Capital Grille, Chrysler Center

I have previously posted a not so flattering review on the Capital Grille in Boston (click here for Yelp), so I was not too enthused when I was invited to dinner at a New York City location. But, Capital Grille always seems to have high ratings, so I went in with higher hopes.

First off, what a beautiful location. The exterior is grand and modern, and the dining area is very spacious. The decor is less ostentatious than the Boston location, so you feel a bit more at ease and that you're just in a fancy steakhouse. Second off, low and behold, it was Restaurant Week. The waiter assumed that because we were a party of sixteen that we were probably here for the cheap specials. How presumptuous. And no, I decided to not order off that menu because it wasn't that entirely appealing.

My dinner:

I started off with the wedge salad, which is a classic lettuce wedge with bacon bits and ranch dressing. Please take a moment to reference the photo below. Is my salad overflowing with ranch dressing or is it not? If you said it is, then you are correct because the lettuce was drowning in dressing. Let me say hands down that this is completely unacceptable. I couldn't eat about two thirds of it because there was more ranch than vegetable. In what eating context is this ever okay? Let me know if you have an answer, thanks.

I then had the lobster and crab cakes. The photo is a bit misleading, but the cakes were probably slightly larger than silver dollars (not sure if kids these days even know what that is). They were dry. And overpriced. Enough said.

I ordered the lamb chops (all the beef entrees were obscenely over portioned) to share, and it came with a fig sauce that I ignored after the first bite or so. Sure, it may add some color to the plate, but it did not pair that well with the lamb. The meat itself was superb. That having said, the lamb chops were very deliciously done. They were very juicy and tender. I had a few bites of other people's steaks, and those too were well cooked... though I do question Capital Grille's plating styles.

AND the star of the show... the lobster macaroni and cheese! I've read so many raving comments on it, and I love mac and cheese, so this was all I was looking forward to. Verdict? Eh. I don't know if they were trying to go for al dente with the macaroni, but it was overall undercooked. The cheese was one dimensional, and the crumbs were not integrated into the dish. There were a nice few lobster chunks. I guess that makes it better. Whatever. Moving on.

Dessert: Their creme brulee and espresso chocolate cake are both solid. However, because most of our table ordered from the Restaurant Week menu, the waiter never came back to ask me what I wanted for dessert. So I didn't get any of my own. So much for great service ratings.