Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Great Food, Bad Decor

It's graduation season, and like so many other families, we spent Saturday celebrating my brother's newly-minted master's degree (congrats!). We headed over to the new Capital Grille in Wayside Commons in Burlington.

We ended up having to wait a while for our table despite our reservations, which would normally be no problem, but don't keep telling me it will only be one more minute... for half an hour. Just tell me it's not ready; I can understand that.

Before I go any further, let me just say that we had a fantastic meal. The food was delicious and plentiful - calamari, crab cakes, wedge salad, steaks all around, creamed spinach, mushrooms, giant onion rings, and parmesan fries. Yes, it's pricy, but for a special occasion, well worth it.

Which is why the decor and layout of the restaurant astound me. I have never been in a restaurant that was louder. We had to literally shout to each other and the waiter, which made things like ordering and holding a conversation quite difficult. At one point, with some guy behind us laughing like his head was going to explode, my mother leaned across the table to me and said (shouted) "I feel like I'm eating at a carnival!"

So why is it that a high-end restaurant would build a new branch that is so deafening? The Capital Grille in Chestnut Hill doesn't have this problem. Despite the great food, I doubt I'll be heading back if it means leaving with a full stomach and a headache.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Congratulations Ron!

Here in DC, the restaurant critic for the Washington Post has started to add noise levels to his restaurant reviews because of complaints like this one.

Pam said...

Hi Claire!

Usually I let stuff like this slide, but this instance called for a little complaining. I'm glad to hear that the Post is taking it into account!