Capital Ale House — Restaurant in Richmond

A group of friends and I dined here on what turned out to be one of the busiest times for them. This was on the night before a big rally that drew crowds of thousands the following day, plus they had a 400-person event when we dined there. My guess is these are the main reasons for the bad service and lack of cleanliness that we saw.

The waitress did not pay attention to our table, and we spent a good amount of time waiting for everything. One person ordered fish tacos with fries, another ordered a sandwich, another a caprese salad, and I ordered a Mac and cheese. Two of these orders came with fries, but we were told about 15 minutes into the wait that they were out. They changed to some other replacement (maybe onion rings?). The waitress came back 10 minutes later saying they were out of onion rings, so one opted for sweet potato fries and the other for a salad.

While we waited, we got a plate of mussles which were good, but we were not provided small plates. Since it's such a messy dish to eat, we asked for some and waited 15 minutes to get it... Just to realize as soon as the waitress left that these were not clean plates. Two of the plates had ketchup and other sauces all over, and they smeared on the bottom of other plates. Once we finally got a hold of the waitress again after another 15 minutes, she brought replacement plates... That were also dirty. We made do with what we had at that point. The mussles were very good, but we were disappointed already with the service and cleanliness.

Finally, after maybe 40-45 minutes of having ordered, we got our entrees. The person who got the salad as a replacement for fries (that again, had run out) was charged an additional $5 for the switch. This was a small salad that they wouldn't have gotten if the fries or onion rings had been available! Thankfully this additional charge was dropped. The food was delicious, and we really wanted to like this place since we had heard good things from local friends, but the issue with dirty plates and service didn't leave a good impression. In the beginning of the night, the place was packed, but even toward the middle of our dinner when the crowd thinned, the service was still horrible.

Maybe we'll try it again when we're in town again and it's not busy since the food was good after all, but as the rest of my experience stands, I would not recommend this place if it looks like it's even...

Please see attached photos for supporting all legal documentation we were welcomed warmly by the Hostes who proceeded to her manager. At this point they haven’t asked if she is a service animal, but walked us outside to eat outback. (Which was fine! Nice day outside, etc.) I only had an issue when the manager came back in a nasty tone saying she needs to be on a leash. Why?? We are outside… Alone. Then when I explain she’s my Service Animal she says no she isn’t she is an ESA ANIMAL. um… Please refer too: Restaurants, Events and Public Areas Independent access is an integral part of these rights. Persons with mental or physical issues should be afforded to as much independence in life as possible. Their use of public places like restaurants, shopping and other public areas are no exception. Those who manage public spaces can, upon request, make specific accommodations to patrons with issues while considering the impact on their operation and their safety obligations. People With Service Animals Must Be Allowed Access To All Public Accommodations. This right takes precedence over all state and local laws which might otherwise prohibit animals in those places such as Stores, Malls, Restaurants, Hotels/Resorts, Airlines, Cruises, Taxi cabs, Buses just to name a few. Airline Travel, Public Transportation, etc.

Also, the manager proceeded to creepily apparently watch us from the upstairs window. I used Vicks vapor mint stick in my nose, and she 4 seconds later ran downstairs outside and said “I was watching you, I don’t know what drug you just put up your nose but you need to go and don’t worry about the bill I’m covering that.” Please, don’t tell me I’m doing drugs when I’m not, especially when you follow up with “whatever drug” insinuating you don’t even know. Awful experience… she was clearly hired because of her looks, shame really. The hostess was sweet and nice! Manager - Awful… and the waiter was just … idk. He said he couldn’t bring out my bottle of wine because I had a Long Island? When he knows I didn’t even drink it my friend did. And then proceeded to come back after and say he can bring it out but only with 1 glass…. I didn’t ask for...

I went into the Capital Ale House to eat with my little brother and his support animal. We planned on eating outside, so when we were sat outside for the unspoken reason because of his animal ; we were completely fine with it being that it was a beautiful day. When we sat down, he noticed the gate was open and he wanted to let his animal off the leash because we were the ONLY ones outside, mind you…. We are outside in the back in an excluded area, it’s not even on the street in the front of the restaurant. So, he closes the gate so she could roam around a little and enjoy herself as we order our lunch. As he is climbing over the wall the manager comes out and says “THATS A FIRE HAZARD” (fair enough) but the attitude was not needed. Then said “and the dog, needs to be on a leash” My brother then stated, she’s my Service and ESA animal. The manager then proceeds to say ESA animals aren’t support animals and doesn’t care about him as just a person and their emotional needs, but as a paying customer. When she walks away, he pulls up all the documents on his phone then walks inside to show her that she is registered, and it’s legal, etc. she then proceeds to ask him after seeing the documents “How does she service you, what are your disabilities.” FIRST OF ALL… WOW! Are you even allowed to ask? No. Also, again… complete disregard for anything he just respectfully came to talk about. Just pure rebuttal and standoff-ish attitude. I don’t know who hurt her, but she needs to re-direct her negative energy somewhere else. As a manager she should know you don’t bring your personal life to work, leave that at home. You’re here to make our experience better and personable / warming and welcoming. To keep your crew on track, and business structured. Also, she watches us from her office window which again was weird.. How are you managing your staff if you’re just sitting in the office looking at your customers the whole time to get any chance to be again, stand-off ish. She needs to learn the bare minimum of bed-side manners and needs to go back to a corporate store for training and this is coming from a general manager in food service himself for over the...