The Pelican Club — Restaurant in New Orleans

My experience at The Pelican Club will always be one of my favorites as it was such a special meal for a special occasion. Having never been to New Orleans before, The Pelican Club came as a recommendation from family members who have dined here before and I am so glad we tried it out for mine and my husband’s Anniversary dinner. This was the first meal of our trip and it really set the bar so high! We made a reservation beforehand which was also recommended as it is a fairly well known and renowned restaurant in the French Quarter.

From start to finish, every part of this dining experience was memorable! We were sat at our table and met with table card wishing us a Happy Anniversary, so that was a nice and welcoming touch. I would suggest starting off with the Housemade Focaccia as it is the perfect snack as you await your meal. The Focaccia is topped with a dusting of coarse salt and fine herbs; I also believe there was minced shallot on top as well. It was quite possibly one of the more flavorful focaccias that I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying.

Here is what we dined on for the appetizers and main course of the meal!

Escargots en Croute – This was one of my favorite highlights! You are presented with escargot nestled under the tiniest puff pastries and on top of the most delectable truffle mushroom and garlic butter mixture. In one bite, it was earthy, while also light and airy. It was piping hot, so use caution and wait for it to slightly cool down before indulging! Each bite was delightful!

Seared Scallops & Artichoke – You are presented with a perfectly seared scallop atop a cooked artichoke leaf, that is then drizzled with a lemon garlic beurre blanc. Let me tell you what – I would love to have that sauce every time I eat scallops! You could taste the lemon through the buttery richness of the sauce; it was so flavorful. Also, I love the meatiness of the artichoke leaf and eating just that with the sauce was delicious as well.

12 oz. Walnut, Mustard & Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb – My husband loved his entrée. He described the crust as having a depth of flavor where all the components complimented the perfectly cooked lamb well. I am a big mashed potato fan, so I had to steal a bite and I am so glad I did. I love truffle when used properly and the truffle mashed potatoes were seasoned to perfection! He had no complaints to offer up and polished his dish off!

Panéed Gulf Fish with Crawfish Étouffée – I am such a big fan of an étouffée and this dish was such a great introduction to the delicious étouffées that New Orleans has to offer! The Gulf Fish was perfectly breaded and pan fried, then covered with the most flavorful jalapeno hollandaise and crawfish pieces. It wasn’t your “textbook” definition you would envision for an étouffée in New Orleans, but it was an elevated take that was absolutely scrumptious! The cook on the fish was perfect and the side vegetables were a great pairing for the protein.

White Chocolate Bread Pudding – My husband and I are not typically big dessert people, but for such an occasion, we had to indulge and I am glad that we did. If I’m going to eat a dessert, bread pudding is high on the list of desserts I would choose to enjoy. Texturally, the bread pudding was made well, but when taking a bite paired with the whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and fresh fruit – it was absolutely ambrosian! This is the dessert to order here!

Overall, The Pelican Club’s food is absolutely the main draw and reason to visit, but I can’t finish my review without mentioning how excellent the service was. Our server was so kind and engaged in ensuring that our dining experience was a great one, and they really went above and beyond. He brought us some champagne that was on the house to aid in our celebration of many years of marriage, and for that I am grateful! Thank you, Pelican Club, for such a wonderful time! We will most definitely be returning on our next journey to...

This is one of the restaurant pretending to be a high end place. The food was horrible and too expensive for the quality. The service and servers were terrible. First of all, the servers were all over the place and they were bumping into my husband every 3 minutes while we were waiting, eating, and trying g to enjoy the experience. Arrange the table better, and don't place the table at high traffic area. It was so frustrating and irritating. We didn't feel the professionalism from the servers. We've been to restaurants with servers show their elegance and respect, which we'd expect from a "fancy" restaurant like this, but we didn't feel any of it from the servers at The Pelican Club. Second of all, they bring in this huge sheet of white paper to cover square/rectangle tables every time after they clear out the table, even though they have a white table cloth on them already. They weren't doing this to round tables. Please use just the white cloth instead if they are going for high-end atmosphere. They were flapping around as they go through the entire restaurant walking beside people who are eating with sheet of paper that could give them paper cuts and making flapping noise as they pass by. If they are going to cover with the shert of paper, the least they could do is to prep the paper to the table size before they open instead of flapping around over sized paper around the restaurant and folding to sizes as they put it on. Ridiculous! Lastly, we were not impressed with the food at all. With all the restaurants in French Quarter, I would've expected them to be at lease decent. The gambo and bisque was good, and that was about it. The appetizer was disappointing. I ordered escargot and expected it to come with the shells, but it came with too much garnishment and barely any meat that I couldn't enjoy the escargot itself. The tiny bisquits that came with were hard as rock and not enjoyable with escargot at all. The fun part of ordering escargot is to pull the meat out from the shell, but i didn't even get to do that. The main dishes were rather horrible. We are big food eaters, so we barely leave the food behind when we eat usually, but it was so horrible that we couldn't even eat half of what was served. The presentation of the plate was terrible and not very appetizing, the flavor of the food was not very good. I ordered fish with sweet potato puree. I couldn't eat the fish without the puree because it was so dry, but the puree was too sweet and too much compared to the amount of main dish. Halfway through the plate, I was feeling too sick to eat it, which never happened before when I'm out to eat. Desert was also disappointing. My caramel brulee was pre-made and refrigerated. Caramel was too think to break through and way too hard and cold. I am saying all this because we spent $150 each on the dinner course and a glass of wine each. I could have much better quality food and service with less than 1/3 of price anywhere else in French Quarter. Very very...

Came here for Thanksgiving dinner with my family and I have to say I was somewhat disappointed. This place seems to be really reaching for an immersive fine-dining feel, but there are some holes in the service that left me unwilling to suspend disbelief. Our waiter (a taller, middle aged man who seemed well established at the restaurant) called me sir multiple times, I'm guessing because I have short hair, even after I corrected him (I am very clearly female and was wearing makeup, jewelry and a dress). He was a little rushed and aggressive, even though the restaurant wasn't even half full, and spilled coffee on the table. At least one person's dish for each course was cold when it got to the table, and some plates seemed hastily thrown together, with fingerprints and smudges left on. To me the inconsistencies in the dining room speak to a lack of coordination and leadership in the kitchen. I don't know if this was specific to the prix fixe menu they were doing at the time, but most of our entrees, all different menu items, came out with the same vegetables and components besides the protein, such as bland green beans that could have been out of a can, and some repeats of sauces and purees. It seemed that no thought had been put into the cohesiveness of each individual dish, which leaves the diner feeling like half their plate was an afterthought.

All of this might be acceptable at a more casual and affordable restaurant, but I would expect an establishment like the Pelican Club to have these kinds of things smoothed out, just considering the level of dining they seem to be aiming for. A perfect example is the fact that our server used one of those little crumb scrapers on our table just long enough for someone in our group to comment "oh, fancy!" and then left, leaving most of the table still covered in crumbs. Obviously nobody NEEDS all the crumbs scraped off their tablecloth after every course, but if you're going to go to the trouble to get the scraper out, finish the job. And don't serve half the food cold.

I am only taking the time to write all of this out because I believe that if it gets its act together a little bit, it could have the potential to rival Commander's. A lot of the food (minus the soups, which tasted washed out and fridge-y, and the previously-complained-about green beans) is really, really good. The mushroom ravioli especially knocked it out of the park, even at lukewarm. The escargot were phenomenally classic. I thought the bread pudding couldn't possibly live up to the hype from our server, but it was truly delectable. I think with stronger management in back, a more confident menu, and more thorough service out front, this place could seriously impress me. I look forward to visiting again one day in the future to see if they've...