One word – Fantastic. Went along with my folks to celebrate dad’s 69th, and everything form start to finish was top-notch. I would give 9.5/10 for the food, 10/10 for the service, pace and ambience.

So what did we eat I hear you ask? Broccoli and Feta Brushcetta to start, then being the vege I had an entree sized Pumpkin Ravioli in a delicious orange, ginger sauce, which was enough for a not-growing girl. The folks has Lamb pasta and a lamp rump steak on a lentil base. For desert mum indulged in the pecan, apple crumble and had the vanilla ricotta pudding with roasted rhubarb (the only thing I would rate 7/10). Quick mention must be made of the roasted rosemary and garlic potatoes, because they were a divine side dish!!

Mum dropped her spoon and had it replaced within a minute without saying a word, as did many other diners who knocked things off the tables, which are a tad small for the very large plates. The wine was topped us for us, and the waitresses were knowledgeable and friendly.

I will be going back for sure, thanks for a great night out Capitol.

Fantastic food. Awesome to visit for either lunch or dinner.

Just nice attention to detail, lovely flavours and really quite reasonable for what is local, well sort produce, free-range, organic produce.

Service also good. Like to the small surroundings as well. A lovely Wellington classic.

Had Sunday dinner here – we were constrained by a tight turnaround time of an hour. Phoned them with no prior booking – the staff were accommodating of our time constraint with no fuss, the service was slick and the food was marvellous – oysters, fish and the vegetable dishes more interesting than the usual. Pleasant ambience with good lighting level and a nice feel of privacy which is difficult in a small city restaurant. Good range of choices on the wine list. The kind of restaurant where they make things work for you rather than the other way around.

I love this place, the food is simple and flavoursome. Not to complicated which means the ingredients can speak fot themselves. Most times i come here i am happy except on a wet and busy night. The place is too noisy and too humid. They need extraction or something to clear the steam inside

Had Friday lunch (again) with a small group of friends and we went to the Capitol to get out of the rain.

The food was efficient, but not spectacular, certainly good tasty fare.

The service was OK, but the waiter annoyed me by not wanting to check with chef to see if he could batter and fry some of the oysters that they were serving raw.

Is it a restaurant or a short order fry cafe? Is a simple batter beyond the chef? We couldn’t tell because the wait staff never checked.

Overall, it’s a solid place for a meal, but I would not put it in my top 10 list for Courtnay Place eateries, and I would not bring a city visitor there.

Great modern Italian-influenced food; I’ll eat things I’d normally avoid (Brussel sprouts, lambs’ liver…) and they’re always excellent. I go there frequently and I’ve never been disappointed. Have taken foodie friends there from New York, Hong Kong and (even) Auckland, and they’ve all been wowed. It doesn’t take reservations, but they’re realistic about waiting times (and their Bloody Marys are a pleasant way to kill time at the bar). The fish of the day is always outstanding but make sure to leave room for pudding (or their chocolate truffles which are never listed on the menu). Great for lunch and dinner. Recommended, providing you can cope with the noise.

No stars at all. This place defied belief. The two of us had Sunday brunch at Capitol and it was truly awful in all respects. The service was off-hand, unsmiling and we waited a looooooong time for menus, coffee and our straight-from-the-menu food order. My partner had ordered a hot chicken dish. It was lukewarm and lacked any flavour. I ordered the spinach, feta and pinenut fritter. It arrived like a burnt offering – thin, dry and tasteless. Our efforts to discuss the problem relied on us being able to attract the attention of the staff who were chatting at the counter. We failed. In the end, hunger got the better of us and we ate what had been put on the table. We went to the counter to pay and raised the subject of the food being sub-standard. We said the meals had been a little disappointing, noting the problems described above. ‘Oh?’, and a haughty raised eyebrow was the response. No ‘I’m so sorry’, no ‘may I offer to reduce some of your bill?’ – no acknowledgement at all. I wanted to ask her if we had done something to offend the Capitol staff (I couldn’t imagine what, since the please/thank you courtesies and smiles were consistently offered from us to them – what a shame there was no reciprocity) but my partner had already had enough and wanted to get out. Which was easier said than done, since their machine kept glitching when we used our card (it was fine everywhere else we went that day) and the woman serving us at the till (I use the word serving advisedly) refused to believe their own technology was at fault. I’ve heard good things about Capitol but we WON’T be going back.

Me and my partner have eaten here many times and love it!! we always get the same things and they never disappoint us. The service is great!

Awesome food!! limited secletion of juices though. Tuna was amazing – melt in the mouth.
A great dining experience.
Cool staff

I have eaten at Capitol numerous times, and cannot fault it. I only felt compelled to write this after reading the complaint below. The staff at Capitol are amazing, I can not fault any of the ones that have served us. The food consistently exceeds expectations, which is why we have made Capitol one of our favourite restaurants.

My boyfriend and I decided to go for a nice meal out on a Friday night and it started off so at Capitol. We had excellent starters (risotto and squid) but unfortunately the mains did not live up to this standard. We had heard many good things about Capitol and thus had high hopes, unfortunately my main was inedible and my partner’s was also somewhat lacklustre. I had the pumpkin ravioli which tasted only of butter and lemon and was garnished with glace cherries! My partner had a chewy, mediocre, medium rare duck breast atop a bland uncooked beetroot salad. I am not one to complain about meals but had got my hopes up about this one and thus felt inclined to do so- this was a bad idea as the reception i received upon complaining was simply dreadful. Initially, my meal was taken away and I was promised a new one however the manager later changed her mind and refused to replace or refund my meal but did offer to return the meal which she had “tasted” herself. After being insulted by the manager, who insisted there was nothing wrong with the meal and only with my attitude and over-show of emotions (I was reduced to tears) and spending $140 we decided to leave and ended up eating toast at home as this was a more palatable option. I would not wish this service on anyone and would only recommend this restaurant to those who enjoy eating meals drenched in overpriced butter.

Wonderful food and great service