The Best Meal Ever! (class project)
By Adam
On Friday night Adam began our adventure by making a reservation at the
Capital Grille with Nina, a graduate student attending Johnson and Wales
who was also able to arrange a meeting with the manager Steve on Sunday.
On Saturday night at seven O'clock we strolled down to Capital Grille
to enjoy a very pricey yet exquisite meal. While walking Adam was complimented
on his blue dress shirt by a stranger. We began to speed our pace because
we thought we may get lost in Providence, and miss the reservation time.
Luckily, we had five minutes to spare when we saw the sign on the side
of the building for The Capital Grille. After walking past many outside
tables we were welcomed by Kristen the hostess. After being able to be
immediately seated, we followed Kristen whom was holding our gigantic menus
to the table.
The table was set with a crisp white table cloth, candle lamp, huge wine
glasses as well as an array of silverware. While being seated, Kristen
switched our napkins from white to black in order to avoid getting lint
on our black pants. A few moments later, a buss boy came to the table to
offer bottled or tap water to fill our glasses. After choosing tap water,
our server Tim came to greet us. He then began to extensively inform us
on other options beyond what was found on the menu. The menu was designed
mostly for a New York style steak house. We were wowed by the fact that
the Chef would make any custom meal the guest could dream up. While reading
through the menu, we glanced around and noticed many of the 350 seats were
occupied with well dressed, middle-aged men and women. The majority of
the other guests were celebrating special occasions such as anniversaries
and birthdays. Upon reading through the menu and glancing at the 350 unique
bottled wine options we came to realize how expensive the menu items were.
After munching on a variety of bread we gave Tim our orders.
Adam ordered the roasted chicken with a Caesar salad. Katie also ordered
a Caesar salad and seared citrus glazed salmon. While waiting for our orders
to arrive, we looked at the many paintings, decorative animal heads, and
many displays of wine bottles. The consistent theme of the many areas of
the dinning room seemed to provide an elegant atmosphere. As our salads
arrived we were eager to dive into the meal. The entrees came next, and
were delicious. Adam's roasted chicken was juicy, hot and cooked to perfection.
The salmon was sweet and delicate. When our stomachs couldn't hold anymore
of the delicious food, they asked if we would like it to be wrapped up.
After returning the meals in a decorated bag signed by the chef, Tim came
to tempt our sweet teeth with a realistically priced desert menu that also
included more wine and spirit items. For desert Adam ordered the cheesecake
for seven dollars and Katie ordered the berries in cream for six dollars.
After finishing our meal, we were tired and ready to leave.
Our waiter seemed to then become preoccupied. Our bill finally came twenty
minutes later from Tim with a smiling face. We could tell that Tim would
have rather us been older and ordered more pricey items. After paying the
bill, and leaving an appropriate tip for our server Tim, we then proceeded
to leave the restaurant. As we walked through the doors, the Hostess encouraged
us to come back and wished us a good evening. While walking back to our
dorm, from The Capital Grille, we had more time to reflect on our experience.
We began to discuss what we didn't enjoy about the evening. One of our
complaints was that Tim seemed to not like our menu choices. Another thing
we didn't enjoy that night was the uniform of the servers. The servers
wore black shoes and pants and a white apron with a distasteful tan colored
jacket with oversized pockets over a white button down shirt with a black
bowtie. We also discussed that the food was excellent and the atmosphere
was pleasant. We agreed that when we begin our own careers and have enough
money we would enjoy visiting The Capital Grille again.
For seventeen years in the heart of Providence The Capital Grille is located
at one Union Station. While sitting through dinner we never thought about
the fact that years ago many people may have been sitting in the same area
but instead of waiting for food, they were waiting for a train ride. Now
a days to make a reservation like we did all you have to do is call 401-521-5600.
Or reservations can be made online at any time at www.thecapitalgrille.com.
Lunch is served Monday through Friday 11:30 to 3:00. Dinner is Monday through
Thursday 5:00 to 10:00 and Friday through Saturday until 10:00. Sunday
The Capital Grille is open 4:00 to 9:00pm. Private dinning is also available
upon request and accommodates up to twenty four guests. There is valet
parking available and complimentary parking after five O'clock.
When we left our dorm on Sunday afternoon we were very eager to learn more
about how a restaurant that can hold 350 people runs so smoothly. Upon
arriving, the Hostess greeted us. We then waited for Steve, the Manager
to give us a tour. We were delighted that Steve was so willing to help
us with our project. Steve encouraged us to take many pictures of the restaurant
to compliment our project. He also introduced us to the chef who offered
ingredients to us from the items we ordered the evening before. We were
unable to obtain the full recipes due to corporate rules. Steve was also
nice enough to invite us back to The Capital Grille at any time if we needed
anymore information.
In order to make the operation of this large establishment run
smoothly, there are many pieces of equipment that the sixteen waiters and
ten bussers use as well as the kitchen staff. One large piece of equipment
that The Capital Grille uses is a meet cooler. The meat cooler stores the
restaurants dry aging meat that will be served. While the meat is drying
it shrinks about thirty percent. Before cooking the meat, it is cut which
makes the meat even smaller. This causes the meat in the restaurant to
be very expensive because so much of it isn't served. The meat cutting
station is occupied full time by a meat cutter and includes the meat cutter
as well as the meat tenderizer. The tenderizer stabs and beats the meat
until it is perfectly tenderized. Moving out to the main line of the kitchen
there are broilers. The broilers are also used a lot to broil many different
foods in the restaurant. Located next to the broiler is the large six range
stove top running on gas.
All in all, our experiences at The Capital Grille were delightful.
The service provided to us by the many staff members we met was a step
above our ordinary choices of Friday night restaurants. We would encourage
anyone whom is willing to spend between forty and eighty dollars for an
exquisite dining experience to dine at The Capital Grille.