Pelican Grill

Love grabbing a quick meal in the bar area, great
Menu & wonderful service. Enjoy the sweet potato fries

We came here for lunch on a cloudy day so I am sure that affects my rating. Good restaurant and nice harbor view. I would give it 3.5. We are from out of town and if I came back, it’s a maybe. Not bad but also doesn’t stand out. Great waitress.
Ordered:
Caesar Salad
Soup
Mahi Mahi Bur Blanc
Salmon Dish
Total for lunch close to $ 50

Great looking Restaraunt!
Complimentary pretzel bread is really really good.
Bruschetta is tasty!
I hear the Mac and cheese is delicious as well.
Great service. Will be back!

Amazing hotel, views, food and service.
Best BBQ pizza ever.
Great lounge for watching games with amazing views.

Updated ⁴⁄₁₆
A much better meal this lunch. Maybe I had a chef off day. As always, nice staff.
(Below was a previous lunch.)
I have eaten dinner at P Grill and it was romantic at night – indoors and out. This review is for lunch.
As always, gorgeous views and ambience (5 star.) Very nice staff and service. Patrons a mix of golfers, tourists.
Food dreadful today. I should have sent it back, but it’s embarassing as I come here frequently.
Lunch cobb salad had huge hunks of old wilted iceberg ends and the white outside husks. A tiny smidge of avocado. Usually, this type of salad is chopped with a mix of romaine & iceberg. I heard one if the cooks make negative remarks about the food on my way to the restrooms.
Maybe next time I will try a sandwich.
Great tea and bread.
Please hire better chefs for lunch or have a manager inspect food (as they do at Gulfstream & Bandera).

We came to Pelican Grill for a weekend lunch to celebrate my mother’s birthday. This is probably one of the best dining experiences that I have ever had!
1) Service: From the friendly, easy process to book a reservation to the stellar dining experience, customer service is clearly their priority. I have to give major props to DAVID, our server, who was the best! He was entertaining and attentive throughout our dining experience, really seemed to love his job, and truly made my mother feel special on her birthday. He should get a raise or promotion!
2) The view is amazing from the outdoor patio! Whether you go on a beautiful sunny day to grab lunch or stop by for dinner during sunset, you won’t be disappointed. The patio overlooks the ocean and parts of the resort. So peaceful.
3) Food: yes, their prices are steep ($ 15 – 45) but it’s expected for the high caliber of the Pelican Resort and Spa. They have complimentary, freshly-​made pretzels that will rock your world! Ask for mustard to dip your pretzels. Overall, the entrees were delicious but the Asian Chicken Salad was pretty small :((more like a side salad portion).
4) Parking: complimentary self-​parking in a garage next to the restaurant. They also have valet services in front.
5) Bathrooms: very clean with high, HIGH ceilings and individual, private stalls! You can always judge a restaurant by the condition/​quality of their bathroom…
TIP: The Pelican Resort is HUGE but the restaurant is next to the golf course, not in the main hotel area. Make sure to follow the signs.
Definitely a location to consider if you are celebrating a special occasion or want to splurge while enjoying great OC views :)

Stephen was an awesome server. We started our meal outside on the terrace under heat lamps but then a wild rainstorm hit that blew things off the table and got us wet, so we moved indoors. Stephen supplied blankets to warm us and dry us.
He brought us popcorn while we read the menus and ordered. There were six women and a baby in our group.
The food was amazing – jalapeño poppers; beet salad with goat cheese; wedge salad with bleu cheese crumbles, bacon and chopped hard-​boiled eggs; chicken curry and rice with mango chutney, pepper oil and cucumber sauce; BBQ chicken flatbread; cheeseburger; macaroni and cheese; chocolate chip cookie in a small skillet topped with vanilla ice cream; key lime pie; apple cobbler; chocolate banana mousse.
My daughter said the bathrooms were gorgeous.

What makes it this a ⁵⁄₅?
1. The view… incredible view of Crystal Cove /​/​Newport Coast from the foothills. It’s nice and quiet, because there are no businesses and roads nearby. It is within a resort but I usually go «off season» so I don’t experience crowds. I also love coming here for lunch.
2. The service… good guys! I never seem to get a waitress but I guess its OK. The guys TCB
3. The food… pretty good. It’s very likeable.
4. Girly drinks… It’s not sugary and has good flavor.
5. A bit of a hidden gem. Pretty damn good for OC!

Just had Valentines day brunch here, they didn’t have a prix fixe menu but it kind of worked out for the best since we were able to order what we actually wanted. My husband order the kobe beef burger it was charbroiled and it was perfect and juicy. A huge portion with extra crispy fries on the side. I ordered the tagliatelle bolognese and it was the perfect portion. The sauce was fresh as was the pasta. I had a mimosa and I loved it. You could never go wrong with a perfect mimosa. It’s 5 o’clock somewhere ! :) Such a spectacular view of the ocean and the ambiance was romantic and classy. Our server was very polite and courteous which made our time that much more memorable. I will definitely return.

A beautiful restaurant with well executed dishes makes Pelican Hill a perfect choice for a nice evening out.
My wife and I had dinner here to celebrate a special evening, and our table on the heated terrace was a great choice. Overlooking the golf course and ocean, the space is cozy and inviting, and a perfect location to enjoy the sunset.
I was happy to learn that they were offering a restaurant week menu, so we were able to try one of the course meals as well as an entrée off of the regular menu. I went with the grilled pork chop, which came with a salad and a snickers dessert, while my wife went with the sea bass.
I usually don’t like doing the restaurant week menu because a lot of places tend to cut corners with their offerings. But definitely not this place. My grilled pork chop was huge and perfectly cooked throughout. It didn’t have the depth of flavor of some of the fancier pork chops I’ve had this year, but the straightforward preparation allowed me to enjoy the smokey flavor of the meat. The sea bass that my wife had was cooked perfectly as well and had a nice delicate flavor. A very polished dish, but the portion was a bit small, especially when compared to my impressive chop. The highlight of the meal however, was the snickers dessert. It was basically a deconstructed snickers bar with ice cream, and it was even better than that sounds. Each component of the snickers bar was thoughtful and deliberate, and it was one of the best desserts I’ve had recently.
The only blemish to our nice meal was the spotty service. Our server started out being very engaging and attentive, but was nowhere to be found about half way through the service. I tend to judge places more on their food offerings, but when I’m actively looking for the server to order another drink, there is obviously room for improvement. And unfortunately, when I’m trying to plan a nice evening out with my wife, as opposed to a dinner with my buddies, it does play a factor. But despite the service issue, the food and ambiance exceeded my expectations.
For some strange reason, I tend to stereotype these upscale New American restaurants as serving uninspired dishes with predictable preparations. Although the dishes we had weren’t exactly innovative, there was a level of thoughtfulness and creativity that was much appreciated. I’m not sure why that surprises me so much, but it’s nice to know that the food here can be really enjoyable, almost as much as the view.

Restaurant week event let us choose one appetizer and one entrée out of their restricted menu. I had the squash soup for the appetizer, braised short ribs for the entrée. The squash soup was good and the short ribs were falling apart from tenderness. It was tender, but I felt that it lacked a bit of flavor. I wished I had my gf’s kale and brussel salad with the Jidori chicken. Her dishes were really good. The salad had great sauce, and I loved the kale/​brussel combination with their sauce. The jidori chicken was so juicy and flavorful.
For desert we had the fruity cake, and this thing was pretty amazing tho. I am not much of a cake/​dessert person but this thing got me.
The venue was upscale, open kitchen setting. You can see everything the chefs are doing. I wish the weather permitted an outdoor seating because the view was so nice. I hated that we were seated in the booth next to the entrance, when you make reservations try to ask to be seated away from that area.
The bathrooms are nice and big. Nature called me and I had to deuce, I felt like I was taking a dump in a big room. Nice thick paper towels to dry my hands to made me feel like a million bucks.
Although their bar was super expensive (a bottle of local beer is $ 9+), you pay for the «luxury» or the view I guess. I probably wont waste money on the beer next time.

Nearly perfect dinner with two small issues.
We sat in the patio under heat lamps and it was a comfortable temperature even at 8pm. It was a pretty slow night and so we felt like we were alone out there. Even though there were other people outside, we were spaced out well and the patio is really long. Cocktails and the delicious bread arrived quickly (that’s a really spicy margarita be warned!) and service was on point through out the evening. The couples split salads to start. The wedge was crisp with smoked bacon and the perfect blue cheese dressing. The kale and Brussel sprout salad was served warm with pears, blue cheese, bacon, almonds and a delicious vinaigrette. I especially enjoyed this as I love blue cheese!
Dinner had a few challenges. The salmon, while delicious, was a bit over cooked and the rib eye arrived cold and had to be reheated. The sea bass with its orange coconut flavor was the favorite entrée ordered.
We ended with the strawberry cheesecake soufflé and it was a great way to end the night. It is perfect for all four people to have a few bites and it doesn’t feel too heavy or rich. It does require about 15 minutes for preparation which allows for after dinner coffee or drinks to be enjoyed.
This was not the best experience at Pelican and I could argue that it might have deserved 3 stars. When they it got it right it was really good and the service helped boost the stars. Also, past experiences have been excellent. My biggest dislike is that patrons can put off a stuffy vibe even though this is not a dressy spot. Can’t rate them on that though, just be aware.

I was here for a meeting, so I wasn’t really supposed to enjoy it… but I couldn’t resist! First of all, the grounds of Pelican Hill are so majestic and elegant! This restaurant is no exception to the rest of this lavish and luxurious property. We sat on the patio, which was covered but had lovely views of the ocean. The hostess was stunning and very warm. She led us to our lovely table and we were met by an incredibly enthusiastic server, I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone that loved their job so much! He was so sweet and attentive without being at all intrusive. He made a few suggestions and also informed us that they were participating in Restaurant week which looked like a total steal for the locale! We started with the bruschetta trio — three different types of non traditional brushetta, the brussels sprouts one was my fave, pesto and burratta and olives and ricotta were a tie for second.
My entrée was the sea bass. It was so beautifully presented (see pic) and served over forbidden rice with a coconut-​orange sauce that adds a unique and creamy finish. It was delicious. We skipped dessert, because that’s what you do at business lunches, right? But I do still wonder what they offer… because I want to go back and have it!
If you are looking for a posh venue for a nice lunch in the OC, check this place out! Dress to impress and don’t forget your Jackie O glasses!

Came here for a great deal during restaurant week. For $ 25 you get to choose one appetizer and one entrée.
I got the kale and brussels salad, which was really good except I wish the salad wasn’t so warm. But the vinaigrette went really well with the salad. For the entrée I got the Jidori chicken. This was amazing. The chicken was cooked to perfection and it was so tender, juicy, and not dry at ALL. The kumquat especially gave a nice citrusy zing to it.
The bf got the squash soup and the slow-​braised short ribs. Both were good, I had no complaints. The short ribs were so tender it just felt apart with a fork.
For dessert, they gave us a cake to celebrate our anniversary and wow it was the most delicious and flavorful cake I’ve ever had. How do they get the cake to be so tropically fruity tasting??? And the frosting on top had glitter in it!
Service was a little slow, I think they were understaffed, but our server was really sweet. Had a great experience here and I truly felt like this was fine dining. Also, the bathrooms are SO AMAZING. PLEASE USE THE BATHROOM HERE. The towels are so thick and nice heh

Every time I’ve come to Pelican Hill, I haven’t been able to get a rezy at Andrea (procrastinator) but I never regret coming here.
The wait staff is always SO charming and lovely. They are both warm AND professional… truly exemplifying all that Pelican Hill is. If you have some time to kill, there’s also a great connected bar where you can watch the sunset or try some new beers.
Here’s what we had:
+ Pretzel bread– actually, everyone gets this. It comes with the table but it is GOOD and not worth missing. We never, ever eat bread– but we make an exception for this stuff. It is so perfectly soft and chewy inside, like a cloud!
+ Bruschetta trio– didn’t have any but everyone else was a fan!
+ Shrimp Cocktail– always solid, with generous portion sizes and HUGE fresh shrimps
+ Ahi tuna tartare– good but aren’t they always?
+ Cioppino– get it with noodles, trust me, Flavorful fresh cioppino with large seafood portions and fresh pasta. Perfection and a good entrée size.
+ Kale salad with a chicken add in– fresh greens with a delightful vinaigrette. It was so good we begged for more dressing from the staff (and they happily obliged!) The chicken added was tender and tasty as well.
Total for a party of 6 and a few drinks was around $ 430 pre-​tip and tax, so it’s pretty fairly competitively priced when you think of other fine dining options in the area. All in all, this is a great dining option if you’re trying to stay on the resort. We have always been 100% happy with the meal every time we came. The drinks are great, the food is tasty and the service friendly without being too stuffy. So recommended!

Visited: 12÷5÷2015
I’ve heard great things about the restaurants at this resort but our experience was anything but great. We were staying at the Resort this past weekend and didn’t like the menu/​prices at Andrea as much so decided on Pelican Grill. After the meal, we kind of wished we had gone to Andrea based on how expensive and mediocre Pelican Grill was.
First off, let me start by saying that you should only eat at the restaurants on property if you truly don’t mind throwing your money away. We ordered:
Pom Sparkler ($ 10) & Newport Sunset ($ 10): The Pom Sparkler was better than the Newport Sunset but you’re basically ordering a $ 10 flavored Sprite.
Crab Cake (~$ 19): I will say the crab cake was delicious but did have a small salad on top.
Jidori Chicken ($ 29): I’ve burned chicken that tasted better. There was absolutely no flavor, not even a grain of salt, and dry AF. It came with creamy mashed potatoes and carrots/​spinach. I basically had a dinner of sides.
Surf & Turf ($ 67): Apparently this was delicious so nothing bad to report here.
Brussels Sprouts (~$ 10): Apparently good.
Mac & Cheese ($ 8, charged $ 10): Great but nothing special.
Lava Cake ($ 13): Felt like a drive through dessert. No flavor to the lava cake and just gooey and gross.
Overall as you can see, we paid over $ 200 at the end of the night and didn’t get $ 200 worth of enjoyment. Not only that, but it was just 2 of us and our dinner took over 2 hours. That was unheard of. The waitress and servers were very nice but I’ve just never had a 2 hour meal for 2 people. It wasn’t busy either so that was even more surprising. We didn’t have any good dining experiences at the Resort except for our last room service meal. We will definitely go off property if there’s a next time, knowing how many great restaurants there are in Newport Beach.

A very nice place to have a relaxed but upscale meal. I missed out on the view as I had dinner here after dark.
I opted to park in the parking structure at the entrance (free) so my old Toyota Highlander wouldn’t feel embarrassed sitting next to the Lamborghini in the valet area.
The hostess was warm and perky. We were seated in a booth that was full of pillows. Our waiter was an encyclopedia of information as he described and explained items on the menu.
I decided on a wedge salad and braised barbecue short ribs. While waiting for the food to arrive we enjoyed some deliciously soft pretzel bread.
The salad was exceptionally fresh and had a great bleu cheese dressing along with tomato, bacon, onion and egg. The short ribs were so tender a knife was unnecessary. It sat on a bed of turnip greens and mashed potato and had some sweet pepper relish on top to give it a bit of a zing.
For such a fancy-​schmancy place the prices were reasonable. The food and service were both superb; definitely a place to dine for a special occasion, a date to impress or if you are crazy-​rich and staying at the resort to golf.

I recently heard about this place and really wanted to try it. However, it didn’t sound like the type of place I would want to eat alone at, so I skimmed through my rolodex and found a willing female participant to join me here for dinner :)
I heard this place would be a nice place to hang out on Halloween night if I didn’t want to answer the dozens of knocks on my door from trick or treaters. If I chose, I could dine at the restaurant side, or if I wanted to sit at the bar area, there’d be a live band and I could still order my dinner at the bar too. Since I was bringing a nice young lady for dinner, I decided it would be better to choose the dining side where it’d be quieter… plus, neither of us were drinking alcohol tonight.
This was my first time here so I wasn’t sure about the parking situation, so I simply drove up to the resort right where all the Rolls, Bentleys, Lambos, etc. were parked out front, and just passed the valet my keys. I was later told by the server that this was complimentary, but I tipped the valet $ 10 on my way out later anyway… not sure if this was too much or to little for this kind of a place… oh well. Just from looking at the front entrance you can tell this place is very upscale.
I was quite amazed by the gorgeous décor of the interior… yes, you immediately get a sense of snootiness and that if you’re not wearing a suit and tie that you’d be shunned. But no, even for dinner there were many guests dressed casually… not many suits and ties like I was expecting. Thank goodness, as I was feeling earlier that I may have been underdressed… and I hate overdressing :)
The hostess at the front was very friendly and since we had a reservation, we were seated immediately. The restaurant was fully booked from 6.30−8pm, so I had booked a table for 2 at 8pm. We were given a very nice and cozy booth… but bummer, there’s no ocean view at night, and outdoor seating was full.
Our server was very nice and read us the specials, took our drink orders, and then later took our orders. It was hard to choose as everything on the menu sounded so good! But alas, I saw my crab cakes on the appetizer list and knew I had to try that. My friend and I wanted to both order the salmon, but I suggested she order something else and we can share if we liked. So she ordered the lobster. Ooh, and we just had to try the sweet potato fries! Before I forget, the complimentary bread was freshly hot out of the oven… absolutely delicious with butter… it’ll be hard to stop eating them, but you must! All I will say is that everything was beautifully presented, perfectly cooked, and absolutely delicious!
Service was what I’d expected an upscale place such as this to be… and yes, it’s not cheap, but pretty much on par with most upscale restaurants such as this. You can’t really complain about the prices as this is what upscale dining is about! All in all it was an excellent experience… but oh, I so wanted the view of the ocean! I guess I’ll just have to come back again for brunch or lunch some day soon.

This place had a good burger and garlic fries.
But there were a couple/​few mishaps when we were that bothered all of us
1– we get seated and the light above us flickered the whole time we were there
2– we ordered cocktails and it took a good 20 minutes before we got them so when the waitress got back we just ordered a second round just in case
3– then she disappeared again and a different guy came back to fill our water cups all half full
4– after that the waitress came back and took our appetizer orders and vanished
5– she came back and we’re all annoyed by this point, so we order our food and wait again
6– she finally brings the appetizers out and there we are keeping quiet so she leaves
7– we have several empty glasses just chillin no one picks them up
8– one of us asks for more bread at this point
9– waitress comes back — no bread in hand and then just makes sure we’re ok
10– we get our food and it only took an hour but the manager Sandjiv comes over and apologizes telling us he’s sorry and what not (he was very nice about this)
11– we start to eat. Food is good all over but one of the dishes have uncooked rice so we’re like wtf
12– while we’re eating we notice none of us got out side dishes. Soups — salads etc
13– we finish eating and Sandjiv comes over again and apologizes and says we don’t have a check due to all the inconvenience
He gives us his card and said to call him. Very nice manager handled it all in a calm matter.

Brunch at Pelican Grill was my reward for running in the OC Marathon. The restaurant is part of the Pelican Hills Resort and Golf Course.
I picked Pelican after scouring Unilocal for Sunday brunches in the NB area. I was actually surprised the options are rather limited and I was a little skeptical about eating at a golf course restaurant.
Well, we had an awesome experience. First, they accomodated our patio request though nothing was initially available. How can you pass up sweeping views of the golf course and the Pacific?
Our waiter was very friendly and handled our allergy issue and turned on the heater and brought blankets for the boys when they were cold.
As for the food, I had the steak and eggs. I can’t remember the last time I ordered this dish but it just sounded so good. . and it didn’t let me down. The prime NY strip steak was tender and flavorful. The breakfast potatos were roasted perfectly. Wife had the organic greens which was simple yet delicious. The boys had french toast and kids spaghetti and meatballs. The french toast was moist (reminded me of bread pudding) but too sweet. I would suggest getting the syrup on the side if you don’t usually drench your pancakes with syrup. The spaghetti and meatball came in a pretty big portion, too much for our boy to finish.
Overall it was a very enjoyable and relaxing experience and the scenery is unsurpassed.