There are two types of service at this location: 1.) Poor, and 2.) Non-existent.
Chili's is normally a great favorite for dinner on our firm's business trips, and overall the experience is normally pretty great. But after dining at this Mt. Pleasant / Tennison location last evening, it is clear that at least ONE branch does not live up to the Chili's name and reputation.
Our waitress, Leslie, was for the most part M.I.A. the entire time we were there. Our orders were a train wreck. Three out of six people ordered the margarita grilled chicken, and all three plates came out wrong. The rice on each was so undercooked that it was crunchy. Leslie did not seem inclined to bring us our second round of drinks, even though they were sitting on the bar in plain view. After 15 long minutes of waiting, we finally went and got the drinks from the bar ourselves. A fourth member of our party of six never got her second vodka club soda at all.
After dining, three of us decided to relocate to the bar area for drinks (including the co-worker whose drink Leslie never bothered to bring) mistakenly thinking the service there would be better. We sat down at a high-top table at 7:57pm. At 8:21pm when we STILL had not been greeted, we finally (with some desperation) flagged down a passing waitress--Margo--and asked if she was waiting our section. She offered a false, gritted-teeth smile and--in a tone that clearly indicated we were bothering her--said "Yes, and I'll be right with you" before stalking off without waiting for a response.
Margo and what appeared to be every other server in the restaurant had spare time two minutes beforehand to bellow out Happy Birthday to a patron a few tables over from ours, but not ONE of them could be bothered to take 15 seconds in a TWENTY-FOUR MINUTE TIME SPAN to take our beer order?? Really???
Unbelievable.
At that point, we decided to leave. On the way out, we asked the hostess, Maggie, for a comment card. I see perfectly well why Maggie is a hostess, because she a) was the most pleasant employee in the restaurant, and b) is apparently the only one who knows how to smile. She kindly explained that the survey would be at the bottom of our receipt. Unfortunately, since we were never WAITED ON in the 24 minutes we sat in the bar area, we didn't HAVE a receipt (the partner of our firm had paid for our meals and had left a half hour before with the dinner receipt).
We left and went to a nearby Applebee's, where we were greeted instantly upon walking in the door, and had our drinks on the table less than three minutes later. The attitude of the staff and the quality of service at Applebee's versus Chili's in this town is like comparing NIGHT and DAY.
Again -- MOST Chili's locations offer great service and friendly staff. This is not one of them, and it does a discredit to the Chili's name.
SUMMARY:
PROS: Maggie, the hostess, was friendly.
CONS: The quality of service was poor. Bring your own drinks because you will get thirsty before you ever get a re-fill. The waitresses we were stuck with offered either poor service (Leslie), or no service at all and a very poor attitude (Margo).
OVERALL RATING: 1 out of 5 stars. read more