Rusty Pelican

What a beautiful location to enjoy the afternoon sunshine, sip delicious mixed cocktails, and indulge in culinary delights. We enjoyed a dozen fresh and briney oysters on the half shell, a wonderful goat cheese souffle with sun dried tomatoes, olives, and pickled onions on toast that was bright and refreshing, and for mains we enjoyed the grilled swordfish with sweet chili sauce and fish tacos on a very unique shell that I'm not really sure of the backstory there. As a side, we ordered the most perfectly roasted and crispy brussel sprouts laid on top of the same sweet chili sauce as the swordfish was in, but with a good kick of fresh garlic added in. All of the dishes were visually stunning, subconciously preparing the pallet for every bite. If you're looking to slow down, unwind, fuel up or self-induldge... Rusty Pelican's patio is the perfect option for lovers of fresh seafood and carefully crafted drinks. We almost chose a different location with slightly a slightly better overall rating but no ocean view... And we're happy we didn't. Rusty Pelican phenominal food, drinks, views, and attentive service. This was our first time visiting, and we'll definitely be back.

Returned to Rusty Pelican for a birthday dinner. Valet parking ($10) only but makes for easy "in & out" of parking lot. Restaurant was clean and inviting. Hostess was very amicable, efficient, and seated us promptly. Server, Brenda, was "johnny-on-the-spot"...very friendly with lots of smiles, efficient & attentive, and service was great. Food was excellent (took some photos)...oysters, shrimp cocktail, mushrooms, scallops, swordfish, & salmon. In my opinion, the food was prepared properly and tasty. Overall experience for this birthday dinner was excellent and memorable.

We had dinner last night. The host was very kind and she sat us on a table on the upper floor overlooking the water. Our server Cameron was attentive and great overall. The food was very fresh and delicious. We were celebrating our anniversary. Will be coming back for more. Thank you Rusty Pelican crew for a wonderful experience.

A very nice restaurant on the waterfront in Newport Beach. Excellent selection of seafood on the menu, with a couple of steaks too. I had a 12oz NY Strip which was nice. Jumbo shrimp cocktail was good too. Nice ambience but tables were quite tightly crammed in spoiling the ambience slightly. Had to wait 20 minutes for our table for two, despite having a reservation. Parking was valet only.

Food was meh. We expected some great flavors. The seafood pasta had weird pasta in it. There was no smokey flavour as advertised. It had gooey, stringy cheese not parm. Brussel Sprouts were good.

I cannot believe this is my first time here after all of these years. Let me tell you about all the things I love I love the upstairs bar area and being able to look out over the harbor and the sunset was so beautiful today. I love the bartender and his vibe And I really enjoyed sitting at the upstairs bar. I thought they had a pretty good wine list, but it was mostly like all the basic things that you would expect a fine dining restaurant on the water to have so there wasn’t anything super unexpected there. And I did like the food. I probably wouldn’t want to go here again and eat the food though lol like it wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t like oh my God I have to come here again and have this particular dish. But I really like the vibe upstairs at the bar. I would definitely come back to this bar and hopefully Joel is working again because he was super cool to hang out with.!!

Great seafood restaurant in the Newport Beach area. Their prices are more reasonable than the surrounding dinner options. Highly recommend the salmon, cod, or seafood pasta. The portion sizes were surprisingly generous (relatively speaking). They also offer a very extensive wine menu and a variety of great cocktails. The only real menu limitation was their sides offering - Most of the good sides were considered “shareables” and, consequently, were much more expensive. Keep in mind that they only do valet parking but there’s street parking adjacent to the restaurant. We came 40 minutes before close but the service was excellent and the restaurant had an ambiance that made it great for any type of occasion (still slightly on the more formal side). Great views of the water so would definitely recommend that you request outdoor seating in advance if possible!

I love ocean/beach view restaurants. And this one located in Newport Beach, Ca. Love their garlic bread. And enjoy the ocean front view while sipping on the yummy cocktails. My fav place to go. Staffs were nice.