Rusty Pelican — Restaurant in Newport Beach

This hardened ol' general has fought a lot of battles and is now weary from Walmart (I know I make it sound like Vietnam...) to the foot spa treatment at Stanton to sensory deprivation at Orange to a canyon trail which I once marked 1-star for having the entrance road closed to public. And as Morihei Ueshiba, founder of aikido, stressed: The Way of Peace is superior. We give ratings, but we also revisit the same places. It's not just one off transaction, it's a community.

So, to any establishment that serves you I am inclined to give a full rating. I mean unless someone is throwing elderberry pie at your face, I am pretty lenient. But the true rating today is 3.5/5.

Okay I promise not to go Hemingway on this one...

So we have a old anecdote about this place. Six years ago we had a negative experience at the valet and the restaurant apologized and compensated. Needless to say, when we looked back, it was a romping adventure despite the negativity.

Now my father lives in New York. Last time when he came to visit us, my mom was very sick but he was still chasing that dragon of that experience. Obviously with mom's condition we didn't bring him to Rusty Pelican, but this time we did. And of course everything went smoothly this time from the cordial valet who was a gentleman to the lady who served us. I wasn't about to throw another fit.. hahaha... and thank God there was no scene.

But this almost felt like an invisible transaction contrasted to our erstwhile brouhaha. And not because there was no report of a tire in the middle of a room, but because of the menu.

As Heraclitus said: "You cannot step in the same river twice."

However, the reason why this experience wouldn't stand out was because it was yet another yugen moment of a Jacque Prevert's mundane "Il pleut il pleut..." where in the middle of the din we all stopped chatting quitly to let the pitter of rain sink in on the beautiful yachts of the marina as if to ponder Camus and fragility of life where a family is gathered as a cohesive unit once in 20 years... is because the darned swordfish was a bit too tangy.

Nay that's totally on me. That's my palette. My parents however were grateful about their food and as I am for the moment.

There is something sacred about a family meal. Almost psychedelic. As for the pros: loved the cold water, coffee was perfect (and I mean it.. not too strong, not a fraction weak), the onions on the sauted mushroom were amazing. The garlic bread was absolultely on point.

And as for the swordfish: it was uninspiring.

It also depends what you in mood for. I just wasn't craving seafood. If you crave shrimp scampi, this is the place to go. Because whatever they do, they seem to do with perfection as long as you don't order what you don't want.

As we came back to Cypress and called my Dad who treated us, I asked him for his review. He said in a quiet voice in Bengali: It's about eating together.

Yes, ultimately that's what it matters. Notwithstanding my mom's expectation that a giant fried swordfish would be...

3 stars, here are reasons:

We (me, hubby, and our 2 kids) had brunch last Sunday after attending a Sunday service. It was kinda packed, we didnt make a reservation so the lady in the front desk directed us to go up and just find a table since upstair is first come first serve. We waited for a little bit (maybe like 10-15 mins) then we found some table but not by the window which is what i really wanted cause of the view. The food was ok, according to my hubby and son the portion are kinda small. Of course we ordered some starter before the main dish but yeah the portion was kinda small but i dont have problem with that. It was just my hubby who wasnt really happy about the portion. I had shrimp scampi and it tasted ok. My husband could cook it way better. My son had the Brunch Salmon Lobster Sauce, he said it tasted ok & portion for him kinda small, our daughter just had side french fries and hubby had some house salad and calamari. Then we had Rusty Trio for dessert, i did enjoy that so as my kids. The main thing that i wasnt happy at all was the server, her name was Christine H. She wasnt smiling when she first approached us actually the whole time she was serving us. My daughter said Hi to her and she "shuusshh" her and that made me upset and she couldnt even dare to look at our daughter and she said Hi multiple times to her and she completely ignored her but i tried not to have an outburst, i didnt even let her know that im upset of how she treated my daughter, i tried to understand maybe she's tired and busy but cmon whatever problems you have or going through in your own personal life please dont take it at work. And arent the server suppose to be friendly and pleasant to all the customers esp to kids?! Right?! She refilled our water except my daughter and my daughter even complained to me "mom how come she didnt put some water in my glass, is she mad at me?" Men believe it or not i was this close super close to confront her but i let my anger go, i didnt say a word to her. The rest of the server that passes us by greeted us nicely even my daughter and even the guy who cleaned up the table before we sat was so nice to us and to my daughter, he even took a picture of us when i asked him nicely too bad i didnt get his name.. She was the only rude server to my daughter. Please to the managment of Rusty Pelican in Newport, please talk to all your server esp to Christine H. I was very disappointed that day. I could have given her a big tip but she doesnt deserve it so i just gave her $8 for a tip, im being actually nice for giving her that much, i could've given her zero at all. Im not sure if we're still coming back but if ever we do i will refuse to be served by her. I will never...

Was worried after seeing some of the reviews.. But I think those are due to people's different taste. And or what they order. However I decided to go anyways and let's get into it!

Upon driving up. I asked too park my car myself as I brought a high end car. They were completely fine with it as long as I paid the parking fee. Which is VERY reasonable $8.

Upon walking in we were greeted immediately. It took about 5-10mins for them to prep our table and seat us. We had reservations as well.

Excellent atmosphere and view. The atmosphere here is more of an older group. Retired, rich mom and dad kinda feel. Which is great! It isn't to loud and you can actually have a conversation.

We started with the garlic bread. French baguette with roasted garlic, salt and olive oil spread onto the bread. Not your ghetto garlic powder with butter bread. It was delicious.

Skuna Bay Salmon entrée Salmon cooked and seasons to perfection. The lobster sauce is very light and tasty. They also did a glaze of lobster sauce mixed with a tiny bit of soy that I could taste on top. It was excellent.

Rice was cooked perfectly no hard pieces.

Prawns were not over cooked at all either.

Halibut special ( not on the menu just ask for it ) Halibut was SO good. I'll definitely be coming back for it. Grilled well with a white wine reduction lemon sauce on a bed of garlic mash.

Mash potatoes were very light compared to many places. Wasn't super heavy on butter, it was just right.

I didn't even need to add salt or pepper to any of it. All the food came out great.

So why the 4 stars instead of 5? The service. I feel that we could have been attended to a little bit more. We had finished our first round of drinks and I had to call the server over. They didn't check to see if we wanted more.

Decor: above average clean and chill.

Staff: really good for the most part.

Service: could use a little bit more attention.

Food: above average. Definitely better than a lot of places in the area.

Bathrooms: N/A didn't use them

Parking: easy with their private lot. $8 valet.

Would I recommend this place? Definitely. Food is great. Atmosphere is lively and happy. View is great! I...