We were surprised to find out that “The Capital Grille” is part of a 50 location, national chain.  It offers an upscale dining experience (with some of the highest entrée prices in Baltimore). Marty was impressed with complementary valet parking (that’s something at a downtown locale!). While it’s located in a modern office building across from the Inner Harbor (and adjacent to PF Changs and Fogo De Chao), it feels like an old time, private club that has been around for 100+ years with floor to ceiling mahogany paneling, museum size portraits, life-size sculpture and private wine bins. The chain owners spent big money to ensure to create this environment and it provided Marty and our friend Marta with an impressive place to take John out to eat for his birthday!

We ended up seated in some large leather clad booths with a view of the kitchen (in hindsight, we’d prefer a table in one of the three classy dining rooms minus the kitchen view). While we sized up the menu and sampled a basket with a mix of tempting fresh breads, our waiter mentioned half a dozen specials (Way too much to remember! Why not a printed out “specials” page?). The menu includes a dozen starters, side salads and soups ($9-$16) and 15+ entrees (most $32 - $45 with 2/3 meats and 1/3 seafood). Many entrees don’t come with veggies and there are 10 ala carte side dishes ($8-$13). Marty and Marta were inclined to split a Caesar salad ($9) and asked if it was big enough to share – our waiter assured us that all of the side salads came with big portions and were easy to share. John ordered a Spinach Salad with warm bacon dressing ($10) for himself. For the main course, Marty decided on double cut lamp chops ($39). Marta opted for a special 8 oz beef filet ($36) while John ordered a special grilled rock fish ($37). To add some veggies, we ordered Vidalia Onion Rings ($8) and a half order of creamed spinach ($5) (FYI - half sized, half price portions of the ala carte veggies don’t appear on the menu and we wouldn’t have known that if the waiter didn’t mention it). Our salads arrived on chilled plates and were tasty. The full size/full cost Spinach salad was a modest one person serving but the “split” Caesar individual salad portions were interestingly as big as the full sized Spinach salad.  The entrees arrived and overall we were pleased with them. Marty’s plate sported four big “butterflied” double chops (and no veggies!). Marta’s filet arrived sliced in half before grilling with the special “hunter’s sauce” “on the side” as she requested and with a few cubes of grilled potatoes.   John’s Rock Fish was delicious and topped with a crab sauce. Eight huge, heavily crusted fried onion rings which arrived in a large wire basket grabbed our attention and were really good. The creamed spinach though was just average.  Portions were large (but at these prices, they should be!) and two of us ended up taking extras home.   Marty had alerted the restaurant that this was John’s birthday and they assured him that they would do something special (in fact, he reminded the maitre’d again when we were seated). Despite this, our waiter was clueless, and asked us for a dessert order (there are 10+ desserts mostly $8-$10).  When Marty brought up the birthday, our waiter apologized for the oversight and brought us a huge plate with three complementary desserts – Key Lime Pie, Cheesecake with Berries, and a Flourless Chocolate Cake. All three were great (the cheesecake got the most “best” votes). But we’re unsure if the complementary desserts are the norm for special occasions or were the waiter’s special effort to make up for the oversight?

While we enjoyed our meals, there were points that raised our eyebrows. $40 entrées that don’t include a side dish was one. Trying to remember the spiel about half a dozen specials did too. What about the split salad portions or the undocumented half-portion side dishes?  Were these examples of exceptional client focused service or anomalies unique to our experience?  We’re unsure. Marty tried to follow-up on these points with the restaurant management but never got a response back (maybe this is why 10 days later, he opted for to go “The Prime Rib” during “Restaurant Week” instead of going back to the participating Capital Grille?).

BASICS?  The Capital Grille  (Inner Harbor),500 E. Pratt St.; 443-703-4064; www.thecapitalgrille.com; Open daily for dinner from 5 pm to 10 pm (11 pm on Fri & Sat) and for lunch from 11:30 am to 3 pm Mon- Fri; Full bar; not good for vegetarians; complementary valet parking; Make reservations on weekends.

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