Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Hawaii

Inexplicably poor customer service...with a smile. Not the first time this has been the case, so finally writing the review. 30 minutes waiting for soup and salad, and even then both were not delivered at the same time. $8 for a kid's meal consisting of one solitary, small (pre-frozen?) corn dog, a few ounces of overcooked and soggy veggies, and a gigantic drink filled with ice. No, no, no; no bueno. Burritos are at least half tortilla, folded over several times on the bottom to look more substantial than they are. Salads have brown, older leaves mixed into fresher bits. Fish dishes are cooked well but covered with overly pungent sauces you can smell across the table, not in a good way. Not sure if quality control, staffing, or the giant, multi-page menu (Q: how many different menu items can any kitchen really do well in one service? A: not this many) is the problem here, but for such a busy location (I can only guess the multiple TV screens and name/menu recognition are driving the traffic) it deserves better.

Disappointing and frustrating. It was busy, and we had to flag the server for refills and food, but we did so while watching the server stop repeatedly to watch a game on the restaurant's multiple screens, and other tables that arrived after ours get their very similar orders before us. Had to flag another server to request a dessert order, since we couldn't find our server. C'mon, guys...who doesn't try to up-sell dessert?

Server was very pleasant, the little we saw of the person. But for a bill that was over 3 figures, in a crowded restaurant, I do expect customers to get more attention than the tv. Management walked around looking over customers' heads, talking on drive-through style headsets about who knows what, as it was not reflected in the basic restaurant tasks of taking care of the customer or getting the food out.

Free WiFi. Accepts credit cards. Free parking; a bit tight due to sharing the lot with McDonald's and some other stores. Noisy, but family friendly with a high percentage of military in the seats, like many Chili's here. Military discount but they will not mention it if you don't, even if you are in uniform.

Overall, poor value for the money, poor customer service (lovely smile, but I don't go to a restaurant to be hungry, never mind the smile), and would not return. I hope it improves, but there are too many Chili's on the island, let alone mid-priced chain restaurants in this vein, to bother with this location. Sadly, do...

5 stars for the awesome bar staff at Chili's Kapolei, Scott and the rest of the bar team that work on Sunday mornings for football season are all awesome. Everything below and the lower rating I gave is based on their online ordering system and take out/pick up, which needs a LOT of work. If I could give a 0 just for the two below experiences, I would.

I tried ordering through their app and noticed after checking out that the prices for each item jumped $2-5 between the items being added to my cart and check out! I asked the guy waiting outside for curbside pick up and he had no answer for me, just scratched his head and went inside to ask for help. The manager came out and I showed him the price difference and he too had no idea why the prices were different. It wasn't until he went inside to grab a menu and compare individual prices that he figured out that the app incorrectly lists prices based on mainland menus, but corrects itself at checkout. When I asked him about this, he just said that I should come in to place an order instead of ordering from the app in the future! Not even a mention of trying to get it fixed, or warning other customers going forward.

On a different occasion, we called in an order for a few different appetizers and came to pay and pick up. When the food came out, my boyfriend asked if we could order extra guacamole because he had mistakenly ordered an "add 2.5 oz. guac" instead of a side of guac with our chips and salsa. We paid and waited in our car as instructed for 30 minutes, as we watched other customers come and go with their food. When he went to check on the order, the server asked for our receipt as proof that we had paid (she was also the one who had processed our corrected payment, so not sure why she needed the receipt). She came back out after 5 minutes with our guac, and said that kitchen staff didn't believe her when she said we hadn't gotten the extra guac. I think she forgot about us too, honestly. Apparently they all thought someone else had fulfilled the order. In total, we waited outside of Chili's for over an hour for chips, salsa, guac, fried cheese, and blossom petals. We could have dined in, gotten and eaten our food, paid, and left in that time. Worst experiences with customer...

Okay, here we go. I went here on Veterans Day because my wife told me I earned it and I should go get my free meal. I only went because I had to get laundry detergent at longs and figured I’d grab a quick free meal at the bar and head home. It was about 8:45 PM when I arrived. I walked to the bar and there were about 8-10 open seats , but none of them had been cleaned of the prior patrons cups and menus and trash. I found the seat with the least amount of debris and waited. I took a quick video and sent it to my wife as we were both bartenders when we were younger. I was blown away at how much of a mess this bar was, especially a corporate bar like Chilis. Eventually the bartender came. She cleared the empty cups from my spot only. Left the pile of menus and did NOT wipe down the bar top. Again, as a prior bartender, the lack of gaf was starting to stun me. Then she starts complaining about the day (Veteran’s Day free meals)with a coworker in front of customers, mind blown! Who is managing this place? I am now just watching everything this “bartender” is doing. A couple walk in and give me a look, like why is it so dirty? I shrug and they sit next to me behind empty cups, menus, trash, etc. she comes, clears the cups only…does not wipe down the bar. A man sits at the bar across from us behind a row of empty glasses. I get my meal about 18 minutes after I order. Not sure what they expect for ticket times, but when I used to work in a kitchen 12 minutes was the target for an entree. This was just a cheeseburger and fries. Burger was below average and fries sucked. I had had enough and just got out of there. Yes, it may have been a hectic day, but I got there well after whatever the rush was and she lollygagged and moped around instead of cleaning her bar for the customers who just got there. I honestly don’t care how the day went, if I was the owner of this Chilis the bartender and manager would be looking for employment elsewhere. I’ve seen bartenders under massive pressure perform their jobs and I’ve been a bartender with tons of customers and would never have performed that poorly no matter the day. I will not be back to this Chilis and will not go get free meals anymore on Veterans Day...