Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Davenport

This was my favorite local chain. Key word there, is "was". The two stars are for the excellent server ONLY. My family of four came in on a relatively slow Thursday night. (I hadn't been there in probably close to a year.) The hostess greeted and seated us promptly. Our server came within minutes, took our drink and appetizer order (chips and salsa) within a few minutes. We ordered our food, and proceeded to wait.

We didn't wait long. Our meal (for four) was delivered in less than 10 minutes. (Great so far, right?)

My ordered chicken and salmon (combination). The salmon appeared a bit odd, but I decided to give it a chance. It had an odd crust to it. It didn't "flake" like salmon should. It was dry, overcooked, and luke warm. The chicken was fully cooked, and while having "decent" taste, was also only luke warm. The steamed broccoli, also, luke warm.

The Southwest egg-rolls looked very unappetizing, worse than the frozen ones we'd prepared just a few weekends before. These, were also, luke warm.

My youngest son's corn-dog was also, barely luke warm.

One bite into the fresh cut Pineapple, straight onion! Someone used the same knife for both onions and fruit. Further, they didn't core the pineapple, leaving a nice oniony-rock hard chewiness to the fruit.

The other two entree's (Slider Burgers and Steak Fajita's) were not too bad, although the Guacamole served with the fajita's was gray in color, with a crust over the top, so it had been sitting for a while. (This is somewhat understandable, but still, a cook, or plate expediter "on their game" with pride in their product would check that, and not let it leave the kitchen.

The issue at hand here; It takes at least 12 minutes to properly prepare a chicken breast. At least 10 minutes to properly sear and plate a piece of fish. And yet, both were only luke warm to the touch in less than 10 minutes of ordering? The deep-fried corn-dog, that should have been fried or baked in 350 degree oil (or oven) for 3-5 minutes, was also just "luke warm"? Initially, I was just disappointed, until I stopped to think about how the situation was even possible. There was no possibility that this food had been prepared even somewhat fresh from the cooler (or even freezer). The food had to have been pre-cooked prior to our arrival and either sitting under a lamp (the fish) or sitting in a luke warm oven (the chicken and corn-dog) just waiting for the next sucker.

I asked to speak to the manager, who came out from the kitchen.To her credit she offered to get us replacement dishes, but by this point, it was (for me) too late. The things that had to have been going on (or not going on) when preparing food for my family had my stomach turning in a bad way.

I had waited tables for the better part of 4 years for a more "affordable" short-order type of restaurant. We certainly made mistakes, but cold ("dead/dying") food was very seldom an issue. The managers were through the kitchen at least every 5-10 minutes. ANY food in the window and not in front of the customer had to be "explained". In my opinion, the only way things like this happen is with Management's knowledge, if not direction. This is why, we won't be going back. A shame, again, this was my favorite for the better part...

For starters all 6 sets of the silverware were filthy... Not just water spots, but layered films. A dampened napkin could schmear off the knives with a couple passes. I sent it all back to the kitchen.

My salad was pretty bland, but others' dishes looked better. Our birthday girl's asparagras were as firm as the day they were pulled out of the garden... Virtually uncooked. My iced tea was good, something that is becoming more and more difficult to find these days. So, kudos there.

Our waitress was pleasant and did an adequate job... Though she needs to learn to serve from the side of a customer. On no less than two occasions she passed items directly in front of the customer. In my case it was no more than an inch in front of my nose effectively blocking me from my meal.

Whoever was responsible for selecting the background music should be bounced out of the restaurant. The contemporary-hiphop-bop fusion was a tad juvenile and relentless. At least turn it down.

Also, there was a recurring wafting of a mildewy odor throughout the meal.

Everything considered I don't think it was worth the $82 for 2 entrees, 2 salads and a kids meal, with drinks sans tip.

I don't see myself frequenting this Chili's...

Me and my girlfriend came here around 8pm last night (Tuesday) and we sat in a booth in the corner. Food was good but the service was off. Our server was friendly (we didn’t catch her name) but never offered us refills and when it came time to pay she all of a sudden became very chatty and started asking very intrusive questions about my and my girlfriend’s relationship, asking my girlfriend “who I was” to her and whatnot and then made very weird assumptions about me just because I have longer hair. I am not a woman but the server kept calling me her girlfriend even after we told her. As a server you should be read other people because not everyone wants to be chatted up, and the fact the server didn’t act like that until it was time to pay was annoying because she was waiting for her tip. You should never act like that, especially when you’re at work! I wanted her to go away but she kept talking and being rude so I just handed her the cash and we quickly left. Wasn’t going to tip her at all because of her strange behavior but I just wanted to leave so I handed her a random wad of cash. She was So weird and we probably won’t be back to dine in for a while. It was so...