This restaurant has received lots of high praise and accolades from food critics highlighting dry aged steaks and wine selection. I was reminded just how good the Capital Grille is during a recent visit.

My meal started with a spinach salad with warm bacon dressing, yum! My next course was a 14 Oz fillet than was grilled to perfection with their house spices. I prefer to not diminish the integrity of great steaks with unnecessary sauces. For accompaniments, I went with the fresh asparagus and Lynnaise potatoes (roasted potatoes with onions. The asparagus was perfect with appropriate firmness and lots of flavor. The Potatoes were amazing, crisp on the outside without being chard.

To complement the meal, my waiter helped select an excellent Merlot that was reasonably priced. In addition to proving helpful with wine selection, the waiter was very knowledgeable about the menu and explained all the items very well. He also did a nice job of checking regularly without being over bearing.

The Capital Grille's ambiance is old school clubby and the Chestnut Hill location is no exception. I find this decor quite comfortable without being stuffy. The lighting is just right in that its dim enough for intimacy but light enough to read your menu and see your meal, a site definitely worth seeing.

My only knock on the Capital Grille revolves around my reservation which was made 1 month before my visit. One week prior to my visit I called and requested that the restaurant push my reservation back 30 minutes. They declined to move it even 15 minutes stating that it was very important that they keep a prompt schedule. Fair enough, I respect and appreciate their desire to stay true to their schedule. What was surprising was that upon checking in with the host, I was told they did not have a table ready. Now that threw me for a loop. The issue was exacerbated by the fact that the small bar in Chestnut Hill was so packed that I could not even get a drink while waiting. Fortunately my wait was only 10-15 minutes and the meal was so good it more than made up for the wait.

Now if they could just expand the bar a bit, they would earn a perfect 5.