Good food, not amazing. Great service. Pretty good atmosphere. Drinks were readily available at multiple bars, and were made well. An overall above average experience. read more

Stopped in for lunch and enjoyed our visit. The building itself is neat and has a great history. Wood fired pizza was delicious and my husband's crab cake sandwich was good as well. My kids loved that kids meals are served in a frisbee they got to keep. The desserts are gigantic- banana cream pie was amazing! read more

We had a wonderful experience at this establishment on August 6th (last nite) when we ordered a shrimp meal and a tuna entree... by the suggestion of our wonderful waitress that was so very attentive to all of our needs... thus we decided to spend our last night on the outer banks at the same establishment! The food was outstanding and the staff was awesome! Now that being said, this particular night... knowing we had high expectations... I get that sometimes it's just not the same experience! Unfortunately, this was one of the worst experiences I have ever had at a restaurant! We did exactly what we did the night before... we went up to the bar area as the view is amazing! We waited for a table to come available and when one did we snatched it up quickly! I joked with my husband later as we sat for at least a half hour prior to summoning a waiter or waitress to wait on us... when we asked the African American waitress to help us she became annoyed and said you know you can ask any one of us... she obviously did not want to wait on our table... which was obviously the reason why the couple before us left! We then tried asking one of the male employees. The older one also seemed annoyed that we asked for help! Ugh! Finally the African American waitress finally came to take our order with an extreme attitude! We gave our order and what that was was the mixed steamed bucket for two... this entree was sub par! They used Zero seasonings! Very bland! Trying to get a second drink from the waitress was also a chore! What was ironic was that when an adorable family of three women... obviously mom and two beautiful daughters came in... well wouldn't you know it... they were waited on immediately! And when waited on, they were waited on with extreme enthusiasm! If I were to rate this company on our first experience it would have been a strong 5 stars! It is my hope that the owner of this establishment reads these reviews and rethinks the hire of the employees and possibly train them a bit more! The adorable blond waitress we had the night before was extremely attentive as I said earlier... we were able to ask questions and ask her for suggestions! She was clearly knowledgeable in the menus and the daily catch and made an outstanding suggestion! Now hopefully if the owner reads this and figures out who that waitress was... she should get accolades!!!the other three from tonight... if I were the owner I would rethink their employment status as they were more concerned with talking to their friends instead of doing their job!! read more

Awesome place to eat in the Outer Banks area, delicious food and a great environment. Their New York style cheese cake was delicious and the wine list is very money friendly yet still a decent selection. Make sure you call ahead of time or like sitting at the bar while you wait, in season the wait can be up to an hour at times. read more

This was my third visit to the Black Pelican over the past 2.5 years. It let us down this year. We ordered the southern fried flounder and shrimp with calamari as an appetizer. We only enjoyed the shrimp. Calamari was slightly undercooked, but also no seasoning and little flavor. The marinara sauce was bland and very watery. The flounder looked wonderful and was cooked perfectly. Again, no seasoning and not much flavor. Wait staff were attentive and the meals came out very quickly. read more

This place is the place to go to if you want pizza. They have an amazing wood fired oven. The service was great and the view was memorable. They have really will to do gift shop. I was able to buy my family souvenirs from the shop and didn't have to spend a lot of money. read more

Food was delicious. Great place for families with younger children. Prices were reasonable and the service was courteous and quick. Will go there again the next time we are in the Outer Banks. read more

Black Pelican just catered my rehearsal dinner for my OBX wedding and we absolutely LOVED them! We selected the NC BBQ dinner, and it was exactly what we wanted. The pork BBQ sandwiches and macaroni and cheese were particular favorites among our guests. We were so sorry we didn't have them do the reception as well! read more

Had a late lunch yesterday, I have heard good things about the restaurant and we decided to go. My husband had the chicken pizza, which the meat was spoiled, and my husband alerted the waitress, nothing was done about the spoiled meat, paid for it and left, we will never go back.. read more

Food was outstanding. Great flavors and seasonings. Large menu with seafood and non seafood options. Atmosphere could have been better. Disappointing that there was not much space on their outdoor patio that has the ocean view. read more

Came here on a reccomendation. Don't come here if you are handicapped or have food allergies. Or want well made drinks. The floor in the back slants alarmingly, so you have to work at keeping your chair from tipping over. And it's a plastic chair that's just a little shorter than normal, so if you have arthritis in your back, hips, knees....you are gonna walk away sore - if you can at all. The mixed drink I had was pretty much all rum. Good if you are coming here to get drunk, not so much if you value a well made drink. The chef is a little unsure about the definitions of Rare, Medium, and so on. At our table, one steak was ordered medium and came with no pink, another was ordered medium and came oozing blood and still cold. One water never came, and that was too bad, as that was all that person ordered to drink. If you have food allergies, you better check with the waitress because the menu doesn't mention things. Like - green beans comes with carrots. Personally, I'm deathly allergic to carrots. No exaggeration, my throat swells up and I can't breath. I scraped them off immediately. When I had to send my plate back to get something cooked right, it came back cooked - and with carrots all over everything. The waitress patted my back when I said I had scraped them off so I wouldnt die, not so they could contaminate the rest of my food. But I guess it was okay, she made it up to me by giving some other party at our table a free desert. :( If you are hungry enough for a 12 oz steak, you better order the 16 oz one. My 12 oz came with about 8 oz of gristle. And bring your own steak knives, you won't be able to cut your rubbery steak with the oversized butter knives they give you. . I could have saved a lot of money if I had just stayed home in the first place, and had that peanut butter sandwich then and there, rather than paying for this and then not being able to eat it at all and coming home to have a peanut butter sandwich. You are better off going somewhere else if you want even a decent atmosphere while you dine. If you only want to get drunk, this is the place. Oh, the one star was because they had a pretty neat gift shop. Different items than the other ones I've seen, and the girls at the counter there remember you from one moment to the next. read more

I enjoyed our visit here very much even though I was unable to get crab legs as my appetizer b/c the steamer machine thingy was broke. From the oysters rockefeller to our choclatey dessert everything was delicious. Our server was very nice and attentive as well. read more

I wasn't really impressed with their menu for lunch, we arrived a little after 3 thinking we would have an early dinner and beat the rush but they were still serving lunch. The food was good, our service was okay. Would have liked to have tried it for dinner. Maybe next time we are back in OBX read more

Cooks need some work. MEDIUM Well is Rare on the Prime Rib. Well done is your meat Microwaved. The worst Prime Rib I've had in a while. Green beans were not cooked. Server was great and gave us a discount on dinner thankfully. read more

Had a great dinner our last night on vacation. Our poor waitress was running around like crazy but she did an excellent job! We got the buffalo shrimp, tuna tatake and crab Rangoon. All delicious! My husband and I got prime rib and our girls got pizza. The wood fired pizza was great and the prime rib was done exactly how we like it. The only reason for not 5 stars was that there was a mix up with the paging system and waiting on our table. We ended up having to wait over an hour because they didn't realize we were still waiting and forgot to page us. read more

Stopped in for dinner on Monday. Wait was 25 minutes when we arrived (arrived around 5:30). Worth the wait! Food was great and service was excellent. For appetizers we ordered both the she crab soup and sweet Thai crab Rangoon. The soup was fantastic! Very nice consistency and flavor. The crab Rangoon was very good as well. I thought the sauce was a great touch to this dish. For dinner, my wife ordered the blackened salmon platter. The fish came out perfectly, juicy and flakey. I liked the amount of seasoning, but she thought it was a little salty. The dish came with rice and seasonal veggies which were also good. I ordered the mixed grill special. This came with a decent portion of NY strip and a smaller piece of the Cobia. My steak was nice and tender, maybe a little under seasoned. A good cut of meat, not fatty. The fish was grilled and good as well. Possibly a little dry, but still delicious. The mashed potatoes and broccoli were delicious. For dessert we had a giant piece of key lime pie. All I can say is that may have been one of the best key lime pies I've tastes in a long time. Not too tart, not to sweet. Delicious. Highly recommend this place. Get there early though! read more

great food, fun atmosphere, cool gift shop. i love it here and cant wait to go back!

Terrible, waited over an hour and a half after being told it would be an hour, left without eating, kids were very upset. Told they were waiting for a table to open even though there were several open tables. Would not go there again or recommend it. read more

Got there about 9:30. Staff all smiles. Fast attentive service and very good seafood.

This was my favorite restaurant in the Outer Banks, and the crowd certainly helped prove that. The food is delicious and there is a very wide variety. read more

This was our first trip to OBX. We decided to try this as a local spot after reading the previous reviews. I must say the service was very good, but they were not terribly busy. I ordered the pub 5 cheese soup to start, the hubs ordered the clam chowder. The cheese soup tasted like raw flour with a bit of cheddar and a splash of beer. I took one bite and sent it back. The clam chowder had NO clams. Maybe clam juice, but no visible clams. We saw two small tiny diced pieces of bacon, then some celery and onions with no seasonings. Hubs ordered buffalo wings and I got the tuna steak sandwich (basically this was my only grilled fish option). The wings were the tiniest ones we have ever seen and just average. My tuna steak was the size of a deck of cards...cut in half. The bun was about 3 times the size of the tuna. The bun looked like the best thing on the plate, but I couldn't eat it because I eat low carb. The tuna itself was moist, but had no flavor. Salt and pepper would have gone a long way. I also ordered a side of steamed veggies after being told a side salad was not an option because the salads are premade for entree portions. The veggies were room temp, no seasoning, and tasted like they came from a microwave. The waitress did take off the soup I sent back. We paid the $26 bill and about three hours later found some tasty bbq to satisfy our hungry tummies. Needless to say, we will pass on our next visit. read more

The atmosphere and history of the building is great. The service was also good. I was pleasantly surprised with the gluten free options they had too. I had the shrimp and grits, which is gluten free, and it was phenomenal! My husband had a mediocre shrimp po boy. We were also a little disappointed with the lack of a view. All in all a good stop. read more

Bad service, bad food, indifference. Took over 10 minutes for waitstaff to take our order. My prime rib was cold. It took another 5 minutes to get waitstaff to address (our waitress was MIA). When we did see our waitress she commented there were similar complaints from others. Really?? My husbands food was so salted he couldn't eat half of it. Never saw a manager. read more

Dinner with a party of 10. Excellent food. Great service. Swordfish special was delicious. Our 3rd visit over 5 years. Always very good.

Great place to go if you like overpriced food and waiting 2 hours to get a table on a Wednesday night and then an hour and a half wait to get your food. Save yourself the frustration and go somewhere else. read more

Let me first say that I've been dining at the BP for over 20 years. I keep coming back because generally the food is pretty good, particularly the specials. However, the past 4-5 times I've dined here it has been average at best. The most recent visit was by far the worst. The fish duo special consisted of 2 very small pieces of fish served over a small bed of rice with broccoli rate on top. The dish was $22 but the amount of fish was incredibly small and it was overlooked and dry. Service was ok, but we were rushed out in 25 minutes. We will go back because we've been going for so long, but the BP needs to get back on its game. read more

I ate lunch here with my family. It wasn't worth the effort. The service was slow and inattentive and the quality of the food was disappointing. Go to Hurricane Moe's around the corner instead. read more

Visited on Thursday, arrived at about 5:30 and were promptly seated (party of 4). Wait staff was friendly and efficient. Chef's pasta with shrimp and salmon was excellent as were the crab cakes, shrimp & scallop risotto and the bacon wrapped scallops. No complaints! read more

the stuffed peppers are still very good, although they're now tiny and the brie unfortunately no longer comes with garlic but is still tasty on it's own. I wouldn't order the pizza again unless it was strictly for reheating purposes, strangely they reheat very well. We had about eight appetizers and all were delicious, even the curry hummus. Had a bite of my brother's pork shank and it was incredible. Hopefully someday I'll be able to restrain myself from the appetizers enough to order my own pork shank. read more

I am actually sitting in the restaurant writing this ... because I have time. I have been here over 25 minutes at the BAR and have successfully gotten one drink. I would love to review the tuna ta take but that has not arrived yet. read more

I'm a local and we spend time at Black Pelican. My favorite is their pizza's, great crust! The bar atmosphere is wonderful and the spicy peanuts are a bonus. The service is always good. Just be prepared to wait, even in the off season because this restaurant and bar are always busy. read more

I have to split my vote since 2 out of 4 dishes were good and the appetizers were delicious. Although regrettably the 2 bad dishes were so horrible that we stopped eating it after a few bites. The seafood pasta came with shrimp and scallops in a cheese sauce. It was basically colored water with sandy scallops. No to the grilled tuna, which was surprising since we had the tuna tatake appetizer and the other dish that was very good was the seared tuna entree. What happened to the grilled tuna? It was like a different piece of tuna all together. It was so bland and so boring that all I could salvage was the oscar topping of crap and asparagus. Not even fresh vegetables, they were awful like mush. The other decent dish was the steak, but nothing to get excited about. We did get a nice view of the water, but it was in a room with sappy decor, very uncomfortable seats accompanied with loud families and babies. Maybe it was an off night or maybe it's a good restaurant just for fried fish, but nevertheless we would not return again. read more

This is a good place to go for a special occasion, I usually go here or JK's. The food is great, good location and the drinks/beer selections are awesome. I love the history of the building and that it hasn't changed much over the decades. It's a place I love to go to! read more

Looking for a burger? Don't come here at night, as their evening menu menu doesn't include them no matter what the online menu or servers might suggest. After being seating and requesting a burger offered online, we were told they were only served at the bar in the evening hours. After relocating to the bar and ordering a beer, the server noted burgers were only served at lunch. So, no food review here, but the beers were cold and tasty and the second server apologetic about the confusion, comping the drinks. The restaurant is housed in part in the old life saving station where the Wright brothers telegraphed their successful first flight, which adds a touch of history to the cluttered decor of faux Tiffany lamps meets nautical shack. Unfortunately the cleanliness of a floor littered with straw wrappers, napkins, and bits of stray food seemed out of place for a restaurant charging $20-30 for entrees. read more

Visited on a chilly November Monday and was greeted with a warm smile, friendly chatter, and wonderful scents. We were immediately seated at a table that had a wine bottle candle burning in the center. Our waitress was prompt, pleasant, and quick to bring a basket of bread to the table. My daughter and friend ordered a Caesar salad to split with the dressing on the side. It must had been good because both of them devoured the salad without even checking their mobile phones! Both girls had the kids pasta with maranara. They agreed that it was very good but not the best on the island. I had the fried flounder and shrimp combination. Again, it was very good but not the best on the island (probably 2nd -3rd place). For deserts, one cheesecake and one Creme Brule. Both were excellent. Black Pellican does have a relatively wide wine menu offering both a variety of tastes and price ranges. Overall a very good dining experience ... and that doesn't even take into consideration the view and historical significance of the location. read more

Black Pelican - Fried Flounder and Shrimp. Good portion. - Seafood Near Me - Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

This was our family of 5's first time eating here. I must say it was out of this world!!! The service was top notch as well. It's a must !!!! read more

Our first visit to OBX in 25 years and we hit the jackpot with BP! When we asked for great seafood recommendations, the front desk staff at the Hilton Garden Inn was quick to recommend the Black Pelican so we cautiously checked it out. On an early Monday evening in mid-September, we were surprised to find the parking lot nearly full. Good omen. We were quickly but courteously assigned a table in the upper dining room that reminded us of Hudson's in Hilton Head. Another good omen. In spite of the crowd, our perky young waitress greeted us with a big smile and took our beverage order. She quickly returned with our drinks, answered several questions about the long list of seafood selections and made very good recommendations based on our interests and appetite. The house salad was fresh and filled with yummy peppers, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots. My salmon was perfectly seasoned and tasty. My wife shared her shrimps and crab-cake that was also fresh and very good. Why only 4 stars? The bread was pieces of pita pockets that could have been fresher and tastier. Otherwise, our dinner at the BP was excellent. read more

Third time at Black Pelican for lunch. Yummy each visit. My brother is a regular there and swears by the seafood pizza. Our server was very attentive and the food is great. read more

We love this place! It is right on the water. This is the second time we have been. I had pecan crusted mahi and it was perfect! The smoked Gouda mashed potatoes made it even better. There deserts are amazing. I had the Reese peanut butter cheese cake and was not disappointed. This will be one of our go to places. read more

I enjoyed my main course, but the appetizer of oysters Orville and my husbands fried combo were both overcooked. Ocean view is very nice.