Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Grapevine

Buckle up it's a doozy folks...

So we go to this location (and even order delivery from here too) all the time. My wife, myself, and my two kids order their usual. Some time goes by, then our food hits the table. Something is different about our daughter's mac n cheese. It is definitely NOT the Kraft Mac Chili's used to serve. Here's the thing - my daughter has an egg allergy. So as SOON as the food hit the table, we asked the food runner if there was egg in the new kids mac n cheese. She said, hold on, let me go check. Great thank you.

She comes back and says, "No there's no egg at all in the mac n cheese". Great thank you.

My daughter eats all of it.

As I start paying the bill, however, she begins to say her throat is scratchy - the first tale tell sign that she just ate something with egg. I finish paying and she told my wife that she needed to throw up, so my wife took her to the bathroom.

We thought this is weird, but maybe she’s just gotten into her head about it or something. She is only 5 after all.

She kept it in in the bathroom and so we rushed home. When we get home, as my wife is getting the bucket, I’m feverishly google-ing the ingredients on Chili’s new kids Mac n Cheese.

The white cheddar Mac n Cheese DOES HAVE egg.

Not a happy papa bear, I call Chilis.

 I speak with the manager, he takes the situation very seriously, takes my name, number, and email. Then asks whom our server was. I described them to him and he asked if we had the right location.

Turns out I called the WRONG Chili’s.

I apologized for calling the wrong location. And he was very thoughtful about it. And told me that the manager at the right location would be asking me the same information in order to document what happened.

SO I then found the correct number and called them (this location I’m reviewing) and asked for the manager.

Told him the EXACT same story.

Did he ask my name? No Did he ask for my number? No. Did he ask for my email? No.

The conversation finished with (and this is word for word)… “Well, if you decide to give us another try in the future, I hope you have a better experience next time.”

Thank GOD my daughter’s allergy reaction is just violent vomiting and not worse.

You could kill someone. Shame on you. Do better.

Like I said, we go here a lot. I’ve gone since they OPENED. We’re talking DECADES of being a patron here.
 I will never, ever, go back to this Chili’s...

For decades we used to love taking our kids to Chili's, but after our lunch yesterday it is clear the food quality has really dropped. I'm giving a 2-star because the servers were kind and attentive. The food quality was consistently 1-star.

First the good points; they give you free chips, salsa, and a soft drink. In years past the chips and salsa were free, but not in recent years. But adding a free drink was good. The kid's meal with a drink is also good for young kids.

For the food, the recipes must include 2-5 times as much salt as what would be normal. Obviously salt is cheap, but it is a poor way to coverup low quality or poor-tasting food. The chips appeared to have at least 3 X as much salt as normal. You could eat them, but this certainly was something even our 7-yr old noted.

I ordered a bowl of Enchilada soup. In the past many times over I ordered a bowl of tortilla soup and I was looking for something similar. But this soup tasted like the cook dumped a huge amount of salt in it. Beyond the heavy salt, the flavor tasted like something out of a can with food coloring and almost no typical flavor.

We also ordered 2 of the Quesadilla Salads as that was always a "go-to" selection for my wife and I. The quality of these salads was far different than they used to be. The lettuce was about 75% as compared to the past and not sure they remember that protein is supposed to be in these salads as there was very little. It appears they have beefed up the Cheese quesadilla squares they give with this salad with more cheese and at the same time cut the protein volume in half and cut back on the other ingredients that used to make this a good meal.

If you are simply looking for a place where kids can get a lower-cost meal this may be an option to consider, but if you are an adult and want decent quality you will not find it at...

This Chili's hast the best host/greeter, Austin I've ever seen. He's there at the door, holding it open for people when they come in, or just walking back from seating a table. he's always there, holding the door for people when they leave, and thanking them for their business. They should make Austin the manager. Unfortunately, after we get seated, it's typically about 10-15 minutes before we see the server. When we start getting antsy, wondering if there's a problem, or if anyone knows we're there, someone finally walks up. Sometimes they apologize for the wait, and sometimes they don't. They take our order, and then it's a really long time before it comes out, it's usually brought by somebody not our server, and when we bite into it, it's cold, the cheese has resolidified, etc. This location is still struggling with timing, it's taking about an hour and 15 minutes to get out of here (the restauranteur has a goal of turning you out in 45 min total, even if you order a dessert and an appetizer {both my cousin and the daughter of a friend have been emoyed by the company.}). We don't order to-go from this location anymore*, because they have hated taking orders for to-go since Chili's began offering it. They won't bring it out to the car anymore, and I'm not sure that's with Corpoate's blessing. This place was stellar until construction killed off the foot traffic for a long, long time, which caused a high volume of turnover among staff, which affected the quality of the experience in every aspect. The customer base is back, now they just need a manager who can take care of/appreciate the staff and retrain. I think it'll bounce back, we keep coming in and trying, but usually, if we aren't meeting our Dad, we go to the Chili's on Glade.

*My parents ordered to-go from here recently, and they did an...