Rusty Pelican is one of those places where memories are made! Or is it just me? I must

say that this restaurant has one (if not) the best view of the Miami skyline; this is “the”

place to go. Not only is it located in Miami, there’s another location in Tampa. The ride

to the place is very nice, crossing water with the boats on your left. You can taste, smell,

and feel the 7 million dollar renovation. The glittering skyscrapers sparkle above the

waves of Biscayne Bay. I could definitely see hosting an engagement party, graduation

party, or other classy events here. You may be seated indoor where there’s a gigantic

window for your view or the outdoor patio area near the water which is a nice view at

night. Upon parking, I feel that I’m entering an amusement park because it’s an adventure to

find parking. I had to park a short distance away from the restaurant and then it took me

5 more minutes to walk to the restaurant. But there’s also valet parking, which would’ve

been more of a breeze for me (Sundays is valet parking only). I expected it to be ten or

twenty dollars, but NO! It was only six dollars. The minute I walked up to the door, I can

tell this isn’t the old Rusty. This place did a complete turn. Before entering there’s a

“Welcome” sign to welcome the guests.

Indoor there’s nice interior, huge wine fridges, quiet wicker paddle fans whirl overhead and saltwater fish swim in

pretty tableside aquariums, and a good looking and professional

staff. Did I mention there’s a mid-century theme? This looks a lot better than how it used

to before the renovation. The Lamps were made of sea shells and curtains made of

sea shells and glass bottles. Also big round lamps covered with fish nets. When you’ve

entered the place hostess will greet the guests and write down their name on a small card.

Then the manager comes by and greets the table (I was wondering how he knew my

name?) Now I’ve realized why the hostess writes your name down, she gives the card to

the manager, so he or she can greet the guests by last name when he makes his visits to

each table. As soon as our table was ready for us and there was plenty of space between

us and the surrounding tables so that, even though the place filled up fast, there was no

sense of overcrowding or being packed in like sardines.

The menu has been changed overtime. The old menu would be classified as

seafood/steak with a Miami twist, but now they’ve added some Asian fusion