Chili John's of CA — Restaurant in Burbank

This is a legacy review from a year ago, with an update that is pre-covid. I certainly hope that they use this down time to improve things. I'm switching accounts and migrating all old reviews.

Past Review I seriously love the idea of Chili John's. I've been there a few times now and the chili is ok. Is it the best? No. But the place has a great 'old world' feel.

A year ago I took my son and wife there for the first time. His favorite food is chili, and It was his birthday. Right when we got there (12:15pm) they had already run out of onions at the counter. We asked, several times and instead of onions, what we got was complaints about what a pain it was to cut up onions now that the machine was broken.

I don't get it. It's a focussed menu (chili). If you run out of onions at the beginning of lunch, either chop some more, go buy some chopped onions at the grocery store or local Costco, or just tell us you're out so that we can leave and go somewhere else.

Instead we waited and waited for the onions that never came. (we asked multiple times and were never told they weren't coming)

As you might expect, my wife will never go back and my son's birthday treat was a big dissappointment. I've put up with CJ's spotty service in the past as part of their charm, but this was too much.

Counter point this with the old guy coming out and giving my son some fresh whipped cream right off the spoon and you get a very mixed bag on the service. I'm guessing that the woman serving us was new and really just didn't get the concept of customer service. Maybe this review will help straighten things out.

Updates (all before Covid) Chili John's wrote a lengthy and heartfelt apology and offered up a scoop of ice cream for my son's birthday, if we came in again. I guess the scoop was supposed to be offered the first time for birthday goers.

Since that time, my son went back once with a group of friends and in his own words, "It wasn't much better." Apparently they ran out of something else, service was spotty and he wrapped it up by saying, "I like Chili a lot, and I think a place called Chili John's has no excuse for not giving a great chili experience." Well said. We have since closed the book on CJ's.

It gets an extra star for...

Prompted by my superior chili cheese fries from Tommy's, I was reminiscing with my husband on what we like to call the "cat food chili" that we got from this place for lunch one fateful afternoon. We had driven past it a hundred times, but never felt the urge to go. After reading mostly decent reviews, we opted to give it a try. My husband likes to try restaurants at least once, so we went in and rolled the dice. We lost. Sure, this restaurant has been around for a long time, but that doesn't mean anything when it comes to quality. The chili itself was virtually flavorless, or perhaps it was just the coating of grease and oil that covered our mouths in the very first bite. The consistency is exactly like wet cat food, hence our reference. Hormel canned chili has better flavor and consistency. The atmosphere would have been quaint in a very retro way, if it weren't for the dusty and unkempt appearance of the interior. They love to talk about the long standing history of the restaurant, but it looks virtually run down inside with peeling paint against the walls. I get keeping the authenticity, but there's a line. The server we had was nice, although admittedly had only been working there a couple of weeks. We took her suggestion of what's good, and maybe that's who we have to blame for the mess that was served to us, but we dare not venture to return for a repeat of the awful stomach cramps and bathroom trips that followed us for the remainder of the day. To this day, we are shocked that Chili John's remains with over a 4-star review on Google. Perhaps there is a plethora of people lacking tastebuds or those who are so hung up on the nostalgia that they completely disregard the lack of texture and flavor that should accompany a decent chili. The best thing on the menu, by far, are the oyster crackers. Whatever the case, best of luck to our favorite...

Finally went in on a rainy May morning shortly after opening. Greeted by a friendly and cheerful server. The place has an old school feel, with a bar seating area around a food serving station with a view into the kitchen. The walls are a bit frayed, but I think that's part of the vibe. Since I haven't been there before the waitress set down a "flight of chilli", that's a first but an awesome way to introduce someone to the options. The menu is simple, easy to understand and order. My favorite kind of menu! I ordered the chicken chilli over spaghetti super bowl. The serving was plenty enough for one hungry person, the sourcream and cheese are modest extras and worth it. There are onions, crackers, vinegar, chilli powder, salt and pepper scattered conveniently about the table so you can help yourself. Now, for the actual chilli. I really wanted to be blown away. I love old school places, with history, with a family recipe and this place has all of that in spades. Heck, their trademark is older than Coca-Cola! Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed. The chilli lacked salt for starters. That was the general consensus amongst the group. It was also luke warm when served,at best. And it didn't have any real identifying uniqueness to it either. The texture felt a little chalky as well. I ended up adding a fair amount of salt, onions, vinegar, chilli powder to help it, but the texture and temperature finally defeated me. I will definitely go back. Why? Because I'm convinced that it was probably an off day for them, or my mouth was having an off day. But if they've survived this long, I'd love to give them another chance and hope I'm blown away. I'll update when I do. I'd say, go, give it a shot and let me know that is completely off base 😁, nothing would make me happier! If you felt this review helped, please give me a thumbs...