Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Upper Merion Township

My family was there a couple of weeks ago. We waited about 10 minutes at the door before a hostess came to even welcome us. There was another lady there waiting before we got in the door. The wait was not because it was full - there was just no one at the door. We noticed later that the hostess was also our waitress and the bartender so that may be why the long wait.

We ordered an appetizer that came out with the main course. The burger I ordered came out completely wrong. The waitress put the order through as a different burger on the menu. I could not get her attention and had to ask a different staff member. The waitress came back and said "oh, I thought you wanted the smash burger". She took the wrong one back, and after about 10 minutes or so, came back with the correct one. She walked to the table and handed me a plate as she was walking away. There was no acknowledgement at all. The burger was overcooked and the cheese was not even melted (like they just took the meat from the incorrect burger and put on different toppings). By this point, the fries were also cold.

When we got out to the car, I found my cell phone was missing. I went back in to look with no luck. Because we were enjoying a nice family night out, my phone was on do not disturb so it would not ring. The same waitress came over and kept insisting that I "look in the bathroom", even after I repeatedly said I had not used the restroom the entire visit, nor did anyone from our table. The manager walked by and was no help at all. I asked if he could at least take down my information in case it was found (wife's phone number, email, etc) to let me know. He took a tine square napkin to write on. I asked him to get something a little more reliable to which he grunted and walked away for about 5 minutes before coming back with a post-it notepad. When I asked if he had a business card so I could contact him, he shrugged and said he did not get them yet. I had to ask him for something with the restaurant's information. He reluctantly went to the back for another few minutes and came back with the District Manager's card.

I understand that a misplaced phone was not their fault - it was mine (and my family did eventually find it). However, the staff, especially a manager, should be trained to be more respectful and customer oriented. You should not be taking customer information on a napkin that was sitting on a counter. I will point out that there was a different male server that walked by and was kind and helpful. He even tried to call the phone from his (do not disturb mode led right to voicemail). There was another younger girl there that also took some time to do a quick search on the range of an iPhone and Apple Watch to see why it was not pinging from my watch. Other than the two of them, it seems that some training and...

This is an updated review from the most recent visit to this location. Overall it was a disappointing experience, and I had to drop one star. I've been eating at Chili's in various locations throughout US since the early 1980's. After today's experience I think I won't be coming back here unless there's no other place available which is very unlikely. I believe this location has been in decline for a while...at least for the last year or so. The parking lot is always almost empty as well as the bar and dining room even during the weekend. What I was most disappointed was the taste of food. My Mushroom Swiss Burger totally lacked flavor. When I have to season my own burger with salt and pepper to taste it, I'd say the chef failed. Also, corn & black bean salsa on Quesadilla Salad totally lacked black beans and other ingredients thus losing flavor this salad once amazingly offered. Another issue was either employee (our server) training is sadly lacking, or it just happened our server lacked certain integrity to admit she made an error or misunderstood how reward program worked. By the way, the bottomless chips and salsa are NOT. Anyway, I will stay away from this establishment and try some of their competitions. It's truly a sad day for me since I've enjoyed dining at Chili's for over four decades.

The first impression was...a very dark atmosphere coupled with awkwardly quiet dining area. It probably didn't help that it was raining outside. There was no lively music or light-heartedness in the restaurant. I don't remember Chili's being this way anywhere else.

They must've cut the number of personnel down. We waited for a while before someone came to the front to take down our names for the wait line (we saw the same person clearing tables later as we sat down to eat). There was only one waitstaff on our side of approximately 12 booths and five tables, so needless to say the service was slow. I give her credit in trying very hard to maintain the flow of things. Our drink cups went dry without refills...an indicator of a challenged service. She gave us a bag of chips and fresh salsa as we left, so all was not lost.

The food was as good as we expected from our past experiences with Chili's. I think 3ForMe (Drink, appetizer and entree) for $10.99 was a good deal. Quesadilla Explosion Salad was as good as usual per my wife though it was missing tortilla strips completely for some reason.

Overall, we enjoyed a good...

Only worth three stars for me. My family and I were in the area this past weekend and we decided to stop by Chili's for dinner. We have a Chili's near me, so we were curious how PA Chili's compared to our Chili's. And, well, it's meh for my family and I. Our waiter was friendly, and the wait to dine was very quick. The place wasn't crowded at all, and was pretty welcoming. However, it was so dirty. Tables nearby were dirty and messy, and it took away a bit of our appetite. Even the menus had food stains on them... how?! My family and I ordered strawberry drinks, and they did not taste good. To put it bluntly, it tasted like sinkwater + chemical strawberry flavor. Not good! Disappointed by our drinks, we just ordered food right away. We ordered nachos, steak, a chicken salad bowl with cheese quesadillas, a mini burger platter and a cheese steak. The nachos tasted pre-cooked and then microwaved, so we did not bother eating most of them. The steak meal was fairly good, but the garlic bread was clearly frozen Texas toast. The cheese steak was also pretty good. The mini burgers were average. And my meal, the chicken cheese quesadilla bowl, was fairly good. The cheese quesadillas were average, but the salad itself with the grilled chicken was delicious and a bit spicy, which I like. The biggest problem for me, was the service. The waiter was okay, but he looked like he walked out of a farm after a long day of work. Dirty jeans, a dirty t-shirt, just all arpund unkempt. He also messed up our order. He mixed up orders, and never wrote down the mini burger sliders on his pad. So, he told us he had to put in the order again, and we had to wait for them to get "reheated". He just outed the whole place! He also kept asking how everything was besides the fact he messed up the order, it was horrible. So, while everyone was enjoying their meal, my brother had to sit there and wait another twenty minutes for his meal to be ready, which threw everything off schedule. We didn't bother ordering dessert, even though we were told it was good. We were tired after our long day, and just wanted to get back. All in all, an average experience with the occasional blunder, I definitely prefer the Chili's back home. I think they need to do better- you're better off going to The Cheesecake Factory in the mall right...