Blind Pelican* (#294, 4/4/14) – 69
Dropped in at the Blind Pelican on St. Charles Ave on a Friday afternoon for the much talked about happy hour. And it was a good stop. The oysters are extra cheap during happy hour – $3/dozen), the atmosphere is good with solid indoor and outdoor seating, and the drinks are reasonably priced as well.
Starting with the food here – the raw oysters were good; they were also huge. For me, that’s not necessarily a good thing, but most people like that. I also tried the char-grilled oysters; some online reviews had knocked them, but they tasted good to me. We closed with the crawfish quesadillas ($9.95), which were just okay. Nothing to complain about, just not spectacular. It was a lot of food though. I was stuffed after the combination. For food, I’ll give it a 33 out of 50.
The atmosphere was good for a happy hour place. It was semi-crowded, but not crazy noisy. There was a wide variety of people which always livens up the people-watching opportunities. It has tv’s and as mentioned, indoor and outdoor seating. For a happy hour stop, I’ll give it a 23 out of 30 for atmosphere.
The service was decent as well, though right on the edge of not being great. Every time we began to think our waitress may have forgotten about us (or gone home), she would appear, so she cut it close, but overall good. Also, food and drinks were relatively prompt. I’ll give it a 13 out of 20 in service.
One weird thing, which I’m not sure how to categorize it, was with the happy hour menu. It took some time, but I believe the happy hour special is just on raw oysters. However, to get that special, you need to order a round of drinks.
Final score = 69.