Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Providence

Your experience is often a function of the server, and I get that some folks have had a bad experience here. I, on the other hand, eat here a couple of times a week at lunch and I'm rarely disappointed.

I eat at the bar and I go when I know my favorite bartenders will be working. They always get my beverage and food orders right, and I love chatting with them about life and sports. It's hard to overstate how this changes the experience of a place.

I'm also very familiar with the menu and know how to work the system to wring the maximum value out of my visit. Go for lunch and you can pick from some very affordable luncheon specials that are easy on the budget. Get your lunch card punched five times and the sixth entry (up to $10) is free. This is pretty incredible when you consider that your five punches can be made up of six, seven and eight dollar specials.

You also have to know what things a place like Chili's does exceptionally well and which things are just average. It should be obvious that if you want the best steaks, you go to a steakhouse. If you want the best ribs, then it's a ribhouse. While Chili's will offer to sell you just about anything, that doesn't mean it's all equally good.

Chili's has some burgers that are absolutely fabulous. The southern smokehouse burger beats Burger King's Double Whopper with cheese and bacon hands down. The beef is way better, as are the toppings, including the thick cut bacon and onion strings. And fries come with.

And your tall Coors light draft special is only $3.29. When you consider the outstanding (free!) chips and salsa that come gratis, I don't know what beats it.

It would be nice if everything on the menu represented an equal value and was of equally high quality, but that's rarely how it works in the real world. But with a little patience, trial and error, you might find that there's a lot...

I typically love Chili's. We arrive at 8:35p on a Saturday night. We walk in and look around to see 8-10 clean empty tables, as well as a few empty tables in need of bussing/cleaning. I tell the hostess we are a party of 3. She says that there are 4 parties ahead of us. I say that's fine. She then says we won't be seated for at least 45 minutes. In amazement, I say "45 minutes? there are at least 8 open tables."

She is wearing a face mask and is a little tough to understand with the noise of the other folks waiting in the lobby, but it sounds like she said "we can't sit anyone near the windows". They have parties already sitting near windows, so this doesn't make sense... but I look into the bar and there are empty seats at the bar and a couple bar area tables.

I say "well the bar is open seating right? Like we can just grab a seat and get drinks."

She says "no. We only have one bartender on and she has to make the drinks for the whole restaurant." My head spun... when does a restaurant with a bar EVER not seat people at open seats AT THE BAR?

It was 2.5 hours before their closing time, so it wasn't like we showed up expecting service as they were cleaning and shutting down.

I told the hostess that was the most ridiculous thing I've heard at a restaurant and we'd find another place to go.

Fortunately, in this neighborhood in Providence, I remembered there was a fantastic restaurant called Tortilla Flats... Chili's couldn't touch their drinks,...

Actually, I knew Larry Levine back when I lived in Dallas, Texas. He was working for a stake house at the time. We talked about the ways to obtain financing to start his new concept for a Tex-Mex lunch, dinner place, and hopefully happy hour. About a year later, he opened up in an old house at the corner of Medow Rd. and Greenville Ave. Great location with a hospital and several high-rise office buildings close by. He eventually built a new building in front of the house while staying open.

His operation expanded throughout Dallas, Fort Worth, and other locations.

NORM BRINKER of Stake and Ale, Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE: EAT) is one of the world's leading casual dining restaurant companies and home of Chili's® Grill & Bar, Maggiano's Little Italy® and virtual brand: It's Just Wings®. Founded by Norman Brinker in Dallas, Texas, "we've ventured far from home but stayed true to our roots." Purchased Chili's and made Larry Levin a very wealthy man.

Started eating there in 1975 in Dallas and here in 2010, once a week. I wished they had the old Awsom Blosum onion they used to.

It was rumor that Larry moved to California and worked with Sam Levin, a realtative in the...