Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Gainesville

HORRIBLE. Avoid this location at all costs! Its absolutely filthy with dust encrusted AC vent fans above the tables in the bar area. (See photos!) One was actually frosted over and dripping water onto people/staff and the food they were carrying. I was grossed out seeing the vent above the next booth over from us--it was so encased in dust, grease and nastiness. The restaurant was NOT adhering to the recommended covid19 protocol of seating every other table. The four of us were seated in the bar, at the only open booth with ONE MENU to share between all four adults--appararently that's the ONLY covid19 procedure they're adhering to! While the staff was wearing masks, patrons were not, with customers coughing. We ordered two appetizers: chips and salsa with guacamole and fried pickles. The chips and salsa arrived almost immediately but no guacamole--we were told it would be out momentarily. FINE. We snacked on very greasy and undercooked chips with zero salt while waiting on the guacamole. The server arrived with the fried pickles and took our orders: Chicken Crispers with waffles, an order cajun pasta with shrimp and a side of broccoli, a 6oz filet with broccoli and mashed potatoes and a side salad and the 4th person (who's vegan) had very limited options and opted for a chicken quesadilla salad with no cheese, no chicken and asked for a substitute of sliced avocado. (Later on the bill we found not only were we charged the FULL PRICE FOR her salad despite leaving off thr chicken and cheese but were charged EXTRA FOR AVOCADO!!!) FINALLY the guacamole arrived but by this point we had NO chips left. *sigh....so we had to ask for a second basket of chips and they arrived VERY undercooked & swimming in grease. The guacamole had ZERO seasonings and no salt. To say it was bad would be an understatement. It went basically untouched. The server was informed how nasty it was, thinking it would be removed from the bill...it wasn't. He brought our food to the table it wasnt good at all.. The chicken and waffles were vile and went almost untouched. Too sweet and drowning in syrup. WHY would the cooks go overboard and elect to saturate them in syrup instead of putting the syrup on the side? Needless to say they were horrific. The cajun shrimp pasta was nauseatingly fishy smelling the side of broccoli was in a separate bowl that was placed on the plate, atop the pasta. That was unappealing and just gross. The 6oz steak was ordered medium rare and was undercooked but still edible however the side salad was NASTY! You could tell it was old, had been prewrapped in a fridge days before. The cucumbers were slimy and soggy and the croutons were squishy bread cubes. Other than 2 miserable cucumber slices and 5 bread cubes there wasn't 2 fork-fulls of lettuce in the salad. Definitely NOT worth the cost of a side item! Lastly the salad--at the cost of a salad with the chicken and cheese (no discount offered on that!) it was lackluster and unappetizing to say the least--she said the only good thing going for it was the addition of cilantro. I think staff was most likely distracted in the kitchen watching the UF/KY football game. I get it....you don't want to be at work and would rather be home watching the game but we paid $85.00 for the crappiest of meals and then were expected to tip on less than stellar service AND check ourselves out on a tabletop card reader....its just BAD and I am positive there are several other restaurants in the immediate area to dine at that will leave a far better impression (and not give you covid19 or food poisoning) CHOOSE WISELY AND PICK ONE OF THOSE! AVOID CHILIS LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT, Because in...

I am writing to express my outrage and disgust over the egregious racist incident that occurred at this restaurant on 10/23 at 10:00PM.

Upon entering, we were greeted by a vile hostess with blonde hair in a bun. She didn't even have the decency to ask how many people were in our party or escort us to a table. Instead, she barked across the restaurant, "The high tops are open!" in a tone that could only be described as disgusted.

We were a party of five and could not fit at the high tops. When she returned, before I could say anything, she snapped, "I SAID THE HIGHTOPS ARE OPEN!" with an extremely rude tone. I explained that we were a party of five and asked if there was another table available. Instead of finding a solution, she got in my face and said, "Well, I already closed the section behind you," as if I should have known better than to ask.

I saw some people getting up from a booth and asked if we could sit there instead. She then rolled her eyes and spat, "If you can fit in there.”, now body shaming.

At this point, she was clearing the table and when I looked up, she was gone. I sat down and when she came back out, she screamed at me, "I HAVE TO WIPE IT DOWN FIRST!" I was stunned. I couldn't believe this vile woman had the audacity to raise her voice at me in front of the entire restaurant. I thought I was overthinking it, but when she walked away, two girls sitting behind me looked at each other in disbelief and said, "Oh my God, what the hell was that?".

They’d been watching our interactions since we walked in the restaurant and were clearly shocked that she was openly targeting us.

As the night went on, she stomped past our table multiple times, giving us glares and peering over at us with a look of disgust. It was clear that she was trying to intimidate us, but we refused to be intimidated. We were determined to enjoy our meal, despite her best efforts to ruin it.

At the end of the meal, our server set up the iPad for us to pay. She walked over later to ask how we were paying, and when I explained that our server had already taken care of it, she looked at us and said, "You guys BETTER make sure you pay." We were all speechless. We've never been treated with such disrespect in our entire lives. It was clear she was insinuating that we were the type of people to dine and dash, simply because of our race.

Afterwards, I saw two more parties at the restaurant looking at us in shock. Theyd clearly witnessed the entire interaction and were horrified by her behavior.

Chilis has always been one of our favorite restaurants, and I've been supporting your establishment for decades. However, this experience has left me feeling deeply wounded and humiliated. I cannot believe that I and my friends were subjected to such blatant racism.

I hope that Chilis takes this incident seriously and takes steps to ensure that it never happens again. They need to educate your staff on the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion. You also need to implement policies and procedures that protect customers from discrimination.

I will not be eating here ever again. And I will be sharing my experience with everyone I know, especially those of color, so that they can be aware of the racist environment that you foster.

I contacted the restaurant about this multiple times and did not receive an answer. I emailed management twice and went directly through Chilis corporate. I am leaving this review to let everyone know they failed to provide at the very least an apology about...

Previously my favorite place to eat for celebration, my experience today fell lower than I thought possible

I ordered a quesadilla explosion salad, my fiance ordered a 6 oz steak cooked rare with fries and a side of rice. Both of our orders had issues. My salad came room temperature (which is fine I'm not picky about the temperature of salads), the quesadilla was ALSO room temperature and stale, and the chicken was colder than the salad. Finally, I never got the dressing. It tasted like it was made 20 minutes before I got there. Honestly? I can overlook something like this, it happens. My fiance got what appeared to be a 4 oz cube of meat that looked like the trimming off of another steak and it was burnt on the outside and medium well on the inside, very different from the 6 oz rare steak he asked for. Our waitress who had been exceptional up to this point never came to ask how we were doing, and after I spent 10 minutes trying to flag her down she asked if I wanted a box for the salad I haven't even started eating. I told her what was wrong and she responded with "I wish I knew sooner... So what do you want ME to do about it?" Remember she never checked in with us, and why would she ask us what she, the waitress, should do in this situation? She took the steak, returned with my dressing, and a few minutes later the manager came over with a new steak. The steak that he handed us was blue at best and still raw on the outside, which is an actual food safety hazard. We decided not to press further and just eat. Our waitress came moments later to hand out boxes to the rest of our group, while we JUST started eating. Maybe 10 minutes later we asked for a box and just never received one, and left empty handed

Honestly? If I wanted an experience like this I would have gone to Applebee's and paid half the price. Chili's prices to feel rushed out the door, and to experience a staff, kitchen, and manager that does not care has turned me off from the establishment. I just can't believe the manager handed us the definition of a food safety hazard. Attached is a photo of the sad burnt...