Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Virginia

I liked this Chili’s at Tanglewood in Roanoke.. It was my first visit to this location. My date only wanted to go here so I took her. I was a little nervous after hearing bad things about it but it wasn’t too bad at all. We were seated immediately. They were very friendly and welcoming. The place looked spotless! My date asked me if I wanted to try the Southwestern egg rolls. She and I were hoping there would be some Asian influence. I hadn’t tried them before, I was really disappointed in them. These egg rolls are truthfully one of those cultural mashups that just shouldn’t have happened.. two foods put together in the most basic and derivative way.. giving you something you probably don’t really want. You got a soft flour tortilla. In it there’s chicken, peppers, jalapeño cheese and beans. They’re crispy, and served with avocado ranch dipping sauce. The rolls have a lot of vegetables but it is so oily!! The spinach feels a bit random. These are not egg rolls.. not at all! Make no mistake! If you are wanting some kind of pronounced Asian influence, you’re not going to be a happy customer! The Southwestern “egg rolls” just feel like a trick or a gimmick to me, intended to attract attention. The manager was very nice and took them off our bill. The manager commented they were overly oily and shouldn’t have had so much oil. Most likely won’t order them again, I don’t really care if they were overly oily that night. They just aren’t very good. Sorry but not sorry. I decided to take the safe route and order a burger. I ordered the Mushroom Swiss and that burger is good! Great, actually! The beef is well-seasoned and it was cooked exactly as I requested. The burger comes on a nice buttered bun and the garlic aioli is a nice addition that adds a lot to it! The flavor of the mushrooms is different and with the sharp Swiss cheese it goes really well. It makes the whole thing taste flavorsome, savory and rich! The flavor is definitely unique with the Mushroom Swiss Burger, it’s using sharper flavors that are robust. I promise you the Mushroom Swiss is worth stepping out of your comfort zone to try. I was not disappointed with it! Very delicious! My date got chicken fajitas. They came with a lot of veggies. To be honest..a lot of veggies is somewhat hard to find in a dish at a place like Chili’s! She said the chicken was very well cooked. She commented that a lot of dishes at Chili’s look a bit beige and boring. She said the Chicken Fajitas look full of color, which makes the dish a lot more appealing to her. She said the color of the dish makes a massive difference for her. She enjoyed them. She said she doesn’t think it is the best Mexican food available but when she craves fajitas, Chili’s usually hits the spot for her! We shared a Lava Cake. Boy was the Lava Cake delicious.. and so incredibly rich! I love the generous scoop of ice cream placed on top and how it’s topped off with the fudge sauce. The fudge sauce drips down the sides of the cake. It’s cool and exciting to cut into the cake and see the molten chocolate come out like lava! You sometimes get a big pool of melted chocolate and ice cream depending how fast you eat the delicious treat! I would say definitely share the cake because it can be overwhelming if you take it on by yourself. Service was pretty awesome! The waitress was working very hard. She was attentive very friendly. She commented she thought we were the nicest table she had that night. She earned a very good tip. I think I would recommend...

Tried out the dry run for Chili's opening on Monday, 4/17/2023. There was a bit of a wait for a Saturday night, but it was worth it! Our server, Abby (AWESOME!), was quick with taking our order, refills and keeping us informed of food delays due to it being so busy. Plus all the servers were helping each other out when needed, which is refreshing to see. The Food/Drink: I got the Strawberry Lemonade, it was well blended and so tasty, like the lemons and strawberries grew together. So simple, yet so good. I had 3 glasses, which is literally unheard of for me to have more than one glass...yes, it's THAT good! My BF had the Mango Tea, which I tasted. I'm not usually a flavored tea gal, but it was pretty good, and I lost count of how many glasses of it he had, seriously! We started with the Chips & Salsa (free with every order, if you are a My Chili's Rewards member!!) They are really really good for such simplicity. The salsa is just how I like it...a tad on the juicy side and just spicy enough to wake up your tongue. The chips are the perfect accompaniment...lightly salted, thin and super crispy...addictive even!! Next, we shared a Triple Dipper appetizer. We chose the Southwestern Eggrolls, Fried Mozzarella and the Big Mouth Bites. Another winner!! The Fried Mozzarella is at least 2 oz. of melty, fried goodness you can't go wrong with, the Big Mouth Bites are just simple mini bacon cheeseburger, but they really are neither just or simple...the chef has somehow made bacon cheeseburgers better in smaller bites. The Southwestern Eggrolls are really tasty, a tad too spicy for me, but I am sensitive to that nowadays (sad face)...even after fishing out the red peppers and dipping into the AvoRanch, it was still a bit much so my BF got my second half, but he ain't complainin', he LOVES them! DRUMROLL PLEASE.... The main entrée: I had the Mix & Match Fajitas with Chicken and Shrimp and I made Abby work for it! LOL I was "that woman: with a custom order, with one exception, I was ok if there was some mistakes...there were working out the kinks after all :) Here goes...I asked for all/tons of onions, no peppers, corn tortilla instead of flour (was already a menu choice), and added all the sides (pico, sour cream, shredded cheese salsa and guac); and I have to say only one thing slipped through...there were peppers, not a problem at all, it's not an allergy or anything, just a person preference, plus they did give me a ton of extra onion...so I was happy! My BF had the Crispy Chicken Crispers with Fries and the Roasted Street Corn. It looked awesome and he hoovered it up and still had a bit left to bring home for later. I didn't take a taste as I was so busy with mine, plus I was pretty full by the time I got 1 fajita/taco-ish roll thingy in, so I have at least one or two more meals for Sunday! YES!! But his food looked great also, especially the Street Corn....never had it, but have been wanting to try that elote variation. Before all this, I had grand illusions of trying the Molten Chocolate Cake, but I was about to bust and the thought was just NO...we'll try that later lol So, the bf rolled me out, everyone who worked there we passed as we left was so nice and wished us a good night and thanked us for coming in, held the doors for us. Bottom line, we had a great dining experience (especially for a busy Sat. night) and a ton a great food. Then we rolled home and slept hard so we could wake up for great leftovers at 3AM! Totally and...

I just had dinner tonight and i am so upset with the experience. I hate to even leave reviews like this because i have worked in a restaurant since I was 15 years old and i’m currently managing a restaurant. I understand that people get busy and things happen but this was absolutely unacceptable.

It took forever to even be acknowledged by a bartender and after finally getting just waters we had to wait at the least 15 minutes to place our order. We only got to place our order at that time because we had to flag down one of the bartenders.

we didn’t receive our appetizer until our food came. i also received the wrong salad. the only reason we even got the appetizer was because i had to get the food runners attention because he was quick to just drop our food off and go. the manager brought out the appetizer halfway into our entrees, and when we asked him for salt and pepper and ranch he gave me a dirty look.Then tried to be funny about the situation. he was extremely unprofessional. the food was horrible, extremely bland with no taste at all. Towards the end of our meal, I asked for a box from three different people and never received it. The same manager was suppose to bring out the box and never did. It took us forever to even be able to pay for anything which in my professional opinion we shouldn’t have had to pay for anything at all. when i did get my check i saw that my beer had been taken of but the manager never said anything, keep in mind discounting alcohol in the state of virginia is illegal.

it was never acknowledged that my appetizer didn’t come out or that my salad was wrong and the bartenders didn’t once check on us before we got our food or after we got it.

In the middle of our meal it seemed like the the original bartenders who where there when we arrived went to take a break and didn’t say a word to the two new ladies who where behind the bar now.I understand that this is opening week of the new restaurant here but you can tell no experience staff was hired at all. I also understand giving people opportunities but it’s opening week. there was multiple people just standing around including managers with a ton of dirty tables around. I have never in my life had service this bad ever. chilis definitely has a whole lot to work...