Capital Bar and Grill

Fantastic daily specials. It’s the go to place in town. Best business lunch in the city. Try the pimento cheese and everything else on the menu. They also make a mean Moscow mule!

This place is just okay. Probably only worth it to get drinks since they’re good but expensive at $ 12 a drink. I had a Moscow mule which was great but our roast beef with aus jus and fries were just okay. Stay away from the sweet potato crème brûlée. Disgusting. The music was a nice touch and the atmosphere was good but everyone was screaming to talk to each other since it was way too loud. Our waiter was very slow as well. Probably won’t be coming back.

The Capital Bar and Grill is not your average hotel bar — it is a Little Rock staple. Stop in for a classy cocktail, order a bite and enjoy the jazz and people watching — there is always a fun mix of people. The service is as upscale as the hotel itself. If the weather is nice and the bar is too crowded, take your drinks upstairs to the second story veranda.

Fancy! This ultraswank spot had me at their craft cocktail menu and the prices for those fancy drinks weren’t totally outrageous. The Seersucker was delicious.
And then we had dinner… yum. I had a fish dish. My friends had everything from the burger to salads. Everything was tasty and the server was on point.
The atmosphere is upscale without being stuffy. The live music is enjoyable without being overpowering.

Quality food and drinks that are so tasty but strong you will need a room after two martinis. I have never had a bad meal here, even if you just want drinks and bar snacks.

I stayed at the Marriott across the street from his hotel/​restaurant. The menu looked great so I thought I’d give it a try. Got the Cuban and malt torte. It was excellent. Sandwich was unexpectedly great. Dessert was good too. Highly recommend.

Pretty slow service, and very limited menu. The price is great though, and it’s easy to stay under $ 10 for lunch.

This review is for lunch: I have never been during dinner or happy hours.
You might think it’s fancy and expensive, but for lunch you can get their daily blue plate special or a half sandwich/​salad or half soup for $ 10. Makes the total (tax and tip included) to be $ 13 or so. So it can be affordable.
As for the food– I think it is really great quality. Other than the green gumbo (bland and too pricey) all of their options have been solid. The Cuban is really tasty: with the pulled pork being the star. Their burgers and fresh cut fries are really flavorful: perfectly cooked hamburger meat with a freshly baked bun.
The pulled pork sandwich special on Thursday is worth stopping by for. Their pulled pork is my favorite meat they prepare– somewhat tangy and very moist… It has a ton of flavor.
Service can be very spotty so be prepared for a lengthier lunch, as most folks in here are there for a business style meeting.

My experience started off really well. Tim had me taken care of from the outset. After my appetizer my food was brought out and dumped into my lap. Literally my entire plate of food and a cup of ketchup was thrown into my lap. They quickly apologized and brought me, I think, new food although it came out really quick to be all fresh. I ended up sitting and speaking with someone for awhile and then asked to cash out. He asked what I was going to about the food and I said, let’s see if they make it right. She sure enough rang up the entire bill. I honestly expected to comped after having my clothes covered in food and ketchup. After bringing that up she said oh, well let me take care of that and took the sandwich off and left the rest of the bill. I was disappointed that she wasn’t proactive in making my experience right from the get go.

LUNCH, four stars.
Every time I’ve been here, the service has been stellar. Not too much, not too little, just right. That’s everything from explaining items on the menu, recommending one thing over another (and saying why) and showing infinite patience while we waffled over what to get.
If service is your bread and butter whenever you go out, you can’t go wrong here.
I enjoyed their lunch menu a whole lot more than their dinner menu. The Gumbo especially was awesome. It comes in a little cast iron cauldron that really makes the whole experience more fun.
I also like coming here during the day, because the space is beautiful, absolutely beautiful. It has a classy, old-​school bar look, and combines abundant natural light with dark wood surfaces for a really pleasant feel.
The drinks menu also deserves special notice, because they have a solid wine list, a beer list that showcases all of our local hometown favorites (although has nothing exotic to tempt me away from them) and the cocktail list is lovingly crafted with a good selection of classics and newcomers, and has a good selection that’s also short enough to not be overwhelming — maybe 3 – 4 drinks per liquor type (vodka, whiskey, gin, etc) and each and every drink had a quick blurb after, with things like the history behind a drink, what they like about it, or why they put it on the menu. It’s good to see that much effort put into a menu, and that effort passes on to the drinks themselves here as well.
When I’ve come for lunch, it hasn’t been crowded either, which is a plus, and there’s a patio upstairs that they’ll (sometimes) let you take your food up to, for an even better view and a nice, more private lunch experience.
DINNER, three stars
At dinner… Well, they lost me a bit. The service still got top marks, more so even than the lunch. It’s also clearly targeted towards a more upscale/​classy crowd, with the light dimmed and candles on tables for a more romantic ambiance. They even had a live three-​piece jazz band playing, which was cool.
But.
First, I was shocked by how loud it was. And I mean, REALLY loud, raucous sports-​bar level loud. My wife and I were seated at a two-​person table right across from each other, and we had to lean way over and shout just to hear each other. It was a combination of the band being surprisingly loud, the patrons being enthusiastic, and all in all being a small space with excellent acoustics — whatever the cause though, it killed whatever relaxed/​romantic vibe we’d been in the mood for.
Still, the food was still very, very good. We split a Beet Salad, a Cheese Plate (single choice) and a seared Trout dish for dinner. My wife also had one of their wines, and liked it a lot, and I had a Ward 8, which was delicious despite the emasculating combination of a red cocktail in a frosted martini glass. Worth it.
The Beet Salad was awesome, if very small, with fresh-​picked mint leaves hidden throughout so some bites send a jolt of fresh minty goodness zinging off that fork. The cheese plate, while only having a small amount of cheese, made up for it with a cup of mini pickles, a cup of candied pecans, and a little cranberry chutney to go with the bread and crispy cheese. The trout was cooked to perfection, and accompanied by a nice mix of vegetables.
Total dinner for two with two drinks was around $ 60, which is not bad at all for a truly upscale dinner with exciting flavors and interesting options. Portions were small, certainly for the price, but when we left we found ourselves remarkably stuffed considering how little we’d eaten, that was a definite perk.
To sum up, I’m glad I came to try the dinner, but when I come back, it’ll be for the lunch!

The only reason they did not get five stars was due to the service. They were really packed and only had few waiters.
The food was delicious and the steak was cooked perfectly, exactly how I wanted it. I would definitely recommend the steak although their burgers also looked amazing.
We got a cheese plate as appetizer which I also enjoyed. The cheese plate was served with jam, pickles, nuts, and bread.
And we had their famous banana dessert, and that was also very excellent.

This place used to be great. Then they switched chefs. And it shows.
The prices have gone up, but unfortunately the quality has not.
This last time I went I had the rib eye, which was overcooked, not seared evenly and didn’t have the fat rendered properly. There aren’t set sides with the steak, just whatever the chef decides. The potatoes, onions and mushrooms I got were still raw enough that a good gardener could have brought them back to life.
I probably won’t go out of my way to go back.

Our cocktails took a VERY long time. The bartenders were slow, so was our server. NO sense of urgency. We asked him for recommendations he seemed confused, almost irritated.
I understand there was a group of us but «best bar in Little Rock» as our server said, was below those standards. The service really ruined our experience. We were essentially his only table ($) the entire time we were there and he seemed to have no desire to please us. Which is unfortunate because I love to tip great service and make their night!
The cheese plate was great everyone really enjoyed that and once our cocktails did arrive they were great too. Everything else was underwhelming.

I have been to CB&G several times over the last few years and I have never been disappointed. The food and service have always been excellent and it was just as good this time as well. One thing to note is that I love carrot cake and their’s is just incredible! I’m not usually one for desert, but since I do love carrot cake, I decided to go ahead and try it and I was really surprised how good it was.
I wish their beer selection was a little better; I can’t figure out why you can get a Chimay at so many other not as nice places, but not at what I would consider one of the nicest places in town. That fact isn’t going to bring them down a star since they do carry Delirium Tremens, even though they may not list it. I’d come here more often if they carried Chimay, Dilirium Nocturnum, or a few other Belgian beers.

Ryan was the BEST server ever… Impeccable manners, attention to detail, and honestly inquisitive about the quality of our meals’ tastes… He so rocked!
I’ll request Ryan time & time again…

For a hotel restaurant, this place was better than expected. The interior is very open so it was louder than I would like; however, the quality of the furnishings was comfortable and nice.
I ordered the Cuban. The waiter asked if I wanted chips, fries, or soup. I chose the soup (gumbo). It was an up charge of $ 3. I thought he should have told me. Gumbo was great. Chased the Cuban and gumbo with a stout beer that was delicious.
Overall, The meal was good but I was a little disappointed with the money. Probably won’t ever return.

I never fancied myself a Blue Plate Special kind of gal, but one trip to the Capital Bar and Grill completely changed my mind.
On the menu? A catfish po’boy with pickled green tomatoes and parmesan fries. The po’boy was stuffed with catfish fingers and the green tomatoes added the perfect tang to every bite. The french fries rivaled the truffle fries at Poste which is in my book, the gold standard of fried potatoes. The best part? All of this was $ 9.95.
Since I had some time to kill I got dessert as well, the chocolate brioche french toast. It was a little bit lacking in the chocolate and moisture department so I mostly pushed it around on my plate for a bit until they finally took it away.
That being said it was a fantastic meal overall with great service, and friendly neighboring patrons (People in the South are so friendly!). I’m looking forward to trying afternoon cocktail on a return trip!
A few awesome things to note:
+ Free WiFi
+ Molton Brown lotion in the hotel lobby bathroom (My hands have never felt more soft!)
+ Beautiful antique silverware FTW

Excellent classy hotel. Bar very welcoming (I was by myself) Had their signature Grilled Cheese sandwich with sweet potato fries, one word DELICIOUS. Bar staff informative, courteous, efficient. Did not stay here so cannot comment on hotel.
Well worth visiting if in Little Rock.

The food was good, had the roast beef sandwich, hats off to the chef’s. What made this place have one star, because I have to give something is their service. Our waiter seemed like an Arkansas boy wanting to be a New York or California boy, he was sooo pompous. Didn’t bother to make small talk, big talk, no kind of talk. Didn’t give us refills, ask how our food was, we actually felt like we ruined his day by having to serve us.
No high chairs. No kids menus. No excitement to see a baby.
He was more interested in keeping his highlighted hair strands all in order.
Would not recommmend this place to anyone other than an ex boyfriend or ex girlfriend.

I come to Little Rock twice a year and this was my first time here. Needless to say my last time back. After sitting we waited 30 minutes before a waiter addressed us. It took another 20 for our drinks. In hopes that we could order after getting our drinks, we were ultimately let down. After setting down the last drink our waiter bolted towards the front. We didn’t see him again for another 30 minutes! We had to grab another waiter and ask him to find our waiter for us. Finally he came back to take our second drink order and food order. 45 minutes went by and we finally received our food. Let’s recap the order and you tell me if a restaurant with 5 four tops and no other patrons should have this order take that long…2 cheeseburgers, 2 Caesar salads and a cob salad. 45 minutes?!? Not surprising, our waiter didn’t bring our food. Two other very nice waiters did. We never saw our waiter again. We finished our food and drink and waited for him to come by. One of the people at our table had a view of the front door and noticed our waiter standing in the entry way socializing with other workers. I’m glad he gets along with his coworkers but he does have a job to do. One of our table members had to get up and ask him for our tab. He dropped the tab and told us to have a good night. We paid, signed out and set our checks down. In tacky form he picked up all the tabs before we even made a move as if we were getting out of our chairs.
About the food… I had the cheeseburger with a gluten free bun. It was decent but very tiny. The burger was maybe ¾ the size of the palm of my hand. I’m on a diet so it was best I didn’t have something huge but for my friend next to me, he was pretty hungry after having eaten the burger. The one thing I will say is that the gluten free bun was amazing! Some people really screw up gluten free items. The bun was not made in house (read that on the resume) but mad props to the bakery they use!!!
Overall horrible service, ok atmosphere, and ok food. Food is about $ 2 – 4 overpriced for the portion size and presentation given. Atmosphere is a cigar bar feel but really loud. Service… horrible. My next visit in Little Rock I’ll be sure our group avoids this place.

Très bon resto!
Le rib eye était cuit à la perfection!
Belle ambiance, bon service!