Ketch 22 — Restaurant in Maryland

My wife and I visited for the first time Saturday evening after a friend's recommendation. We met the host that asked if we wanted inside or outside seating. Inside seating wait time could be up to half an hour. (Although over 2/3 of the inside tables were empty) as they were RESERVED. Just fyi, when we left after dinner, inside seating was still only half full. So we agreed to outside seating. It was a nice evening, 5:45 or so, we figured it would be fine. It WOULD have been if it wasn't for the biting gnats! We asked the waiter if they had citronella candles or something to keep them away. Well, needless to say, they don't. (Every table was swatting their own gnats). As the waiter took our order, he told us the special was "knob fish topped with lump crab meat". I have never HEARD of it but decided to try it. So we placed our order and ordered 2 bowls of cream of crab for appetizers. Our waiter came out with our cream of crab, which he said was a new batch that he just watched it come off the line. Well, it came out "room temperature"! The bottom of the bowls were warm, but soup was not even close to warm. So Bobby (our waiter) took them back to get hot soup. In the meantime our entree's came. My wife's pan seared rock fish was perfect. My knob fish came topped with WALNUTS and not crab meat as we were told. So as he took that back our cream of crab made it back. This time one bowl was hot, the other was "warmer". The bottom of the bowls were hot. Obviously, what was done was they were put in a microwave instead of out of A COOKING pot. When you microwave 2 bowls, generally one heats up more than the other and the cookware gets hotter than the food. At this time my entree came back in which they took the walnuts off the top (they forgot the ones that had settled to the bottom of the dish). By the way, I HATE walnuts, and topped the fish with "cool" crab meat. Our waiter was very apologetic and did get part of our bill compted. It was A VERY disappointing experience because the actual taste of the food was awesome! Just need to actually serve it HOT and don't try to fool customers by using a microwave. Another thing that this establishment needs to do besides bug control outside, is to put salt, pepper, etc. on tables instead of bringing it upon request. That would save on at least 5 minutes of the patrons time waiting to eat their food if they prefer a little extra pepper! The flavor of the food was fantastic. The waiter was experienced and knew how to serve and please the customer. Restaraunt had a nice ambience, but the prep staff needs more training and is...

I am so disappointed in Ketch 22. Last year three years for my birthday we have gone. I have always recommended the crab cakes as the best in Maryland. I must now change that to not recommending as this restaurant has gone significant down hill.

Upon arriving for my reservation. I had to wait 20 minutes as no tables were cleaned off. I had a 3:30 pm reservation for my birthday. There were only 3 in our party. So I went to the bathroom. The bathroom was so dirty I almost gagged. I told the hostess it needed attention. She appeared horribly embarrassed. We sat down to eat finally. Upon arrival at the table all the seats had food particles in them. Yuck.

Our waitress was incredibly sweet. The staff of this place is the only reason I gave one star. We all wanted crab cakes. And we're immediately told they had none in stock. At least half of their menu had some form of crab meat!! So of course none of those alternate things were available.

Fried pickles were burnt. The deviled eggs were curdled. They just smelled rotten.

I ordered shrimp. It was WAY over seasoned. So spicy I could not eat it. And they were not deveined which was also disgusting. My husband was so disappointed he sent his food back and refused to try anything else.

So so so disappointing that a place so loved had gone down hill so badly. With the high prices, lack of crab, filth of the dining room and the bathrooms. I will not be back until reviews show improvement.

The sheer fact that no one else is out of crab makes me wonder if they won't be...

I was really hoping Ketch would be as good as the menu looked. Sadly it really wasnt up to par for the prices.

I should say the service was exceptional and the atmosphere was great.

We started with quite a few apps and they were really hit or miss. The wings were very good and I would recommend them. The whipped feta was very good as well. Of the 5 apps we got they were the only ones I would reorder. The cheese curds were all breading, we seriously didnt find any actual cheese. The pork belly sliders were super dry...how do you do that to pork belly, I don't even know. The sirloin app was tasteless.

Then the entrées here is where it get super disappointing. My daughter ordered her $42 ribeye medium and it came out raw...not rare, raw. The server gladly and apologetically took it back. It came back medium rare at best. There was a lot more grizzle than I would have hoped for from a $42 cut. My wife ordered the salmon ($32) and we both agreed it was inedible. It was not at all fresh and had such a fishy taste everyone at the table could smell it. I couldn't get a bite down. My tacos were ok and had the meat not been cooked to actual death leaving it dry as beef jerky it would have been good. The braised pork and cabbage was a hit and would be the one thing I would recommend.

All in all the atmosphere and service carried our evening and we had a good time. The presentation of the food as seen in the pictures was a lot better than the flavor. I will give it another chance when I'm back...