Black Pelican Oceanfront Restaurant — Restaurant in Kitty Hawk

While visiting the OBX we decided to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary at the Black Pelican (it had been recommended). This is a nice establishment with a bit of Wright Brothers history to it. We were seated right away and our server (Madison) took our drink order. Since it was our first time we asked Madison for recommendations and she pointed out several options from the menu. I selected the Cajun fish bites from the list of appetizers which was brought out in a timely manner. They were basically just bites of fried fish with very little cajun seasoning. I also ordered the Mixed grill and my wife ordered the Baked Crab and Shrimp. The mixed grill consists of a Delmonico steak, a crab cake, mac/cheese and Broccoli. I always order my steak "rare" and I mentioned to our server Madison that if it's not rare I would send it back. The food came out in a timely manner but the plating of my order was just a jumbled mess. The steak was on one side halfway on top of the mac/cheese and the Broccoli. The Broccoli was directly on top of the mac/cheese and the crab cake was on top of the Broccoli. I'm not a person that can't have my different food touching the other food on the plate (my wife), but this was just a mess. There was no way to cut the Broccoli or the crab cake without burying it into the mac/cheese and the same with the crab cake. I cut into the steak and it was more of a medium well vs rare. I tried a bite and it had very little seasoning...so, back it went. Madison explained that because of the cut of steak the chef mentioned that he cooked it as rare as he possibly could. We decided to change the cut to a Strip steak. My plate was brought back with a freshly prepared steak and everything that had been on the original plate which by now was no longer hot because it had been sitting while they prepared the steak. The steak was prepared to my request of "rare" but again there was little to no seasoning. By this time I just felt it was a lost cause. Between the lack of seasoning and the less than hot food...I gave up. My wife's meal wasn't much better. Her Baked crab and shrimp was watery and the rice wasn't throughly cooked. The green beans were the best part of her meal. Madison was very diligent in trying to make our meal worthy and she deserves five stars. She was professional, very courteous/polite and attentive. She is the reason for an overall three star vs two star rating. I requested a manager and she came over right away. She was very sorry that our meals did not meet our expectations and stated that we would not be charged for the meals. She even went as far as to give us a couple of recommendations of other local eateries that we should try. She also insisted that we try a desert on her. We tried the Reese Cheesecake which was very good. There are so many "great" reviews for this restaurant so they must do it right most of the time...just wasn't right for us this time! Thank you Madison for the effort you gave...

On another food adventure in the Outer Banks, Fat Man Reviews made its way to the Black Pelican Oceanfront Restaurant in Kitty Hawk, NC. Black Pelican is a laid-back eatery with ocean views.

I tried the Kitty Hawk Quencher, made with Kill Devil Pecan Rum, peach purée, fresh lemon juice and club soda. It was very soda forward but sweet on the very bottom. The peach and lemon linger on the tongue.

I also tried the drink special of the day, the Dirty Pineapple. This is made with Captain Morgan, pineapple juice and Sierra Mist. This is very sweet but the rum and pineapple mixed well, it almost had a butter cream frosting finish.

We had the Coconut Shrimp with Sweet Chili sauce for an appetizer. The sauce is out of a jar but not bad, very sweet. The Coconut comes through in smell and when you bite into the shrimp it melts like butter, but the bite finished with a burnt taste. Unfortunately the Coconut was overcooked.

I also sampled the Hatteras Clam Chowder. This is made with clams, potatoes, celery, carrots, onions and clam juice. The broth is clear and had a good clam flavor, but a touch oily. The clams were cooked perfectly. Over all the chowder needed salt and more clams and vegetables, it was very thin.

My fiancé had the Wanchese Fisherman's Risotto, consisting of scallops, shrimp, lump crab, bacon, tomatoes, corn, spinach, garlic risotto and crispy sweet potato. The risotto was cooked perfectly as were the scallops. The dish severely lacked flavor and seasoning, it was bland. The bacon was flimsy and the sweet potato crisps were burnt.

For my entrée I had the Philly's Pecan Crusted Mahi-mahi. This came with a red wine fig reduction, Kahlua mashed sweet potatoes and seasonal vegetables. The fig reduction was excellent, it was sweet with a slight tang. The mash was sweet, creamy and delicious. The mahi was a bit overcooked, the pecans were not very crunchy, and the vegetables looked old, and they were overcooked and mushy.

Black Pelican has a very large menu offering surf, turf or vegetarian dishes. The wait staff is very friendly, and they have a full bar. The Fat Man says that the Black Pelican Oceanfront Restaurant is Not Fat...

Horrendous way to end a honeymoon. Truly the most disappointing part of an otherwise great trip. Terrible, rude, inconsiderate, illogical, in compassionate, unhelpful management! You say online (Google and Facebook) that this place closes at 10pm. We arrive at 9:08pm wanting to get pie. There’s about 30 people still inside eating and drinking upon our arrival. Upon entry, we’re told restaurant is not taking dining or to-go orders and just stopped moments ago and that time fluctuates with the season of the year. All we wanted was dessert that is already clearly displayed in the display case and we were even able to point to what was obviously there (and likely just going to get thrown out at end of night). But nobody seemed to acknowledge the basic absurdity of refusing any payment for desserts to go that remained clearly displayed. You refused cash. Refused to let us take anything to go. Refused basic common sense, common decency, and common courtesy. Manager, shame on you. Don’t congratulate us on our honeymoon! You turned us away 52 minutes before your stated closing time on the final day of our trip, wouldn’t let us get a clearly viable to-go dessert, wouldn’t take cash and seemed to take satisfaction in disappointing people who have loyally been here before and just wanted to end their honeymoon with dessert, were even willing to take it to go, were willing to pay in cash and were prepared to overpay or give exact change. Shame on you! Shame on staff! Shame on management!! Communicate your closing times properly. We will NEVER be coming back.What a sad ending to a wonderful honeymoon. May no person have to experience such horrible treatment. Owners should be embarrassed. May this review encourage y’all to stop your foolish practices, inexcusable treatment of customers, misinformation on closing times on your own Google and Facebook pages. We wish nobody ill will. We just wish nobody to have to experience what we just did....