Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in El Centro

Update several months later...

As you can see by the pictures, I always get the same thing...... Margarita grilled chicken. And I do believe in second chances, especially since this restaurant is so close to my hotel.

Based on the response from management to my original review below, they do consider reviews to be helpful feedback as opposed to needless criticism. My experience tonight shows that management at this particular location cares about customer experiences. Tonight I had a much better dining experience overall with outstanding service from all of the staff that I interacted with. Based on that I raised my overall review of this Chili's location.

Round one Granted, when you go to a Chili's you don't expect great service, but at least you expect decent service.

My server seemed disinterested the entire time. Not one smile over the course of the evening. Even in basic human interaction (removing the hospitality portion expected at a restaurant) a smile goes a long way toward improving humanity.

At the conclusion of my meal after the bus staff had cleared away my dishes, I still had to ask for the check. When I placed my credit card on the receipt indicating that it could be picked up, a different server came to my table and indicated that there was a device on my tabletop that I could use to close out my bill. Apparently it was too much trouble for my actual server to provide this information. The two stars for service is for the additional restaurant staff that I interacted with that actually seemed to take an interest in life (and in me for that matter).

My meal was more than adequate for a Chili's. However, I will not...

I want to give this location a good review, I really do. I've been here twice and the food was excellent: well packaged, hot, and exactly what I ordered (once, I even got extras!). The problem is, the other three times I've been here have been much less satisfactory. This last time (and it probably will be my last time ordering here) my food was packaged horribly, making half of it unappetizing since half of it was soaked in grease, and the other half covered by my mashed potatoes, which looks like they were just shoveled on top as the last item. As a bonus to the messy prep, I did not even get the items that I ordered. A quarter of the food I was expecting was just missing. I'd give three stars for getting it right almost half the time, but you lose a star for the lack of consistency and another for how bad this last visit was. The whole point of chain restaurants is to know what you're getting, and sadly this location just doesn't...

Probably the last time eating at Chili’s for my family and I. The temperature was extremely high when we walked in from the start. You would think that with it being over 115 degrees outside the central air would be circulating but that was not the case. Secondly, our toddler’s food didn’t come out for another ten minutes after my wife and I had received ours and the worst part about it was that our son’s food was cold. So with that being said I gave my son my food since we did not eat until he received his and asked for a new dish. From beginning to end this experience was terrible. Lastly, the chicken tenders were rock hard and my son could not even bite them in half. Maybe I am being over the top, but my wife and I received ice for our water, but our son was just given room temperature with his? The whole experience there...