Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Coralville

This experience was very underwhelming and frustrating. You know its bad when people are seated after you, receive all of their appetizer and meal before you have even received your drinks. If you want the brief version, the food was cold and gross, the staff wasn’t friendly and we had to flag them down to order or get any help. If you want the details, continue reading: Let me start by adding this was my first restaurant outing with my two kids (under two) and my friend who has twin babies and an older child. We arrived after 1pm on a Thursday. It was almost empty and yet we waited almost 20 minutes before anyone even greeted us or asked what we wanted to drink. I was ready to leave but my friend got a gift card and wanted to use it. So we decided to give it a chance. Then we had to find our own high chairs (which were sticky and disgusting!). Once we finally ordered my friends son’s meal, my salad, and one drink came out. We proceeded to wait for about 15 more minutes before we received the remainder of our drinks and another 10-15 for the rest of our food. But it gets better..they forgot our appetizer! So it arrived as we were half way through our meal.

Finally the food…it was all cold and resulted in a couple of us rushing to the bathroom shortly after eating. I am beyond frustrated because I could have made better food at home without having to clean high chairs and entertain my kids for far too long! The staff was awful! One very nice couple offered to share their food with us after seeing how long we waited and with 4 kids under two. Just very disappointing as I used to love...

It's alright. They were clearly understaffed, with a 15 minute wait in line even though there were so many empty tables. Cleanliness was questionable: I ordered a simple ice water and the appearance of the cup looked old which makes the water look murky, and the toilets just weren't up to par compared to other similar restaurants. Food was just okay, had free chips and salsa, and ordered the smokehouse combo and BBQ Brisket Burger with Black Bean Patty. Was a little disappointed with the BBQ burger, paid $13 and couldn't even taste or feel the brisket in my mouth, but it might be the black bean patty ruining the texture and overall taste of the burger. The smokehouse combo didn't even come with any sauce on the side at all, which was a little weird. Portions also felt off, kinda weird paying $15-$20 for a dish and getting a small cone of fries, and not a lot of meat. The whole experience felt as if the owner was trying to cut cost by cutting on portions and cutting on customer experience in general. Well, it worked, and I probably won't be coming back at all.

The only good thing from my experience was the service.

Overall, not worth the price. Might be worth it if you order the value combos, the lunch deals or the drinks at the bar, but I doubt it, since they might cut portions on...

My wife and I went here Sunday November 10 after shopping. Someone had given us a gift card and we thought we'd give Chili's a try. This was our first visit to Chili's. Drinks took much longer to receive than we had thought they should. The place wasn't busy so 10-15 minutes, we thought, was too long. Ordered the triple dipper. Food was mediocre at best. My wife used the restroom and said it was filthy and did not smell good. When it came time to pay, the waiter told us we could pay on the device that was on the table. Tried 3 or 4 times to scan the card, manual entry of the numbers on the card to no avail. Our waiter was no where to be found. I got up and walked around until I found him sitting by the take out area shooting the breeze with a couple other of the wait staff. He tried the gift card a couple times then said he'd be right back. Came back with the card and said the scanners on the table sometimes don't work... Needless to say, we didn't have a great first experience with Chili's and most likely won't be back. Tried to find a patron to give the remainder of the gift card to but, there weren't many people coming into the place. So... Will most likely...