The Capital Grille Announces Tentative Opening For Newtown Location

NEWTOWN, PA — The Capital Grille, an exclusive upscale fine dining restaurant and steakhouse, is tentatively scheduled to open on Sept. 8 in Newtown Township, according to the restaurant's website.

Construction has been ongoing at the future site of the new restaurant at the Village at Newtown since it received conditional use approval from the township supervisors in June 2023.

When the new 8,000-square-foot, 200-seat restaurant opens inside the former Pier One Imports store on the east side of the shopping center, it will be the first Capital Grille in Bucks County and the fourth in Pennsylvania. The Capital Grille’s other locations are in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and King of Prussia.

"It’s a ringing endorsement for a municipality to be chosen by Capitol Grille for a restaurant," Capital Grille's liquor license attorney Mark Kozar told the board of supervisors in 2023, adding that the township would be joining an "exclusive club of municipalities" that host the upscale restaurant.

"Capital Grille is Darden's flagship restaurant. Darden is very selective as to where it opens a Capital Grille," said Kozar. "There are only 63 nationwide. Compare that to 884 Olive Gardens nationwide," he said of another restaurant chain Darden operates.

That fact wasn't lost on the board of supervisors.

"Capital Grille is a feather in our cap," said Supervisor Elen Snyder in June 2023. "No, I'm not fond of more liquor licenses, but with the Capital Grille comes a liquor license. There's no doubt about it. I see it as a positive for our township and something special."

The layout of the proposed restaurant shows a reception area opening up to a main dining room, three private dining rooms, and a horseshoe bar surrounded by individual tables. The layout also depicts tables on an outside patio on the Eagle Road side of the building.

The Capital Grille, which opened its first restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island in 1990, is best known for its expertly prepared steaks, which are dry-aged in-house for 18 to 24 days and then hand-cut by the restaurant's on-premise butcher.

The Capital Grille's wine list features more than 350 selections, and its floor-to-ceiling wine kiosk regularly houses between 3,500 and 5,000 bottles.

“From the moment you step into The Capital Grille, the experience is one of comfortable elegance,” says the restaurant’s website. “African Mahogany paneling and art deco chandeliers provide a warm, stately setting for our nationally renowned dry-aged steaks, fresh seafood, and
acclaimed world-class wines. With service as gracious as it is attentive, we look forward to impressing you.”

The food is made from “exceptional ingredients, artfully prepared. It is our sole desire that everything, and we mean everything, that arrives at your table at The Capital Grille delights you," the website says. "To ensure that experience, we use only the finest, freshest ingredients, artfully prepared in recipes designed to engage all of your senses.”

*Editor's Note: This story has been edited to reflect an updated opening date. Capital Grille had initially announced an Aug. 23 opening on its website.