Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Augusta

June 27, 2025 - My follow up. 🤞

Places crowded semi I would say about 75% in the main room and the bar had four patrons there.

The hostess were pleasant and quick to seat you.

I don't see my friend the manager from last year. She is gone!! 😊

So, now the redemption review. 🤞

Okay, I had a good experience like I had when I went to the bar the first time a year ago on June 20th of 2024. Ciara 💜 what's my server and she did a great job.

June 20, 2024 - I found this place when I went shopping. The restaurant was clean. The hostess, with bejeweled hair and face met me and she was very pleasant and very welcoming to a place I never visited. My second impression of this place, the bartender name Maria. She was also pleasant and helped me with the menu. She also treated me with respect and I also felt welcomed.

I ordered a ribeye which I only ate half of it. Another woman that sat a few chairs away from me also had a sirloin. We both didn't like it. Now Maria did make a wonderful drink. See the pictures. The drink was eloquently presented for the price I paid.

I didn't see a manager around, but the place was busy and everyone was satisfied. So I wanted to come back for another treatment of hospitality.

June 22, 2024 - I returned after pride in the park in downtown Augusta Georgia. I figure that I would have a great time at Chili's like I did on Thursday. This was far from the case. The young woman that was seating customers, place me way in the back next to the bathrooms when they had available seating. The woman with the bejeweled hair saw that was dissatisfied with the seating and suggested that she would reseat me. I believe this was the start of a slight hostility towards me. The hostess and her assistant stared at me while I was being seated and a few times afterwards. My waitress was "J" and she served me well until her manager pulled her away near the end of my stay. I did manage to talk to a few of the servers and they seem pleasant. It was until I was starting to look for my server that a large gentleman in the back seemingly objected to me asking one of the servers for assistance. The manager came over, the same one that was staring at me, dark hair glasses. This is the same manager, that walked up behind me on a server when I was talking to the server and eavesdropped for about 2 minutes on a personal conversation I was having about myself. I did not know she was behind me. But she's behind the wall, and didn't announce herself. Did not excuse herself for interrupting but seemingly was directed at one of the employees. And that's when things fell apart. I reordered the drink and got in a regular glass and still paid the high price. As I stepped on my drink, the manager was at the front next to the desk and we exchanged stairs for about 15 minutes. I could not understand if she had an issue with me since I came from Pride or she just didn't like me. I'm starting to think that Thursday was just a fluke and this place has different seating plans for people by placing them in the back of the restaurant or serving them in regular glasses for a drink that should be served in a margarita glass. So the pictures you'll see, are from the first night I was there. I should have taken pictures of the manager as we were in that steering contest for 15 minutes. Oh boy, I have reviewed multiple Chili's from North Carolina to Georgia and this is the first one I didn't feel comfortable in. I was wondering if anyone else had any issues with feeling excluded or being an object of attention from the manager? If I were to rate this place by the first night it would be higher and stars. But the 15 minute staring contest with the manager lowers it. Regardless of the two wonderful people I met on June 20th. Also the woman in the back that I fist bump when we talked about Coney Island hot dogs. That was so fun. My guess is the manager is just the wet noodle. She must run the place with an iron fist or purse. Also the chicken's better than a steak.

I should wait a while and come back. I'll bring...

My family and I went to Chili's. The service could have gone better. While ordering drinks, I ordered a Sprite with Blue Raspberry syrup. The waitress looked confused but said okay. When she returned, she said there was no Blue Raspberry. I asked which flavors were available, and she said just looked at me confused. I asked if there was strawberry, and she still looked confused. To simplify things, I just told her the regular Sprite was fine. A little later, my mom asked which flavors were available, and the waitress said it was basically the same flavors that lemonades came in. Since a couple of the people at our table had Strawberry Lemonade, I again asked if I could have Strawberry flavor added to my drink. She then said yes. She brought a Strawberry Sprite and that solved that.

About 4 staff members were seated at a table near the kitchen entrance/exit and another was leaning against the wall with their feet kind of kicked out. I was trying to walk my daughter to the restroom and said excuse me multiple times, the employee leaning on the wall never moved their feet, so we just walked through the right space to get to the restroom. There just seemed to be a lot of employees standing/sitting around while the restaurant did not appear busy at all. At one point, one employee yelled to other employees just standing by the kitchen talking and said, "excuse me, trying to get through!" You could tell she was frustrated with them just blocking the way, and from my perspective, she had a valid point.

Towards the end of our meal, we ordered another meal to-go. I paid the ticket around 4:20 (sometime after we put the order in), we weren't walking out with that food until 4:43, and it would have been longer if we didn't ask our server when it would be ready. She said she would check, and she immediately came back out with the meal indicating it had just been sitting waiting to be picked up. I should point out that in order for us to ask her for the status of the meal, we were looking around for her, and she was now the one leaning against the wall talking to other employees at the table near the kitchen entrance/exit. Also, when we got home, the meal was missing a side item.

As we were leaving, I asked to speak with the manager to discuss our experience. Of course when the employee went to get him, he was sitting at the table where the other employees had been (with all their cups sitting on the table). The entire time I was speaking to him, he stood there with his arms crossed throughout the entire conversation which gave me the impression I was bothering him by bringing these things up. He did ask which table we were seated at. He said thank you for letting him know about it, but I don't believe he ever apologized for our experience and he definitely didn't offer anything to rectify the situation. Due to the fact that it just felt like nothing would be done about my concerns, especially since he was one of the ones seated at the table of staff just talking, I told him I would be submitting a complaint so the General Manager could be aware of how things...

On both occasions the staff were quite wonderful. The first time my chicken wasn't how my guest or I would have eaten at home.

Staff was kind and didn't mind cooking another for the two of us. Surprisingly, it wasn't that long a wait as the resteraunt was already cooking chicken for that time of day.

There is a three for ten menu that was chosen from during both visits. My guest and I were happy with our choices in the end on both occasions. I chose the same the potato soup that comes with cheese on top. Then the chicken Fettuccini. I added more cheese. Only because I am s cheese fanatic. My last choice was for the lemonade. I believe it was cherry or strawberry included.

On the second trip, my guest chose chicken and a side salad with a balsamic dressing. There was a variety in balsamic to choose from. She was excited to learn of the variety and enjoyed it. She had a coke with hers.

I was pleasantly pleased with the choices available. The staff recognized I had been a there once earlier and I smiled and said what better way to enjoy my birthday than to be brought here. Even the manager was privy to my visits and welcoming.

The first time I accepted the birthday scoop of ice cream. The second I decided not although it was pretty good. There isn't a birthday song my first guest was told when asking about my birthday. I was fine with that.

As always, regardless of the size I half my meal and take it home. So, I was able to enjoy it's tasty choice again st home. I was just as pleased as the first time eating.

My second visit in the day my guest and I had to use the parking for accessible entry and an accessible table for wheelchair use. All was accessible and no trouble with any accessibility with the resteraunt at all including the restroom facilities.

I would visit a third time had another offered to me as a birthday guest that day or even any other occasion. The place was exceptional.

The atmosphere was cozy somewhat dimly lite on the side nearest the bar the first time where we sat and I noticed what looked like a baby shower being held at table off to the left and nearest the windows.

On the second visit we were sat on the other side with the majority of patrons were seated. There are three sections and two sides. It was also cozy. It was much lighter and had more windows as it's side was much larger in size...