Restaurant Review: Santa Fe Capitol Grill

Hip to be there

By: Bill Kohlhaase
Published online: Friday, June 08, 2012
Appeared in: Pasateimpo

Among all the restaurants clustered around the Regal Stadium 14 cinemas off Zafarano Drive, the Santa Fe Capitol Grill is the most discretely styled. You enter at the head of a long, attractive lounge where a room- length banquette with tall tables faces a mirrored bar back framed by oversized windows with a view to the patio. The far wall is an attractive tan-and-beige stack stone. Two rows of booths run behind the banquette, the tall dividers between each done in earth tones. The high, dark, steel ceiling cut with trusses and open ventilation is interrupted by suspended panels and rows of spotlights. There’s a step-up, open dining room. The whole place has the feel of a movie set or a hip ware- house art gallery.

The menu is just as smart, offering an array of starters, salads, specialty sandwiches, and entrees that include a coffee-crusted New York strip, Hawaiian stuffed chicken, herbed salmon, and a quinoa-stuffed sweet potato. Everything looks and sounds great, and the place seems perfect for before- or after-theater dining. But, like the Mission Impossible films, the Capitol Grill is sometimes more flair than substance. And the service can be as bumbling as a Tom Cruise love scene.

Take our last dinner visit. It was a busy Saturday night. We were seated in the elevated dining area, which was filled with couples, families, and even a happy group with a baby stroller. The service was quick and friendly but prone to more errors than a Little League baseball team. Soda water was delivered in place of the ordered tonic water, then cheerfully replaced. The grilled New York steak with sautéed mushrooms came in place of the coffee-crusted steak topped with arugula and bourbon sauce that was ordered. As we were eating, a server came by with a pint of beer asking the people at each table who ordered it. During a lunch visit, the server returned after taking my order to ask whether it was the fish and chips or the fish tacos I wanted, then returned again to confirm that I’d ordered an iced tea. No, just water, I replied. Moments later, here came the iced tea.

The food we had that Saturday evening was akin to a night out at the movies — overpriced and short of being consistently rewarding. Mexican-style ceviche was wonderful: a chop of halibut and rockfish, red onion, tomato and cucumber with slices of avocado in just enough pickling lime juice. We had hoped to share the Capitol Grill salad, but the small heap of tired greens, a few apple slices, a couple of cashews, and a mediocre blue cheese barely seemed enough for one, especially at a penny-short price of $10. That mistaken steak wasn’t impressive, but it was done to order. The side of green- chile potatoes au gratin, not too cheesy, the flavors coalescing into something greater than the parts, was a delight. The entire experience ended on a high note with a square of rich, warm butter cake topped by a dollop of vanilla-bean ice cream.

Contrast that uneven experience with a long lunch that a friend and I had one overcast afternoon. Nicely crisp calamari sporting just a hint of frying grease came with a sweet chile sauce reminiscent of what one might expect from a Chinese seafood house. A bowl of tender steamed mussels swam in a delicious, butter-yellow broth that was almost (almost!) too rich for spooning and delicious slurped from slices of toasted ciabatta. My dining buddy, a native of Philadelphia, wasn’t hung up about the “Philly style” prime-rib sandwich’s lack of authenticity, and the half he shared with me, dipped into a weak au jus, melded peppers, onions, provolone, and beef into something deserving its own title. My Santa Fe burger was a mouthful, the saltiness of the bacon and the burger’s grill flavor complemented by a heap of green chile and cheese. The service was professional, accurate, and prompt.

Another lunch stop was rewarded with a trio of fine fish tacos and an exquisite guacamole that transcended the server’s lack of short-term memory. We’ve never been offended by the use of an order pad but have suffered affront when orders had to be made twice or the wrong item was delivered. Upcoming seasonal menu changes will give the servers even more to memorize. If only the food, if only the service — especially the service — was as consistent and tasteful as the decor, the Capitol Grill could be a blockbuster.