DC Capitol Square Bar and Grill - A bewildering, schizophrenic place on East Capitol St.

[Bart]

Tl;dr – This place could have potential, but currently it’s a mess, and I hope they right the ship before they go out of business.

 

Summary:  This is a newish place (at least 4 months old according to yelp reviews) that seems to have multiple personalities and is not sure what it wants to be.  On one hand it’s a “bar and grill” serving chicken wings, steaks and sliders in front of a giant wall of TVs next to a bar, on the other hand, it’s a beautiful, modern looking place with white tablecloths where you would go for an elegant evening (except for the horribly amateurish abstract art on the walls and the TVs), and on the third hand it’s an interesting and intriguing Afro-Caribbean restaurant serving lots of dishes I have no familiarity with.  Whatever it is, it needs help!

I went last night to check out some of those Afro-Caribbean dishes but came up short.  Big time.

The restaurant:  It’s very cool looking on the inside and out.  The whole building is lit in these purplish lights that make it stand out when you’re walking or driving by.  It’s striking and inviting.  The inside is very nicely done and modern.  It looks like the setting for an elegant cocktail party or dinner.  But all of that comes to screeching halt as you are assaulted with a giant wall of TVs that are impossible to avoid.  We decided to sit upstairs to get away from the TVs, but there was another giant wall of TVs up there too.  They were completely out of place and so distracting, it was hard to maintain a conversation.

The staff:  Everyone was very nice and friendly and my date was even given a rose when we entered, but our server was absolutely horrible.  I don’t blame her.  She was a young woman who probably didn’t know any better and wasn’t well trained.  Or maybe just wasn’t trained at all.  One of the yelp reviews from four months ago had the same comment, which is troubling.

Our server was also kind of timid and awkward which made every interaction much harder than it had to be.  When I declined alcohol (dry January), she noted that they have non-alcoholic drinks which I checked out.  Turns out there all sodas/juices and nothing interesting.  I said I’d try the hibiscus drink just because it sounded good and weird, and I’ve never had it before.  We then somehow got into a strange conversation whether I wanted hibiscus lemonade or just hibiscus, and as it went on and on, I had less and less confidence in her answers or the drink so decided to just stick with water.  How is it possible that I was unable to successfully order straight juice off the menu??!?!?

The food:  As soon as we sat down, we were informed they were out of oxtail and goat.  WTF!?!?  How can you not be serving any of your signature items?!?  That pretty much eliminated the entire part of the menu we were interested in.  In retrospect, we should have left then, but we soldiered on and ordered off the regular part of the menu.

We split a Caesars Salad which was fine and perhaps the highpoint of the night.  She got the salmon, medium rare, and I got the lamb, medium rare.  The salmon came out overcooked and about five minutes before my dish came out.  And mind you, we were the only people upstairs and there were a couple of people at the bar downstairs, so it’s not like the kitchen was slammed.  Our nice, but oblivious waitress actually asked how “we” were enjoying the food while I was sitting there with an empty plate!  Naturally, when the lamb arrived there was no steak knife accompanying it.  When I asked if I could get a steak knife, her answer was, “Um, let me check”, as if this was a bizarre question that they might not be able to fulfill.    Wut.

The lamb was also not cooked to medium rare, but it was nowhere near as overdone as the salmon was and was actually pretty good, if a very small portion.  The menu listed it as Rack Lamb, but there were only three small pieces on the bone.  For $38, I was expecting a little more.

Both dishes had (almost) the same sides.  The menu said the entrees come with seasonal vegetables and roasted potatoes.  The salmon came with broccoli, grilled peppers and roasted potatoes.  For the lamb, they neglected to include the peppers.  All the vegetables were pedestrian and boring.  It was essentially buffet food, no doubt frozen and simply reheated.  I ate all the broccoli where the main flavor was butter, but ignored most of the potatoes.  Even though I was hungry, I couldn’t bring myself to eat them.  I’d bet that the Olive Garden or Chilis has more interesting sides.

The other stuff (putting on my Tom Sietsema hat): 

-        As I mentioned, the TVs are an assault to your senses and totally ruined what could have been some nice ambience

-        The gaudy and amateurish abstract art on the walls was incongruous with the otherwise very attractive space

-        Our tablecloth had stains on it and was wrinkled.  (about half the tablecloths were smooth and half were wrinkled)

-        They had those little battery-operated candles on most of the tables, but none of them were turned on.  This is hardly a deal breaker, but more of sign of lack of attention to detail.

-        Our plates were mismatched.  She had a small serving plate, and I had a similar sized coffee saucer.  A scan of the other tables revealed similar mismatches.

-        Our silverware was also mismatched.  Between the two of us, we had three different types of spoons! (Soup spoon, tablespoon, and teaspoon, from two silverware changes)

 

The bill came to $110 for two entrees, one salad and one glass of wine which seems steep even if everything was good and interesting.  This was mostly mediocre and boring.

All of that being said, I want this place to succeed as it’s a neighborhood place that allegedly serves uncommon and interesting food and I will go back, but I’ll be sure to call first to ensure they are actually serving the uncommon and interesting food.  But they really need a competent manager to address the multiple flaws, and either lower their prices, or up the quality.

PS – What’s with the name?!?!  DC Capitol Square Bar and Grill!?!??  It’s misleading and boring.  What the hell is Capitol Square?!?  Why not emphasize the African and Caribbean food in the restaurant name!?!?  Why not take advantage of the cool street they’re on and call it the "East Capitol something something" ?!?!?

 

OK, rant over.

[Pat]

It was brave of you to go and try this out. I pass it all the time and have not taken the plunge. When they were first doing the buildout (it was a barber shop on one floor and a tattoo parlor on the other), the online menu went even more all over the place than it does now. But, in that time period, I used to see someone in chef's whites on site. They have an actual chef. They narrowed down the menu and somehow got permissions for their alcohol requests (though they might have scaled back hours, not sure).

The owners run a non-profit on the same block that provides services to low income people.  My brain is not recalling the name of the business, but they had a bad fire a number of years ago. The restaurant seems to be part of their effort to build community. I love the concept and what they seem to be trying to do but have not stopped in yet.

[Pat]

I just remembered the name of the business they have on that block: Motir.