Lunch with a friend at the Capital Grille was planned for geographic convenience on a cold rainy Wednesday and this was our first visit there. The sign on the main road leads you to believe that the entrance is nearby, but it's not. After finding a parking spot, I had to walk around the block in the rain to find the entrance. Very upscale, with a classy vibe and a stunning wine display as you enter, the service is top notch. Quickly seated and also quickly offered assistance, we ordered overpriced cheeseburgers. The food was "okay"... although visually impressive, the serving was small, the fries were not hot and the heavy-handed application of truffle was offputting. Would I go back after this experience? Probably not. There are just too many other choices offerring better value.

Holiday dinner with the family, formerly at Angus Barn or Ruth's Chris in the past. Capital Grille just became the new go-to for us. Absolutely impeccable service and attention from our waiter TJ to the water server to the assistant manager and valets. Every steak was of the highest quality and cooked exactly as ordered. Appetizers of calamari braised in hot peppers and prosciutto wrapped mozzarella were simply spectacular. Flavor combinations that ideally merged bold and subtle in each dish. Both the Kona NY Strip and the Porcini crusted balsamic ribeye were over the top in adding just the right flavor compliment to the tender beef cuts. Sides (that served 3 or 4) were spot on, particularly the roasted brussels sprouts and oh my the lobster mac & cheese. Even without the loads of lobster chunks, the mac & cheese by itself was as good as it gets. The mashed and the au gratin potatoes were perhaps the least special, but still quite good. Desserts all scored at least 9 on a 10 scale.......the Apple Crostata was tender, flaky and naturally sweetened by the Gala apples in the galette. The cheesecake had a stunning creme brulee crusting that had even the cheesecake hater nodding with appreciation. Flourless chocolate torte and the peach sorbet merely earned the slightly diminished praise of "delicious" by our group. The meal was perhaps the best fine dining experience I've ever had in Raleigh. Of course it wasn't inexpensive (every steak entree was $50-$55 apiece) at about $100 per person including a few cocktails, but its hard to argue with the quality, the gustatory pleasure and the royal service treatment received. For a rare but very special dining experience, Capital Grille is a superb choice.

First visit. Nice atmosphere, good service, good food but nothing to justify their prices. I have been to a lot of high-end restaurants in this area and was expecting a classier service and higher food quality. This was for a special occasion, for the birthday of a steak "connoisseur" and it was disappointing.

We went to the Capital Grille to celebrate my son’s graduation from college. My spouse and I have been lucky enough to go to a Capital Grille on a couple of occasions and were thrilled with the experience, the food was phenomenal and the service was impeccable. Unfortunately, our experience on this occasion was not the same. Although the food was wonderful, the service was very lacking. We spent a lot of time waiting for our waiter to bring our drinks, take our order, etc. We were there 2 and a half hours and we did not even order dessert. In addition to waiting a lot, our service staff did not clean dirty dishes from our table in a timely manner. I found myself stacking the dishes to get them out of my way. Another small thing that bothered me was that the waiter should always serve the ladies at the table first, and of course, he didn’t do this. But probably the biggest disappointment had to do with why we were there. We were asked twice if we were celebrating anything special but there was no acknowledgement from Capital Grille, nada, nothing. Very disappointing. When you drop over $700 on a meal for a small party you should expect and receive exceptional service. Your son doesn’t graduate everyday. I will return to Capital Grille but will not go on a special occasion for sure.

Food and Service are a 1 star. Took forever to get a waitress when seated, I even had to ask 3 people for a menu... SMH

The bread was unbelievably hard, although you don't have to expect it to be like LeFarm bakery's french bread, it was a bad sign of things to come. From the 4 different types of bread brought in a basket, not one was edible. Had to ask for a new FRESH basket.

The steak I asked for medium rare upon tasting was almost cooked well done! The steak had to be tossed out and a new one made, which took forever despite it still supposed to being a shorter cook than the 1st mishap. Both steaks were far too salty!

The one good thing about the restaurant was the manager personally seeing me taste the steak to see it was satisfied, but it didn't make up for the bad quality of food as well as the service. Getting my check took so long that I ended up having another waitress run the bill.

Overall the food and experience doesn't compare to others I've had including Del Fresco's, Oak, Morton's... this place isn't even on the level of a longhorn or outback. Unless this a bad representation of this establishment, it is NOT high end.