Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

I'm in banquet services so I take my job pretty serious. I don't even get tips but I know how it feels not to be recognized when You've given your best. The server we had was HORRIBLE! She bought 2 menus when we had 4 guests. I'm 8 months pregnant so one friend and I wobbled into the restaurant a few minutes after my first two friends were already seated. They'd asked for 4' menus but got 2..After 10 mins, we received water from a totally different server but no menus still. The initial server came back after about 15 mins & took the first two ladies orders but since we were just getting menus we had to skim to see what we wanted. We still ended up waiting another 15 mins to place orders. The salsa my friend ordered was so watery and bland that no one really wanted it and it was a total waste of money. I tried not to complain bc it was a nice amount of people in the establishment but the food could have been much better even if the server wasn't half decent. When the food arrived, it wasn't seasoned well and just not what I expected from a fajita. It looked appealing to be honest but maybe I should have went to a Mexican restaurant instead. I can say the water was very good and cold and the buffalo chicken wings were delicious! That's not what I'd ordered though. The Caesar salads were also good. My bff and I both got sizzling fajita meals and neither of us were satisfied with the first bite so we were given the option to reorder. I got shrimp and she got chicken Cajun pasta. Mine was a bit salty this time around and she complained that hers was still not worth buying again. To add to the fact that no one cleared anything on our table until we left. Plates a cups were piled up. We all don't mind paying for good food and I'm a big tipper when it come to great service but this wasn't it. Chef needs to step his game up. The cheesecake was also great, which I'm sure isn't made there. The best thing about it the manager quickly handled the problem and didn't give us any hassle with the meal change. They were very professional and polite. If I went here again, I would have wanted another server and I would only get chicken wings, salad and water to be safe. Besides that... The management works well...

I wasn't expecting a fine dining experience when I entered the doors of this place but I figured it would be a place where I could enjoy a meal out of the house with my husband. It could have been, but sadly, it wasn't. Here's why...

Let's get the simple things out of the way first. 1. The food was mediocre. Probably could have done better on my own. The wait was surprisingly long. Over 45 minutes. But there were plenty of tables open and plenty of staff on the floor. The bar was a bit messy. But we sat there anyway so we didn't have to wait 45 minutes for a table. The bartender hardly looked at us beyond asking us loudly what we wanted to order. And they appeared very stressed which was odd since the bar was only about half full. But they were sure to focus on two regulars and their relatives that came in. Appetizer took over 20 minutes to be served (we ordered fried pickels). Entrees took over 45 mins (we got a salad and a quesadilla. Dessert took 30 mins (we ordered one slice of plain cheesecake).

Now for the really disappointing part of the experience....

When we were served the cheesecake, it came with toppings we didn't want. The food runner was confused and attempted to ascertain the mix up when the bartender shouts from across the room why it was wrong and starts berating the food runner as if they were the one that made the mistake. I am certainly no expert on Chili's what standard operating procedures are, but I would venture to guess that publicly scolding a co-worker isn't one of them.

What was shocking was the bartender continued to pour out hateful comments even after the food runner went back to the kitchen. I heard "If you can speak English then you should be able to read English." Very racist, very classist, and completely unbecoming of any human being.

Maybe this situation was due to stress or maybe the bartender is a bitter person. Either way, common decency dictates that one should stay calm and move on, rather than highlighting or attempting to humiliate a co-worker in front of customers.

Huge side note, the food runner was an excellent employee. They were nice, friendly, jovial even and smiled at every person they delivered to. Give that...

My wife, son and I stopped in at 6pm yesterday evening. They were busy and told us it'd be about a 10-15min wait. We said this was fine. The host took down my number and said he'd message us as soon as our table was ready. The entrance was really crowded so we decided to wait out in the car. After waiting for 20-25min we started to worry, but we didn't think anything. Things could just be moving slower than predicted. We understand. After 45min we went inside and asked if our table would be ready anytime soon. The host informed us that there is currently no wait. We asked why we hadn't received a text that our table was ready. He said he sent one to everyone on the waiting list. His manager happened to walk by and we explained to him that we never received a text. He asked the host if he had sent us a message that our table we ready. The host said he did and went to show the manager that he sent us the message from his kiosk. He then saw that he did not send us the message. I saw this too because I wanted to see if there was just some kind of connection issue. Even after seeing the proof that he did not send us the message, the host still insisted that he did and refused to apologize. The manager apologized for him, but it ruined our entire experience and we decided to find somewhere else to eat. This ended up being very difficult because it was now 7pm on a Saturday and all the local restaurants we were interested in had an hour to an hour and a half wait. And after waiting for an hour at chilies for no reason, and having a 3 year old. We were not able to spend another hour of our night just waiting. I think if the manager could have offered some kind of discount or free meal since we were wronged then it would have been okay. But the impression we got was "Oh you waited 45min instead of 15min because my host didn't do his job? That sucks. We can seat you now." This was my first and last experience at this chili's. I wouldn't...