The Big Ketch Saltwater Grill - Buckhead — Restaurant in Atlanta

My wife and I had an appointment in Buckhead on the 17th. Being from the Gulf Coast, I never pass up an opportunity to grab fresh seafood wherever I can. What a disappointment. First, I get oysters ANY time I have the chance. I have eaten them all over the country from origins all over the world. I do not mind paying a slight premium for premium oysters. The dozen on the half shell I received yesterday were way overpriced at $30 and absolutely pitiful. Of the 12 oysters, 9 of them were barely the size of a nickel, and that is being generous. When I tell you that I had to scrape something the size of a penny off a shell I am NOT exaggerating. The fact that someone actually allowed these to leave the kitchen amazes me. They were very warm to the touch and the liquor that SHOULD accompany the oyster in its shell was non-existent. These were without any shadow of a doubt the absolute worst oysters I have ever eaten....But, eat them I did. In for a penny, in for a pound. Our entree was not much better, at least mine wasn't. I opted for the grouper sandwich. The first bite was great, almost made up for the terrible oysters. But then I took the 2nd bite and realized that the fish was WAY undercooked, to the point it was rubbery and almost had a fatty texture. GROSS. As I stated, grew up on the Gulf Coast and have had fresh Grouper just about every way imaginable, aint EVER had it like this. But the fries were good, and that is about all I ate. My wife had the Seafood basket with fried Cod, shrimp and fries. Her meal, as it generally does, way outshined mine. Her fish was prepared correctly and everything tasted good and were generous portions. Everything I ordered was a trainwreck. May have been a bad day for the cook because while we were sitting there the couple at the next table over had the same issue with his salmon, way undercooked. In a location like Buckhead you kind of expect things to be a little above par, sadly , this was not the case for our meal at the Big Ketch. at $100 bill for 2 folks to eat, this is way unacceptable and should absolutely be addressed by the management staff. The service left a lot to be desired as well. We saw our server 2 times during the entire meal and that was when she took our order, and when she left the bill. She didn't even refill our drinks until after we were done with the meal and had already paid. What a disappointment

• I See your response but I am unable to reply. We will be back in Buckhead in 6mos, what did you have in mind? I'm always open to give a...

June 2022:Visited on a Sunday afternoon and decided to sit on the patio since it was such a nice day. We were given menus and waters. There were so many appetizers to choose from, but we settled on the Blackened Shrimp Egg Rolls. I ordered a Frose and he ordered a Passion Paloma. Blackened shrimp egg rolls were different but delicious. I decided on the lobster roll with hushpuppies. My bf ordered the seared scallops with Caribbean rice pilaf and grilled broccolini. The drinks were good and refreshing. While I enjoyed my frose, I also enjoyed his paloma. The food came and the size of his scallops were very disappointing. When I visited in 2019 they gave me healthy sized scallops. This time they gave tiny scallops. Despite the size of the scallops they still tasted good. Caribbean rice pilaf was flavorful and the broccolini had a nice char but they were a little cold. My lobster roll was delicious with chunky pieces of lobster and the butter to dip it in, or drizzle over it. The hushpuppies were good with the tartar sauce. We also each ordered another paloma. My bf has a thing for cheesecake so we ordered one for dessert and shared it. All in all, a good experience, but size of scallops was a downside especially for the price you pay.

May 2019: This was my second time here but the first time I only had a drink while visiting with friends. This time I came with my cousin and was thoroughly impressed with the food. My cousin got there first and had already ordered grilled oysters which came out shortly after I got there and then he ended up ordering the raw oysters too, lol. Both were good but I preferred the raw oysters, the grilled ones had a tad bit too much salt. For dinner I had the grilled house blend scallops with smashed potatoes and broccoli which was amazing. They give you 2 skewers with 4 nice sized scallops per skewer, a good portion of potatoes and broccoli. It also came with this creamy remoulade, wish there was a bit more bc it was good. My cousin had the house blend grouper, broccoli, a side Cesar salad and ended up ordering a skewer of scallops too, lol. We had a pleasant time and the weather was perfect for the patio...

My sister came upon this restaurant by accident. We originally planning to go to a different one but it was busy so we went to Big Ketch instead and oh boy ain't we glad. This place is small and cozy; our first time there it was Ryan who served us and he was amazing. He didn't talk much but he gave us what we needed. He explained the menu(it's not much but that's all they needed), get our drinks and orders. Ryan was so attentive that my sister and I felt his cared but he didn't bother or talked to us. We loved the place so much that we came back 3 days later with our coworkers and this time it was Kevin who served us. Kevin was awesome as well; he and Ryan has two different serving styles but we loved him as well. The one complaints I have is the one female server that has long hair(she's caucasian). Not sure if it was her first time serving when we were there the third time; in the same week. She was so bad that we felt that the gentleman in the front was the one serving us. She has no clues when it comes to customer service; we have to consistently asking her for items that was supposed to be given out to us already. We've never tipped anyone under 20% but she was the first.

Now the food!! like I mentioned their option is to big but it's powerful compared to surrounding restaurant. We always get the oysters both raw and chargrilled, bisque, crab cake, lobster roll, calamari, crab claws, rainbow trouts and their salmon are some of the stuff we always get. For their sides, the corn is superb, French fries never failed us, broccolini is here and there and the Brussel sprouts hit the spot every time. One thing that's never consistent is their charred oyster; many times we go there it was so so good and there's times where it's burnt burnt to the point we had to return it to the kitchen and we NEVER sent stuff back.

This place is Buckhead hidden charms and we loved recommend this restaurant to our friends and colleagues because they all agreed that it's a nice restaurant.

Until next...