The Ketch

I was a The Ketch for a lunch meeting with about 40 others, so we didn’t order off the menu. I had some sort of a pork dish with mashed potatoes and a salad, it was all very good. Cheesecake and coffee for desert.
The location was a bit hard to find as there was some construction taking place, but was still very clean and accomodating inside.

I work late evenings downtown and in 2011 – 2012, this was the place to order food for delivery from seamless… potions were huge and tasty. Over the past year, I’ve got to say it’s not bad, but the portion size has DEFINITELY been reduced. I order the glazed pomegranate salmon last night, and although it was tasty, it was a very small piece of salmon. I also asked for medium rare and it was well done. The delivery also took an hour. For $ 22.00, I expected a bigger piece of fish.
So not bad, but not as good as in the past.

Food is not good in my opinion. Drinks are so so, I usually stick to beer. The bartenders are very nice and social so it’s good. This is usually a happy hour place, grab a few drinks and off to the next place. The ambiance is nice, dim lights and pretty good music.

I used to like this place. I’ve been coming here since it was called The Captain’s Ketch back when I was in college. It is Friday at 8:34pm. The pizza here used to be good, now it’s apparently frozen. It’s really disappointing. In addition, the bartender, Kaitlin, is playing offensive music with the «B», the «F» and a lot of the «N» word going on. So we are leaving. So inappropriate.

We had our holiday party here and this place is located near the East River. We were in the basement and phone reception was close to nil. The basement resembled that of a castle in medieval times. It was quite large and well decorated for the holiday season. It has several rooms which were named after wine. Our course included tiny bites such as pizza, wings and dumplings. The buffet included seafood paella, salad, mixed veggies, rice with veggies, chicken and beef. Being a pescatarian, the seafood paella was quite delicious, the rice was very flavorful and the seafood (scallops, shrimp and clams) were all very tender and juicy, not overcooked. There was an open bar which included wine. Desserts included various items such as cookies and cake. Word is this buffet style cost $ 75 per person, I opened my mouth and said «WTF», that is expensive. It was decent but not worth $ 75 per person.

Nice bar and lounge area. Their cocktails are generous for the price, especially in the financial district. The bar menu is typical American comfort food.
I ordered the Nachos, Chicken Cordon Bleu Bites, and Pulled Pork Sliders which were pretty good. However, the chicken bites weren’t exactly exploding with Cordon Bleu. Don’t be cheap Chef! LOL
Overall, I thought it was a decent experience.

Have only been for events. NY Metropolitan Chapter of Transportation Research Forum meets here ever other month. Meetings are downstairs where there is a coat room, rest rooms, bar and two ball rooms.
For a catered type event, the food is always exceptional. I have had beef, chicken and fish entrees. They are always excellently prepared. Always have a good salad and cheesecake for desert.
All this with a program for $ 40. What a great deal. Planning to go for lunch or dinner in the restaurant. Always seems very busy. If the food is as good as for the events, has to be a good deal.

I’m writing a review and giving it one star without having ever actually dined there. But I have good reason, so read on. My wife and I who live in the neighborhood had family in town to celebrate her b-​day. She picked to eat at the Ketch, since we live so close but never tried it. It was a little later in the evening, so we checked their hours online. It clearly says on their website until 10pm during the week. We didn’t want to cut it close because we understand how inconvenient it can be to walk into a restaurant right before they close. We arrived at 8:50. Last time I checked, that’s over an hour before 10pm, their posted closing time.
We walked to the area that looked like the host area where we would be greeted to be sat. Nobody was to be seen, except the bartenders who had a busy bar to take care of. We had to pop our head into the dining room to wave at a server who was sitting in the corner on her phone doing nothing. She came across and asked what she could do for us. We kindly asked for a table for our group of 6. Her reply was something along the lines of «oh, let me check if I can because we Might close the kitchen early tonight.». As she walked away, we just kind of laughed to ourselves and turned around and walked out the door. We ended up going up the street to Bobby Vans where we got amazing service and food. If they didn’t want our business, we gladly took it elsewhere.
As I mentioned before, their posted closing time was 10pm. A restaurant should want business at any time their doors are open. Like I said, I get how inconvienient it is to walk in last minute, but we didn’t. This kind of attitude combined with the B rating they got from the Health Department that is posted on the door shows how mismanaged and poorly run this place is.

Overpriced and very bland. With the construction going around essentially hiding the restaurant had me wondering how much time they have left.

Came here for lunch on a weekday. It was very empty. There’s nothing wrong with this restaurant, but nothing particularly amazing either. You’re pretty much guaranteed that the food will be good, but nothing outstanding, so it’s more along the lines of a safe restaurant.
I ordered the blackened mahi mahi. It came with a black bean purée, avocado, and zucchini chips. The mahi mahi itself was definitely too salty, but good. The black bean purée was way too oily. It was literally dripping oil. I would’ve requested it differently had I known. The zucchini chips were good and an interesting touch.

I ordered a Turkey on Seven-​Grain for lunch since I work nearby. The only thing that separated this from the dozens of deli sandwiches in the area is that it cost me almost $ 10. Maybe their other food is better, but this was mediocre for the price.

I came here for lunch with a friend. He ordered the chicken sandwich, and I ordered the shrimp brioche. I’m not usually a fan of shrimp, since sometimes they tend to be kind of tough and sinewy. And I hate it when I can’t take a clean bite out of a sandwich. However, my teeth went through the shrimp like butter – there was no tugging, excess gnawing, or other un-​ladylike eating conduct, not that that’s bad, but this isn’t the place for that (sadly).
The sandwich was good, but, my god, the sweet potato fries were absolutely fantastic, which is why this place gets 3 stars instead of 2. The fries were so light, crisp, and airy. Not too sweet, not too salty, they were what all deep fried strips of sweet potato strive to be, but can never become.
The service, however, was sub-​par. I had to FLAG DOWN a hostess. A HOSTESS, the person who is supposed to be waiting to seat YOU. The restaurant was nearly empty when we went, but our waitress was less than attentive.
TL;DR — The food was pretty good, kind of pricey, with sub-​par service.

A little pricey for the amount of food and a great place to take clients or coworders. Excellent service as well and fabulous décor. I’m a big fan! Especially when my manager takes the whole team out for lunch.
I had the Miso Glazed Salmon that came with veggies and potatoes. The salmon was definitely the highlight, ridiculously fresh and soft and melt in your mouth goodness. I also get peeved when chefs overseason salmon and cover the natural salmon taste. Was happy this was not the case here at all. There was seasoning, but nothing that covered the natural flavor (though it didn’t optimally enhance flavor).
Try to come a little before rush hour for dining. We arrived at around noon and there was not much of a crowd yet. Absolutely delicious, but a little pricey.

After researching dining options in the Financial District for over an hour, we settled on the Captains Ketch even though it was more formal and pricey than we wanted for a weeknight dinner. The Ketch had a dark interior with an appropriate nautical theme. There wasn’t much of a crowd but those there were the typical Wall Street types. I was told that the Ketch was very popular for business lunches to impress clients.
We debated at length about what to order with many items on the menu sounding delicious especially for those who like seafood. Unfortunately, the menu items that sounded great in theory were not well executed. The appetizers, clams and steak skewers, came in incredibly small portions. I ordered the tuna which wasn’t particularly flavorful. It was served with lobster mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes had the taste and texture of instant potatoes from a box and you had to really sift through to find traces of lobster. Considering our high expectations and the price tag, the food was incredibly disappointing.

My wife and I ate here last night. That may have been the single worst dining experience of my entire life, including the time I may or may not have eaten a human ear from a street cart in Thailand.
We had an 8:45 reservation that we booked on Open Table. So we show up at that time, get seated, and the waitress tells us we should hurry with our food order because the kitchen closes at 9. WHY WOULD YOU HAVE AN 8:45 SEATING?
We ordered a bottle of wine, crab cakes and tuna tartare for appetizers, which were all fine. My wife ordered the cod, which she liked, but felt it tasted like the fish had been previously frozen. I ordered the CRISPY SKIN STRIPED BASS.
My bass came out and it was the sorriest, soggiest thing I’ve ever seen. I called the waitress over, poked at the skin with my fork, and told her the menu said crispy skin. She was very nice, apologized, and took it back. Ten minutes later, she came out and told me they will make me a new one. Ten minutes after that (and my wife being done with her dinner) she brought out another mess that had some sauce on it this time to obviously «hide» the pitiful attempt at crispy skin. I poked it again. It was soggy. I sent it back and told her to just take it off the bill.
I then asked to speak to the manager who, according to the waitress, was also the owner. She told me he left for the night. This was at around 9:30. How does a manager/​owner leave the restaurant with people seated in his dining room?
Okay, if you serve fish with the skin, learn how to crisp it. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this which I won’t go into here, but I would recommend using fresh fish. Although it’s not easy to crisp the skin of frozen fish, it’s not impossible. If you can’t accomplish this, TAKE THE DISH OFF THE MENU.
The place also looks like the dining room of a cruise ship for old people. I can’t imagine this place stays open much longer.

I would give Ketch 3 stars given its location and options down on Wall Street, but overall I would just give them 2 stars. The décor looks a little cheap and dated (even if it’s not dated, which is even worse). The dining area is right next to a party room and you are basically trapped listening to whatever cheesy music the DJ is blasting in the other room. The food was OK, but nothing really stood out. Prices were not cheap either.

I just came back from eating at The Ketch for lunch, a friend treated me out and we thought it was a fancy enough place near where we worked. The food wasn’t all that amazing, but it was passable.
The service was fair, like any restaurant should have. The décor of the restaurant was clean and superb with white tables and clothes, they wanted to give that clean and pure ambiance. Although I would’ve like it more if it had a drink menu.
We started off with the –
Pina Colada Shrimp — I have the say the prawns were quite big, it was crusted in coconut and it tasted like it was baked to me. The sauce was alright, nothing piña colada about it. The dish was then decorated with some pineapple pieces.
Crispy Calamari Boat — The calamari was placed in a napkin-​made boat, very creative. The calamari pieces were a bit small and wasn’t seasoned enough. I would’ve been happy if they had some salt on it. They also had 2 sauces, which was an orange mustard and marinara dip.
I had the Terra Trio for my entrée, which includes steak, chicken, veal, mashed potatoes, baby arugula, and mushrooms. I really liked the steak, it was moist and juicy. As for the chicken and veal, I find it to be a bit on the dry side which yield a hard texture whenever I bite into it. Though there was enough gravy on the plate, so it worked out.
Overall, quite a satisfying and fulfilling meal. Because their menu features such a wide range in choices, it makes you want to go back and try the other dishes.

I swear I’ve tried it all here at The Ketch — delivery, dinner, and lunch with no outstanding results to report. The food is decent but there is nothing glaringly unique about the place. I like a lot of the selection throughout the Financial District, but this place just becomes an average choice amongst the many American cuisine themed establishments jockeying for a formidable position in the hearts /​stomachs of foodies downtown.
I will give them this much — the décor is fairly nice. The place is clean, the tables and walls have had a contemporary look that screams a little bit of sophistication and modern comfort. The only problem is there is very little to ambiance as each time I’ve been here it’s been a little too desolate.
The food here is a bit of a split, from gourmet bar food to haute cuisine Americana. From the bar side of things, the food is hearty and the portions are good. As evidenced by my avocado burger and fries, the meal was only a heart attack away from claiming my life. The fries were also very crispy and worth mentioning. When dining in, this place is better as a date spot than it is for a group happy hour. Seafood here is best and the Panko crusted Tuna Steak happens to be my go-​to dish for din din.
Prices will be up there since its the Financial District and at the very least the service does a good job of keeping tabs on their customers. They just now need to work on their delivery, which sometimes exceeds an hour for even one meal.

Sad and Dissapointing.
My brother just started his first real job out of college at a law firm a few blocks away. He invited us out to have some grub which sounded amazing. The place was completely empty, including the bar which surprised me since we were so close to Wall St. Sitting down to eat, the dishes ordered were definitely not bad at all but for the prices, they left a lot to be desired.
Next time, I pick the restaurant.