Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Plant City

My family and i have frequented the Plant City Chili's pretty regularly. The inside service and food has been mostly great and when it wasn't they took care of it and made it great. I know these are stressful times with the shutdown, but I have to say we were pretty disappointed with the curbside service. It was very disorganized and we weren't really given any indication of where we should park or wait. We were supposed to be there at 6:45 to pick up our meal, we got there a couple minutes late 6:48pm. As instructed we texted that we were here. There were cars all over the place. The server came out after sitting almost 10 minutes and asked for the name. I want to include that they did ask for my cars make/model and color, which I provided...why ask for that info if they aren't going to use it, and what's the point in texting "here" if they are just going to come out and ask for my name? My thought is you sent me a text, my phone number is on my order, when I text back "here" someone pulls my order and hands it a server, they come look for the car and give me my order. I gave her my last name, she didn't ask for a first. She's gone about 5 minutes, finally comes back and says she doesn't see my order what's my first name. So I give her my first name, she said she saw an order with that name, went back in to get it. Took her about another 5 minutes to come back out with two orders, she proceeds to go to the car that got there after us and gave them their order first. Okay fine, food is stone cold by this point and they were brought out in plastic containers that build condensation on the inside and by the time we get home not only is our food cold it's kind of wet. We ordered burgers, My son's came with NO top bun???? What the heck? And all 3 burgers were pink and my order stated no pink. Overall it was a very disappointing experience. I wanted to support my local Chili's, I paid online and included a 15% tip just like I would have done if I were sitting in the restaurant. It was a huge expense (for us), including tip almost $45 and we didn't even get drinks. I could have gone to McDonald's for much cheaper and my fries might have been hot! :( I'm sure that tons of you have had much better service with the pick up during the shutdown and that's great, I'm happy for you, I wish we had too, but...

I am highly disappointed with my experience at this Chili's. We were a large group of 8 - five adults and three kids. One section of the restaurant was closed (the closed section happened to have the largest table in the restaurant that would accommodate us), so we were told we would have to wait until a table opened up - no big deal, we were great with that. The hostess told us around the 35 minute mark that a table should be open soon. We waited about 50 minutes before one of the people I was with (who was a Chili's server last year) went up to the hostess to ask if we could put the kids' food orders in, so that when we sat down their food would be there since we had already waited almost an hour. She said no, and then went to ask the manager. The manager appeared to intentionally avoid coming towards the hostess stand where we were but eventually did. The manager, hostess, and person in my party talked about the kids' orders thing - the manager said no, because then they wouldn't know what table to bring the food to. My family member who served at Chili's last year offered options that she herself had done before to accommodate that, and the manager still said no. Their was no warmth or attempt to be customer-focused at all. The hostess was the same way from the minute we got there. Ultimately we, and another party who had been waiting, left because the service we received felt very rude and like they couldn't have cared any less about us as customers. The truth is, they may not have - but I think at a corporate level, Chili's would not be pleased with how two large parties left and had negative experiences that they are now sharing with many others. This review doesn't capture the feelings we experienced from the staff, but this Chili's left a very sour taste in my mouth and I will not go back. I would not recommend the Plant...

I had a 30 top coming in and tried to call to prepare them. They told me they don’t take reservations, which I was fine with I just thought they would like to be prepared. When I got in, the manager tells me they are in the middle of a shift change and may not be able to accommodate us together. I mentioned that I called in to try and help. Her first response was “no one called in” and I said yes we did. Her next response was “Well we don’t take reservation” to which I told her I knew that but it would have been nice for her to be aware. She then reiterated I did not call. I told her we did, again. (Why she was arguing with me on this I have no idea)I then asked to have her GM number so I can make him aware of this situation. I wasn’t asking for anything free. She then comes out with the number to tell me that she spoke with the person who took my call. No apology, yet. I asked why she didn’t believe me. She said she didn’t say that and she was sorry if “I felt like that’s what she was saying”…. How condescending. I reiterated that I didn’t feel anything, I know what she said. She threw her hands up and started to walk away. As we were exiting she let out a big groan.

30 people worth of sales, she is turning away. The managers name is Brandy. I called the number she gave to talk to someone about it. It said no one was there and to call back later, then hung up on me.

1 star due to managers attitude and lack of customer service. Not because we had a 30 top and they weren’t ready. That can happen anywhere. We took our 30 people to Panera bread and they were very happy to see us.

I also saw a note that the manager wrote to an employee on the podium. It was rude and condescending to the employee. It speaks volumes to how they treat...