So, I live sorta in suburbia. Which means that going out for a quick weeknight bite might involve a chain restaurant. Yes, I know chains are like the Velveeta (not really real!) of the restaurant world and there are oodles of other choices, but my minimum expectations are usually met and it's easy and usually fairly cheap.
My bar for Chili's is set remarkably low. But tonight, it was a lofty and unachievable goal.
Drinks: 3 stars
Although the drinks were cheap thanks to Happy Hour specials, they took way to long to come out, considering how not busy it was.
Menu: 2 stars
Did something change about the menu? I feel like there is less on it and they got a new copywriter that is out to sabotage them. At least try to make the food sound interesting. I mean, on a menu of 30 or so items, to make none of them really sounds appealing is a feat. Also, for the record, "taco seasoned ground beef" is something most of us can do at home.
Also, I must lodge a complaint about the pictures. I understand about the photo staging - using different food vessels, making the most appealing looking bite, etc. I do, however, believe that the portions should be similar. The photos only exacerbated my disappointment with the lacking portions (keep reading).
Food: 1 star
We had the pretzels for an appetizer which were tasty, as expected. It comes with cheese sauce, which is basically nacho cheese without the peppers or chilis. And they give you only enough for about half the pretzels.
Husband had the slider burgers and they actually got his custom order right, and he thought they were pretty good. But to his point, he said it was hard to screw up tiny cheeseburgers.
I had the fajitas combo - chicken and steak. I've had the fajitas before and it has always been a sizzling pile of meat and vegetables. This time, it was sizzling, but it was hardly a pile. A 'scant grouping' would describe it better. There was a piece of steak about the size of the tiny half of my palm that was actually cooked fairly decently. Then there was a chicken cutlet that was moist, but that was it's only redeeming quality. It was pure chicken white. It had not seen the hot side of a grill or pan directly. And it managed to have no flavor whatsoever, save for the black pepper sprinkled on it. How does fajita meat have no flavor? I didn't think it was possible. Blargh.
The fajitas came with 3 tortillas, and a little tower of toppings which included: chili lime sour cream, guacamole, pico de gallo, salsa, pickled jalapeño, and shredded cheese. Again, the portions were scant.
Service: 2 stars
We were seated and profusely apologized to that our computer gizmo was given to another table. Three people actually tried to get us one. No really, we didn't come to a restaurant to play computer games - we're not 8 years old.
Our server was friendly. He failed to mention anything about the Happy Hour specials to me and there was no signage to tell me so I had to ask A. if it was still happy hour and B. what the happy hour specials were. He was pleasant and friendly enough about ordering and delivering food, and even checked in at an appropriate time.
When I refused to eat any more of my bad fajitas leaving most of the chicken behind, he asked if I would like a box. I said, "No, the chicken was pretty bad actually." He said he was sorry to hear that. I asked him if it looked like my chicken had been grilled at all? He said "No, not really. Maybe a tiny bit." If you say so.
It wasn't until I was signing the bill that I went through the items, and son of a gun, there was an "entertainment fee" tucked up in the middle in between some stuff. As a cynical business person, I have to assume this was an idea cooked up at corporate - tuck in the entertainment fee and most people won't even notice it. This fee is for the use of the computer gizmos, even though the games that are on the gizmos also cost money.
We asked about the entertainment fee, which he replied was for the use of the computer gizmo....oh...wait...you don't even have one. Nope. He took the receipt as if to correct it, and then realized the card had already been charged. He struggled with what to do about it now, and then asked if he could just give us a dollar. Um, sure. He proceeded to take a dollar from his tip on another table and give us the dollar and a computer gizmo.
I'm not sure what to call this category: 1 star
You get one star for telling me to have a good night as we're walking out. You get no more stars because when I said to the manager looking character, "It was pretty bad tonight. Very disappointing." Her response was "I'm sorry to hear that. Good night." Nothing else...no questions...just a dismissal.
That makes an average of 1.8 stars. I want to be able to count on chains. I guess even Velveeta gets moldy sometimes. read more