Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in American Fork

tl;dr - service was poor, food was worse.

From the minute we walked in the door to the moment we left this was the most disappointing Chili's experience my wife and I have ever had. We both have fond memories of Chili's from our adolescence. Sadly, those were painted over with one of those pukey beiges.

The person who seated us was on their phone and didn't realize we had walked in. When they did, they asked us how many, we said two. They said they had tables. We waited for the person to seat us but they didn't move. It wasn't busy. We were the only people in the lobby. A few moments later the awkward silence was broken by another couple coming through the door behind us. The person at the desk asked them how many, they said two, and the person said 'right this way'. They walked past us and took this other couple to a table. When the person came back I asked rather obtusely if they still had any tables for us. They seemed to realize that we too would like a table to sit at and possibly eat food.

Once we arrived at the table we asked for a sling for the baby's car seat. The person who seated us said, yes of course, and then sauntered off back to the front. We both looked at each other thinking whether we should go and ask again or just wait. When our server came to the table a few minutes later we asked again, and thankfully this time we were met with a level of understanding.

One of our favorite things at Chili's is to order the "bottomless" chips and salsa and the "bottomless" lemonades. In this instance, bottomless was defined by how infrequently they were replenished. We waited and waited, bowl empty, mugs empty. Furthermore, that first bowl of chips was a disaster. Somehow the chips we got were both soggy and stale at the same time, which we didn't realize was possible. They hadn't been cooked in the oil long enough (soggy), and they'd been left out for a while (cold and stale). This was the case for about a third of the chips. We gave them the benefit of the doubt and soldiered through this first bowl in the hope that the next would be up to standard. When it finally came, it was more of the same.

The bottomless woes continued with the soup and salad. Rather than the usual 4 or 5 options for soups, there were two. When the soups came they were lukewarm at best. The bottomless salad was also disappointing. The lettuce was wilted, and the general freshness of the other ingredients left much to be desired. The hardest part was that the cutlery packs on our table were missing one of the forks, so once the food had eventually arrived we had to wait for someone to come back to ask for a fork.

The entrees were not much better. The chicken crispers were cold and chewy. The one bright hope as far as the food goes was the half rack of ribs. Thankfully, those were decent hence the 2-star review instead of a 1-star review.

When it came time to pay, we had our typical experience with the on-table payment system, dire! That doesn't surprise because it always seems to have issues. However, at the end of an altogether disappointing experience it comes as a final slap in the face. Not only will you have a bad time, they'll make it hard for you to leave.

We've eaten out enough since COVID to realize that things are different now. Service is down, prices are up. We get that. We try to support restaurants by frequenting and tipping. What we don't get is that expectations should be so low and still not be met. We filled out the survey at the table with all of these same concerns about service and poor food quality. Regardless of whether that feedback is internalized, we won't be going...

First off... The server was very kind. He seemed a little stressed so I am sure they are short staffed like the rest of the world.. We ordered bottled beers (their draft was broken) and they came in a timely manner.. I asked for a water and the ice came with black bits in it. Im not sure if it was bugs or mold?? I let the server know and he brought me a new water with less ice. 😑 and then our food came... I ordered the black bean and veggie fajitas which were listed as a "new" item on the menu. I asked before I ordered what veggies were in it.. He said let me look it up and then he listed quite a few as he read them off the screen, asparagus and mushrooms being 2 of the many. I told him you had me at mushrooms and asparagus, I will take it! My husband ordered the chicken crispers. When my fajitas came out, it was just a black bean patty, onions, peppers and avocado.. So I asked about the asparagus and mushrooms and he just said the asparagus will be out soon. When my husband took a bite of his chicken he said it was cold so I tried mine... All of our food was brought out cold. Not luke warm, cold.. I let the server know and he said ok let me fix it. Left the food just sitting in front of us and went back to the kitchen. He came back out 5-8 mins later and said they are fixing it. I told him it was fine, just never mind, I would like the check. A few mins later the manager came out and asked if we had an issue with the food. I told him yes, all the food was cold and the fajitas had nothing that he said they would. He said the server used to be a cook and that's how they "used" to make them but they no longer come with those things.. (Even though it was listed as a new item.... 🤔) and then I told him I think they have mold in their ice machine because of the black bits in my ice.. He picked up my cup and inspected it and I let him know he already took it and brought me a new one. He laughed and said "oh I woulda liked to see that!" He then let us know they would remove the food if we would pay for the beer. I told him of course, im even happy to pay for the chips which we had been eating. They did not end up charging us for the chips but i dont feel like an actual apology was made either.. Long story short, horrible experience.. We...

Unacceptable experience. Ordered food to go. When I arrived to pick it up, the staff were too busy laughing and joking around for several minutes before even greeting me. They saw me when I first walked in but no one came up to help. Once I got my order and got home I noticed that we had paid for items that were not in the bag! I called this location to see what they could do. The girl that answered the phone seemed irritated from the beginning. Once she heard that we didn’t receive half our order she said I’d have to hold for a manager. No apology. No empathy. Nothing. Just told me I’d have to hold. Waited on the line for about 10 minutes. Finally I hung up and called back. Same girl answered and must have recognized my number because she answers the phone and doesn’t even say hi or hello- just picks up and immediately says “yeah...our manager is still busy so I’ll have to put you on hold again.” Apparently I was bothering her with the fact that I had paid for food that we didn’t receive. I asked her if she would please take my number down and have the manager call me back as soon as they were available. Her response was incredible. She actually suggested that if we didn’t get the food we ordered that we could call a 3rd party delivery service and have them deliver the food if we didn’t want to come back and pick it up....seems incredible but yes this is actually her suggestion. Told her I obviously would just prefer to talk to the manager about the food we paid for that they failed to put in our to go bag. She said the manager is busy and then suggested that if I wanted to talk to the manager that I should stay up really late and that I should call back at the end of the night around midnight when they are more likely to be available. Incredible. Lol I gave her my number and told her to have the manager call me when they were available. It’s the next day and surprise surprise... Never received a call from a manager. They still have the money I paid for the food I never received. No...