Capitol City Brewing Company, Three Locations

[JPW]

More recently we ventured to Capital City Brewery only to find out that the Union Station location doesn't serve brunch.

Once upon a time I used to like Cap City. However, the Union Station location changed my mind completely. I used to like some of the bar snacks and burgers. However, the Union Station location changed my mind completely. I used to enjoy their beers. However, the Union Station location changed my mind completely.

[brr]

A few years ago I was in the restrooms at the Union Station Cap City and an employee came out of one of the stalls and proceeded straight back to work without washing his hands - when I mentioned it at the hostess stand they didn't seem overly concerned.

I also dislike their policy of insiting you have to order food at a table, even if its mid-afternoon and the restaurant is empty and all you want is a couple of beers.

Its probably a measure of the regard people hold it in that it didn't even make it into the Union station thread (until the brunch discussion)!

[JPW]

I also dislike their policy of insiting you have to order food at a table, even if its mid-afternoon and the restaurant is empty.

Really? Jeez.

[NolaCaine]

This might not be the right place for this post but I"m doing it anyway:

Today I ate lunch at Cap City Brewery...again! My BBQ chicken salad was fine and I was impressed that it wasn't overdressed with either Ranch or BBQ sauce. Tomorrow I dine at Bobby Van's AGAIN because (true of both places) it is near my office.

I propose a thread where people complain about where they eat that they've eaten before, and will be forced to again (for any reason)!

I do not like you Bobby Van's...I do not like you, Sam I am.

[GWilly]

Have had good experiences with the food at Cap City next to Union Station, although the service was slooooooooow. It took us 20 minutes to get our food and we were the only ones in there. My waiter only had us as a table and he sat down to chat up one of his friends and completely forgot about us. I had to get up and walk over to him to ask for the check. Food is good but the service, not so much...

[Pat]

Have had good experiences with the food at Cap City next to Union Station, although the service was slooooooooow. It took us 20 minutes to get our food and we were the only ones in there. My waiter only had us as a table and he sat down to chat up one of his friends and completely forgot about us. I had to get up and walk over to him to ask for the check. Food is good but the service, not so much...

After several really bad meals in a row, I stopped going to that location. It might be encouraging that the food is improving again, except that I don't think I'm willing to give them another chance. I haven't even gone back to the first location in quite some time.

I used to like the food at the original location and was happy when the new one opened in the post office building. After starting out okay, though, they lost me when the food quality declined so much. I used to like the fresh baked pretzels and mustard they would bring to the table at the beginning of the meal, but I believe they had stopped doing that by the last few times I went there. I've never found the service very good but sometimes it was better than others.

[sacrilicious]

Re: Union Station Cap City. I had repeated bad experiences with both the food and service, so I've been avoiding the place for at least a year. But I reluctantly went along to a lunch with co-workers recently, and it seemed noticeably better.

One of my issues with the place (in addition to the mediocre food and waitstaff) was that the menu had nothing for vegetarians, except maybe one pizza. So I was pleased to see they now have a veggie (black bean) burger. It was surprisingly good - made on site, not a frozen disk. It came with a choice of several sides; I went for the vegetables, which were steamed and coated rather generously in butter sauce. Nothing gourmet, but I likes me some butter, and they were decently seasoned, so no complaints about that either. My co-workers had salads with meat, so I didn't try them.

The service was a still slow, but not interminable. I've always tried to get there before noon for lunch, otherwise it's at least 2 hours. We got seated right away and I think we were out of there in about an hour and fifteen minutes.

I realize that saying it's better than before is faint praise. But it's not on my "avoid at all costs" list anymore. I work nearby and frankly there aren't that many moderately priced sit down lunch places in the neighborhood. So I might give it another chance.

[lackadaisi]

I ate at the downtown location last week. It was my first time there (despite living two blocks away for the past five years), and it was way worse than expected. The turkey burger was completely inedible; I would call it a hockey puck, but I think a pool ball might be a better description. The flavor was bad, the texture was worse, and there was no way to eat in the shape in which it arrived. The service was prompt and cordial, but every single dish was placed with the wrong setting prior to being auctioned off. Next time I will find some excuse, however flimsy, to bail out of the paid-for-by-some-other-sucker lunch to which I was dragged.

[Pat]

The location in the Postal Square building has closed and they will reopen across the street inside Union Station in the fall.

Details here from City Paper.

[u-bet!]

Capitol City Brewing Company abruptly closed its Shirlington location yesterday. My regular Thursday night travel patterns made it convenient for me to drop by the bar for a couple of their "core four" beers, which were on special that night of the week (most recently at $3.00/pint). After a while, it became apparent to me that this was also a big night for a large number of local taxi drivers (primarily immigrants from the Horn of Africa region) to gather in the bar area. I never got to know any of them personally, but the ones I would ocassionaly engage in casual conversation were always some of the nicest guys I ever met. I know there are comments here and there on this site referring to the mostly poor quality of their food and the no better than mediocre quality of their beer, and I would generally agree with that (although I thought their hummus platter was actually pretty good). But it was a good deal on Thursdays, and the bartenders who I got to know were always very friendly and outgoing (if occasionally absent-minded). My understanding is that the staff was not given any advance warning of the closure. When places like this close, I think it would be good to keep in mind that real lives are affected, no matter how insignificant a blip on the radar of the local food scene they might have been.Their (original?) location on H Street apparently remains open.

[DaveO]

39 minutes ago, u-bet! said:

Capital City Brewing Company abruptly closed its Shirlington location yesterday. 

There is no thread on Capital City Brewing.  Unless the world has changed dramatically the downtown location off H Street is a remarkably busy place and the front of the house staff makes money that would be the envy of most of the folks in the industry in this region.  

It is not a function of having the absolute best food and drink but it does do other things that bring in crowds

[dracisk]

35 minutes ago, DaveO said:

There is no thread on Capital City Brewing.

There is a thread in the multiple locations guide. The last post from 2011 says they're closing their location across from Union Station and opening inside Union Station, but that never happened.

[u-bet!]

8 minutes ago, dracisk said:

There is a thread in the multiple locations guide. The last post from 2011 says they're closing their location across from Union Station and opening inside Union Station, but that never happened.

I guess if I had spelled it correctly when I was searching I would have found that thread. 

[dracisk]

10 minutes ago, u-bet! said:

I guess if I had spelled it correctly when I was searching I would have found that thread. 

It seems like it SHOULD be spelled "Capital," but what're you gonna do?

[DaveO]

47 minutes ago, dracisk said:

There is a thread in the multiple locations guide. The last post from 2011 says they're closing their location across from Union Station and opening inside Union Station, but that never happened.

Thanks.  Missed it on the spelling.

[Mark Dedrick]

This is a spot, like Old Glory, that I used to frequent a bunch 15-20 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if the proliferation of craft beer has hurt them a lot recently. 

[Pat]

I heard on WTOP about an hour ago that they have filed for bankruptcy protection but the downtown location will remain open. I haven't looked for a print link.

[DaveO]

1 hour ago, Pat said:

I heard on WTOP about an hour ago that they have filed for bankruptcy protection but the downtown location will remain open. I haven't looked for a print link.

From what I've heard from staffers from the downtown site it does tremendous volume.  Admittedly that info is probably a year old now, but it has been enormously busy for  a very long time.

[dracisk]

My parents were recently in town for a college basketball tournament. My father especially isn't an adventurous eater. At all. They were staying by the convention center, and they were all over Cap City for dinner. They said it was mobbed on a Thursday night. Funny enough we'd eaten at the location near Union Station when I was in town looking at law schools 20 years ago.

[Mark Dedrick]

I think it does very well with tourists. When I've had clients in town, many of them love that place. 

[DaveO]

1 hour ago, dracisk said:

My parents were recently in town for a college basketball tournament. My father especially isn't an adventurous eater. At all. They were staying by the convention center, and they were all over Cap City for dinner. They said it was mobbed on a Thursday night. Funny enough we'd eaten at the location near Union Station when I was in town looking at law schools 20 years ago.

 

1 hour ago, dracisk said:

My parents were recently in town for a college basketball tournament. My father especially isn't an adventurous eater. At all. They were staying by the convention center, and they were all over Cap City for dinner. They said it was mobbed on a Thursday night. Funny enough we'd eaten at the location near Union Station when I was in town looking at law schools 20 years ago.

Those are among the specific reasons it does well, or so I've been told by staffers.  There are other things that also work.