Pelican’s Perch Bar & Grill

This place was tasty food. I ordered the fish sandwich with sweet potato fries. My mom got the fajita pita bread with regular fries. We shared a basket of chips and salsa. The chips and salsa came out first. Some of the chips were soggy which was blah. The fish sandwich was good. However, the fish was minimal. There wasn’t a lot on the bread and the fried part of the fish made my bread soggy. Still delicious nonetheless. The sweet fries were DELICIOUS. The sauce they came with? Blah. My moms was good. However, the pita bread was so small she couldn’t pick it up and eat it which kind of defeats the purpose of a sand which. But the portions were bigger than usual. The prices were very fair and cheaper than sharkys up the road. It’s a great place to go and grab some drinks.
The service was quick. The girl who served us was friendly and quick to put in our orders. Now, the big reason for the three star review is the restroom. One of the stalls was broken so I used the other. I locked it. Someone walked in on me when I was using the restroom! Hello embarrassment! Fix your restroom! Luckily, I didn’t let it ruin my day. But, if it happens to someone else I’m sure they wouldn’t take it as lightly.

Food not worth costs. Your paying for locale only. Server brought my shrimp boil and then another server picked my plate and snapped at the other server that it didn’t have seasoning. Brought it back and it looked like my potatoes, shrimp and onions (all overcooked) had just been sprinkled with seasoning (not true boil). We had purchased a gift certificate online for their restaurant for $ 25. The most frustrating thing is they would not honor it. We drove from sunset beach for this place due to the gift certificate. We continued to explain but manager said they posted signs about how they wouldn’t honor them… my husband and I both did not see one sign. I called certificate holder (
) and they said the restaurant gets the money… sooo not only did I pay for my bill, I paid for a worthless certificate. Unreal. Poor practices. Location nice, but there are much better places. Do not waste time.

Fish tacos and fish sandwich were good. Ordered «guacamole» for an appetizer and it was just pico de gallo with a hint of avocado — certainly not worth
$ 7. Would return again, the service was quick and delightful, food was good, nothing amazing. Good option if you want to stay by the beach.

My family and I ate here for dinner. 3 of us ordered the shrimp boil and my sister ordered the crab cakes. The food was great! The shrimp still had the shell so I would have liked an extra plate to put the shells in. The hushpuppies were the best! The tarter sauce was very good, but only if you really like mayonnaise. The food overall had a little kick to it. It is reasonably priced and I would recommend this again!

Second time we’ve tried this place and an equally blah experience. Their location is ideal, but other than that, a very mediocre (that’s generous) restaurant/​bar. Our waitress was a diamond in the rough among some of the other servers (the lady who delivered our food literally tossed the plate on the table without saying a word and managed to toss it on the side where we weren’t sitting. Nailed it!) Food was just ok. Skip this if you are on fence about visiting!

Don’t go here! We went here because of the awesome reviews on Unilocal!To start we ordered water for the five people in our party and after asking twice had two waters delivered. We ordered chips and salsa for an appetizer and after 30 minutes they were brought with the worst salsa ever! We didn’t even know who our waitress was because we flagged downed 3 different people to please bring us a cracker. The food when it finally arrived some was overdone and some was under cooked! If your looking for cheap American beer it is the place to go. If you like craft beer don’t go here! I have traveled a lot of places and eaten at a lot of restaurants and for the price I paid it was definitely one of the worst places I’ve ever eaten!

The first thing that went terribly wrong here was being seated and having to basically flag down our waitress to take our order. We ordered chips and salsa then had to wait 30 minutes to get said chips and salsa. The salsa most definitely came from a Pace jar. We then ordered, waited another hour for our food. I got the crab cakes which came out burnt and tasteless. My mom got a side of hush puppies which were raw in the middle still. I am originally from the south and we ordered the hush puppies so my grandmother who is from NY could taste southern goodness and they were TERRIBLE! My mom got a glass of wine and so did my grandmother. The bill ended up being over 100 $ and the food was absolutely AWEFUL! Will NOT go back here. We had three different waitresses bring us food and the restaurant was barely busy on a Thursday night.

This place is really good! Food cooked perfectly and friendly staff. The Buffalo Shrimp Wrap is great and the Sweet Potato Fries were cooked perfectly! I will be back to try other things!

Comfortable atmosphere and very friendly, great service. My husband had the fish basket it was quite expensive and I had a burger with a very ordinary bun. Also a bit pricey. Food just ok.

I really have nothing negative to say. I visited in the winter so the place was pretty quiet. The staff was awesome and friendly. I had the shrimp boil and the food was great. They have a couple of craft beers on tap which is always a win. All in all, it was a great experience.

Take our order: fried shrimp-​rubbery at best; soggy fries; potato salad-​zero flavor; caesar salad-​a joke (lettuce & croutons, with caesar salad flavored dressing?-seriously?); jumbo crab cake-​greasy and tartar sauce should TASTE like tartar sauce, not mayo with chopped up pickles in it. No dessert, due to NEW management. Really, don’t you think you’d update your website first? Stick with Sharkeys, their food at least had flavor.

I feel strong that this is a strong 3 star. Not better. The bartender outside did make a mean blood pelican. But the bucket of oysters (at a time called Oyster Festival) were just okay. We complained, which I rarely do, about the bucket of oysters which we were told would be 23 – 27 & there were only 15. Some were missing oysters. The manager gave us another bucket. But it made me feeling bad for asking. Also, be prepared to ask for everything, lemons, horseradish, etc.

Love this place! Sit outside by the ocean! Very fun place! Food was average, but overall this place is great!

Awesome spot to come get hammered and sing karaōke. Usually pretty busy on a summer night after 9. Always convenient being in the middle of the island. Food isn’t bad either

The entry way was blocked by a big blue trashcan. Then you squeeze by 5 guys with ‘security’ on their shirts standing around bull-​jiving with friends. Sweet waitress who meant well, told us the only food we could order was fried appetizers. We got the large crab sandwich & the bread was Hawaiian roll — tasty along with the crab meat had good flavor. My drink was too sweet. The two stars are for the sandwich. I got ketchup on my leg from dirty table & my husband had some awful white liquid under his chair.
The band began playing & thankfully we were outdoors because it was blasting loud & the guitar guy couldn’t get the amp from feeding back a horrid sound.
To me seemed the majority of business were the worker’s friends & employees weren’t doing much of anything but socializing.
The outdoor bar was something like a tiki someone would have in their backyard. My husband said John Taffer would have a field day.

I came for the she crab soup, and the she crab soup did not disappoint – so delicious! I don’t doubt the claim that it’s award-​winning! The rest of our food was pretty good as well, though rather overpriced. Our lunch cost around $ 50 for three people, and that was without any alcohol. Service wasn’t that great; even though the restaurant wasn’t particularly busy our waitress would still disappear for long stretches of time. Also, our food didn’t come out together (my mom and I had finished our soup before my dad’s showed up), and although yummy, my mother’s french fries were cold when they hit the table.
Good food, but everything else could use some work.

Got takeout from here while on vacation. I got the fish sandwich and my husband got the Pelican Dip. He wasn’t expecting much but he said it surprised him and was pretty good. The fish sandwich was really good and the tartar sauce hit the spot.
They had our order ready quickly and it was piping hot — score!
Will definitely have to dine in next time.

After about fifteen minutes of waiting, having been told to seat ourselves, I went inside to grab menus. Then we waited some more. Several staff saw us. No one said anything or apparently told anyone. I went inside again for a drink menu and the bartender brought one out. I asked if we should go somewhere else due to the staff being overwhelmed (empty indoor dining room). She must have flagged down a server because at last one arrived. I was served the she crab soup first with no napkin and had to ask for silverware for my salad. Staff aren’t friendly and honestly, for this business, aren’t efficient. Maybe the soup wins awards, but the service here is just dreadful. The bar and karaōke is how this place stays in business.

A place that dishes up music and margaritas, has a big patio and good customer service? Well, it might be in the only bar located IN the beach center of Ocean Isle beach but it’s not terrible. We came here looking for margarita’s and found some at $ 7 a glass. They’ve only got one kind and the mix is coming out of the hose, but it hit the spot. Average flavor but decent price and served in a large glass. If you are looking for a bar in OIB, Pelican’s Perch will do just fine for your beachy needs.

As far as beach fare and Calabash style seafood fare, this place rocks. These new owners know their business and Tracy, the chef knows her way around seafood and I mean knows it thoroughly.
We had the Fish & Chips offering and it was perfectly crispy, some rice flour in there somewhere, and done to absolute perfection. We also had the Calabash Shrimp with two sauces, both obviously hand-​cut, house-​made, and every particle of this dish was outstanding; the shrimp were butterflied, breaded to remain crisp on the outside, but they were flash-​fried in a way that kept them moist and succulent and it’s rare to find a chef who knows not to fry seafood to death. I will most definitely recommend either of these dishes to anyone.
We actually started with the SheCrab Soup and it was deep and rich, a bit over on salt for me but that’s just my palate and no reflection on the chef. Velvety, with a mile-​deep profile that hits every part of the palate, definitely not to be missed.
The real star of the show, however, even though the dishes were so outstanding, was the service.
Our guy, Matt, is a restaurant manager’s dream and I’d probably have him running front-​of-​house for me were I the owners. As a chef myself, I watch everything, every move, every wasted motion, when I dine out and this guy is a phenom at tableside, versed to a Tee regarding the menu, the sort of thing that makes me want to go back. Give me one guy like this and I could command the dining-​out market in any given area, no kidding.
There was another girl working, Jill, and she’s a mirror to Matt; we watched and overheard her serving the table behind ours and she is the sort that makes you want to live there in the restaurant, exemplary service way beyond the usual.
There is a great outdoor dining area and though we didn’t make use of it because I wanted to look over the whole-​house operation, it’s the perfect spot to sip a cold one by the sea. It does not overlook the water per se, but you’re close enough you can hear the surf.
Décor is all beach, all the time, TV’s all over the place, perfect beach bar atmosphere, and though we were there during slack hours, it was obvious that someone has put some serious re-​thinking of what matters into this place. Service is beyond outstanding and that lady chef, trust me, she does not disappoint.
As a seafood cook, myself, I know a good thing when I see it and this place has got it going on.