Major Renovations Underway At Future Site Of Capital Grille In Newtown

NEWTOWN, PA — Major renovations are officially underway to transform the former Pier One Imports store into the nation’s newest Capital Grille at the Village at Newtown shopping center.

Earlier this month, crews erected a construction fence around the outside of the building to protect the public while the space is renovated..

The exclusive upscale fine dining restaurant and steakhouse is scheduled to open in late summer in Newtown Township. It will be its first outside a highly urbanized metropolitan area.

A layout of the future restaurant submitted as part of the conditional use application 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 six tables on an outside patio on the Eagle Road side of the building.

The new 8,000 square foot, 236-seat restaurant will be the first Capital Grille in Bucks County and the fourth in Pennsylvania. The Capital Grille’s other Pennsylvania locations are in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and King of Prussia.

(Photo by Jeff Werner)

"It’s a ringing endorsement for a municipality to be chosen by Capitol Grille for a restaurant," said Capital Grille's liquor license attorney Mark Kozar last June during a conditional use hearing for the restaurant. He added that the township would be joining a very exclusive club of municipalities to host the 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 Darden's other brand restaurant.

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 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," says the restaurant's website. "To ensure that experience, we use only the finest, freshest ingredients, artfully prepared in recipes designed to engage all of your senses.”

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 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.”