Review Capitol Restaurant - Wellington

Food is always good there. Impeccable service and tasty menu and always evolving. Being regulars, it always has been consistent good service, food and wine selection. Great boutique restaurant for special occasions or if your just looking for simple tasty food. The wagyu beef fillet is my favourite paired with polenta and adding a spinach sautées side. The toffee pudding and strawberries Pavlova, delicious with a glass of sherry.

We were looking for a place to have an easy stress free European dinner after a long day. The dishes were fantastic, Eye fillet was perfectly cooked with a fantastic gratin and beautiful pesto. Side potatoes were more on a rusty side with roasted to a point of fluffiness inside and crunchy skin on the outside. I also tried my friend's special of the day veal in the bone which was extremely tender and melt in the mouth. The reason I gave 4 stars us that the restaurant was too busy and they really need to have at least 1 more staff. I ordered cranberry juice but got something else, possibly grapefruit as it was pink but citrusy... We were told that someone would tell us the specials, but no-one came to do so and we had to remind the waitress to do so when she was taking the order. We arrived at the restaurant at 8.30 pretty hungry and only got the food at 9.55, which was a very long wait especially for a late sitting. I understand of course that they were super busy, but I believe the management needs to make sure that there is enough stuff available for those nights.

Always a nice dinner with great service. We tried the WOAP cocktail, festival dish and burger. We also shared the calamari which was the best thing we had. Their calamari is so light and soft with wonderful flavor. I don't known what magic they are weaving with their calamari, but it's definitely worth going there to have it. The festival dish was not amazing and has a very strong fishy seafood flavor. The burger was nice, but nothing special.

One of the best beef fillet i've ever had. The place is small, with few tables on the corner of a building. We waited quite a lot for our meal but they offered us a very good squid. Staff very gentle. A really delicious meal.

Visited with some friends as a "fancy dinner". We had a wonderful young waiter, very polite and kind. Definitely not our usual pick, but it was really tastey! Had the lamb, beef and fish main meals. The potato sides were good too. Not for those that are hungry though!!

Can almost always guarantee a great dining experience here, so was not disappointed. The clam starter was full of flavour. I’m a big fan of the pumpkin gnocchi and all it’s buttery goodness, and the WOAP venison and oyster pie was a big hit! That and great service made for a great night out.

great food done simply. elephant fish, from the shark family was meaty and perfectly partnered with some velvety mash and crunchy smoky charred broccolini. Cloudy bay clams were sublime and service was fun and efficient.

Had a fabulous meal catching up with family from out of town. Food was superb - every dish was top quality, beautifully presented and best of all , tasted sublime. You always know when you've picked a great restaurant when you struggle to make choices from the menu. Highlights for us were the entrees of calamari with aoli, sautéed lambs brains and steak tartare. Mains were divine- Wagu steak with pamesan potato gratin, Nduja strozzapetti and lambs liver with spinach sautéed with gorgonzola. Portions were perfect, possibly even too large but there wasn't a heck of a lot left after the three of us eagerly shared a taste of our chosen dishes with each other. There was definitely some food envy going on. We couldn't resist the Pavlova served with blackcurrant coulis which was dessert heaven only to then be gifted one of Capitols delicious chocolate puddings with creme fraiche. Full and replete our night was over. Throughout the evening we were beautifully looked after by Toby who was extremely knowledgeable about the daily blackboard specials and was generous with his time without being intrusive. Overall a fantastic night that restored my faith in Bistro style dining in Wellinton.

We had a grate dinner for celebrate my husband's birthday. All of food are delicious.

Great food! Best food I had in New Zealand … I am in day 8 and I have booked very nice reputable places, but this one… oh my god! Amazing! Great service as well which is hard to find in NZ. Good job people!!! :)

My favourite restaurant in Wellington

Dined at Capitol last night, having been their for brunch a few days earlier. On both occasions the food and service were excellent. Love this place and there are some great restaurants in Wellington. From an aucklander who loves visiting his student daughter.

It was a great pleasure dining here for my partner's birthday. The quality of food was superb and selection of wines are excellent. Staff are very friendly and attentive.

Great service and good food and nice selection of wines. Each course was nicely prepared. The oysters were fresh and tasty. Look forward to returning.

Capitol is known as one of Wellington's Crown Jewels and now I know why! My husband had lamb ragu with pasta, I had snapper & fresh oysters and we both had sticky toffee pudding for dessert. Our meal was of the highest quality and flavour. Service was top notch, with our attentive server making wine suggestions that perfectly complimented our meal. I can't wait to dine here again!

Friendly helpful staff here. I asked about vegetarian options and they offered to adjust a couple of dishes to suit. <br/><br/>There wasn’t anything g standout on the veggie options for me, but I chose the tagliatelle with broad beans and artichoke. They swapped the pancetta with onions and tomatoes.<br/><br/>It was a simple dish with good flavours. It didn’t knock my socks off but it was enjoyable and fresh. <br/><br/>I also ordered a glass of Pinot noir; Bannockburn. The waiter was very knowledgeable on the wine and helped me choose. A fine drop it was too.

The morning of the election and voting first thing , we met friends and had a great breakfast and anticipated the results. Great food and tempted by the pancakes and alcoholic cocktails but restrained ourselves for the long day ahead

I am never disappointed when visiting Capitol the food is always 5* and the service is to match one of the best places to eat in the city always look forward to my next visit . Recommend to every one . This place should be sitting at 5 because it is nothing less than 5 star

I don't know how the teeny tiny kitchen in Capitol manages to produce such ridiculously good food.  Brunch, lunch, dinner....I like it all.  Big gorgeous windows built for people watching in an airy room.  Only drawback is that noise control is non-existent and sometimes the room has had a few people that talk louder than fire engine horns.  I look forward to all their menus.

This was our first time at Capitol and I was expecting so much more so was very disappointed. The service was fine and the coffee was good but the food was not. My husband had the caponata siciliana baked eggs which (having had baked eggs dozens of times elsewhere and made at home) was not remotely Sicilian and tasted very bland. And wasn't served with bread, as it normally should be.   I had the orecchiette with prosciutto and peas and it was horrible - supermarket dried pasta swimming in a weird oily butter-onion sauce with some sad looking peas and some prosciutto.  I had about three bites and had to leave it - when the waitress came to take a 90% full plate away she didn't even ask if there was an issue, nor did the woman at the till ask how our meal was.  The upside was that I had some pizza and a caramel slice from Deluxe on the way to the car and it was delicious.  Never again!

Most amazing scrambled eggs I've ever had. Always do the soup here. I don't come to Wellington that often but when i do and I come here the soup is ALWAYS AMAZIN!<br/>Highly recommended!

Came here for brunch Sunday, the waiter was really nice and our water was chilled and refilled consistently which was nice. Our drinks took about five minutes to come whereas the food took about 25/30minutes. They can only do scrambled or fried eggs which is a bit annoying since I'm a poached fan but I decided to try scrambled. Now they didn't have GF bread but the waiter offered to replace this with a hash-brown which was fine, I also ordered mushrooms and tomatoes. When my order came there was bread along with the rest - luckily I'm not coeliac so it was fine I just moved it. The eggs had cheese in them which was a bit annoying because I'm trying to not eat dairy, and they were quite greasy in texture. Mushrooms were amazing! Tomatoes were a bit soggy overcooked and the hash-brown was so/so - plain and unsalted but crunchy. The chutney saved the day on that one! <br/>Adams order of chocolate and banana pancakes were good, somehow almost deep fried and crispy on the edges but doughy/eggy in the middle. The mascarpone dollop also was a letdown because it wasn't flavoured it was similar to a plain dollop of cream - would've been nice to have maybe a lemon zest flavour? <br/>Anyway the food was okay - but for a cafe not a restaurant and not for the price they're serving at either. $50 for brunch not well spent. <br/><br/>Wouldn't go back unless to try the dinner menu options - or order something I couldn't cook myself.

After a slip up by the host for our table of 4, we were seated promptly. The pasta and prawns were cooked well and the side of potato were very crunchy. The highlight was the dessert which you could smell as it was served to the table. The fondant was as it should be - gooey and oozing with chocolate. The staff were excellent at making sure we had enough drinks throughout the night.

Me and a friend were visiting Wellington for the first time and decided to check out this cute corner café. Upon entering we noticed the seating was quite "cosy". Instead of the waitress taking us to a seat she pointed from the counter where we could sit. There were far too many specials to remember even the waiter struggled to remember all of them. The coffee was quite nice and I ordered scrambled eggs which were very nice, my friend ordered the tiramisu which was alright. Overall I felt the café was cute, food was nice but the customer service was average... The waiter gave awesome customer service but the waitress seemed to consider customers more of a inconvenience more than anything. During our lunch I also noticed the waitress had spilt hot tea on another customer and didn't even realise. This is not a venue I plan on attending again during my next visit to Wellington.

How lucky are we, one of our locals. Consistent great food in an iconic location. I had gurnard not my favourite fish superbly cooked, green beans as a side just past crunchy . <br/>

Capitol, like Ortega a few doors away, has a large and loyal following. For good reason. This is one of the handful of special restaurants in the Capital - the food is simple, bistro style, usually with a Mediteranean edge, perfectly cooked, attractive, interesting and occasionally brave. It is never fussy, dull or totally predictable. Whoever designs the menu has both taste and intelligence.<br/>Housed in an old lighting shop (from memory), the restaurant sits on a busy corner at the Embassy end of Courtenay place. Attractive, large windows on two sides look out onto busy traffic and passing cinema patrons. The decor is simple, the ambiance warm, and in the evening it becomes bustling, fast paced and sophisticated. Because of its limiting corner site the dining space is small and the limited seating allows the restaurant to focus on quality rather than bums on seats. You can't book for small groups but usually, as long as you aren't there at peak time, it'll be a short wait at the bar before a table comes free.<br/>Ive probably had 20 meals at Capitol and never had a bad one - or bad service. I can't remember any bad staff, but I do remember friendliness and attentiveness. The only irritation Ive ever felt was when a favourite dish was taken from the menu. <br/>Menu recommendations I find hard. I think it would be safe to say that you could order anything and the probability is you'd love it. My personal favourite is the lamb's liver with gorgonzola and spinach, and the crushed roast potatoes with rosemary and garlic is a specialty that shouldn't be missed. Salt and pepper squid is nice for entrée, but honestly, anything from the menu would be good. Desserts are always great no matter what - I usually tend to struggle with deserts, often they are are far too fussy, but not so at Capitol.<br/>If you haven't been, live in Wellington, enjoy food and are able to pay the prices then you must go.

Queens Birthday Sunday and a night out - bliss.<br/>I have only been here for lunch previously and thoroughly enjoyed that so was pleased to settle in here for dinner.<br/>We called ahead and were advised to get there about 8:30 as they anticipated a vacant table by then (no bookings taken). As it happened we had about a 20 minute wait at the bay perched on the stools. Not a hardship with a glass of wine!<br/>The wait was well worthwhile. Entrées chosen by the table; gnocchi, squid x2 and broccoli bruschetta. All were delicious. On to the mains; lamb liver, crackled pork on wild grains, lamb rack and..... hmmm can't recall! Regardless - all meals were polished off and highly praised.<br/>The shared two orders of desert were fabulous - Pecorino, dried pear, walnuts, honey and black pepper - a great combo!<br/>The service was excellent - well informed staff and a service delivered with great humour. Well worth a visit. Delicious!

Went there on a Monday night with people from out of town. Had been recommended from someone earlier that day so was a bit last minute. It was lovely. Provincial out of towners loved it. They could watch others and look out at cold Wellington Monday night. Atmosphere lovely. Great menu, excellent unobtrusive service. Just right amount on plate. All meals delicious. Duck was fabulous. Desserts lovely. No one intimated that we should get out even though it was wet windy Wgtn night. Back in a flash and good to take out of towners to as you can look out and see what is going on and great service etc.

Been here many times, always excellent food and service; last visit was outstanding with amazing food backed up with attentive service and great advice (especially the recommendation about the rum with the burnt butter and raisin sponge!) One of Wellington's best restaurants.

I would have given this 5 stars for the excellent dessert and drinks list, however the service was definitely a let down. When you are paying $14.50 for a tiny bit of banana cake you don't expect to be treated like you don't belong. It took the waitstaff a few minutes of dodging eyes to seat my 2 girlfriends and I who had come in for a drink and dessert after a movie at the Embassy. When drinks were ordered, the head waitress rudely told us she'd never heard of putting our chosen mixer with the drink. She proceeded to place the order with the bartender whilst pointing and laughing at our choice. Especially for fine dining, very unprofessional service!

We mostly come for lunch, they make a fantastic Bloody Mary!<br/>I've had possibly the best fish dish I've ever had here (I think it was king fish). The food is always fresh, well cooked with simple flavors that work.<br/>Service is always friendly and knowledgeable.<br/>We'll be back again and again,

I've lunched at Capitol twice fairly recently with my husband and had the blackboard seafood special and a glass of wine.<br/>It is a restaurant that shows off Wellington at its best. Sophisticated menu with a delicate touch. On an action streetscape. We leave feeling that we have not overeaten, and are enervated and refreshed.

A must 'go to' place when in Wellington for breakfast. Super quick and attentive service matched with a breakfast menu that has all the standard dishes plus a couple for the more adventurous. The Fried haloumi, grilled ciabatta, roast beetroot, chillied black olive is worth a try for a change.<br/><br/>The pickle sauce on the table which is rather sweet but a great match with the scramble eggs.<br/><br/>Well worth hunting this place out.

This place is pretty damn good - food was excellent and great wine list. Service was good - and handled how busy it was well. Best restaurant I have found in Wellington - plus the place was full of celebrities but service was still great

Fantastic food. Awesome to visit for either lunch or dinner.<br/><br/>Just nice attention to detail, lovely flavours and really quite reasonable for what is local, well sort produce, free-range, organic produce.<br/><br/>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

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. <br/><br/>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!! <br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>I will be going back for sure, thanks for a great night out Capitol.

Had Friday lunch (again) with a small group of friends and we went to the Capitol to get out of the rain.<br/><br/>The food was efficient, but not spectacular, certainly good tasty fare.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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. <br/>A great dining experience.<br/>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

Capitol is one of those places that comes highly recommended - I was really hoping it would measure up to it's reputation. Right from the minute we walked in the door, the service was faultless. We were greeted by a friendly waitress who showed us to our table. She was knowledgeable, making good recommendations and suggestions throughout the evening, and also appeared to be having a good time. <br/>It was quite busy, as we were only a few weeks until Christmas, so there was quite a lively atmosphere. I had salt and pepper squid to start, which was tasty, and I followed it with baby crayfish for my main. Unfortunately the crayfish was slightly over cooked - I still enjoyed it, and finished it, but I felt it was a little dry. <br/>The desserts on the other hand, were delicious! I can't remember what they were called, but I had a chocolate pudding, another diner tried the panna cotta, and another enjoyed the smoked goat's curd - all of which were sensational. <br/>Overall, we really enjoyed our evening.