Ketchup - National Harbor, MD

For my friend Stray Cat's birthday, around 18 of us went to Ketchup in the National Harbor to celebrate. The National Harbor is a new development with restaurants, shops, hotels, etc, and is located around Oxen Hill, MD right on the water. It's really beautiful to see as you're driving on I-495 towards it.
There is street meter parking as well as a large parking garage.
The outside of the place looks really trendy, and so is the inside.

Here is the entrance, and to your left is the bar and the cool waiting area on the right.

The bar is super cool because it's lit up red! The decor is mostly red, black, white and silver.

The interior has a graphic novel/Andy Warhol kind-of feel with the colors and the splotches of 'ketchup' on the floor and walls and the face.

This was the section that we took over!

The menu is a twist on American classics with their signature item being their ketchup. As an appetizer we ordered their 'Threesome - Garlic Parmesan, sweet potato and old bay fries, served with all five ketchups for $8. They were really good, and dipping them into the unique ketchups was really cool because it created new flavors.

Ketchup flavors from the left to the right are: Maple Syrup, Ranch, Regular, Raspberry, and Chipotle.
Ranch seemed to be the least popular at our table, with Chipotle being the favorite. I actually liked dipping the sweet potato fries into the maple syrup one, mmmmm.

My friend Bat ordered the 'Chicken Wings - tossed in buffalo sauce and served with blue cheese dressing' for $12. He ate the entire thing and said they were good.

I was trying to take pictures of my friends' food that were sitting around me so you guys could get a better feel for the dishes they offer even if I didn't get a chance to taste them.

My buddy Punisher ordered the 'Filet- Flame grilled, Parmesan cheese butter, wild brandy mushrooms and cheddar mashed potatoes' for $24. He said he it wasn't bad, however the portion was small.

Stray Cat's gf ordered the ' American Comfort - Rich tomato soup with grilled cheese, fried green tomato and jalapeno bacon sliders' for $12.
She said the food was really good, however the portion size was a too small.

My friend Marley ordered the 'Over Stuffed Lasagna- Pasta stuffed and rolled with four cheeses and fresh spinach, tomato basil marinara sauce and Parmesan crisps' for $16. Sorry the pic is blurry but he was kind of far away. Anyway, I over heard him say "this is lasagna?" so just for future reference if you order the lasagna, you get this.

I was trying to be healthy and order a salad, but that was a bad idea. I ordered the 'Apple Walnut salad- Baby spinach, apples, dry cranberries, walnuts and goat cheese with raspberry walnut vinaigrette' for $14. I thought for $14 it'd be huge, like salads from The Cheesecake Factory, but sadly it wasn't. It was actually quite small, and either didn't have enough dressing or something, but it wasn't special or worth $14 at all. Sorry.

All desserts cost $8, and my friend next to me got the some sort of Mud Pie thing (can't find the dessert menu online and I don't remember the name). He said it was good but rich.

I got the Banana Nut Bread Pudding with Rum Raisin Ice Cream, and the ice cream tasted like straight rum. It was so strong that no one at the table wanted to eat it.

I wanted to love the place since it just opened and had a cool concept, but the portions were overpriced , and the food wasn't anything memorable. The service was very impressive though, and the manager came to help us a lot with our wine selections, etc. Our server was a really nice and helpful girl, so that made the night fun and easy-going. I would recommend coming here to try the fries since the ketchup is something special. They also offer a lunch and breakfast menu, and the items are cheaper, so that would be a better time to try their cuisine.

152 Waterfront Street
National Harbor, MD 20745
(301) 749-7099
Website