January 2, 2006
I don’t want my Baby Back Ribs
In a late celebration of 2006, today we went to Chili’s for the first time ever. That will probably be the last time ever, too, due to the miserable experience there.
To start things off, we were seated in the bar without being asked. Not only that, we were attempted to be seated at a high table rather than a normal table or booth. Now, when we go to other restaurants, we get asked before being seated in the bar; what’s Chili’s problem? After being seated in a booth in the bar, our waiter showed up for our drinks, which took them several minutes to get out to us. After that, refills of our drinks weren’t too prompt either.
Then came the food. It was mediocre. Considering the prices, it was poor. My parents didn’t like their food much, though mine was okay; the corn was pretty good, the fries were good except for being soggy, and the chicken was really tender, but some of the pieces were soggy. I’d have much rather had a similar dish at Cheddar’s for $2 less.
When we were finally done with our food, disgusted by how long it took to get service out of our waiter, we asked for some more to drink, only to have the waiter almost spill water on us by trying to carry too much stuff at once. We wanted dessert, and they seemed to have an inviting dessert, but we decided we didn’t wish to give them any more money. But before we could even pay, we had to go tell them we were ready to pay, because they’d take all day to come back around to give us the bill!
The bill turned out to be about $36. My father left them a tip of $0.16. After that miserable experience, we went on to Cheddar’s for dessert. Therein, the service was fast, courteous, and the dessert was excellent. Our waiter there got a bigger tip on a $4 cake than the waiter at Chili’s got on that $36 meal.
Comment by Ben — Posted January 2, 2006 at 21:03
Chili’s is great up here in Michigan, but it was terrible when I tried it in Missouri. My fries have never been even mildly soggy, and they’re incredibly fast, especially with refills. I’ve never had to sit in the bar either. I’ll tell you a resturaunt that sucks up here though — Outback Steakhouse. We’re stuck there for usually 2 hours, and their food is disgusting (their Mac and Cheese being the only tolerable item from there that I’ve tried). It must be another thing that varies.
We don’t have Cheddar’s up here. The availability of places to dine in Michigan totally sucks — we don’t get Jack-In-The-Box, but Ohio does. We don’t get Sonic, but Ohio does. Marvelous, eh? The only resturaunts we get up here are the /really/ major chains like McDonalds’ and Burger King, and as far as /real/ resturaunts go (by /real/ I mean /not fast food crap/), Friday’s and Chili’s.
Comment by shadow — Posted January 3, 2006 at 13:48
WB forgot another little item — they did not even see that we had something to eat with. No silverware, no napkins. I had to stand up and ask. When delivered, I am not convinced the forks were clean.
The only things approaching this were my last visit (20 years ago) to a local chain called Jim’s where they served the greaziest taters I have ever seen and a set of 3 of the most greazy tacos you have ever seen, from Jack in the Box in Dallas, circa 1974. This was the most wretched service I can remember.
At least up there in Michigan you should have some fine Dutch cooking, no?
Comment by Aori_Radidjiu — Posted January 3, 2006 at 19:07
Eh, the Chili’s ’round here is nice. But we had this AWFUL Village Inn. They later converted it to Baker’s Square and the service was better.