Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in San Jose

It was 8 pm. on a 4th of July Mon., and, I was in my '24 Hour Fitness' gym territory, at Eastridge. I go to the gym pretty much everyday, but I usually don't go in earlier than 9 pm., so, it was way too early. So, how could I burn an hour until then? I considered 'Zone 1,' the Eastridge Arcade & bowling ally center. Oh! and a place to charge your phone . . . but I thought I might try something different. I was now walking in the direction of the Pizza restaurant, and I then, did a quick tour to see what I might buy. But, I didn't want to spend $8 on a whole pizza, and, they didn't sell by the slice. I could have bought a cake . . . but I didn't want to sit and just watch sports, so I thought, maybe I'll venture on, which took me passed the skating rink. It would have been a $3 entry fee, and maybe a chance to charge my cell phone . . . if they even have charging outlets. But, they don't serve food or drinks, however, soooo, I thought maybe I'll head on over to 'Olive Garden,' and, just get a strawberry margarita. They have good ones over there. It was about a 300 yard walk, but, that for me is not a problem, the avid walker that I am. But, as I ventured in that direction, there was one more option . . . 'Chili's.' Hmmm . . maybe I'll just stop by and quickly check it out. As I wondered over there, I didn't see many cars around, and, it looked awfully dark on the outside. Oh well, I thought, it is the 4th (of July), they're probably closed. But, I was going to go over there anyway, just to be sure. It's good I did. As I approached, I finally saw an open window, and, noticed some life, sitting at the window. Ah ha! Looks like there's a chance afterall. The door was open - great I thought - another plus! I walked in; and, it actually turned out to be a pretty jiving place. The noise increased, as I proceeded on, until I found myself immersed in a sea of immence activity. There was no one around availuable to seat me, so I just grabbed a booth near the bar, and, hoped for the best - as far as getting waited on. Mixed drinks, I saw, was a viable option . . good! I'm better with the hard liquor than, the beers. I finally was able to flag down a waiter - who was planning to reseat me, but, fortunately a waitress intervened, and provided me with a menue, and now, I thought, I was on my way. The vastness of the menue surprised me. I thought it would be brief, but was rather, quite overwhelming. I really had just an appetizer, and, perhaps a drink in mind. But, with Margaritas asking $8, $10, or $12, I thought I'd just end up with a drink. False! I saw a cup of Chili for just a little over $4, and, the very nice hospitable waitress - Jaydeen - had already told me that my strawberry margarita would only be $5. "Really," I said. Wow! I scanned the menue one more time, and it was settled . . it'll be the cup of chili, and, a strawberry margarita . . blended. I once again, reiterated, 'Wow!' "Yes," she said, it's 'Happy Hour.' And that occurs daily, from 3 - 5 pm. And, after being served, it all was just exactly what the doctor ordered. The cup was of ample size, of grated beans, and meat, cheese, and, thin strips of taco shell. The actual, rather tall glass of margareta, had plenty of salt around the rim, and, the drink itself, was colorfully laced with strawberry swirls. The ambience; the nicely lit, somewhat dark stained, pinewood table; the 5 TV's overhead; and, the blues music - Ah! such a refreshing break from the seemingly overplayed music of the rap world, created for me without a doubt . . that it was, truly indeed, a little slice of heavenly bliss. Chilli's you'll find nestled in amongst an array of trees on the south end of the 'Eastridge Loop.' Or, more specifically, at 2185, Eastridge Loop, San Jose, Calif. It's open 7 days a week, Sun. - Thurs. till 10:00 pm., and, Fri. - Sat. till 11:00 pm. Best come in the afternoon, as it will open...

My family and I (3 of us total) all agreed on chili's for dinner but since it was already 8:30pm we looked online to see what time they closed. It said 10 pm so we had plenty of time. We were seated rather quickly but then had to wait awhile before someone came to attend us. When the waitress finally came we started to place our order which included a dessert. She quickly asked if we were expecting to eat the dessert later or what we were expecting because they were going to close in 2 minutes. It was barely 8:38 pm. We were shocked. We apologized and told her we didn't know they were closing but would still stay to eat and just take the dessert to go. She was obviously not happy with us staying. She took our order because she had to. After she took our order I had to accept an important phone call. The music was too loud inside to take the call so I stepped outside. The call lasted less than a minute. Once the call was over I found myself locked out of the restaurant. She wasn't kidding when she said 2 minutes and they would shut down. I had to walk around the building to the window and knock so my wife could go let me in. When I came back our drinks were on the table along with chips and salsa that we ordered. No napkins tho and no one around to ask for some. Our other appetizer was brought out after awhile by a different employee and my wife asked for the napkins and utensils. This worker happily got them for us and asked if there was anything else we needed. He refilled our drinks and then left to the back. . The same worker then brought out our entrees and again asked if there was anything we needed. We advised him we were ok and he left to continue his duties. Our waitress wasn't seen until we were almost done with our meal. And the only reason she came was to leave the mini kiosk on our table so we could pay. The waitress gave horrible service. I get they wanted to go home but they should have put a sign on the door saying they were closing early. Or at least told us that before they say us down and we waited so long. In the end we would have complained to management If it wasn't for the good food and the gentleman that helped us when our waitress wouldn't. Those 2 things saved the experience from being a...

They cheated me and when I expressed frustration they reprimanded me. I had a couple of beers and a salad and saw that my Chili's rewards entitled me to free chips (Chilis makes customers pay for chip - the cheapskates!). So I ordered the chips - telling the server that I have it for rewards. She brought the chips and had me use that flawed POS system - that demands you put in your credit card to do anything (never, ever use a system that does that). I entered my code to reclaim my rewards but the chips were not on my tab so I could not use the rewards. OK. It will all come out the same - right? It would if Chilis were an honest establishment. After I picked a tip the screen refreshed with a high price - NOW the chips were added. I tried to go back to apply the rewards but I could not do anything. The only button was to pay the full price. I started muttering angrily and the server asked the problem and I expressed my anger and started to explain what happened and she cut me off saying that I was being inappropriate. Fine, I think Chili's is inappropriate - they have lost a customer (who had a chili's loyalty account) and I will advise everyone whom I know of these 2 things:

1. Never go to Chili's you can get a better meal for that price and you do not have to worry about them cheating you. (There are a number of restaurants within 100m of this Chilis - all have better food)
2. Never use those point-of-sale terminals which require a credit card before you can navigate, the software can box you in so you cannot apply rewards. This seems like it should be illegal. It is definitely unethical.

ed. LOL. The owner replied asking me to go to their website and fill out more forms. Life is too short for that nonsense. I'd rather tell friends and family about Chili's increasing the price AFTER I swiped my...