Pelican's Nest Waterfront Restaurant — Restaurant in City of Rochester

Let me start by saying, the experience was surreal, it was something from a nightmare that you never want to believe would happen in real life.

Upon arrival the hostess indicated there would be a wait of 40 minutes, the presumable manager at the time was quick to correct her that there was only a 20-25 minute wait. I accepted the option to wait - little did I know the trip we were about to embark on. My friends and I had ordered a few drinks each while waiting before realizing that over an hour had passed and we still hadn't been seated - let alone notified or updated of an extended wait. Clearly in front of us there were a number of tables available both inside and outside, so I decided to inquire.

After politely asking the hostess if she knew how much longer the wait was going to be, she indicated I was coming up soon, I inquired if she had a ballpark figure of how long and she replied "soon". I again asked if it would be in the next ten minutes or so and she shrugged me off. I was a bit taken back, I had been nothing but polite and cordial, and she left me with the impression as if I was an imposition. So I went back to inform my friends and we made the decision to leave after finishing our drinks.

Ten minutes later we were headed out, and I dropped the buzzer back off at the stand and said to scratch my name off the list. Another hostess whom was at the stand at the time said we were up next, I indicated that we were all set and leaving, but she insisted that she would seat us right then. Hungrily we agreed to stay and be seated.

Once seated we were immediately asked for our drink order, and it was placed with no issue. After our drinks arrived, it was at least another 20 minutes before the waitress came back to take our order. Our order was simple and fast - burgers and chicken wings. But that would be the last time we would see our waitress for the next 40 minutes. While in the meantime, other parties were seated after us, had their order's taken, and served before our waitress even returned.

When we next saw our waitress she came up and started by stating "This is going to sound weird.." and continued with she just realized that our order was placed but she never sent it to the kitchen. I appreciated she apologized, but we were stunned. Two and a half hours had passed at this point and not a crumb of food had been served - out of fear of some other mishap I asked her to please cancel our order and bring the check. Getting the receipt for our last drinks was the fastest service we received the entire night.. Over two and a half hours (going on three) had passed and not single one of us had eaten.

As a first time visitor I'm disappointed to say I can't even tell one how the food was, because I didn't even get a bite. Beer and food prices weren't anything to write home about, and the service sure as hell wasn't either. The waterfront location is the only reason I'd even give it a single star. Never in my life have I encountered such a dysfunctionally- nightmarish establishment that seems burdened by servicing...

Wow this place has gone down hill and fast. Same with the management and staff. Disgusting display of behavior. Ordered 2 fish fry. One beer battered and one broiled- both came with coleslaw. Changed the side of fries to a side rice pilaf for both and then ordered 2 extra sides 1.macaroni salad 2. side salad.

Ordered our first cocktail and for $10ea. they are not what they were before- bland and more liqueur than the actual liquor.

Food came out and what the hell happened?!

My broiled fish was over done, skin still on, and hard on top. Battered fish was mostly all batter and no fish.

Tarter sauce came as a tbsp portion each.

Brought out the wrong rice pilaf. One was an overcooked hard bottom, stuck together rice pilaf and the other rice was yellow?? Umm not what we ordered. AND our waitress even said " I know that's not what you ordered, I'm not sure what happened" Restaurant etiquette, THEN FIX IT. Macaroni salad was so over mayonnaised that there was no flavor. We didn't even touch the side salad.

The coleslaw was a laugh n a half as if looked as though they poured it from the bag. No vinegar, no mayo, no taste and DRY. When I asked the manager and told her the complaint about it, I was met with " we don't make our own dressing for the slaw. Someone else does it and we just pour it on" . Excuse me...but what? That's fine and dandy but WHERE IS THE DRESSING?

When our waitress, when she brought our second drink we explained everything above. We were so disappointed and disgusted by what was served, we asked her to take it all back and we'll just pay for our 1 drink each we had and that's it.

The manager then had the audacity to come out and say "well I'll take these off but you still have to pay for the yellow rice(which we didn't order) and the side salad(which was never touched) and our 4 drinks( we only drank 2 because we were so appalled we didn't even touch the next round).

She went back inside, and while she's in there we overhear other complaints about their food. We gathered all the money we had, put $18 on the table and walked out to our car.

Then the manager has the nerve to run up to us saying we didn't leave enough to cover the drinks. OH SO NOW THE OTHER FOOD YOU WANTED TO CHARGE US FOR DOESN'T MATTER?

So we responded with " that's all we have. You're $2 short and if you think we're giving our credit card to you after verbally being accosted,...

Last night was my very first experience at this poor excuse for an establishment. I had a party of 6 looking to have drinks and food on a warm summer night. My party and I waited 3 and a half hours even though the hostes stated it would be no longer than an hour and a half. During that time frame, we all had drinks at the bar. Once we were seated we closed out are bar tabs. At this point while looking at the menu for the first time, we all noticed that we had been being over charged for our drinks at sporadic prices. None of my party had been charged the proper amount. We all decided since we waited for so long, to order our food still, due to being so hungry. After an hour and a half of waiting to get our food, we asked the waiter when our food was going to be ready. The waiter shrugged his shoulders and said it might be as long as you waited to be seated. In obvious rage, we asked to cancel our orders and cash out the single drinks we had order since waiting an hour and half at the table. The waiter returns and states he is very sorry but couldn't find our order for food or drinks. At this time, we asked to speak with the manager, as we were astonished at how poorly ran this establishment is. At this time, the waiter left to retrieve the manager. The waiter comes back with out the manager and states he has magically found our order (to which I believe he just re-rang it into the system) we asked the waiter where the manager was and he stated the manager was refusing to come out and speak with us. Can you imagine, a manager simply refusing to speak with unhappy customers?? What a complete failure. It was at this time we saw the manager (who we found out was also the owner of this disgrace) having enough time to be out on the deck taking selfies with random girls at the bar. It was at this time, I walked up to him to address these issues. His response was to just go then. Zero apologies, zero empathy for his patrons, nothing. Needless to say our party of six were all first timers to the pelicans nest, and will be the last time we ever step foot there. If you are looking to have a nice place to have a drink and eat, this is not the place to be. A call will also be placed to the better business bureau for their negligent attitude and...