Capital Grille
Oof! We unfortunately just had a VERY disappointing experience at Capital Grille (which pains me to write because this used to be my favorite steak house in Colorado). This also comes on the tail of my girl friends and I having a very bad experience back in January so I think the restaurant as a whole is slipping.
We dined at Cap Grille in Larimer Square last Wednesday for Ross' birthday. It was packed due to May graduations. Regardless of how busy a restaurant like Capital Grille is, the caliber of the food and service should never suffer since it's a fine dining establishment. The food and service we experienced were certainly not up to par with what we're used to and I'm attributing that to the restaurant not being prepared for such a busy night.
There was a birthday card and birthday confetti at our table in honor of Ross' birthday - this was a great touch and is the type of service we've come to love from Capital Grille. Too bad it didn't extend into our meal!
The manager took our drink order and I ordered a glass of Patz & Hall Chardonnay and Ross ordered a diet coke.
The chardonnay was good; however, I ordered this wine because I wanted to pair it with our appetizers. I had finished my first glass of wine before our appetizers were even brought to the table. That's how slow the food was coming out of the kitchen. So I was forced to enjoy my first glass of wine with the bread basket.
Our server Shirley, was very sweet but was like a deer in headlights throughout our entire meal. It was very easy to see she was spread too thin with too many tables and she didn't come over to start taking our food orders for about 20 minutes. Now this isn't Shirley's fault, this is management's fault for not adequately preparing for a very busy dinner service.
When Shirley saw that both of our drinks were empty, she asked if I'd like to order a second glass of wine. I said yes and Ross got another diet coke. When Shirley came back with the refills - which once again beat the appetizers coming to the table - she brought Ross two diet cokes...aka: the restaurant is slammed and I'm not going to be able to get you refills in ample time. It felt very Red Robin and isn't something an upscale steakhouse should be doing.
Ross and I had finished almost the entire bread basket before our appetizers arrived; which we hate doing because then we fill up on bread rather than really getting to enjoy our apps and entrees.
For appetizers we had the Fresh Oysters on the Half Shell and the and the Prosciutto-Wrapped Mozzarella with Vine Ripe Tomatoes. We had been at the restaurant for 40 minutes when the appetizers had finally arrived.
The Fresh Oysters on the Half Shell were served on ice with mignonette sauce.
The oysters were incredible and so fresh. Capital Grille does have some of the best oysters you can find in Denver - you just might have to wait a long time for them to come to the table.
The Prosciutto-Wrapped Mozzarella with Vine Ripe Tomatoes are lightly sautéed and served with crisp crostini and 15-year aged balsamic.
The Prosciutto-Wrapped Mozzarella tasted of beautifully melted cheese and savory salty meat. The 15 year-aged balsamic complemented the prosciutto wrapped mozzarella wonderfully with its complex sweetness that brought forth notes of fig and molasses. The sautéed tomatoes had a nice citrusy tartness that further elevated this appetizer.
Next up was soup and salads - we had a cup of the Caramelized French Onion Soup, I had the Field Greens Salad and Ross had the Caesar Salad.
The Caramelized French Onion Soup is made with Sweet onions under a blanket of melted cheeses.
The soup was good - nothing to write home about but we'd order it again.
The Field Greens Salad is made with Butter Leaf Lettuce, Heirloom Tomatoes, Parmesan Vinaigrette. This salad was DRENCHED in Parmesan Vinaigrette making it very difficult to eat. I had three bites and then moved it to the side.
The Caesar Salad comes with Grana Padano Croutons. Ross liked his salad.
For entrees I had the Filet Mignon, Ross had the Bone-In Kona Crusted Dry Aged NY Strip and we shared 1lb of King Crab Legs. By the times our entrees came, we had been at the restaurant for an hour and a half.
The Filet Mignon 10 oz is termed by Capital Grille "a timeless entrée, prepared to your liking". Normally I would agree with them as this is what I always order when dining at Capital Grille. I ordered my steak medium-rare, it came out rare AF (almost what I would call blue rare and you can easily discern this from the pictures I took).
The steak was seared on the outside and certainly hadn't stopped mooing on the inside. It was a cool red center and the interior maintained a gel-like texture that you get with a blue rare or rare steak. This was not a medium-rare steak. I normally would have complained but everything was taking so long we decided it wasn't worth it. I took two bites which I drenched in béarnaise sauce to help mask how rare it was and then put it to the side to be boxed up. So disappointing!
The Bone-In Kona Crusted Dry Aged NY Strip with Shallot Butter is an acclaimed coffee-rubbed, boldly flavored New York strip.
Ross ordered his NY Strip medium - it came out medium-rare. He liked it ok and didn't want to complain because everything was taking so GD long.
Now, thank baby Jesus for the 1lb of King Crab Legs! They were perfect! MAYBE because they didn't need to be cooked lol.
The King crab leg meat was snowy white with streaks of red and had a perfect sweet, mild flavor. The crab meat broke off of the shells in large, thick and tender pieces which made for easy dipping in the butter. They were amazing.
For sides we had the Lobster Mac & Cheese and the Asparagus. The Lobster Mac & Cheese was great. The Asparagus was standard.
Now at this point we had been at the restaurant for 2 hours. We needed to leave. We asked for the remainder of meal to be boxed up, for the check & ordered dessert - the Classic Crème Brûlée. Dessert on a birthday is normally comp'd but this was forgotten and added to our bill.
The Classic Crème Brûlée with seasonal berries was phenomenal. The Creme Brûlée was a rich vanilla custard with a crisp crust. It was the perfect combination of vanilla and caramel flavors. Capital Grille has the best Crème Brûlée in town.
At this point Shirley realized she had charged us for the Crème Brûlée so asked if we wanted a different dessert for free and boxed up to go. Ross said yes and ordered the Cheesecake. This took another 10 minutes to come out.
I’m not sure if/when we’ll be returning to Capital Grille. They’ve lost their rank in my book.
Capital Grille
Located in: Larimer Square
Address: 1450 Larimer St, Denver, CO 80202
Health & safety: Mask required · Staff wear masks · Staff get temperature checks · Staff required to disinfect surfaces between visits · More details
Phone: (303) 539-2500
Reservations: thecapitalgrille.com, opentable.com
Order: thecapitalgrille.com