Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Thornton Township

(A long review based on 3 Experiences ) Its a bit sad that I’m leaving this review because this is one of my favorite Chili’s Locations. Ill start by saying this: Dining In, I cant recall ever having a bad experience. Ive always been greeted, sat within a reasonable amount of time, food would be great, drinks as well and I’d be on my Merry way.

However, when it comes to Curbside Pick up they have a lot of improving to do. I’ve ordered Curbside from them on 3-4 different occasions.

The first time , i showed up about 5-10 minutes early and was greeted by a member of chilis. I gave the order name and he said he’ll check on our order. about 25 minutes go by and i get a text saying “dont forget to text that you’re here” so I do because the employee never came back to my car. 15 minutes later they do with our order and an order of cheese cake for the inconvenience. I dont like cheese cake but it was a sweet gesture & my mother does so I took it and went on my way.

The second time, i came 20 minutes late, meaning that I also got the “dont forget to let us know when you’re here” text. So I pull up and text here. 15 minutes go by and I call about my order. Another 15 minutes go by and someone finally answers the phone. They ask my name and they say oh. Also, this entire time I’ve been watching them through the window. So as I’m waiting on someone to answer, two people are just sitting there talking. Eventually one answers and when i say my name I see the other walk to the shelf of orders and grabs my order and another and then heads out. Gives the other car their order and I think they forgot something because they go back in then back out to that car and then come to me to deliver my order.

The third time, I came 35 minutes late. I text that I was there as I was pulling up. I parked in front of the door as well because I knew it should be ready, I’m 35 minutes late. So 15 minutes go by and no one comes to my car or anything. So I call about my order and they say it will be out shortly. 5-10 minutes go by and I call again. Im asked my name again. I relay and then I’m asked how did I place my order. I relay the info and am told that I need to come in to pick up my order because I didn’t order curbside. I explain that I received a text over 20 minutes ago stating otherwise and told me to text when I’m here. I’m then asked again my name and what I ordered and then am told it will be out shortly. 5 more minutes & Still no order but I still see employees lolygagging. I also see a few other customers who seem to be in the same boat as me. Another 5 minutes go by and I walk inside and ask about my order. There’s 3-4 workers in the to go area just talking. One looks to the shelf next to them and hands me my order saying “we were just about to bring it to you.” I don’t understand how I can pre order food before I get off work. Accidentally have it set to be ready for the time I get off work. Have enough time to drive from Frankfort to Homewood during prime traffic time on I-80 and STILL have to sit and wait on my food and none of the employees seemed to care. During this visit I also saw them hand the wrong car an order, take it back, and then hand it to the right car. The customer had looked through the food and that’s how they determined it wasnt there’s but the employee still didn’t take it back to remake.

before these few chances, this location was my go to and the one I’d recommend. Now, I don’t even want to order chilis because It’ll be at least an hour event. I’m better off going to Jewel to get what I need to...

I attended a birthday celebration dinner for my niece and my experience was terrible. We had a total of about 20 in our party and we ordered multiple appetizers, meals and beverages. Our server Diamond was helpful, delightful and attentive. However, my wife is a vegetarian and when she asked for options on a specific menu option for someone no longer consuming animal byproducts Diamond expressed that she had to get approval from a manager. My wife has asked for a vegetarian options before and the manager on duty was able to approve the change and make an exception, so this is not a foreign concept or something that has not been approved in the past at this same location in Homewood, Illinois. Diamond told us that the manager told her "no" to our request. She then asked if we would like to speak to him, so we said "yes" because we know that exceptions can be made and we also wanted to know what options could be offered resolve this matter. Jarad was the manager on duty and he is the one who refused our request to a vegetarian option. Jarad came over to introduce himself and we explained our issue to him we also gave him a less expensive black bean fajita meal option to replace the chicken fajita meal. Again, we have had managers make exceptions before for this same matter. Jarad told us that we "were trying to get away with something" I told him that "I have been in management, sales and customer service for many years and it's not what you say it's how you say it." I also told him that he used the wrong words with customers being upfront, honest, and looking for options to eat a meal. I asked him for a suggestion for our concern and he said "Don't order that meal option." I was expecting him to offer a true resolution, but instead he seemed to be looking to debate and leave our issue unresolved. In my years of training the best thing you can do is tell customers what you can do, not what you can't do. I asked Jarad for a GM and I was told that the GM left and hour ago. I asked if the GM could be contacted and I was told not until the next day. I then asked if there was another manager on duty and he said "yes", so I requested to have that manager come to our table. Jarad was rude, curt, and unwilling discuss a resolution. He seemed as though he did not want to be bothered with our issue. Catherine was the other manager on duty and she also introduced herself to us when she came to our table. We explained our issue to her and expressed our displeasure with Jarad and his behavior. We told her the entire story including the options and exceptions made in the past. She told us that she was recently out of training and she offered us real world options to resolve our concern. A black bean burger was the compromise. This wasn't difficult to someone who was empathetic, willing to resolve a customer concern and flexible. Catherine exceeded our expectations and because of her we continued with our meal. The rest of the evening was pleasant because of Diamond...

This location should be shut down. We live less than 5 minutes away, but we regularly go 20 minutes out of our way to go to the Orland Park location, which is MUCH better than Homewood. Today (against our better judgement), we decided to give the Homewood location another chance and as usual, we regret it.

We placed a to go order. The order wasn’t ready until nearly 30 minutes AFTER the pick up time. The customer service was terrible. The person working at the pick up counter never bothered to update us on when our order would be ready or why it was taking so long. But get this, every single item in the order was cold. Why did we wait 30 extra minutes for cold food? You would think everything would have been piping hot and fresh, with how long it took them.

On top of that, the order was incorrect. I ordered honey chipotle chicken crispers and they gave me Nashville hot chicken crispers, which I don’t eat. I don’t know how you mess that up, especially when you had all that extra time to get it right. I also ordered honey mustard as the dipping sauce with the chicken crispers, and they gave me ranch instead. My fries were also ice cold. The ice cream for my dessert was COMPLETELY melted, as though it was taken out of the freezer 2 hours ago. I paid for extra bacon on my burgers, and instead they put NO BACON at all. And the burgers were overcooked/burnt and dried out. Just seriously, how do you mess up one persons order so bad?!?!?!? It almost looked like they just threw a bunch of leftovers together and put it in a bag and gave it to me. Because I just don’t understand why my entire order would be cold and incorrect, if it was freshly prepared.

My advice is - 1) Avoid this location. 2) Go to literally any other location. 3) if you’re in a bind and you just HAVE to order from this location, DO NOT add a tip ahead of time if you’re doing a pick up order!!! Learn from my mistake. Just wait until you get there to make sure your order is correct and that it doesn’t take a million years for you to get your food. I’ve been burned by this location too many times. I used to automatically add a 20% tip when I was ordering/paying online, and then I would end up regretting it every time when they would screw up my order.

I also called and asked to speak to a manager when I got home. But I was on hold for so long, I hung up. They’ve already wasted enough...