Milwaukee has a Capital Grille. We never made it there because we discovered Carnevor (yes, that's how they spell it) and there was no reason to ever go looking for a different steak in all of Milwaukee. (I just discovered that Carnevor has a second location in...Florida. That's sort of boring.) I digress, since we love a damn fine steak and we had already tried the absurdly overrated Elway's, we thought the Capital Grille was a great spot to target during Denver Restaurant Week (it should be "Weeks" since it is really two weeks). I must admit to being skeptical of the Capital Grille for a while because it is a chain. This is another reason we waited until restaurant week to go there. If it sucked, then we only spent $52.80 on food. If it was awesome, then we only spent $52.80 on food. It's a bit of a win-win situation.
Capital Grille is all about the pretentious style that I just hate (and I always seem to run into it at steakhouses except Texas Roadhouse places, but I don't go there when I'm searching for quality red meat). The interior of the Grille is dark with lots of wood paneling and funny little lamps here and there. The servers wear a sand-colored shirt, which doesn't look unique, it just kept me thinking, why not wear white? When you're at a place like the Grille it's pretty easy to spot the regulars. They're at the bar, of course, and they call the servers by name and some of them look down their nose at people who are walking into the Grille for the first time. Well, they tried, but I'm 6'9" so they couldn't look down on me. They had to tilt there heads at a funny angle to do so.
Alright, food. I had the clam chowder for a starter. I found it to be disappointing because I expected better from the Grille, but had I been served this chowder at Chili's I would have been very impressed. Are you catching my drift? I mean, at a place like this you should get what you pay for? I know we were paying at a discounted rate, but they do want us to return, right?
The bread and butter served with dinner was average. I always appreciate when restaurants spruce up the butter, the Grille didn't.
The drinks were decent, but a little pricey for their lack of kick. I know a place you can get a $4 margarita that is better and more potent than the $12 martinis the Grille has.
The filet mignon I chose was a good piece of meat, but it might have been very slightly overcooked. We shared potatoes and vegetables. The potatoes were, unfortunately, held to the standard of Carnevor's truffled mashed potatoes, the best starch I've ever tasted. That said, they were decent.
I had the flourless chocolate cake for dessert. My wife had the creme brûlée. Both were actually quite good and we have high standards for creme brûlée since my father-in-law makes the meanest creme brûlée from scratch, kitchen torch and all.
So, it may seem like I came down pretty hard on the Capital Grille. I guess I did, even though we had a decent experience there. It's just that I don't see myself going back there anytime soon and paying full price for anything. That experience would be too painful on the wallet and not pleasurable enough for the tastebuds.
Dined March 3, 2012.
Written by B.
