New Spot Review: The Capital City Gastropub

I don’t like to review places that either are “soft open” (which is basically a heads up everything is going to suck and be slow) or somewhere on it’s opening day/weekend when they haven’t really gotten into the “groove of things” yet. I did visit The Capital City Gastropub on opening weekend, to find out that on my return visit, many things had been ironed out; confirming my review-opening sentiments.

Since my first visit, the bar was installed, which adds a bunch more seats and “completes” the feel of the space. Also, the dining room lighting levels was much less “twin suns of tattooine” and much more “I’m at a restaurant”. Big, big improvement.

I went with a few friends, and we were sat immediately. There was a few empty tables but for the most part, the place was pretty busy for a Thursday. We got a round of beers from their big-for-how-small-the-space-is beer list, which as a side note, heavily favors the Ale and IPA crowd and leaves the “I like beer that doesn’t taste like a pine tree” (Hefeweizen) enthusiasts with a couple options.

There was a mix of entrées at our table; vegetable du jour, fish tacos, sliders, some fried fish thing I can’t remember and mussels. Everyone loved their food. There wasn’t a complaint in sight and this is obviously the The Capital City Gastropub’s focus. The first time I went, even though I could nitpick a few things here and there, everyone at the table was completely satisfied and offered compliments to chef for the dish they ordered. I’m no foodie but I can say for sure this place ranks very high on the list of “things that I have eaten that are really good and I could never make myself”. Also, it should be noted there’s a quite big vegetarian section.

KC’s fish tacos

That all said, you can expect a full page wine list, full page beer list and a full page food list. Prices were $7 and up from what I can recall and portions were the “the amount I should be eating for dinner” size. Beer and wine prices were pretty normal.

KAB recommended for: a good date spot, a place to hang with friends, balling out of control, eat things you have never eaten before, making everything else you eat kinda sucky, impress your snobby foodie friends.

KAB not recommended for: picky eaters, cheap people, people who expect huge portions, people in a rush, people who frequent cicis

The Capital City Gastropub is located at 261 New Scotland Ave and their website is capcitygastropub.com