Capitol Square Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Washington

This is the most disappointing dining experience I’ve had in a long time. I do not really leave reviews good or bad but this seemed like it was necessary. My girlfriends and I stopped in after a lovely walk to the Capitol and thought this would be the perfect place to have dinner and a glass of wine. When we arrived, the staff did not greet us, but were all stationed at the bar, backs to the door. After a minute or two our server finally said I’ll be right with you. When he was able to greet us we decided on outside dining because it was a nice night. He told us to pick a table and he’d dress it once we sat down. He eventually brought out a table cloth, bread plates, water glasses and two menus… there were three of us.

After a few minutes we were asked for our drink orders. This restaurant has a large selections of wines. Two of us ordered red wines…. After about 15 minutes our server comes back and says we actually only have one red. My friend decides to order a glass of Prosecco and I was still undecided. The server comes back and says we don’t have Prosecco either. So we say we’ll order our food and decide on drinks later. At which time I asked for my first water refill…. I would go on to ask 6 additional times for water and I never got one. Our server did eventually take our request for the one wine that he said they did have, unfortunately we never received those glasses of wine either. My other friend ordered a Sparkling water to which he said he would need to check if they actually had it. He did, but just dropped it off on the table, never gave it to the person that ordered it.

We ordered Brussel Sprouts with no cheese because we have a vegan diner and the Brussels came out with cheese. They also sat on our table untouched, along with our entrees for 10 or so mins because we did not have silverware. Eventually got silverware but he only gave us two sets, we had to remind him there were three of us at the table. The food was good but it was lukewarm by the time we were able to eat it. I imagine it would have been wonderful if hot.

Additionally we asked for the heat lamps to be turned on, that never happened. We asked for hot sauce, which never came. Water was never refilled for any of us. At one point they closed off the outside and we were just left sitting. A dining experience that should have taken about an hour ended up being almost 2 hours mainly waiting for the basics of dining.

The one saving Grace was the server did try to rectify the bill and we got a neighborhood resident discount. But he was clearly overwhelmed and by himself. The bartender was not an aide to him in any way. Tables weren’t bussed, there were no runners, whatever their order placement /billing system is doesn’t match their menu making it hard for him to find entrees to send to the chef. Overall it was a very frustrating experience.

I hope that this establishment can find its footing because it has so much potential and would be a great addition to the...

Disappointing Birthday Experience at Capitol Square Bar & Grill

I recently celebrated my birthday at Capitol Square Bar & Grill, a restaurant I had high hopes for due to a previous enjoyable brunch experience. Unfortunately, my birthday celebration did not live up to expectations. Despite making a reservation two weeks in advance for a party of 12 (which later decreased to 10), the overall dining experience left much to be desired.

While the management had been excellent with communication before my arrival, the execution of the dining experience fell short. Upon reaching the restaurant, the table arrangement for my party was disappointing. We were seated in a row of booths placed in a straight line, making it challenging for us to engage in conversations and enjoy a communal dining experience. In stark contrast, a larger party of around 20 patrons across from us enjoyed a setup that encouraged interaction.

Our server took our drink orders promptly, but the service gradually deteriorated from there. Basic amenities like small plates for appetizers and straws for our drinks were missing, requiring multiple requests to rectify. The limited menu options available due to kitchen shortages further hampered our dining choices, with popular dishes like turkey meatloaf and roasted chicken being unavailable.

The arrival of our food was disjointed, with various dishes arriving at the table in waves. Unfortunately, some of the items were served cold, and to make matters worse, the shrimp alfredo dish consumed by a friend later led to illness. This dining experience was in stark contrast to another large party of 20, celebrating their own birthday, who received noticeably better service and attention from the staff.

While the management did attempt to address the issues, it was apparent that they were ill-prepared for the size of our party. Our server, who initially appeared friendly, seemed to become increasingly frustrated throughout the evening. This frustration was evident even as we left the restaurant, witnessing the server engaged in a heated exchange with their manager regarding ongoing issues with multiple parties.

I had returned to Capitol Square Bar & Grill with optimism based on a previous positive encounter, despite the restaurant being relatively new and still in a "soft opening" mode. Regrettably, the experience on my birthday showed that the restaurant's service and coordination had yet to reach the level of consistency and quality that I had hoped for. I remain disappointed and cautious about recommending Capitol Square Bar & Grill for special occasions until they have ironed out the evident service and operational issues that impacted...

Unfortunately, I am leaving this review at the request of the manager who asked us to share our experience on Google when we first walked in.

We originally came in for the 8-9 PM Mixology class they listed on Eventbrite and boy did that turn out to be a bust. We arrived a few minutes early and were told by a host that the 7-8 pm course was still going on and wrapping up shortly so we should have a seat at one of the tables (note: some of the 7 pm group had JUST been seated at the bar around 7:57 and had yet to start making drinks)

Around 8:22 PM, a server came over and told us along with a few other parties that the 7 PM class should be wrapping up no later than 8:30 and he brought us some waters and we started our food orders. At 8:50 PM, the previous class had still yet to wrap and the server came to tell us the oxtail spring rolls we order were not available. He then came back about 2 minutes later to tell us that now the beef suya was not available either. We then asked how the beef suya wasn't available but the beef suya sliders we had ordered were. He thought about it and then told us that we were right, those wouldn't be available either so this completely scrapped 2 people's orders.

They brought out the crab fries pictured below which were interestingly presented and after a few bites, we realized the crab was ICE COLD and sent it back. The chicken suya sliders came on king Hawaiian rolls but the amount of chicken on there was literally bite size (sorry for the half eaten picture but I'm not exaggerating). The brussel sprouts were average at best.

If you're still reading this, it's past 10 pm and we never got to do the mixology course. Would not recommend coming for the food as it was mediocre or the mixology experience as it was poorly planned. We were also still charged for the crab fries and had to tell the server to ask the manager to reverse the payment and charge us accordingly. Music was...