Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Florida

Short version:

Ordered for curbside pick up for our employees. I arrived at the scheduled time and had to wait for over 30 minutes to receive our lunches. I called the restaurant 3 times only to be met with "it'll be out in a minute". Once I arrived back at our office the orders were messed up and items were missing not to mention everyone's lunch time had passed. Horrible customer service and extremely slow service.

Long, detailed version:

I submitted my order around 11:09 am. We order lunch once or twice a week for our office and usually spend $100+ each time. This time we decided to order from this Chili's...This specific order was for $108.03. My pickup time was between 11:41-11:46am. I arrived and stated I was outside at 11:44 am. The automated text message stated someone would be out with my order momentarily.

I waited as indicated in my car for the curbside pickup. After about 15 minutes waiting I decided to call the restaurant, a gentleman picked up the phone without giving much of a greeting. I had to ask for his name twice before he finally said "Jay". I let Jay know of my name and that I was outside waiting for my order since 11:45 am. His response was short and uninterested as he responded with "yeah it'll be out in a minute". We disconnected the line and I continued to wait. At around 12:15 pm I called again and Jay decided to disconnect the line before I could get a word out. I called back at 12:16 pm and this time informed Jay I am still waiting 30 minutes later for the order that I was supposed to pick up at 11:45 am. His response was "yeah, I just received the last item. I'm coming out rn". We disconnected the line and I continued to wait. By this point everyone's lunch time has come and gone at the office and I still haven't even received the food. Finally 7 minutes after our last conversation Jay comes out with my order.

I finally make it to the office with everyone's lunches. Only to find out the restaurant messed up two of the drinks, failed to provide us with utensils, did not provide us with dressings or dipping sauces, did not provide us with the salsa for the chips we ordered, did not give us the pico de gallo, sour cream or cheese for one of the orders. In addition, half of the entrés were cold and soggy while the other half were missing items.

To make matters worse, my boss called the restaurant 3 times and was hung up on before Jay finally greeted the call on the 4th attempt. My boss also received horrible customer service from Jay, so she requested to speak with a supervisor. The manager did not provide much of an answer except for stating that he only schedules one person on To-Go and they are busy after the holidays and doesn't staff up the restaurant as needed. He eventually said we could get dessert on a future order...

This happened before I arrived back to the office and we realized the orders were messed up or items were missing.

Apparently the manager stated the food was ready and I could have walked in at any point to pick it up, instead of curbside pickup....okay...

This is inconsistent with what Jay stated the THIRD time I called in 30 minutes AFTER the scheduled pickup time when he told me he had JUST received the last item, but even if it was true why wasn't this communicated to me on either of the 3 calls I made to the restaurant?

This was such a horrible experience not only to myself, but to all of my co-workers and employees that received only a portion of their lunch ALMOST AN HOUR past their lunch time.

I think after this experience we will definitely be taking our...

Got here at dinner time, not crowded at all. Was asked to sit in the bar area which we declined. We were then sat in a crowded section (restaurant wasn't crowded, just everyone was sat in one section). Seems they only had one waiter (for the non bar areas) so they put everyone on top of each other. The hostess first wanted to sit us at a table where the sun was blasting in which would have been blinding. We asked for a different table.

Our waiter came to the table quickly and got our drink orders. He was very polite the whole evening.

I ordered the 3 for Me which is a good deal IF you were going to order one of those entree anyway. I got the lemonade, Caesar salad and Just Bacon Burger. The waiter did ask if cooked medium well was OK, I asked if they could do medium and he said sure. It came out medium well. Also, the Caesar salad is not real Caesar salad. They do tell you it has no romaine, just "spring mix". It's just endive with shredded mozzarella and Caesar dressing. Other than the burger not being cooked correctly (I think they really just have one way), the bacon was just OK and limp and the burger was tasteless. The fries were seasoned nicely. The lemonade was good and their paper straws were coated so no unpleasant texture issue like regular paper straws and it held up well.

We ordered the Margarita Grilled Chicken. That presented well and was pretty good.

You pay via a kiosk however the waiter never told us that so we waited for a check a bit until we realized it was self pay. The app calculated tip on the total including tax however this app actually tells you it does which is a bit more honest than others. They at least tell you they calculate it that way and don't try to sneak it past you.

Here's just an observation on their menu: the bowl of chili and bowl of soup is the same price on the menu. However, if you want to have a bowl of chili instead of a bowl of soup on any of their deals, chili is an upcharge.

UPDATE 07252024

Endive still is not Caesar salad, they need to just stop it. Also, you can't get a printed receipt, IMO that's not acceptable. They want your email or phone number for the receipt. I'll guarantee that's not the only thing they send if...

I usually stop by a Chili's, on average, every 2-3 weeks because the kids like it and we don't mind the food. We decided to try this location since we were in the area and we have never been to this particular location.

This is the first time we entered a Chili's (or if I remember, any restaurant), and the host/hostess is no where to be found. We saw another family also just waiting around, with plenty of tables around. After more than 5 minutes has passed, I started to walk around to find an employee, and near the bar/kitchen, I found a pair of employees talking to each other when I asked them where is the hostess. They looked confused and told me they would go find him.

I returned to the front and saw yet another family come in also confused as to where the host is. A few minutes later, some guy asks me what did I need. Confused with this question, I replied, "A table??" "Oh, sorry sir, these other people are waiting, and I think...uh, I think these other are waiting too?" After an awkward silence, I was promised a table within 10 minutes so we wait until he clears us out a table. We weren't given menus, utensils, nor were the kids given their usual crayons and activity/menu sheets.

Thankfully, the waitress was phenomenal. She waited on our family and put in the appropriate orders quickly and correctly. Over the past few weeks, I ordered the same thing since I have been in the mood for chicken sandwiches lately. This instance, all of our food was absolutely perfect. The fries were perfectly fried, and the chicken sandwich had the perfect amount of juiciness and wasn't overly done. The black beans were hot and wasn't full of liquid. The strawberry lemonades were great, and my wife's tenders were also done great. The chips, tend to be a hit and miss with too much salt or too much oil, were absolutely on point.

I wish the first impression wasn't so poor, that we almost left to go somewhere else. I'm glad the wait staff and kitchen staff made up for the slack.

One strange thing is we were seated at a table that had the only non-working curtain in the entire restaurant. Not sure if it fell off or it was never installed but I really wish...