Delivery
No
Payment
Credit Cards Accepted
Parking
Parking Lot
Good for Kids
Yes
Attire
Casual
Alcohol
Yes - Full Bar
Reservations
Yes
Cuisines:
American New,
Southwestern,
Steakhouse
Price Point
$$
$ - Cheap Eats (Under $10)
$$ - Moderate ($11-$25)
$$$ - Expensive ($25-$50)
$$$$ - Very Pricey (Over $50)
WiFi
Yes
Outdoor Seats
Yes
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04/24/2024 - MenuPix User
04/23/2024 - MenuPix User
02/29/2024 - MenuPix User
02/17/2024 - MenuPix User
05/12/2021 - Brian
Support Other Local Restaurants that Care About Their Quality
After reading some of the reviews and comments about this restaurant, I thought I would try to reach out to the restaurant Owner and Manager directly about the quality of the food.
I have waited for a week to see if anyone would acknowledge or reach out to me about the food. I did provide the restaurant with contact information so they could if they wanted to.
As they did not even take the time to say that we received the letter I sent them, I am left to conclude that the restaurant's ownership and management does not care about customer feedback and experience. Below is the letter that I sent to Capitol Grill on the 5th of May. I am providing this to everyone to see so that the public can make informed decisions about supporting this business and what to expect if you go here. I hope you find it helpful.
To: Jeffery P. Branch Registered Agent
Thomas Baca, General Manager Santa Fe Capitol Grill
Re: Santa Fe Bar Capitol Grill
3454 ZAFARANO DR. STE. A, SANTA FE, NM 87507
Dining Monday 5/3/21 Ticket #60016
Hello, this is to let you know about our recent experience in your restaurant.
My roommate and I went in on Monday night for happy hour. I have eaten here in the past with very mixed results in both qualities of food and service. We thought about going to the national chain restaurants, but I said we should try you again instead as local, and I would rather support your business knowing how the shutdown caused you to struggle. We ordered three different appetizer's (Spring Roll, Seared Ahi, and Taqueria Tacos); these were exceptionally well done. We also ordered several cocktails, which were well done apart from the first Margarita being weak from improper drink ratios.
We also ordered two mains, Steak Medallions and Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo. Unfortunately, while I would like to say this results from your chef/line cooks losing practice due to Covid Shutdown Issues, I cannot as this was similar to my past experiences in your restaurant.
Some feedback on the Steak Medallions: the steak was not a Medallion; instead, it was very evidently a thin flank steak cut into three pieces. The thinness of steaks was such as to make a medium- rare cook impossible. While it was also to have a raspberry demi-glace sauce, this is not what was served. Instead, it had a traditional brown gravy thinned out both easier and less expensive. A Raspberry Demi-Glace sauce will have a different flavour: raspberry notes and the acidic brightness that comes with it. I know the difference in what was served. In the past I ordered this from your very restaurant, the sauce and steak were correct on that occasion. While I understand you get criticism often, even things as stupid as people complaining about raspberry seeds in a raspberry demi-glace, this was not as described.
The mashed potatoes with roasted garlic continued the race to the bottom of this dish—the mashed potatoes were extremely garlicky to excess. By excess, you could not taste the Margareta, Cosmo Cocktails, or the actual potatoes in the mash as the garlic overpowered it. The issue with the garlic is one of two things either it was not roasted or roasted enough to mellow the garlic's flavour. Or, way too much garlic was used. The other unforgivable issue that they had was that the mash itself was gritty in texture. This is caused only by a couple of things: old potatoes, which I do not believe was the case here, or not enough water covering the potatoes as they are boiling, creating an excessive buildup and concentration of the potatoes starch in the mash while sometimes sufficient rinsing may lessen this also was not done as it was like eating sand. I will say the grilled asparagus on this dish was seasoned correctly and done well.
For my roommate's Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, this is a dish she loves; it also had the issue of so much garlic added it was like someone spilt the jar. The garlic was so strong it could easily be smelled once my one main coarse was removed from the table. This dish had so much garlic that she was unable to eat it as well.
The night was not a total disaster due to the appetizers at the start of the evening. However, I wonder what is consistently going on in your restaurant as the quality of food is so radically different. It is clear you have some staff who can cook, and others you need to be boiling bags of food at Olive Garden or another Darden Restaurant.
The chef/line-cook could have prevented this experience by tasting the food they make and having the professionalism to have standards for what they would serve, even if the standard was just that it could, in fact, be eaten.
Our server, while she had a few hick-ups in service, was great overall. She was gracious and took the two main courses that could not be eaten off the tab without me asking. I had also expected to pay the two sent back mains. I did note interestingly that the service and preparation of main courses in your restaurant must be so consistently bad that she did not offer to have them refired or replaced with another entrée. I must then presume that this results from her observation that they would not correctly be made.
I would have liked to know about the specials on Monday, as your website says you have them; however, I attribute this to just being out of practice resulting from current events. We left the server with about a 25% tip as the issues with the food had nothing to do with her.
While I doubt that this letter/feedback will be looked at or regarded with any weight, I send this to you hoping it helps you proactively improve your business with clear, actionable feedback on the experience. Without information, you nor any business can know what is going wrong to implement the change needed to drive improvements and the business forward. These issues are long-standing issues for your business, based on my prior experiences and other reviews I read since last Monday.
I will also be writing online reviews to all the site regarding food, and I may also just copy and post my letter to your organization as it is specific and actionable. I do hope instead of ignoring or discounting this that you instead will take it to heart and improve your business; back to the company, it was when all of Santa Fe was proud of it and did not hesitate to recommend it to anyone asking where to go for a great evening out.
I cannot say that I am willing to give your restaurant yet another try. Maybe and maybe not, there is no consistent positive track record pre or trans Covid19 Shutdowns for quality of food and service.
What I can say is that I absolutely would not recommend anyone to go there for dinner. Cocktails and appetizers, sure, and that only if they were locals. For tourists, I would advise them to go elsewhere in Santa Fe as it has a tremendous amount of locally-owned restaurants where you can have consistent quality in cocktails, appetizers, And main courses with the possibility of dessert the same price point offerings you provide.
Thank-you, for your time.
B Johnson
Santa Fe Resident
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