This place is kind of easy to miss - the turn in is right off the bridge but I think it's worth your time. Service- we waited about 15 minutes but that was only due to the COVID shutdown. Our waitress, Stacy, was very attentive even despite her seeming a little busy. The only problem i had was not getting new drinks after we started eating and some of my party waited on the a la carte items we ordered and we waited a few minutes longer than comfortable for our tabs. I ordered the fish tacos with guacamole and they were very good. Fish seemed fresh (I'd hope so with a restaurant on the water) and it looked really good. It was warm and just the right spiciness. Pelican Reef is a good, casual, and tasteful restaurant in Southern Alabama. read more

Great food and service. Beware of the bill! They add %20 for groups. Smoking in the bar.

Wednesday night and we were only the second party there. Two adults and four kids ages 8-18. It was stormy out, so that may have cut down the crowd, though several came later. The place was clean, and service was quick. The outside tables weren't open. The appetizer of choice was fried pickles. Thick and well battered, yummy. Most of us then had shrimp. Also two fish poBoys. Fried and grilled were both good. Baked potatoes were very good with butter and bacon bits. Desserts were key lime pie and the "chocolate bomb.". All good, and our waiter was on top of his game. We liked this place the best of anywhere we've been on or near Dauphin Island. Real food on real dishes at real tables with real service. The island "carry out" experience on picnic tables is ok for a while, but the Reef was way better for only a little more. read more

Pelican Reef - Front - Seafood Near Me - Theodore, Alabama

Service is pure unadulterated CRAP. We arrived, were promptly seated at a window in the middle of the place, served our drinks, and then we're completely forgotten by staff! Several times we flagged our waitress, but to no avail. After a half an hour of this we finally went to the register and said we were leaving and why. They NEVER apologized - and - charged up $5 for the two Cokes! Our last trip here the food was fair, but we wanted forever to get our check. No. We will NEVER go back! A pity, too. They have prime waterfront property. Give it six months like this and they will be closed. Do yourself a favor, DON'T BOTHER! Addendum:. You know it's bad when you go to an I HOPE instead and are seated, served by friendly staff, fed, and leave in the time it takes to get a Coke and be ignored by Pelican Reef. I'd *love* to hear from the owner of Pelican Reef! He/she needs to be paying attention. read more

I am so surprised by the number of restaurants that do NOT want to make money. It is 15 min before close, which is 8:00, and we were turned away with another 2 parties. The owner is not interested in making visitors feel welcome at all. read more

I called about their all you can eat crab legs and they told me it was on Tuesday night. I arrived at 8 PM or maybe a little before. They told me that they had just seated the last two people to be able to eat the all you can eat crab legs. I was not told any sort of time frame for the availability to order the all you can eat crab legs, which was the reason my family and I went there. Not the way to do business !!! read more

The last time that I was here 11 years ago, the oysters were bad. Today, I decided to give it another whirl. The fried crab claws had a very strange flavor. I wasn't the only one to notice it. I will not be back. read more

Really good place to eat all the way around. Staff was great, food great, outdoor seating area was great. And this was before the bar opened. read more

Very good service! Food was yummy! Fun find just happened on it and stopped in for a bite!! Had grilled grouper taco special with homemade Baja sauce read more

Love this place the food is delicious and the atmosphere is great. Thursday night all you can eat crawfish. read more

Pelican Reef - All u can eat crawfish on Thursday nights - Seafood Near Me - Theodore, Alabama

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Come on Tuesday night for all you can eat Snow Crab. Our waitress very very nice and fast with the crab legs. I've been other places before where they try to make you wait for more crab legs. She kept bringing more and more! It was delicious. They have melted garlic butter that was tasty! Dinner starts at 5pm. We got there at 4:55 and the dining room filled up fast. Get there early. The all you can eat crab comes with a dinner buffet. Not the best, but a few items were tasty. My daughter's kid's fried shrimp $5 was fresh and a good portion. read more

I come here for the garlic butter crab claws appetizer. It had been a few years since I passed through Dauphin Island, so I was thrilled to see this restaurant has staying power. I ate the entire bowl of crab claws swimming in butter, with two pieces of buttered bread. Rich, delicious and filling. read more

Pelican Reef - Sautéed crab claws - Seafood Near Me - Theodore, Alabama

$135 for three burgers, crab claws, a sandwich and snapper! The food was absolutely disgusting and the service was awful! All of my family left hungry! We will never come back! read more

Well, I have to be honest in this review. The only reason I'm giving 3 stars is because our meal was comped. We arrived at 5:45 and immediately seated outside . They were busy, but not packed. Our salads arrived one hour and five minutes later, because I located our server inside by the bar and asked if our salads were anywhere close to being done. She then brought them out 10 minutes later. It was 7- o'clock. I asked then if she had any idea how much longer before she expected our food to be done, she said at least 15 minutes. I told her we were seconds away from leaving, especially since every table that was seated after us had their food. The best part of the food was oysters on the half shell. The other items were way overpriced and mediocre. We did pay for our beer and tipped the server but I doubt we will ever go back. read more

This place feels like it use to be great. I had high hopes when we came in, but walked away disappointed. - The wait staff was inattentive. - Water was never refilled. - Skip the salad bar, because it's bagged salad. - Pretty sure most of their food is from frozen, but I know the "steamed broccoli" was. Maybe it was just an off night. There were several people who walked out satisfied, but we weren't among them. read more

I was there with a large group (about 20 people) and enjoyed the food and service. My relatives felt that the service was too slow, as there weren't too many other people in the restaurant. However, I know that large parties cause more headaches than a group of tables of the same size and I felt that they handled our large group well. I had fried food, fried food, and some more fried food. I got a seafood sampler platter, because I wanted a variety. I very much enjoyed all the seafood the except the oysters (no fault of theirs- I dislike oysters and there weren't any other combo plates with more than 2 items that didn't include oysters). I also wasn't a big fan of the hush puppies, although I have to hand it to them for having an original recipe. They didn't taste like every hush puppy I've ever eaten and while the spices they used didn't appeal to me, I could see how others may like them. I ordered cole slaw instead of a salad and found it odd that it came out before the meal with the salads - usually cole slaw is served as a side dish and not a before-the-meal salad. The batter that they fried the food in was especially delicious. Our server did a great job in keeping straight of everything - I don't think we had any order mishaps. Drinks stayed refilled and she obliged us with taking photos of our group, even jumping up on a table to get a full group shot. At one point my dad took my 5 year old nephew out to see the boats, which he thoroughly loved. That part was definitely cool, though the private room that we sat in didn't have a view of them. read more

We went for my birthday and We loved the fresh oysters. My boy friend had the stuff snapper and it was wonderful. I had seafood sampler platter all was great. We had a great time the staff was fast and friendly. The birthday cake surprise was heavenly! read more

If you are perusing yelp to decide what to eat in the area- keep scrolling. Unless you want onion rings. Their onion rings are delicious. The stuffed flounder is deep fried into oblivion. And their service? Weird. Our waitress was perfectly nice, but when someone in my party asked for coffee she sucked air through her teeth and look at us with a pained/sorry look. We said never mind. We waited on our order for over an hour and once our food was brought out we mentioned to our waitress that we saw another staff making coffee, and she responded: "well, you're in luck!" We weren't worth making coffee for? Got it. The salad with four shrimp on a bed of ice berg was $12.99. Lesson learned. We won't be back. read more

Great lunch buffet. Relaxing places to eT. Very nice staff and buffet is a good value.

I ate there tonite with 4 other friends. We went especially for the unlimited snow crab. On arrival we found that we must order the buffet as well. This doubled the price of the meal. While the female server was very friendly she was extremely slow in removing dirty dishes in order to place NEW food on the table. All in all it would have been much cheaper to go to the boats for snow crab. read more

Best fried oysters and shrimp, very hard to find. The only downside is the smell of the fresh seafood when sat by the kitchen, but it's fresh. read more

Delicious food and friendly staff. Cozy atmosphere right on the water. Would be great for a big party or an intimate dinner for two.

Great food. I had grilled chicken, salad and broccoli. Loved the small salad bar. Chicken was a little dry. My husband had fried shrimp. He loved it. Wonderful Atmosphere eating by the water. read more

Terrible experience. Dirty , sketchy atmosphere; ashtrays full and staff smoking inside the bar area.

Decent enough food. Cool atmosphere and great view from the rear of the restaurant. Not a bad place to spend an evening.

Great atmosphere and service! It is so much fun to sit along the river while eating. The screened in porch is very comfortable and provides a great view. read more

Food was super delicious. Service is excellent. She kept my water full and food came out at a good time.I got the pelican reef burger and fries were really good. I just wanted a good burger and they didn't disappoint. Our table tried the fried green tomatoes and fried cheese curds both delicious. read more

Very good service!! Also, the desert is amazing! We got the chocolate bomb. The view is nice too it's right on the water.

The service was great, but the food was less than mediocre. Fried shrimp with cold fries, and seafood Alfred totaled $50.

Excellent food!!! We ate here on a busy Saturday night and service was great. Food came out hot and there was plenty of it. I ordered the stuffed flounder while my dinner companion had the seafood combo of shrimp and fish. More food than two people should eat in one sitting. The food was so good that we decided to come back for lunch on Memorial Day. Shrimp Po-Boy's with fries along with their killer onion rings. This is a must stop if your in the area. read more

Overall, not bad at all. Everything seemed relatively fresh with the exception of the salad bar. Seafood platter was what you would expect and more than enough. Compared to anything on Dauphin Island, this is 5-star. Would recommend the seafood stuffed jalapeños. Service was good. read more

We came on a Wednesday night and the place was dead. There were two other tables seated. It's on Fowl River which is probably nice but we were there at night so no comments on the view. Got the Shrimp Po Boy. It was good. It came "fully dressed" with lettuce, onions, pickles, and tomatoes. Condiments were just bottled or packs. We substituted onion rings instead of fries. They were good, lighty breaded. Po Boys were $10. I prefer the Poboys at the Lighthouse in Bayou La Batre. Other platters were closer to $20. My four stars are based on the food. My wife said there was a smell maybe the carpet. read more

I was APPALLED by the attitude of the blonde server who greeted us at the door. We were a group of four tired and road weary travelers who arrived about half an hour before they closed and already feeling guilty for dining nearing their closing time, we called ahead to confirm when they close and when they stopped seating for the night. The woman on the phone said 8:00. We arrived at 7:35 and the woman at the door turned us away. I then told her that we already called ahead to confirm we could dine in, she rolled her eyes and then proceeded to argue with the person who answered the phone within ear shot of us and every other diner in the restaurant. She then returned and said "fine, y'all can come in but we're already out of everything." so we just said fine and left. We then went to Baudean's where we arrived even closer to their closing time but they were impeccably kind and accommodating. They seated us and served us and we ended up tipping the server over $100 for her friendly spirit and incredible service. The very same tip we were planning to drop here in the spirit of Christmas. We come to the Dauphin Island area regularly but we will never make the mistake of trying to eat here at ANY time of day ever again. read more

Good, fresh seafood well prepared. Great views of the Fowl River from the outside seating area. Nice place for lunch with several lunch options. read more

Great place to relax and unwind after an exhausting day. The garlic crab claws are simply exquisite! Sauteed in garlic, butter, alfredo and a pinch of Cajun seasonings, you can't go wrong. Everyone is so friendly and with lovely river atmosphere, you will enjoy yourself. I love watching fisherman come in with their prize winning fresh catches. Gorgeous pelicans are everywhere, its just hands down the BEST all the way around spot in south Alabama. read more

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Rude, awful, SLOW service. After waiting almost an hour for entrées (middle of the day on a Saturday, only a few other tables were seated) I asked to speak to a manager. The woman- heavier set, dark hair, in a suit, 1980's-style bun in her hair, appears to maybe have some sort of Asian in her- came out and didn't seem the slightest bit concerned when I told her we were not interested in staying, and that we were leaving. I asked for the check so we could pay for our drinks and salads (from the salad bar you pay an additional $4.50 for, but are told very rudely by your waitress that they're not Ruby Tuesdays, so that's why they don't stock cheese on the salad bar, AND very rudely tells us we are allowed only one trip to the salad bar, so no, we cannot have more bowls for a refill). The manager shrugs and asks what should she do with our food (that all of a sudden magically appeared on a big tray!). I told her that wasn't my problem. She stood there and told me she would box up the food, and just charge us 1/2 price. I told her that was not going to happen, that she needed to just give me the check for the drinks and salads, and we would leave. She proceeded to roll her eyes and smirk, scoffed and said that according to our ticket we'd only been waiting 23 minutes. Soooo not true. We timed it, it was over 55 minutes. We can't help it if our piece of crap waitress put in the order late. I again asked for the check on drinks and salads, she again argued with me about what she was to do with all the food. I again told her I don't care what she does with it. She again tried to tell me to pay for 1/2 of it, AGAIN I REFUSED, and I told her she could sit and argue with me as much as she wants but it wouldn't change anything. Finally she gives me the check for drinks and salads, I paid, we left. Damn shame. And to think we used to like this place. Now I see it for what it is...WAAAAAY over-priced for sub-par food, extremely outdated interior, and the crappiest and most rude service from all involved that I have EVER experienced. Save that hard earned money, folks, and go somewhere else, like ANY WHERE else. Ridiculous. read more

Food was good. Large portions, fun view. Came in off season and was disappointed by the service. It wasn't bad, but as more people came in the more stretched the staff was. read more

We went here the week after the dismal experience we had at Felix's Fish Camp. Bottom line, I was very impressed with Pelican Reef! I had an oyster packed po' boy sandwich that was delicious. My wife had a very tasty seafood platter that was overstuffed with shellfish. Compared to Felix's Pelican Reef beats them 100 to 1 in price, servings and atmosphere. Another thing is that I didn't have to wait over an hour like I did at Felix's which was absurd! I recommend Pelican Reef to anyone looking to satisfy a seafood fix! read more

Great waterfront atmosphere. The snapper deluxe was fantastic. Screened porch on the dock was a great seafood eating atmosphere. Service was great. We will add this to our coast stop list! read more

Poor quality food and worse service. One and done, will not be back. 18 dollars for 12 oysters smaller than a quarter and the lowest grade food I've seen in the area. Servers are rude and very short, and can't even do there job of clearing the table or getting orders right. Only thing I can recommend are the fried onion rings. read more