David M.
Yelp
It's been a long time since our last meal at the Capital Grille. And now I remember why . . .
So there's a serious question or two that has to be asked when you end up spending $450 for a dinner for 2. Seems like the first question is, "Are you out of your freaking mind?!?!" I guess the 2nd question is, "Was it worth it?"
I don't have an opinion on the answer to the first question. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm not. But it seems to me it's a question worth asking whenever you go out and spend over $100 on a meal for 2.
For us, we didn't plan on spending that much but when I looked at the wine list I saw a wine that I had previously had when my incredibly generous spouse took me out to a great birthday celebration dinner at a chi-chi Denver downtown restaurant. It was simply one of the best wines we'd ever had. (There's a pic of the bottle below, and if you can ever taste a wine from that winery, it will change your mind about many things, one of which is how much you might, under the right circumstances, be willing to spend on a bottle when you go out on a special occasion).
Now me, I'm not a person who typically orders bottles of wine that run more than $50-$60 or so at a restaurant. Generally restaurants mark up their wine 2-3x what they pay. So why should you pay $60 to get a wine you could buy for $20? But in this case I know that the Capital Grill only marked the bottle up 50% from what the wine would have cost me to buy at one of the big box wine stores. So the price of the bottle while high (a bit over $150) was actually very "reasonably" priced.
A good part of the price of our pleasure that night was enjoying an incredible wine with a wonderful wild mushroom crusted rib eye (and filet for my honey). I guess we could have saved $100 if I'd ordered a less expensive serviceable wine. But it seemed like a good idea at the time.
With great service, spectacular wine, wonderful steaks, sides and dessert (their expresso chocolate flourless torte), we're at the bottom line question: Was it worth it?
In this case since I bought the dinner as one of my honey's Christmas presents and to give thanks for all that she did over the busy holidays, the answer is "yes." It was indeed worth it. But it was worth it also because 6 months ago I had checked out what they call the Great Colorado Payback (https://colorado.findyourunclaimedproperty.com/) where you can learn if the state has any money that you are owed (and you don't know about). Turns out someone who owed my old business some money but who declared bankruptcy years ago ended up having an estate that paid some of the money that I'd forgotten about, but discovered on that website, and it was enough to pay for the dinner and more.
I think for all the above reasons I should sign off on this review as,
David "Better to be lucky than smart" M