The Capital Grille — Restaurant in Boston

After asking our server if this establishment participated in restaurant week, their attitude towards me completely changed. This was obviously a bit jarring, since I did call to ask about whether or not they were participating this year, and they confirmed that they were doing so. After discovering it was not a possibility to experience their restaurant week menu, I was still more than happy to move on and enjoy a nice dinner with my friends, but things took a turn for the worst.

The server asked us for our IDs when we were ordering drinks, and he was not able to easily find my DOB on my passport. This happens to me often, because I have a foreign passport - they all look different, so it might take a little longer to find certain details. It's completely understandable. I was trying to be polite to make this easier for him, by telling him, "Oh, it's a foreign passport, so the date's in a different location." The server immediately got very defensive and extremely rude. He implied I was being difficult with him and told me that he was also a foreigner, and that I didn't have to be so rude to him just because he didn't provide us with restaurant week menus. It was shocking for me to hear this, so I clarified that I wasn't upset about the restaurant week menus, and I was just trying to help him out and make his job a little easier by pointing out where the date was. This man did not bother to pay attention to a single word that was coming out of my mouth and continued to go on about how I was oh so angry that we couldn't do restaurant week here. It seemed as though he was doing that thing that some people just love to do to women of color, where they just assume we're angry and aggressive all the time. (Fun fact: we actually aren't! We're just like other human beings, so please treat us as such.) I, quite frankly, did not give a flying ** about those restaurant week menus at this point, and didn't understand why he thought I was so frustrated about it when I already told him that I was okay with ordering off the regular dinner menu. Like I said earlier, I just wanted to go out and have a nice dinner with my friends. That's all I was there to do. In the end, we finished our drinks and decided to go to a better restaurant in the same neighborhood that had servers who were very kind and helpful.

This place is so racist, so don't bother going here if you aren't white. They'll just assume you can't afford to eat there if you inquire about restaurant week and will treat you incredibly differently if you're foreign and not white. I say this as the only non-white person at our table - no one else at the table was being treated the way I was. If I could give this place zero stars, then I...

We had flown into Boston to celebrate my birthday, a major one. I decided to have my birthday dinner here since I ate here about a year ago and it was excellent. I had the Bone in Ribeye 22oz perfectly cooked to medium rare and the sides were excellent as well. Everything during this visit was going great until I ordered a medium rare dry aged 18oz bone in NY strip steak. The steak they brought out was medium not medium rare, I showed the waiter the steak, they asked me to cut into the very center of the steak, to which I said most of the steak should be medium rare not just the very center. They saw the center and immediately said sorry I'll bring you out another. It's very annoying but it can happen, it does mess the flow of having dinner up as my guest already had their main dish as well. A few minutes later Karim the wine manager(according to biz card) comes over to the table with a huge "What's the problem here" opening line and attitude? I was shocked, did he consider me as the problem by sending a steak back? I asked what are you talking about? He then goes on to condescendingly lecture me in front of my guest that the steak was perfectly cooked medium rare throughout and very strongly implied I obviously don't know what a medium rare steak is after eating countless medium rare steaks including at this location. He was completely rude and confrontational which is exactly the opposite of how any should ever behave that works in a restaurant, especially a manager. I was totally stunned and blindsided during my dinner that a manager of all people would behave and mistreat a customer like this over a steak being sent back in a top steak house. I then asked him why would the waiter say they were bringing out another steak after looking at the center, didn't that mean they agreed with me, to which he didn't answer. He completely ruined our dinner on my birthday for what possible reason? Did he want me to take the original steak back? What do I have to possibly gain by delaying my dinner and sending a steak back that was over cooked? I asked the waiter what just had happened and why, they said they had no idea what was going on. They then soon arrived with another steak and side but we were so upset over his horribly rude nonsensical behavior that we decided to leave after trying to process the situation. The waiter refused to let us pay for anything, I said I really waited to pay for what we had up to that point but they again refused and I left a generous cash tip instead. I hope the Capital Grill takes this matter very seriously as no one should be treated in this...

So I came here for a celebratory lunch with my father. I don’t usually start with the atmosphere but this is old school steak house hunting lodge vibes and it really knocks that out of the park. Deep brown wood everywhere, old beautiful pictures and statues. Lighting was atmospheric and cozy. Service was similarly pleasant and attentive.

I ordered a cup of the French onion soup, and their seared tuna entree option. I also had the mint lemonade and a glass of iced tea.

The soup was classic and good. I’ve had better, but it was definitely near the top of French onion soups I’ve had. I thought a cup was the perfect amount.

I don’t really like steak, but looking over the menu beforehand the seared tuna caught my eye. For me it’s the closest think I’ll get to eating steak, and I gotta say I really liked it. I ordered it rare and as I expected it was seared on both sides but raw in the middle, as it should be! It was encrusted with sesame seeds and plated on a small bed of rice which was very nicely and surrounded by a small bit of oil and sauce that I was constantly dabbing my meat into before biting in. In fact, if I had one complaint it was that I could have used more of it.

It came with a large side of asparagus which, besides being too much for one person, was also the only thing I ate that I’m fairly certain I could (and really have) replicate at home. Did not feel particularly special, though decent.

Actually that’s not quite the truth. I ordered both the mint lemonade (outstanding! Would highly recommend) and a glass of iced tea (unsweetened and would NOT recommend). A chimpanzee with a jug and a packet of Lipton could make that iced tea.

Overall the food was very good, and the atmosphere was outstanding. We sat in a booth right next to the kitchen which I greatly enjoyed as I love getting a peak in the inner workings of the kitchen.

So why four stars and not five? Because at the price point of this restaurant very good food is to be expected. It has better be quite good for the money. And while the food was good nothing was mind blowing and I can think of many many cheaper restaurants all throughout the greater boston area with cheaper and yummier food that HAS blown my mind. For a fancy steak house it’s good! But it didn’t make me reevaluate my relationship to food. I know that’s a high bar, but that’s what I expect when paying...