Chira's | Restaurant and Catering — Restaurant in Salem

For the love of God, Do not come here for Valentine's Day. They cancelled our reservation for 4 PM two weeks before and didn't tell us why. We called, asked what happened and the employee told us we can't reserve it at 4 because they aren't open that time on Valentine's day. How are we supposed to know that? The website allowed us to reserve it. Thankfully we were able to make another reservation at 5:30, but it only gets worse.

Fast forward to the day of, we set directions for chira's on maps, and maps says it's CLOSED. We check their Facebook and it also says CLOSED. We call them TWICE, NO ANSWER BOTH TIMES. We're freaking out in the car thinking we don't have a valid reservation, and then low and behold, we get there and they're open. Why did they say they were closed on all their internet platforms? To deter people from calling on the day? Seriously unprofessional.

I drop off my girlfriend to the restaurant and find parking because traffic is insane downtown during Valentine's. I get there and the hostess is making small talk and laughing with another customer. I'm waiting there for 5 minutes for her to look at me and see that I'm ready to be seated, nothing. My GF is ALREADY SEATED waiting for me. So I walk past her and say "I have a reservation I'm just gonna go over there"(pointing to GF). She starts scoffing and says "What?!?!?" as I'm passing her. I don't bother to explain myself to this lady that left me on standby to have a chat with her supposed friend. I sit down and see that she's calling the manager over, another waiter, causing a scene and I'm sitting there with my hands in the air signaling "what's the problem?". They huddle together and mutter to themselves as if they're debating whether or not to kick me out. These people are legit the rudest staff I ever experienced.

The last straw was their unbelievably terrible "Valentine's Day" menu. We looked at their dinner menu online and we were excited to try their entree dishes with really good sides for less than $30. The cheapest entree on their Valentine's day menu was $32, a veggie and pasta platter with NO meat. Everything else was $45-60. And none of the dishes we wanted were on the menu. What a complete joke. We just walked out and didn't bother to reenact the next episode of boiling point any longer.

Seriously, just avoid this place like the plague. There are much better Valentine's day places out there that won't trick you and frustrate you to the point of ripping...

I've been here a dozen times, half earlier in the beginning when they use to do Sunday brunch and 1/2 the times dinner. I have had some decent dinners here, but there is always something. The front of the house employees are the best of any restaurant in town. They are very considerate and always trying to provide excellent customer service. The young man who goes to all the tables is very animated and entertaining. Drinks are pretty good and usually consistent. The problem is whoever is cooking when it's not Yuri does not do that great of a job.

My frutti di mare pasta dish tonight was almost unedible. The dish described on the menu talked about pesto and cream with kale, but mentioned nothing of an Alfredo like sauce or any cheese. Plus whoever created it threw the stalk of the kale in as well as the leaves and I've never seen any even amateur chef do that. It was tough and I had to spit it out of my mouth. I took one more bite and that was it. All I could taste was cheese, there was so much cheese you couldn't taste the shrimp, you couldn't taste the pasta or the pesto just cheese. I boxed the entire dish up and I'll fix it at home.

The clam chowder was on the verge of breaking and it was extremely dark in color. The halibut fish tacos were not that great at all. One store bought pre battered halibut cut in 1/2 and wedged between very undercooked flour tortillas with too much sauce and too much cabbage. The fish is absolutely lost in this taco and all you taste is the 1000 island style dressing with cabbage. If the chef would've grilled the flour tortilla just slightly it would not have been a soggy mess and doughy like it was.

$54 with gratuity. Not worth the aggravation. The hook with Chiras is the price point is relatively low for fine dining. The problem with that theory is for just a few dollars more per dish you can really get some amazing food in downtown Salem.. His price points hook you because you think it's a good value, but it is not. A good value is when you get a properly cooked meal with high quality ingredients and you're paying a fair price. There you're getting sub par food made by amateurs and thinking it's a good price point because the dollar...

12-20-24 So disappointed.. darn it anyway.. We chose this restaurant to celebrate a birthday and the holiday season with another couple. Ordered drinks. The wine and beer were good. The cocktail was horrible.. my friend returned it and ordered a lemon drop. I ordered a Spanish coffee… everyone else received their drinks but me.. 15 minutes later I was told they forgot to brew the coffee and they would get my drink to me as soon as the coffee brewed. Okay.. I was disappointed but I understand… They were busy .. I get it. But it would had been nice to enjoy my coffee drink before my dinner arrived. Our dinners finally arrived. My hubby ordered the salmon. He received his salmon plate.. all 3 bites of it. This was the smallest portion of salmon I have ever seen as a serving. Oh my gosh! He wasn’t expecting a huge piece but this was ridiculous at market price. And the top of the salmon had sprinklings of rock salt on top. Not good.. this was not mentioned in the description of the salmon on the menu. My hubby has a throat condition and this salt did a job on his throat. He tried to scrape it off as much as possible. My friend and I ordered the Oscar halibut served over mashed potato with crab on top .. or that is what the menu read. The halibut was at market price which we’re okay with.. but again… a few bites of halibut is all we received. The halibut was so lost inside the mashed potatoes it was difficult to find. And the crab on top was nothing but shavings of something I wasn’t sure what it was. No crab.. it was a joke. Our friends steak was very good. It was a nice size and he said very good. The service was slow.. two servers who were trying to keep up .. and they also had to mix drinks.. we felt bad for them. They were trying to keep up.. but it was obvious they were not happy about it. They did not come across very friendly .. how how could they:. It was a zoo! We aren’t complaining of the prices.. but for what we received for what we paid was so disappointing. I don’t think we will be going back. ...