Pelican, Pensacola’s newest entertainment complex, is now open at 1420 W. Nine Mile Road offering upscale dining, a lively bar scene, virtual reality gaming and more.
Entrepreneur Reddy Kandal spent the past year dreaming up the Pelican project and began welcoming customers in for Pelican’s soft opening Oct. 19, with a grand opening slated for Nov. 7.
Here’s what visitors can expect from Pelican, which offers a liquor store, restaurant, bar and grill, and an arcade all under the Pelican branding.
Pelican joins Nine Mile dining district:Entertainment complex with restaurants, bar, arcade coming to Nine Mile
Pelican is opening in stages
Pelican is opening in stages, starting with the liquor store, which first opened a few weeks ago featuring more than 6,000 products. Next came two distinct restaurant and bar areas, with an upscale dining room and a more casual sports-bar pub area. While the restaurants and bar are open, they are operating off a limited menu during the soft opening stage.
Last will come the opening of the VR gaming areas, including a virtual reality arcade, theatre rooms and an adventure course where customers can conduct challenges wearing VR goggles. Those are expected to open next week.
Pelican bar and restaurants
Kandala created Pelican’s main bar to resemble a wood-paneled, classic Irish pub with giant TVs, stained glass chandeliers and casual seating, pulling inspiration from Las Vegas’ bar scene.
Similar to Whiskey Barrel, which he also owns, Pelican will offer a wall of high-end whiskey, and customers can scan their pre-loaded payment card to unlock the pour.
The bar will have something similar for draft beers, where customers can pour as much or as little as they wish of different brands.
There is a variety of entertainment in the main area, with giant televisions streaming the NFL Sunday ticket and UFC fights, shuffleboard with digital scoring, as well as planned events such as pool tournaments, bingo and karaoke.
Food will be available through the bar and grill, which will specialize in more casual fare, such as high-quality speciality wings and Neapolitan-style pizzas.
If you’re looking for a higher-end dining experience, Kandala created a posh, elevated dining room through the Pelican Grill restaurant adorned with white leather booths and hand-strung crystal chandeliers.
This restaurant will focus on elevated Southern Creole-inspired cuisine, featuring chef-curated dishes, such as an award-winning seafood gumbo, crab cakes, duck and andouille boudin balls.
You can order off the menu from either dining room.
“Customers can sit anywhere on the bar side or on the restaurant side, but they can order any kind of food they want,” Kandala said. “They just choose where they prefer to sit.”
Pelican’s soft opening menu highlights
Leading up to the grand opening, Pelican has been rolling out a limited soft opening menu for cocktails and dining options. Given access to the liquor store next door, house cocktails are made with top shelf liquors, and they have nearly endless options for wine by the bottle. Here are a few of the premium cocktails to order:
Soft-opening cocktails
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Cherry Pickin’:Woodford Reserve, mint, sugar, lemon and cherry.
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Garden District:Tito’s, limoncello, basil and lemon
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Nine Mile Mule:Pineapple, blackberry, lime juice, ginger beer and Wheatley
Soft opening entrées
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Seared scallops:Brown butter, roasted corn risotto, asparagus, heirloom tomatoes and micro greens.
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Tres Major (8-ounce):Creekstone Farms Teres Major over black truffle Creole cream cheese stone ground grits, roasted asparagus and brandied mushroom peppercorn demi-glace
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Gulf Snapper Creole Meuniere:Pan-seared Gulf snapper, Creole meuniere sauce, roasted garlic whipped potatoes, sauteed haricots verts and micro herbs.
What’s to come through virtual reality experiences
Pelican Arcade will offer immersive virtual reality gaming experiences where guests can put themselves in the game, whether it be a flight simulation or a race car, as well as VR theaters that engage all the senses.
What are Pelican’s hours of operation?
Pelican is currently in a soft opening stage, with limited hours leading up the grand opening.
Soft opening hours of operation:
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Monday through Thursday: 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.
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Sunday: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Regular hours starting Nov. 7:
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Monday through Thursday: 3 p.m. to midnight
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Friday: 2 p.m. to 2 a.m.
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Saturday: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Note: All VR gaming ends at 8 p.m. daily
What’s next for Pelican?
Once the whole facility is open in November, Kandala plans to also develop a weekend brunch menu which would roll-out on Saturdays and Sundays.
Restaurant reservations will also be available to place online soon, likely through OpenTable.
As far as big picture plans, Kandala will also begin building on his remaining land next door to Pelican to lease to a mix of retailers.
For real-time updates and information, follow Pelican Bar & Grill on social media.
Brittany Misencik is a veteran dining reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. If you have a news tip, send it toBMisencik@pnj.com.Stay up to date on the latest restaurant news by subscribing to our free Pensacola Eats newsletter, delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign up for the newsletter at profile.pnj.com/newsletters/pensacola-eats/.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal:Pelican brings upscale restaurant, lively bar, VR games under one roof
