas. Had to ask for the horseradish sauce Will not go there again.

My party were welcomed buy a very nice lady when we arrived and she showed us to our table. We went to the bar and ordered our drinks and food and again another really nice young lady served us. Your staff were all positive with welcoming smiles and made us feel welcome and nothing was too much trouble. The food was excellent and just the right amount provided on the plate. The food was well cooked and tasty. The bar and eating areas were nice and clean, as were the toilets. my only simple comment would be that because your cutlery is washed in a machine it does seem to have a residue on the knives making them look dirty. but overall 10 out of 10 and would recommend and come back again. super staff

Was alright for a gastro pub kids area indoors is very dated. Not enough staff on duty

Lovely staff, greeted warmly. Excellent food and service. Food looked exactly like it did on the website. We had the two course festive meal. We will definitely cone back

AWFUL meal. Sausages raw - not cooked through. Raw in the middle Will not go again!! Couldn't complain, staff too busy. Not enough staff for the people eating.