Last night Erika and I went to the friends and family pre-opening event at Ketchup. Thanks, Erika for inviting me. This was my first visit to any of the Dolce Group restaurants. Dolce opened earlier in the year, but I haven’t had an opportunity to check it out yet.

The atmosphere at Ketchup was extremely awesome. It has a 70s retro look with white seating and red accent pieces such as ketchup bottles hanging from a center chandelier type piece and a wall of ketchup bottles that divides the dining area from the bar area. The bar area is super swanky with white seating and small tables between the seat. There is a red and black mural behind the bar area, which is also very cool. The lighting is encased with large circular white and red “dots.”

The service we received last night was also great. All the staff was very attentive. Water glasses were promptly filled and empty plates taken away – which is a big plus for me. I hate it when servers don’t take away empty plates. Our server was polite as well as easy on the eyes, which is always a bonus. The only thing I did notice was that none of the mean that seemed to be managers or owners came by our table. I noticed they were making the rounds asking people how things were but our table was “overlooked” and we were there for two hours. It could have been an oversight on the part of these men, but I’m going to call these guys out and say they didn’t find Erika and I chic enough to say hello to. Little do these guys know, Erika and I are two of the coolest gals in town and we know a lot of people! LOL!

As for the food… it was good, but overpriced. We started out with the 3 Some, which are three types of fries and all five homemade Ketchup ketchups. The three types of fries were Cajun (small cut), Sweet Potato (medium cut), and the large cut fries, well, I can’t remember what they were called, but they had a parmesan cheese on them. I liked the cut of the Cajun fries the best and they were yummy, but will set your mouth on fire. The sweet potato fries I liked the best of all three. They were really good with the mango ketchup. The other fries, I could take ‘em or leave ‘em. We also had the Kobe Burger BLT Sliders, which were also good. I thought the taste reminded me of meatloaf, which they also serve, but neither of us had.

As an entrée, Erika ordered the BBQ Baby Ribs with a loaded baked potato and I had the Drunken Scallops, sautéed in Pabst Blue Ribbon, and served with lobster mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. The scallops were heavenly! Very tasty indeed, and come highly recommended from yours truly. The lobster mashed potatoes were not as divine as I was hoping, and in fact, I only ate just a couple of bites. I also ordered a lettuce wedge with blue cheese dressing. I ate part of it, which was good. It’s a bit hard to screw up a lettuce wedge. I tasted Erika’s ribs which were also amazing! The meat literally fell off of the bone and melted in your mouth. The BBQ sauce, which is homemade, was also very flavorful. I would recommend ordering this dish if you like BBQ ribs. I, myself, am not a big rib fan, but if I go back to Ketchup, I would definitely consider ordering these for myself. They were divine!

Erika and I split the Ice Cream Sandwich for dessert, which was vanilla ice cream between two large chocolate chip cookies. It was tasty, but not out of this world. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with the dessert menu. The items on the menu were things like a ding-dong with ice cream and a fried Twinkie. Nothing to really write home about. I would say skip the dessert at Ketchup and grab some chocolate covered strawberries from Godiva. In all, the items we ordered would have totaled about $80, which might be a bargain in Hollywood, but when you’re a single gal in Alabama is a little out of the price range. I can think of a lot of other things I’d rather do with my $40 worth of eatin’. So, unless I find some tall drink of water to take me out to dinner, I doubt I’ll be venturing to Ketchup again. Well, maybe if they say, “the food’s on us.”