We visited the Velvet Ditch a couple of weeks ago and meant to write a review then. Anyway, we were really surprised how really super nice the staff and how knowledgable they were about the menu. We ate outside and noticed how private it felt even though we were outside. Nice and easy going, we didn't feel rushed, our food came out in a timely manner and it came out hot. I had the Chicken Alfredo, my husband had Cheeseburger and Fries (MR), and my friend had Boneless Wings/fries. My husband's Cheeseburger was cooked perfectly. My Chicken Alfredo was not dry and neither was the chicken, and my friends Boneless Wings looked juicy as well. We also had apps! Our frozen adult drinks were on point. What I liked the most was that we were not rushed, instead we felt like we were in our backyard relaxed enjoying our food, drinks, and each other's company. Thank you Velvet Ditch we will be back...My husband is dying to try the Oysters! read more

The Velvet Ditch located in downtown Oxford, The Square. This is a typical college bar type restaurant with outdoor beer garden and seating with televisions and a raucous crowd. We came in to taste the local flair while on an Ole Miss college tour. The wait was lengthy however you could still stand at the bar and have a drink while you waited. We ordered a round of beers and checked out the place and the people. The bartenders were very nice, a lot of southern hospitality in this town. We were finally seated and ordered a seafood platter and a few orders of seafood gumbo. The gumbo was absolutely delicious. Shrimp that tasted amazing and sausage with great flavor. Rice cooked perfectly and overall a great dish. The seafood platter in my opinion, not worth the money. It was okay, but nothing spectacular. Coming from vegas the bar is set high on dining out as we have the best of the best in our city when it comes to places to eat. While this was a fun place to hang, it's expensive for a college town. The ahi tuna nachos at this place are absolutely amazing and a must try. Best thing I ate there. A ton of Ahi and a huge portion. There was more ahi than chips. Clean place, fair service at the tables, waitress delivered 4 entrees and saint bring the 11 year olds dinner. He sat for 15 minutes and I had to hunt her down to ask where the kids food was. Serve everyone at the same time, it's rude not to. This was a big annoyance for me as the child sits with no food while everyone else is eating for 15-20 minutes. read more

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This is a great restaurant in a college town. Restaurant had really great service and just a great overall atmosphere. The food was delicious. I had a seafood platter and mashed potatoes. My friend had fried rice with shrimp what you mean the service was great and the cost was very reasonable. If you're a cigar smoker, you can walk right across the street to a cigar shop. read more

The Velvet Ditch - Seafood platter - Seafood Near Me - Oxford, Mississippi

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Good food & service. Very interesting decor. Make sure and check out all the decorative mirrors in the women's restroom as well as the painting technique done by a local artist. read more

The Velvet Ditch - Red fish, asparagus & sweet potato fries. All well cooked & flavored. - Seafood Near Me - Oxford, Mississippi

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I could live on their patio. First, service was superb. Wide range of menu choices. Seafood choices were awesome. I imagine this is one of the top choices if you are an undergrad. Good times read more

Jenna was our server I hope that's right because 10/10 answered every question we had and went the extra mile! A great place to get drinks with the girlies and just chat it up! I have met the owner personally at landshark when they were slammed busy and he personally took care of us. After years later pleasantly surprised to get the same service from employees as well at a different location! 10/10 will be back! read more

The Velvet Ditch - Espresso martini - Seafood Near Me - Oxford, Mississippi

They've clearly gotten their act together since opening. After reading some of the reviews and seeing the pics I wasn't sure if it was someplace to try, but I'm glad we did. It's a cute vibe and the service was great. The menu seems to be a mix of seafood and chicken. We had the velvet oysters and they were delicious take on oysters Rockefeller (they have those too). A couple of things to note... you can make a reservation on the website and they automatically add in your gratuity to every check no matter the table size. They pool their tips and I can see why it's probably helpful to set it up that way. read more

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The food was delicious and the portions were huge. Service was excellent and the servers were very attentive. Our drinks were tasty too.

This place was jamming when we arrived. Being a larger party we thankfully had reservations and were seated almost immediately. The staff were friendly and attentive. We ordered everything you should order when getting the full Oxford experience. From signature drinks to the infamous gumbo. Every item showed quality and flavor. My kids were obsessed with the large mozzarella sticks and their cheese pull. Only the best mozarella sticks can come out piping hot enough to master an epic cheese pull and these absolutely passes the test. We also kicked off our meal with freshly made hummus; delicious. My husband had the lobster Mac and cheese. The lobster was piled high on top of the cheesiest Mac n cheese. No skimping out on lobster meat here. I decided on classic cheeseburger cooked medium with sweet potato fries. The temp was perfection. A nice juicy burger with fries for the perfect bar food experience. Our entire party enjoyed their meals and experience. This restaurant/bar has a high energy vibe with indoor and outdoor seating. TV's are on so you can catch all of the current sporting events. It can be a little loud outside but what good vibe place isn't. Definitely a must enjoy. read more

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I order the $100 family seafood pack and it was severely salty, Noah and his team attempted to remake the crab legs and they were still salty for our taste. They fired us up some steak and all was well. I appreciated that they attempted to make a possibly bad experience right. We don't get many date nights with 5 kids and Noah and his team saved the day and made an unhappy Wife very happy with her meal. Thanks guys! read more

Best service in Oxford. The food was spot on. The only problem was music was too loud

I made a reservation 1 month in advance to eat here on Easter Sunday at 12:15 PM (after Church) at 9:36 AM on the day OF my reservation, I received a text from V.D. that all 12:15 reservations were moved back to 1:30 PM ‍How can they possibly run a restaurant this way? I've heard the food is good but I guess I will never know b/c I'm not going back. Totally Unacceptable. read more

Unacceptable experience tonight. We went to meet some friends for dinner. There were 3 employees at the entrance and they told us it there is a $40 cover per person. We stepped away to discuss this and came back and asked if the $40 cover included anything and they said "no". We said we were meeting friends and they asked if our friends had a a table and we said yes. The 3 people working the entranced then proceeded to let us in and give us a wrist band without paying the $40 cover per person. We get to the table and no one at the table was asked to pay a $40 cover. My brother and 3 other friends arrive 5 min after us and proceed to get their wrist band and were never asked to pay a $40 cover. This was a total scam and unacceptable . If anyone paid this cover they were pocketing the money. We tried to find a manger, but the place was too busy. read more

Worst bar ever when you spend hundreds of dollars and they won't let you use your $5 off reward they are useless

We've watched the construction and opening and explosion of The Velvet Ditch for months and so decided to try it out. Our first attempt at 8pm on a Wednesday was a failure since it was just too jam packed so we came back at opening on Thursday. Josh at the bar immediately made us feel at home and in fact all of the staff was super friendly. We tried a variety of items since we probably will be coming back for the next 20 years and everything was truly amazing. We learned that you can call and make reservations so that's what we will do in the future. The filet (rare obviously) was excellent and the chef actually came out to make sure he had cooked it to our liking. The catfish was as good as we've had anywhere, and the chargrilled oysters and crab bisque were just as good. The onion rings, hush puppies, and mac n cheese were also good. In terms of drinks, we had multiple mojitos and palomas (if you know us you know that's our drinks of choice and a good test of a bar) and we also tried all the frozen drinks. In our opinion, the cherry limeade and pina colada are the best - just too bad Oxford doesn't encourage togo drinks. Our only wish was for a larger dessert selection but we were told that is coming soon (coconut creme pie please!). In summary, this place lived up to the hype and explained the large nightly crowds. Can't wait to visit on a game weekend and bring our out of town friends! read more

We've been a few times and we have always enjoyed the food. Twice in one week we went back for crab and crawfish. Great atmosphere and energetic staff. Accommodating of larger tables too. Looking forward to a trip there in May when I'm back in town. read more

Food was excellent. Service was superb, ambiance was very relaxing and chill. Will definitely be back. read more

The Velvet Ditch - 12 piece traditional wings - Seafood Near Me - Oxford, Mississippi

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Susan B get a life! The Velvet Ditch is awesome and great...drinks are to die for. Best service and delish..... just saying. When I travel from Virginia I ALWAYS go there. Service is impeccable. read more

Review of The Velvet Ditch, Oxford: Come for the Drinks, Stay for the Trauma If you absolutely must visit The Velvet Ditch, do yourself a favor: sit as far away from the bar as humanly possible and stick to bottled drinks. Preferably ones with tamper-proof seals. Think of it less as a bar and more as a low-stakes Fear Factor set, minus the prize money. Let's start with the ambiance. Imagine if a frat house, a dumpster, and a forgotten Mardi Gras float had a baby--then that baby decided to open a bar. The Velvet Ditch is cluttered, sticky, and radiating the sort of odor that makes you consider taking up a vow of sobriety. I don't fault an outdoor bar for being a little pollen-dusted in springtime, but when the menusare sticky enough to qualify as flytraps and the air smells like a low-tide seafood massacre near every waste bin, pollen is the least of your problems. Visual highlights included: filthy rags tossed around like confetti, half-eaten Dunkin' boxes, sad Starbucks cups, and trash just living its best life right next to the liquor bottles. You know, the same bottles they use to make your drinks. A+ for transparency, I guess? Now let's talk about the service--or the experimental art performance that pretended to be service. A small army of staff was present, but most of them were either deep in existential phone scrolling or engaged in casual gossip circles while customers stood around like forgotten Sims. I witnessed a food runner literally stop en route to a customer's table to swipe food off the plate. This wasn't a one-time thing. Four stops and an impromptu buffet later, the staff was dining al fresco... on someone else's dinner. Bold. But nothing--nothing--could prepare me for the group of female staffers who decided that the patio was the perfect spot for... communal armpit cleansing. Yes, you read that right. Armpits. Washed. In public. During a shift. With zero handwashing before returning to handle food. Somewhere, a health inspector just screamed into the void and doesn't know why. The Velvet Ditch might call itself a bar, but what it really offers is an immersive performance art piece on what happens when everyone just gives up at the same time. One star, and that's only because zero isn't an option. read more

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Love this place! Food and drinks are great and they have the best staff! Everything on the menu is good!

Excellent food and service !! The owner even came over and introduced himself. Great outdoor patio. read more

blond thin hostess was terrible we put our name in at 6 by 9:30 we still didn't have a table. I went to ask she said she couldn't tell us and was doing wristbands. thankfully we hung with another couple who had a table and the waiter was fantastic handling us.. read more

Very good food. Service very friendly. Not all outside tables have umbrellas. Asked to move but was told the tables were reserved. Tables sat unused for long periods of time while I sat in the sun cooking. read more

The Velvet Ditch - Open table!!! - Seafood Near Me - Oxford, Mississippi

The atmosphere is confusing inside. Super load music, sports tvs everywhere. The chargrilled oyster are good! read more

The Velvet Ditch - Oyster Rockerfeller too spicy! Chargrilled oyster are the best - Seafood Near Me - Oxford, Mississippi

We had excellent food and service 2 nights in a row here. The atmosphere is fun on the yard outside. Tyler was an excellent waitress and kept the drinks flowing. We had dinner and drinks both nights, the food was awesome! My husband and I split the pork chop with asparagus 2 nights in a row because it was so good along with an order of hush puppies that are equally amazing. Thanks Jarod we love Velvet! read more

The Velvet Ditch - Pork chop with asparagus - Seafood Near Me - Oxford, Mississippi

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Great service, super nice staff. Also great wings!!! We always have the best time at velvet Dutch

Jared and his staff were amazing! Drinks were great! Food came out fast and was so good! We had the shrimp, mozzarella sticks and shrimp and grits. Everything was soooo good! Will definitely come back! Can't wait for the new outdoor space! read more

The atmosphere is so fun. Service was quick and attentive as well as super friendly: they sure like their Cajun seasoning.

Amazing. Wonderful environment. It was an amazing place. We had a great time! I will definitely go again

Best Royal reds I've ever had. The oysters were equally amazing. The cheese grits were good but not the best I've had. My husband said his burger and fries were good. We had multiple different employees stop by our table and ask how things were. Customer service here is top notch. read more

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We ate at The Velvet Ditch recently and was Not Impressed. Don't let the turf carpet patio and the heavy colorful curtains inside fool you. The smell of cheap fabuloso inside made my stomach turn. The food is cheap and subpar. They serve drinks out of plastic cups. The fries were cold, the so called catfish is cheap swai. Also the women's restroom had no tissue. We had to use paper towels to wipe and on top of the cheap tasting food, awful fabuloso smell, no toilet tissue in the restroom; they had the nerves to charge a 20% gratuity to the already overly priced food and no it was not a group or party of people! We will never eat here again! read more

100% Honest Review. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (one dude's opinion) The Good: The food is awesome. The fried fish and shrimp were hot, fresh, and seasoned nicely (just a little salty). The chicken alfredo was some of the best I've ever had. Perfecto. Also, the service was excellent. They gonna give you the smallest, flimsiest, cheapest plastic cup to hold your 6.5 oz of soda but they're gonna refill it nineteen times. What I'm saying is they're going to check on you a lot. A+++ The Bad: The prices and portions are ridiculous. The chicken alfredo (which tasted great!) came in a fairly small bowl with (seriously) about 3 oz of grilled chicken and it cost $15.99. I ended up having to order a second one. It's one thing to charge Oxford prices but it's another when I have to dig around in my wife's purse for a granola bar after I finish my plate. Come on now; it's just chicken and pasta. Put a little more in that bowl! Also, the tables were so crammed tight together that I was rubbing shoulder blades with the person behind me. The Ugly: The place looks like a bordello. The moment I walked in I thought I was in a gentleman's club and needed to go get some singles. All that's missing is a pole and some upside down pineapples. Also tacky is the 3% service fee for using a credit card. Petty. Summary: This place isn't a restaurant that serves alcohol. It's a bar that serves food. It has some awesome food, a more awesome staff, an out of whack pricing/portion model, and a cramped, loud, weird interior. We've met Jared (owner) and he seems like a super nice, humble, Christian fella and we look forward to seeing him again...at The Landshark (his other restaurant across town). read more

Despite the place being completely packed the food, service, and atmosphere were great! Servers were very attentive and checked on us frequently. We will definitely be back! read more

They have zero consideration for neighbors blasting music late in to the night instead of abiding by common decency.

Food was great but service was less than acceptable. No silverware and had to run down a waitress to get silverware. Told the waitress of an allergy to onions...got bisque with green onions on top. Restaurant automatically charges a 20% tip regardless is service quality and adds 3.5% for credit cards. Will be slow to go back. read more

Excellent service. The owner was very accommodating to help us get seated. Bartenders and servers were equally attentive and friendly. Food was served hot and presented great. Royal Reds were delicious and served with an excellent garlic butter and cocktail sauce. Generous pours on wine too. We will be back! read more

Every item on this menu is PHENOMENAL!! (& yes I've tried every single item!). The vibe here reminds me of New Orleans... which makes it feel like home... & the service is insane, every server checks on every single table. 10/10 recommend read more

Bratton willoughby is the greatest bartender ever this place is the best bar on the oxford square