Valentine’s Day: 25 restaurants where love will be in the air
By Kareem Gantt
1. The Capital Grille
Folks, it doesn’t get much upscale than this.
The prices are through the roof, the food is immaculate, and the atmosphere was built for Valentine’s couples to spend the evening exchanging compliments to each other and sharing their food.
The Capital Grille is the personification of a restaurant that will have love in the air on the day of love. It’s the type of place where you dress to the nines. The man will put on his best suit, and the woman their best dress. This isn’t a normal steakhouse, this is a date night restaurant.
To the tenth power.
In recent years, The Capital Grille has grown, putting its stamp on some of the priciest real estates in the city that they decide to put down roots in. In the 29 years since The Capital Grille opened its doors, this chain has surpassed every other fancy restaurant to become the place to splurge for one night of the year.
As hinted earlier, The Capital Grille wasn’t really a chain. It was a single outlet in Providence, Rhode Island, and it became the best restaurant in town. It wasn’t until it was brought by a chain that The Capital Grille began to expand, and today, it can count 57 restaurants in some upscale areas.
It’s now part of the Darden family of restaurants, and its growth has continued under the restaurant behemoth. True to form, though, Darden hasn’t tinkered with the formula that has made The Capital Grille so successful, and as long as Cupid has its way on one night in February, it will pretty much remain that way.