Capital City Music Hall — Restaurant in Hampden Township

Updated 2024 Review: I went here on Sunday, May 26, 2024 for the Retro & Rad event "Retro On Tap 2". I had been wanting to get back and give this place another try since it seemed like my wife and I were the only people on planet Earth that had a bad experience here, and we really truly did. Well, everything is different now, and I guess for the better. It is no longer a traditional craft brewpub, though there is still a small bar, outside seating area, and a small food menu. But the big inside bar and elaborate kitchen and menu that were here in 2022 are all gone. Now, apparently this place is designed to be more of an event venue.

I had one beer while I was here and it was good. The event itself was great! Lots of vendors selling vintage collectable "toys" and other items. I got some great stuff from a vendor that came all the way from Maine. We did not eat anything or use the restrooms, so I can't comment on any of that. But as an event venue and for this event in particular, it was a fine experience. I would certainly come back.

Original 2022 Review: I had been really looking forward to coming here for a while. I love the fact that kids are not allowed in. But unfortunately, the cool decor and no kids was really the only part I liked. We were here on a pretty slow Saturday afternoon. Minimal customers, only really the bar was full. The beers were bland, I had a sour, an IPA, and the brown. None were "bad" but none of them tasted unique at all. The food was also bland, the ribs were dry on the inside and the Mac and cheese was only kinda warm. My wife did enjoy the tacos she got. Our food came out very quickly, so it's not hard to figure it was probably sitting around for a while before we ordered. Our bartenders were not the greatest either. I sat without beer for a good while after the first round, and they seemed more interested in talking to each other than anything else. Last but not least, the bathroom smelled like feces, the smell wafted quite a ways out from the bathroom area as well, it was bad. It was definitely an open sewer smell and not a smell from someone just going. Sadly, I probably will not come back. Too many better places to go in the area. I wish them luck and hope they do well...

From the web site we figured this was going to be a quirky place and just had to find out for ourselves. We weren't disappointed. It doesn't take a genius to figure there's more than a slight nod to Cthulu in the theme of this place. The background music is essentially hard rock and metal.

First of all, they don't allow anyone under 21 in at all and will check IDs before you get comfortable. If you're planning on bringing your children with you, find somewhere else. It feels weird having my ID checked when there's more gray in my beard than any other colors but they are consistent. It didn't feel intrusive at all, just maintaining policy.

They don't do flights of beer here but you can have a half pour, which is almost as good. It means your designated driver can have a beer and maybe two. You can taste a couple before choosing one, which is always nice. At busy times that option might go away, which is unsurprising.

When we were there the bartender was friendly and helpful, explaining how it all works there. They didn't have table service so she suggested we sat at the bar, and gave us recommendations for both food and beer. Between my wife and I we had taster samples of a few beers over the course of our food and drinking regular pours.

Their mango sour is amazing. My wife doesn't tend to go for sours but she loved it, and chose it as her main drink. I had the cherry Staff Infection #2 which was delicious, and followed it with Transparent Radiation, an American IPA. It was a toss up between that or Till Death, which is a crazy sour IPA that shouldn't work but does. I'm wishing now that we'd brought some cans home with us.

The food was also good. The Mac and cheese bowl came out and there's quite a lot of it. I had the spicy BBQ brisket which was very good although to my taste not as spicy as I was expecting. Given the theme of the place a "death" level of spiciness might be a fun addition to the menu.

We had hoped to buy a branded glass but they didn't have any. That seemed like an unfortunate omission, and we settled for a couple of stickers.

Definitely a place to...

I'm going to have to check this place out again. I walked in and there was a bunch of people outside smoking and drinking. Walked in and noticed all the walls painted black. A band was playing very loudly, which is cool but the music wasn't my thing. They were maybe a local heavy metal band. The place was pretty empty and it was 5:00 p.m. on a Saturday. The menu looked good online so I decided to try it out. When inside and the host yelled over the music, are you here for a show or food? Food... Walk to the right, take a right after... Then something in audible, go through the door or something... So I walked over until I found what looked like a freezer door and there was a small dining room, more like a dingy dirty bar, all of the tables were dirty, there were no chairs. Actually there were chairs but they were all pushed into the corner. I managed to dig a couple chairs out and put them at a table and clean it off. I sat there for a few minutes and notice there were no wait staff. The music was still really loud. I felt really out of place and nobody greeted us, waited on us... No menus. I tried to find the menu but it ended up just being a beer menu. I saw a guy stumbling through the door with a burger in his hand and someone behind the bar said, where did you get that? Lol. I thought John taffer was going to come out at any moment and shut the place down. It really reminded me of a bar rescue show I saw, the one with the zero dark thirties. Not sure if anybody will get that reference but anyway. After a few minutes I walked out. The food did look good online and I saw a band playing there I wanted to check out before so maybe in the future if I see a good band there I might go to check out music. Maybe the food is good, IDK. At this night it had a look of a vampire bar or something. I'll come back and give another review when I check...