Capital Grille

The steak is the best I have ever had and the chicken was really good and only $22 and big enough to take home. The sides are all a la carte, but you can ask for a half size. The martinis are very good. The chocolate flourless cake never dissapoints. The staff is great and they take take very good care of you. It is a treat to go there since it is expensive but worth every penny! You have to make sure you make reservations or you will probably wait a while for a table especially on a Saturday night.

I don't frequently write reviews, and I certainly don't usually write a good review; but I LOVE this restaurant and have always had the most wonderful experience. We are by no means the rich that can afford to eat there weekly, I dont wear Prada, and Im not part of the rich and famous; yet I have always felt like the most important person in the room. From the genuine friendly greeting at the door to the smile and welcome from the service staff and management, I felt like I belonged there.
I try to make the Capital Grille more than our special occasion restaurant; I think that we deserve it. Everyone deserves to be treated like they belong, to be served GREAT food in a warm and welcoming atmosphere and to be appreciated for your business.
I am truly regretful that Legolas and Mugsy had a bad experience, but I cant imagine that any member of the staff that I have met at The Capital Grille could come off as pretentious, they are so far from it, it is one of the greatest reasons to go to The Capital Grille instead of so many other options out there; I always feel valued and I will always come back.

As a couple with young children, the chance to go out for a quiet dinner for two is rare. So when you go in such circumstances, you want it to be a special experience. We had just such an experience at the Capital Grille the other week. The management and staff made us feel instantly at home, and we were able to relax and enjoy a superb dinner from drinks to dessert. When we arrived, we were greeted by a manager and told that our table was ready. We asked instead if we could sit at the bar and have a drink first. This was no problem. The bartender poured two wonderful drinks, we never felt rushed, and when we were ready, so was our table. Our waiter, Chris, was friendly and helpful, chatty but not too much so, and he made sure we lacked for nothing throughout the evening. He also had a wonderful wine recommendation that complemented our entrees perfectly. The food was simply terrific. A kona-encrusted steak was an eye-opener and the steak au poivre was fabulous. The steaks were cooked perfectly and melted in our mouths. We particularly liked the hint of nutmeg (?) in the creamed spinach side. And the lobster mac and cheese was unbelievably delicious. We couldnt decide which of the desserts to choose, so the general manager brought over an incredibly rich cheesecake and dense espresso cake with some nice port to accompany them. From start to finish, a wonderful experience. A bonus bit of fun was seeing some of the cast of Brotherhood dining at a nearby table. If your budget and baby-sitters permit, or if such things dont impinge on your life, wed recommend going for more than the special occasion. We are already trying to figure out when we can make it back.

The review below describing the night of July 14 was written by my brother who was with me during this disasatrous evening and everything he wrote is 100% true. I actually emailed Capital Grille on July 17th describing what happened that night. My email specifically said that I was not interested in gift certificates or a comp'd dinner. I explained that I did not write letters of complaint to score freebies and that their opportunity to get me to come back was while I was still in the restaurant, not after the fact. They let a customer leave dissappointed and angry and the recompense for that is no repeat business. Nevertheless, Barb from "corporate" responded with a form email and a request for my phone number so that one of the suits could call me and make this right. I repsonded that I was not giving out my phone number and that I had already stated what happened. I repeated my pre-refusal of a freebie and told them to email me if I they had any further need to contact. Never heard from them again. Surprise, surprise.

What my brother's review did not include was the table full of 20 or so men who must have been heading to a bachelor party after dinner. They were so loud and boisterous, their activities caused silence to fall over the dining room several times and drew many glares and stares. I was thinking management would step in and quiet them down, but that turned out to be expecting too much. So if you want a place where you'll likely pay $125 per person to have your hearing ruined, get served a cold, tough, gristly, flavorless steak and enjoy a nice indoor shower while you dine, this is the place for you.

I do have to say that the host staff was very friendly and knew what they were doing and the bartender was very attentive and good at his job. But that's not enough to save this place, where management and operations are very weak.

I had the unfortunate experience of going to The Capital Grille on Sat July 14th 2007. Everything started out well enough, save for the fact you could not hear a conversation at your table if your life depended on it. But, once salads were served things took a real turn for the worst. Just after salads arrived, a member of our party started getting dripped on by the air conditioning unit. This was brought to the attention of the waiter and moments later another waiter appeared with a mop handle with a kitchen apron tied to it. The waiter used this ingenious tool to wipe the vent. Ten minutes later the drips returned, not the waiter, the water. Fourty five minutes had passed and dinners were nowhere to be seen. Once dinner arrived, two steaks were promply returned to the kitchen. One steak was cooked but cold, the other not cooked to order. The steaks were returned to the table by two men in suits, who must have been some level of management, I'm guessing at that. Their apologies were as lifeless and as uninspired as the decor of the establishment. I will give those two kudos for being the most pretentious in the room though. If this is someones idea of fine dining, they need their head examined. To pay that kind of money, for that kind of service and treatment is a sin. The owners and management and chefs should be wearing bags on their heads in shame. Appetizers and drinks were okay, the dinner was nothing special and there were better steaks to be found at Arby's. "The Capital ill", as I have come to call it, is over the top on hype and lacking in real substance,brains, and integrity.