Approximately 7AM - 4PM (depends on individual vendors)
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The Food Court at the Capital Center is a great (but hidden away) place downtown to sit down and get out of the weather and maybe even buy some food. Enter the Capital Center lobby at 50 East State, and head up the escalator. The food court is an enormous space on the mezzanine level.
It’s nearly charming, with tall ceilings, tiled floors, and comfortable chairs. It gets busy at lunch, but even then there are nooks and crannies where you can find quiet. If you need to kill a couple of hours between appointments, you can buy a cup of coffee or a sandwich, and be quite cozy while you work on your tablet or laptop. No one will bother you.
Like most food courts, food quality is a pot luck, depending on which vendor you buy from. None here are chains, and most (I’m told by a couple of faithful customers) are quite good (except the Chinese joint, which I’ve been warned to avoid). In one place you’ve got a choice of:
- Capital Dog (hot dogs)
- Capital Deli (mostly deli sandwiches)
- Two Brothers Trattoria (Pizza and Italian entrees)
- Corner Cafe (coffee and cafe food like paninis/salads)
- Golden Chicken (chicken entrees and sandwiches)
- Chinatown (chinese food)
We’ll check out these vendors and potentially review them individually.
I used to lunch every day there—sandwich I took from home, with some coffee.They made good coffee there.I also worked in building.I used to go out in pleasant weather, when bricks covered the block and there was always something being sold in the middle of the block.There was an artist, Tom Malloy, who used to sell his watercolors for a reasonable amount.Apparently, the art people got a hold of him and told him not sell paintings like this.I think he thoroughly enjoyed meeting people and absence of Tom Malloy—it was never the same for me.
SSA used to be on same floor as the Ghost Court.SSA had a tiny space.
Then there was the CO of dyfs, taking up maybe 2 floors, 5 floors?
I know SSA left. dyfs leave, too? I know what there before 50 East State St—Dunham’s Dept Store, a really disorganized place, where the room was divided into tables, maybe 15 tables.Each one of these tables looked like laundry, helter-skelter.
Ghost Court has really great views. You can spend hours there, with out thinking twice. A great public space.
My recollection is that the local independent food establishments were furious when this was included in the building. Just another reason for state workers to not have to actually interact with the city…
David, you raise an interesting point. But the space is open to the public, and the vendors aren’t chains (at least not major chains) and probably have as much claim to be local and independent as any other downtown business owners. The fact is that it’s a pleasant, enclosed public space in a town that’s short of them. On a cold winter’s day, or a hot summer one, it’s a great place to kill an hour. Should we not cover it?
There’s not much to interact with over the course of a lunch hour and still eat lunch. Walking takes up time (though nice in better weather) and driving around town is difficult at best during lunch hour. I haven’t been back in town on the weekends since musical events stopped at the War Memorial.
Wow,Thankful for this post I live within walking distance and never new it was there,are they open on Saturday,?
Heather – I think they are only open M-F, to cater to the business crowd…. I’ve been there a few times.
I love the salads at Two Brothers. Definitely better than standard food court fare.
Golden chicken has REALLY good Spanish food. It’s the only one I go to when I remember the food court is there. Lol. They need a sign outside.
I love the Ghost Court!