Ketchup

This place was horrible. Food was nothing special at all and super overpriced. And the service was extremely bad. I’m glad this place closed down. You want good food with ketchup go down the street to Pinks.

a nice upscale restaurant with a big variety of different delicious food. great service and atmosphere! Loved all the rooms, including bar and the main dining area.

ROFLMFAO. The very reason I created a Unilocal account in the first place has finally closed it’s doors. Not surprised. Zero stars, literally and figuratively.
Who’s the pompous one now???

How sad to here that Ketchup is no longer open.
The food here was great and the lighting? Red, red, red! More red than any restaurant I’ve ever visited. But I had taken pictures of the delicious food served here and I can tell you that it looked as good as it tasted.
Right on Sunset Blvd the location was perfect. The décor, beautiful in that art deco way. Ther bar had a nice view of the street below.
You will be missed Kechup. Please come back!

The closing of Ketchup leaves all of my beautiful Los Angelenos with one very important, ever pressing question…
Now, where will all the douchebags go?

Ketchup, you’d better ketchup to the new standard of LA dining.
Don’t be fooled by the ambiance of the place. Nestled in a small plaza off Sunset, you’d think this place would back up its hype and trendsetter feel with amazing food. Sorry, you’d be disappointed.
I came here on a Saturday with 8 other girlfriends for my best friend’s birthday. We had a 7pm reservation, but when we stepped into the actual restaurant, it was, for the most part, empty.
They sat us in the largest booth they had, and our waiter promptly handed us our menus. The menu itself is pretty standard, but I couldn’t help but think about Johnny Rockets when I glanced over the entrees. Typical American fare. My party split two orders of the starters (which I think were a mix of sweet potato, skinny, and fat fries) just to try the different ketchups. Meh, I was not impressed. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the wasabi ketchup just because it was something different.
My best friend and I split the chicken entrée and the mac and cheese. Reaction? Meh. The mac and cheese was too heavy for me, and I couldn’t help but think that I could make a better one at home for a fraction of the cost. The chicken was decent, but nothing phenomenal.
Overall, Ketchup is not a restaurant I will be returning to anytime soon. It’s one of those «been there, check it off the list» restaurants. For a better Mac n Cheese, try Taste on Melrose.

A 3.5 is probably more representative of this spot, but I’m giving it a 4 star because I think the 2.5 rating is pretty skewed! I like comfort food, so this place hit the spot for me on a cold winter day. Downsides to this place, is slow service (we did go on New Years Eve though), and it’s really loud inside. The ambiance is pretty nice, although I’m not a big fan of being in red lighting all through dinner.
Pros to this place: Amazing truffle oil mac n cheese. Yummm. Ribs and rib eye steak were good. Our waiter was also quite nice and friendly.
The crab cake was mediocre, as were the fries trio. The sliders/​hot dogs were decent, but not memorable. The grilled cheese was not bad, and I enjoyed the tomato bisque. The menu is like a grown ups kid menu.
We were over an hour late with a party of 5 and they still seated us on New Years Eve, so that’s a big plus for them!

I came here with very low expectations, and I left very pleasantly surprised. If the agenda is comfort food, Ketchup really hit the spot on the nail here folks. I went with 5 other people, and we ordered just about all the main things off of the menu. To summarize:
— ribs: very good. meat fell right of the bone, and the sauce had a tangy taste to it. don’t expect texas bbq good, but it was definitely a legit order and a favorite across our table.
— ribeye steak: we ordered it medium because one person in our party does not eat med-​rare. to my surprise, the steak was still tender. it ain’t no morton’s or ruth’s chris obviously, but it was acceptable. the mashed potatoes that came with it was nice and thick.
— mac and cheese: delicious. not watery at all. thick, flavorful.
— crab cakes: a bit starchy, and not a hit at our table.
— fries sampler: decent order. not good, not bad.
— sliders: delicious! bread was very soft and moist, patty was done right.
— small hotdogs: interesting order. its ok as sample to share.
— grilled cheese: they even stuff in tomatoes. it was good!
— tomato soup: not bad.
We had a few more orders that I forget about, but overall, as mentioned above, I give it a good rating for comfort style food. I think what brings the place down is the cost of the entrees. If you’re looking for bang for the buck value, maybe this isn’t such a big hit. But let’s be fair, you’re in a prime location, and that comes at a cost. Also, the ambiance of the place was very unique and cool (although if you’re sensitive to noise, i’d opt out). That all costs money, too.
I will ding the place for slow service. Wait staff was nice enough, but it did take a long time for our orders to arrive, and some things did not even get put in the oven — resulting in some canceled orders from us. I was going to take off a star for this to make it a 3, but seeing the 2.5 star rating, which i find very unfair, I’m going to keep my rating a 4 star to give these a guys a fair boost.
Worth a try for comfort food. Overpriced? yes. fun to eat at? yes. good dining experience overall? yes.

Go to Ketchup for the red lights & ambiance, not for food. If you focus on that, you won’t be as disappointed…
I first went to Ketchup when they opened as I wanted to check out the hype. Then I went back recently because a friend wanted to try it.
Both times, I thoroughly enjoyed the cafeteria-​like ambiance with tomato-​looking light bulbs everywhere that made you very red. It is ‘different’ and I look for that when I am visiting a restaurant. It’s also clean & hip and you will get the Hollywood glitz which you’ve seen from the reality shows…
I do like their cart services that makes you yummy cocktail shots! I warn you not to get the grape flavor though, because it tastes like cough syrup!
However, when it comes to food, they are definitely over-​priced for their quality. Sadly, I feel like they downgraded even more from the time they were ‘hotter’ because our main entrees looked pretty sad on corning-​like dishes & even desserts were not decorated pretty. Trying to pull the pictures, I also realized that even table decoration wasn’t the same now compared to their better days! In fact, the only thing I enjoyed was their fries with many different flavored ketchups, although I didn’t even think the fries were good at all…

My first impression was, «All this red lighting is kind of scary.»
I only knew two somewhat ‘interesting’ facts about this place that made it sort of attractive to me. It’s located on the Sunset Strip, and it was featured in a episode of the reality show, The Hills. Okay, so it looked cooler on television than it did in reality. The ambiance is very «LA» but the red lighting and the red everything actually was more distracting and bizarre then decorative.
The service was very friendly and attentive. We were served corn bread once we got seated, and it was delicious. We ordered:
*Lobster ABC Soup– no flavor, not enough lobster meat
*Mac n’ Cheese w/​Crab– really good ooey gooey, crusty, and cheesy, I’d go back just because of the mac n’ cheese
*Threesome Fries– thin cut and fried well, but nothing special, the ketchup platter (what they are known for) of interesting combinations of flavors was not impressive
*Shake n’ Bake– the vegetable side that came with this was amazing… wait, what about the chicken? no comment
*Californication Crab Cakes
and *BBQ Baby Pork Ribs– this one was good, but overpriced, and I don’t know how they could’ve gone wrong when drenching the meat with that much sauce
With all that food among three people, we came out stuffed but also with a hefty bill. The food was below average to average, so it’s not really worth it because it’s overpriced. It’s not even like you’re «paying for the ambiance» because really the ambiance is hideous.
The lasting impression? «Pass me the KETCHUP… NOT.»

Ironically enough, I don’t even really like ketchup– the condiment. But I love red décor, I love diners, and I love food… so there I was at Ketchup– the restaurant/​lounge! Sure enough, I loved the décor, the ambiance and the concept. The food and drinks were just OK… something to do while I was there.
Parking can be a b***h, so we opted for valet. We didn’t have reservations, but it was pretty late so it wasn’t too busy. Restaurant and lounge area is upstairs and we were seated maybe about 10 minutes after arrival. Hostesses– not so friendly and inviting. Waiters — just there to take orders and serve. Bartenders — the best of staff this place has to offer! Next time I come here, I’d rather sit at the bar!
Fries sampler with different ketchup variations — OK. I think I liked the ketchup and chipotle combo. Mac n cheese with truffle oil and crab was good, but at times the truffle oil was overpowering the crab and cheese. The dinner entrees we chose were Shrimp Scampi and the Salmon, dessert was the Banana Bread Pudding– nothing really wowed me from these.
I’d come here more for the ambiance and drinks than the food selection and service!

I love the «Barking Dogs!» Two mini kobe beef hot dogs, classic kobe chili, melted cheddar, homemade ketchup.
The mini chicken tacos are excellent and they’re so small it’s hard to believe… very cute :)
The mac n’ cheese is good and you can’t go wrong with a «Threesome» Garlic parmesan, sweet potato and cajun fries, all five homemade ketchups (BBQ, Mango, Ranch, Maple, Chipotle)

** OVERPRICED AMERICAN FOOD **
Randomly picked this place for my 3^rd session of DineLA Restaurant Week, because my girlfriend had a $ 50 off Orders over $ 100 from

OK… So here’s my 2cents on this restaurant. Probably never coming back again… But here it goes…
Situated on Sunset Blvd. with valet parking available at the corner. The hostess directed us up the stairs, but had us standing around like dorks by the staircase because she forgot her menus. Then she set us down on a tiny table for two, when we requested for a bigger table, she kindly refused and basically told us the extra table is for parties of 3 or more. HELLO~ It’s not like it is the weekend here, and you guys were pack. Grr!
As to the $ 50 off coupon, we asked the waitress before we ordered if we can use it in conjunction with DineLA menu, she told us «YES», so my girlfriend and I decided to order a bunch of appetizer to hit the $ 100 mark. Waitress return at the end of the night telling us that the coupon is not applicable toward «specials» and told us it was printed on the fineprint… (I looked… nothing on the coupon said that), and only offered us a $ 30 comp. WHATEVER…
I told my friend to go ahead to use it, because I felt that we will never come back to this place again. Yea, we got the $ 30comp, but they tag on a 18% gratuity and tax before discount… Bleh… Too frustrated to argue with waitress or her manager about that.
As for the food… here’s my rundown of everything ordered:
THREESOME: These are the 3 fries they offered with the 5 homemade ketchup (Wasabi, Chipotle, Ranch, Bacon, Pumpkin), nothing too special about it, but I did like that Sweet Potato Fries and Wasabi & Bacon Ketchup.
BARKING DOGS: Suppose to be kobe beef hot dog, but it tasted like just any mini hot dog. The only difference is you pay $ 10 for 2 bite size hot dogs.
KOBE BEEF BLT SLIDERS: Again, you are paying something like $ 10 for 2 mini sliders. Nothing special about it and it was a little dry. BLEH.
BUFFALO HOT WINGS: No big complaints here, they are hot wings served with Ranch.
LOBSTER ABC SOUP: Yea, they are chunks of lobsters in the soup, but both me and my friend thought the soup was too salty. YUCK!
ALASKA KING SALMON: My friend said hers was okay, but maybe because my fish was smaller and thinner than hers, mine turned out to be a little on the dry side.
ICE CREAM SANDWICH: My friend said her dessert was the best part of the meal, because it was the only thing that wasn’t salty. She also mentioned the cookies were good too.
CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES: Don’t think anyone can mess this up. Just dip the strawberries into chocolate and served on plate? So yeah… The fact that this turned out good didn’t earn them any bonus points.
CONCLUSION: YES, as you can see… Not too happy about my dining experience here… For the price we paid, we would’ve gotten something way better at the FATHER’S OFFICE.

Ketchup is one of those restaurants I probably wouldn’t go on my own because I would think it’s way too expensive and way too fancy for me.
And then I came here with my best friend, her bf, and a few of her friends and I was pleasantly surprised that the atmosphere ranges from casual to dress up for the fun of it. The music was a mix of pop and alternative and made me pumped for the evening! We were seated in a pretty large U-​shaped booth because our party was of seven people, so that was nice.
Our waiter came by to take our order and he was pretty laid back and seemed like a fun guy. The bussers filled our water glasses about three times throughout our dinner there so that was definitely a plus.
Since this place is known for their Mac& Cheese and their truffle oil fries we ordered those. The Mac&Cheese was superb. It was incredibly rich and creamy. At first bite I couldn’t tell there was crab in it, then as you keep eating there are hints of yummy crab laced throughout and it just made me want to keep eating!!! The bfs ordered the huge burgers which THEY couldn’t even finish! From what I heard, they enjoyed those as well.
We also shared the Kobe sliders, those were the perfect teeny size for us ladies, YET had HUGE flavor packed in there! Loved each and every one of the five bites I took from that slider! Drinks were pricey, $ 12, but they were pretty strong so we got what we paid for. I had the Buttery Dreams (I think) and it was sweet, strong, and to the point with a cherry at the bottom just to give you a bit more kick at the end ;o)
We tried the threesome which came with an array of different creative types of ketchup. My best friend and I thought the cinnamon french fries were clever & different, those were our favorites.
This place is a great dinner/​late night place to go to with friends. Beware bathroom stalls are small. Have fun and DO try the different ketchups, that’s what their known for too!
AND since my friend’s birthday is coming up they gave each and every one of us a free lemon drop shot!!! Best friend’s shot even had a candle lit stuck on the side of the shot glass (they melted the wax and stuck the candle on the side). SO CLEVER and fun!!!

The first time I went to Ketchup, I had a positive experience and was surprised that it only had 2.5 stars on Unilocal.After my second experience last night, I can only assume that 2.5 rating was artificially elevated by employees and friends of the owners, because it seems awfully generous in light of last night’s debacle.
We made the reservation for 4 people, called back and added a fifth. The hostess on the phone was polite and friendly. Off to a good start. We arrive promptly at the time of our reservation, but due to a lockout, our 5^th person was 45 minutes down the road, on his way to meet us. We explain to the hostess, and say that we’d like to be seated, order appetizers and cocktails, and just wait for our friend to order entrees. She acted like she didn’t hear us and directed us to the lounge to order drinks and appetizers. Twice I tried to explain that we wanted to be seated and just start eating and drinking there, twice it was like I was talking to a wall… nothing. Fine, not worth the fight, we go to the lounge.
We get about $ 60 in drinks and appetizers, and a different hostess comes to retrieve us, telling us our table is ready, though our fifth is still not there. Then we’re told that we have to close-​out our tab and start over in the restaurant. Hmmmm… well, we have a
gift certificate that demands that we spend $ 100 or more… how can we use that? Oh, she replies, yeah, we can’t. You’ll have to spend $ 100 more in the dining room.
WHAT?! That’s WHY we ordered expensive drinks and appetizers, to make certain we got over the $ 100 limit. We argued with her, she goes to her manager, comes back and says that she’ll take 50% off of the appetizers only. Why only the appetizers? Because it says «dinner only» on the coupon.
I spent twenty minutes (okay, it felt like it) explaining to her that «dinner only» is in contrast to «valid at lunchtime or dinnertime» and not the same as «excludes alcohol», to no avail. Her ‘plea bargain’ deal would have saved me $ 10 by spending $ 20 on a certificate theoretically worth $ 50. I’d end up $ 10 worse off than coming in with nothing. No thanks, honey, can we talk to someone smart now?
Finally a manager comes over and says «Don’t worry, we can rollover your tab to the dining room» which is what we asked for and were rejected on ten minutes earlier. We grab our drinks, irritated, and follow the hostess to the table… which was set up for four people…
We grab an extra table and pull it over to ours and get a fifth placesetting. Our waiter arrives. Pleasant enough fellow… who promptly says that they’re out of ‘a couple of things’. Then he proceeds to tell us (not joking) that about 50% of the menu is unavailable because of an error in their shipment. No hamburgers, no ribeye steaks, only 1 of the 4 seafood options, no mini tacos. Half of us had to choose a second (lesser) option to order because what brought us in wasn’t on the menu that night. Seriously?
Our bill came, and for 5 people, AFTER $ 50 certificate, it was $ 156. For meals that half of us didn’t even want (not our first choice), half an hour of total time arguing with the staff in the lounge, and being made to feel cheap because we were trying to use a gift certificate that their management decided to offer.
Goodbye, Ketchup. Nice knowing you. I can’t see us ever coming back.

All kinds of Juicy Ketchups
The food here was alright. But, their ketchups were so unique and good! My favorite was the wasabi ketchup, if you are a lover of wasabi you will love this ketchup.
I would only come here for the 50% on Sundays which we came here on accident. I’ve been wanting to try this place for quite some time ever since they had it on Girl’s Next Door. So one sunday we came here and while I was looking on Unilocal what dish is good here, someone mentioned that it was 50% on Sundays, so that was a treat! Thanks to Unilocal and all the Unilocalers out there! So any of you want to try this place out, the deals are still on every Sunday.
Ok so now on to the food. You must get their 3some and truffle fries, I think it’s really good especially with the 5 different types of ketchups. We got the Pork Chop and the Sea Bass. It was ok. I don’t know what it was but it just tasted ok. Everyone else’s food looked better, someone got the Jumbo Burger and it was Huge and it looked soo good. And, someone else had the shrimp pasta and it looked so yummy. So, I think this place is more of a burger and fries joint and if i do come back that is what I am gonna get.
The ambiance was dark but not too dark, it had red lighting as if you were in ketchup? hahaha. Overall, this place is good and the setting was nice.

Eww.

The first time I went to Ketchup, it was for a friend’s birthday. We had reservations, but two of the six in our party arrived over an hour after the reservation time. They won’t seat you until your entire party arrives, so you will lose your reservation if people arrive late.
I went for a second time last Sunday night for their 50% off recession special. Sunday night is the only time I would recommend anyone to try Ketchup because otherwise, their food is way too expensive for what you’re getting.
My boyfriend and I had their Threesome fries, 2 orders of their Kobe burger BLT sliders, and their famous Mac N’ Cheese.
Threesome fries — Garlic parmesan, sweet potato, and cajun fries (½ a star): Good, especially with their 5 Ketchups (Classic, Mango, Wasabi, Ranch, and Chipotle, I believe), but they’re not great. The ranch ketchup is the best (I LOVE anything to do with ranch), and the mango ketchup goes well with their sweet potato fries.
Kobe burger sliders (½ a star): Also good, but not great. I wouldn’t pay $ 7 for two, though (which is their regular price).
Mac N’ Cheese (2 stars): Their white truffle, dungeness crab mac n’ cheese was absolutely mouth-​watering!!! But I still don’t think it’s worth their regular price of $ 12. With the 50% off, $ 6 was reasonable.
Overall, I would go again, but only on Sunday nights (if they still have their 50% off special). You have to mention the special or they will probably charge you their regular prices.
P. S. Park at the parking structure around the corner. Ketchup will validate parking, so you will end up paying $ 2 for 2 hours (as opposed to $ 10 for valet parking).

Had dinner here this past Saturday night for a small bday with friends. I made reservations on Open Table and it worked out pretty well. If you’re looking for parking, you can opt to park in the parking garage below this area which you can enter on Alta Loma. Make sure to get your validation on the way out. Random thing was that while I was looking at their menu downstairs (outside), I see Chris Kattan (SNL; A Night at the Roxbury) cruise by into the coffee store next door. Then again, we were in the Westside of town so it should be expected to run into celebs.
Anyway, since our party wasn’t all there yet, the attractive hostess had us wait upstairs in the bar/​lounge area. After the last person in my party showed up, they got us our table right away.
From reading a lot of the Unilocal reviews, I was scared about the quality of the food here. So many reviews stated that this place is all about the environment and not the food. To my surprise, the food was actually good.
We started off with the Threesome fries/​5 sauces and Mac N’ Cheese. Both were good. We treated the mac like it was an appetizer and not a side dish because the portion for it is a decent size. I would recommend both of those dishes for appetizers.
I ordered the Chilean Sea Bass which I had high hopes for. It was a bit of a let down. My friend ordered the Niman Ranch Pork Chop and it was very delish. I wished I had ordered that instead but there’s always next time. The other people on my table seemed like they were satisfied with their dishes.
The service was good. They were attentive and refilled our drinks without us asking. Different people would come up to our table and asked us how we were doing. There’s a complimentary martini cart that goes around but we didn’t try that out.
I will come back to Ketchup. I liked the atmosphere, the theme, and the environment. There were a lot of younger, attractive people in the place. The price is not cheap but it doesn’t cost an arm and leg. I also like how the menu is simple and not all over the place.

I didn’t think place was as bad as most everyone here is saying.
Went here on a weekday night, with no reservations. Hostess sat us right away and we got a table over by the register.
I really liked the interior with the redness and the hanging lamps. Trendy and funky. I did not like the blaring loud music. Hard to have a conversation with your dining companion, so I opted not to scream.
Service was good, our waitress was cute, friendly, attentive and got our orders right.
Food was okay. I had the drunken scallops and he had the seared ahi tuna. My scallops were HUGE. Biggest scallops I have ever seen. There were 4 of them, but I only managed to eat 3 of them. It also came with lobster mash which was decent, but too filling. Sauteed veggies were good though.
I would come back here, but maybe next time I’ll try the burger.
Hahah, there was a tomato in a plastic case at every table. Yes, it was real. I know cuz I touched it.
*check out pix*