Capital Garage

Happy Hour Menu

DRINKS
$2.50 – Shock Top Bottles
$2.75 Wells
$3 Margaritas
$3.50 Long Islands/Beaches
$4 Jager Bombs or Irish Car Bombs
$1 off all draft beers and wine
Draught Beer – Newcastle, Deschutes Mirror Pond Ale- $3.75, Pyramid Haywire (Hef) - $3.50, River City Seasonal - $3.25, Unknown Amber Ale -should be $1.95 but is $2.95, Dogfish Head IPA - $5.50

FOOD

$3 – Potato Tower w/ mozzarella, tomato, basil
$4 - Mozzarella Sticks, Popcorn Chicken, Fried Shrimp, Crab and Cream Cheese Wontons


$5-$7 - Nachos (depending on addition of meat)

Location: 15th and K Street

Capital Garage Hours of Happiness: 4:00-7:00 PM (Monday-Sunday)

Late Night Happy Hour on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday



MY HAPPY HOUR EXPERIENCE:

I visited Capital Garage on a Friday after work around 5:00. The space (although rather small) is very open, as two walls are pretty much all open windows. There were about 25 people enjoying happy hour, which is by far the most crowded I had every seen it after work.
We ordered two Shock Tops as well as a Long Beach to start.
A Long Beach is pretty much a long island with the Coke swapped out with cranberry juice and sometimes a bit of Sprite. We also ordered the potato tower then went and sat outside. The potato tower took about 15 minutes to come out, and looked impressive. It tasted pretty good, but was slightly under seasoned.
When the waiter came outside to bring the tower to us, we asked if we could order another round of drinks. He said to go inside and order them at the bar. This seemed a little weird, but he seemed a little flustered with the number of people, so it was probably better that we got our own. Once inside, we ordered three Unknown Amber Ales from the tap. Now the non happy hour price of these is $2.95. On the happy hour menu, it clearly states "$1 off all draught beer and wine." You would think this would include the Unknown Amber which is a draught beer, making the final price $1.95....not the case! We even asked the bartender, "Isn't it supposed to be $1 off?" to which he replied, "Not for that beer." Now it's difficult for me to really complain about this because it was still only $3 and the beer was tasty, but I felt a little hosed.
I would be satisfied if the menu read: $1 off all draught beer EXCEPT FOR THE UNKNOWN AMBER ALE.


RECOMMENDATION:

Relaxed atmosphere, but the service can at times be a bit slow. If it's busy, you are better off ordering at the bar and taking your drinks back to your table. Capital Garage probably has the cheapest long islands you can find in the downtown/midtown area (I'll update if I find any cheaper). If you're looking for a strong drink after a rough day at work, this is definitely the spot for you.
One little quirk was that each drink was priced down to the quarter...example - a well drink is $2.75 but a margarita is $3.00. Could I order a well tequila w/ lime juice and sweet and sour to save a quarter? I wouldn't mind if all wells were $3 just from a simplicity standpoint.
Except for the slight false advertising ($1 off ALL draughts), I was overall quite happy with the experience. Great start to the weekend!