I can't believe I've lived in Rhode Island for more than twenty years and last night was the first time I dined at Capriccio's. I guess I was always put off by the rumors of it being owned by the mob, it having snobby staff, etc. But my best friend said that he had a fabulous meal there recently, and my fiancee's uncle, who recently visited from Maryland, told her that he had one of the best meals of his life there, so I figured why not give it a shot.
They have free valet parking, which is nice for that area, considering what I tipped the guy was about what it would have cost to park in one of the nearby lots (or less for some of them).
I wasn't quite sure what to expect when we got there, having heard it's in the building's basement. Well, it is in the basement, but it was kind of neat and romantic, dimly lit but not too dark and gloomy. As we had reservations, we were seated immediately at an oversized two-top. The chairs were really comfy too.
The waiters all seemed very serious, almost severe at first, which I guess can be seen as snobby. But partway through the meal, they sort of started busting on each other a bit, which took the edge off a bit. I would say that they are being professional in their severity and seriousness, which I've seen at other high-end restaurants, such as The Spiced Pear in Newport. I will say that they were extremely efficient in their service throughout the entire evening, though, which was appreciated.
On to the food. . . we had the calamari appetizer, which they split between two plates before serving us, which I rarely see happening anywhere and which I thought was a nice touch so we didn't have to serve ourselves from a central plate. The calamari was good; not the best I've ever had, but definitely acceptable. A salad was included with our meals, which was again good, not great. My fiancee had the sea bass, which she loved, and I had a halibut special, which was very tasty. For dessert, we had a buffalo cheese cheesecake, which was interesting and yummy.
For the amount of food and drinks we had (a couple of martinis each, and a cappucino for me with dessert), the price was quite reasonable. Overall, our experience was quite good. While the food was very good, it wasn't over-the-top fabulous. But the service was quite excellent. We will definitely add Capriccio's to our restaurant rotation.
One last note: when the waitstaff is all wearing tuxedos, I have a problem with diners coming in wearing jeans and t-shirts, you know, "grunge wear". . . maybe I'm becoming an old fart, but the groups coming in dressed that way definitely took away something from the atmosphere of the place. It's not like I was wearing a suit, but I did wear a sport coat. Okay, off the soap box. . . read more