Restaurant: Capital Grille

5365 Westheimer Rd
Houston, TX 77056

When big poppa's birthday rolls around, I have two tasks on my hands. First. Pick a nice restaurant for just the two of us to enjoy. Second. Plan some fun bash hoopla thing so he can party with his friends. It becomes a good month of intense research on finding the perfect place. The weekend before his actual day of birth, I made reservations at The Capitol Grille. I was certain that I had never been there before. Big poppa, however, could not remember. Either way, that was where we were going. The place is deceivingly small. It feels almost like walking into another world. The lighting was super dim. Waiters had to carry mini flashlights around so that the patrons could see their menu's and bottles of wine. Almost seems a bit silly. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to turn the light on a bit more? I don't think either one of us enjoyed our food. He basically ordered a steak and lobster. The steak was so-so and the lobster was truly disappointing. Even I thought so! It looked like four pieces of SHRIMP scattered over the steak like it was garnish. Poo-poo foreals! I don't eat steak but I've been around people who eat it all the time to know what a good piece of meat looks like. I told our server that I wasn't much of a meat eater and would just be ordering a few appetizers. He mentioned that the kitchen there could whip up a pasta dish with vegetables if I would prefer that. It sounded good so that's what I went for. Bleh. What makes this place think that they can charge me $25 buckaroos for some pasta, my least favorite vegatables (squash and zuchini) and a drizzle of olive oil. Man. I can't even remember the last time I was ripped off so badly. Maybe in Europe? Hah! The restaurant was actually pretty packed. I'm very surprised it has lasted this long. Was it simply that we ordered the wrong stuff? Well, I'm not a believer in that excuse cos with any restaurant, none of the items should ever be 'wrong'. It should all be great, top notch food. With so many better steak places in Houston, I doubt we will ever be back here. Luckily, his second birthday celebration was a hundred times better. Puke and all!