Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Cedar Rapids

I had a great experience here. Best one in a long time of eating at different restaurants. Echo was our waitress. She was friendly, bubbly, knowledgeable about the menu and service was fast. She was amazing. After she delivered our food she stopped by a couple of times to check on us. Unlike other restaurants where we are lucky to see a waitress except to take an order and give the bill. Many times someone else serves the food. Not Echo. She paid close attention to us.

I had the Boss burger. WOW was it huge. Guess that's why they call it the Boss. It was loaded with smoked sausage, pork, brisket, tender rib meat, bacon and of course the burger. Also loaded with cheddar cheese, house made bbq and ranch dressing. The side was a large order of the best fries and a few garlic dill pickles. I love pickles so much I believe I could have eaten a plate full. They were that good.

My friend drove me to Cedar Rapids from Waterloo for another errand and specifically Chili's. We will be driving down again to eat here. The cost of the Boss may seem high. Yet considering all the various types of meat it is well worth it. Plus I ended up taking half of it home to eat the next day. I will add it tasted as yummy as a leftover as it did fresh the evening before. I am giving a big shout out THANK YOU to Echo. Chili's has a great asset in Echo!

Note: The photo is a stock photo. I am using it because the Boss burger and fries look...

I typically love the lunch special with the chicken, avocado tex mex salad. I called in but couldn't look at the menu at the time because I was driving. It was 3:15pm, still within the lunch time and described the chicken avocado salad I wanted with the enchilada soup. This is what I remembered having every time. The lady on the phone said we don't have that on the lunch menu but you can order it separately. She quoted me literally TWICE the price for the soup and the salad. I didn't want to pay that much but still wanted the salad so I said okay, I'll pay $3 more for just the salad cause I was starved. When I arrived, I took the menu and showed the cashier the exact combo on the LUNCH menu and explained this is exactly what I was asking for on the phone, but instead was told they don't have it and tried to upsell me HALF the food for twice the price. The manager came and made the new order for me. Had to wait much longer, as they started to prep the food on the spot and I was in a rush to leave. Wondered if there can be some training for people to answer the phone in Cedar Rapids location to at least learn the 20 or so items on the menu, or at least know how to read. Especially when the customer is describing in detail what they want and telling them the location on the menu (lunch menu- which had only 6 items or so). How hard is it to read 6 items if they...

I had two bonus gift cards. One of my gift cards still had over a seven dollars remaining on it, as I used it on Tuesday the 2nd. When I tried to process the remaining balance today on it the card it said that I used the remaining balance. I asked the waitress to get the manager because I was certain I had money left on the card. One of associate manager Jennifer came to my table and very loudly scolded me and accused me of cussing at my waitress Bailey. This was an absolute lie! When I confronted the waitress she said that I did not address her appropriately. However I did in no way cus or curse at the waitress. Jennifer accused me of being untruthful according to my receipt that said my card was used or given to someone else to use. I had to ask Jennifer to lower her voice in front of my guest. I was publicly humiliated. I could not reason with her that something was wrong. When I was dining before this day I was unable to use my cards because the effective date began 1-1-24. On that day the server took a picture of my gift cards and came back to inform me that I could use them after January 1, 2024. Now I am wondering if the system has some kind of a glitch or if the server may have used my reminding balance. Who knows? I filed a complaint...