The Capital Grille
“I ordered clam chowder for my appetizer, the Bone-In Kona Sirloin steak, and the flour-less espresso chocolate cake.”
“Between our group we shared a rib eye steak, lobster mac and cheese, crab cakes, and fried calamari with hot peppers.”
“but the service of course was impeccable because i was offered clam chowder and their signature cheesecake (off the menu) on the house.”
The Capital Grille
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Coat Check: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$$$ Price range Above $61
8 reviews
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We took a client here expecting a lovely sit down lunch. What we had instead was a lovely incredibly long wait.
DO NOT TAKE CLIENTS HERE, it makes you look bad.
The service was atrocious. The staff, while very nice, disappeared for most of the meal. Besides the fact that it took an hour and a half just to get a salad, when we did get our food it was not prepared as we ordered it.
This combined with the fact that it took ANOTHER 45 minutes after we had the salad to get our main courses, was ridiculous. We were all very hungry by the time we got our food and some of our table had to leave early which makes everyone look bad.
Lunch took two and a half hours (this is NOT an exaggeration).
The restaurant proceeded to only comp one meal, which was also ridiculous considering that they knew the service was bad and even came over to apologize.
This is in a very large space, which was full. Typically kitchens can service the space of the restaurant but somewhere along the way Capital Grille never learned this lesson.
The food was great but avoid unless you just want to kill three hours getting annoyed and waiting on food.
I've been to Capital Grille on a couple of occasions (both in fidi and midtown) for trendy corporate lunches (never on my own dime of course). Service is mediocre – nothing awe dropping.
On my most recent trip, both my clients and colleagues ordered salads so I felt obligated to order a salad as well. Opting for the grilled chicken caesar salad. And typically I don't pay attention to calorie count associated with dishes, but took a peak and low and behold the chicken caesar salad had twice as many calories as any other salad and actually more calories than every fish entree! I wasn't totally sure why/how but that was the way it was.
The cheese castle surrounding the chicken caesar salad was absolutely monstrous, delicious but a little overwhelming. Grilled chicken was fine, I could probably grill chicken just as good…
Will of course return.
Another classic FiDi steakhouse. Catering mostly to the Wall St. business crowd and restaurant week crowd. Steaks are excellent and so is service. I don't think you can choose a bad meal here. It is extremely pricey so be prepared. If you're in the area this is a solid choice. I would probably not come here if I was not in the area.
When I go to Capital Grille, there are only two possible explanations: 1) A business event that I'm not paying for & 2) It's restaurant week. I find this restaurant to be far too expensive for what it is and I'd rather pay that price elsewhere (I'm not crazy enough about steak). This time, it was for the latter reason, and while I still think Capital Grille is overpriced, I appreciate that I can always get consistency in quality of food and service. There are no surprises on the menu – it's your classy old-school American steakhouse.
We came in a group of 9 and were seated in a very nice private dining room. We started with two bottles of Argentinian Malbec ($40 each). I loved this wine, not only did it go well with the steak, but it was sweet enough that I could drink it alone.
For my appetizer, I had the clam chowder. It was delicious! I loved the consistency and all the little pieces of shell-less clams inside the soup.
For my main entree, I had a medium rare aged sirloin steak with arugula / mozzarella salad. The steak was already nicely chopped up but not yet mixed with the salad. The portion of meat is perfect for lunch but definitely smaller than a lot of the offerings on the menu, in particular the dinner menu. I thought the meat was pretty well-seasoned. I later asked for some steak sauce, which unfortunately is not made in-house, and I immediately regretted my decision because the sauce was just too overwhelming! The steak wasn't the most melt-in-my-mouth amazing steak of my life, but it was definitely above average quality.
Finally, for dessert, I had the flourless expresso chocolate cake. By now, I've had enough wine, meat, bread, etc. to be in a food coma. Amazingly, the second I bit into that caffeine infused cake, I immediately started feeling awake again (crazy!). The flavors in the cake were great, but it was TOO DENSE in my opinion. I could barely eat a third of it. I ended up finishing my friend's creme brûlée, which tasted much superior in comparison.
I still think Capital Grille is overpriced unless you come for Restaurant Week (or if someone else is paying), so try to come while the Restaurant Week deal is still going on!
A pompous place… with all its finery serving as a vestigial homage to the Wall Street of yesteryear. Upon walking in this past Friday, I knew that my time here would be an experience. Some of the trappings included a garishly appealing bar in the middle of the restaurant (serving up $14 G&Ts), a four piece brass ensemble doing their best interpretation of polyrhythmic 1920s jazz, and monumentally appealing (albeit grossly superfluous) security measures in the form of a large vault door in the basement level.
The menu items also reflected an amount of ceremony on par with that of the rest of the joint's trappings. Essentially, choice cuts as gathered from well bred bovine stock, cooked on high temperatures for no longer than the snap of a finger… with the prices pretty much reflecting the industry standard (of high end steakhouses).
Luckily for myself and the rest of my dinner party, it was restaurant week; this in turn means a cheaper meal…. or at least one would usually be led to believe. As the 4th RW stop in two weeks, for myself, I knew that this was not necessarily the case (booze prices rack up a pretty penny in addition to the base $38). No matter, this is to be expected (and no one ever forces anyone else to drink).
The selection of the table ran the gamut as far as the cuts of steak that were picked. Filet Mignon for a few, beef tournedos for another, and the 14 oz. NY strip for myself. I typically get my steaks cooked rare; since my past couple steakhouse experiences generated more medium rare results, I decided to ask for a steak "as rare as you can possibly make it." Instead of this resulting in the "rare" that I expected, a black and blue with a white hot 30 second sear was pretty much what I ended up with. Still tasty as all hell, but I came out of RW batting .000 when it came to wellness of my steaks (#firstworldproblems).
The best of the night though had to go to the tournedos ordered by one in my party. Well seasoned, super moist, and succulent… it had me wondering if I had made the right choice that night…
In the end, we each spent less than $100 but more than $90, per person, after tip. A few shocked faces, after being enticed to join our dinner party under the guise of a $38 three course menu; luckily for me, my past RW experiences had me prepared (or at leased rendered me insensitive and un-surprised by the price tag at night's end)… At least it's all going to a good cause (gainz… lolz).
It was all worth the push to get my sick self to Capital Grille in order to accompany a good friend and fellow Elite to dine here for lunch. Sneezing, shivering and coughing on a bright, sunny and humid day, I cursed under my breath for agreeing to accompany my friend a few days earlier to sample a life of luxurious dining without breaking the bank during restaurant week.
As soon as we entered the venue, my eyes drifted to the interesting décor and layout of the place. It was definitely fine dining. Yet, it was, surprisingly crowded – I had no idea so many people dined here for lunch on a random Wednesday. We were attended to promptly and were given a nice, cozy booth in a corner on the second floor.
—-SERVICE
The true experience came when we met Frederik Magalona, who took wonderful care of us and always had a smile on his face. By taking care of us, I mean, he was sensitive to the fact that I was sick, and so ensured that there was no draft in our area. There wasn't – I was just cold. Therefore, he quickly brought me hot water for my tea to ensure that I was always warm.
On top of being sensitive to my needs and going out of his way to ensure I had a great experience, he was very kind and flexible to my friend's specifics when it came to food (i.e no cheese on the cheeseburger…[I know right? Why order that in the first place? But it just proved Frederik's kindness and helpfulness]). Overall, if it wasn't for Frederik, this would've been another normal 3.5 – 4 star review, but Frederik really went over the top! When I come back here, I will request for Frederik!
—-FOOD
We ordered the following:
– Wedge with Bleu Cheese and Applewood Smoked Bacon: We substituted the Bleu Cheese for Balsamic, and it was very good. This was a great appetizer.
– Clam Chowder: This was average; I've had better.
– Dry aged sirloin with roasted pepper, fresh mozzarella and arugula salad: We requested medium rare, and was made to our liking.
– The Grille's Signature Cheeseburger with parmesan truffle fries: We requested a hamburger instead and also requested it to be medium rare – we were satisfied. However, I personally like the dry aged sirloin a tad better.
– Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake: This was too dark for me, but my friend loved it.
– Classic Crème Brulee: I thoroughly enjoyed this dessert and definitely made room for this in my tummy!
A little stuffy but the food is consistently EXCELLENT.
I love CG's atmosphere and gravitas. The decor is so indicative of old school Wall Street in the best way. Don't over think it, just love it. The downstairs bar is full of life and money. The prices are commensurate with the clientele and location.
I came here most recently for a business lunch. Everything we ordered was good – the calamari, crab cakes and creamed spinach were highlights. I ordered lobster a bed a green salad as my entree. I didn't really want steak. My colleagues ordered steak and enjoyed it.
We were seated directly under an A/C vent BLASTING on us and it made our good and our bodies f-f-f-freezing. And miserable. When they packed our leftovers to go. They included my colleague's steak tartar in my bag. She was going to bring this to her dog and, because I wouldn't see her until Monday, I had to throw it out. The food came out quickly. Too quickly for my colleague's preference but I was cool with it.
I'll definitely be back here because I love the whole experience of being in such a FiDi institution. Go on an expense account and the food will taste even better.