Chili's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Winston-Salem

My husband and I have been coming to this Chili's location for a few years now, and it has gone steadily downhill. The menu has changed and the prices have skyrocketed, and while I understand that those sorts of decisions often get handed down from corporate, the quality aspects that can be controlled at an individual location simply...aren't.

The food is wildly inconsistent and usually on the lesser side of mediocre: dried out, either room temperature or so hot it's inedible, overly salted. The wait staff is stressed out because every time we go, regardless of the day or time of day, there is approximately two less people working than ought to be. There is a tipping point at which "lean staffing" is just a fancy way of saying "we care way more about profits than we ever will about value or experience" and this location in particular has left that point in the rearview mirror many months ago.

Tonight was the last straw for us for a while. I ordered the brisket quesadillas, which was laughable considering it was bordering on $13. When I think brisket, I think at minimum, "visibly discernible meat." Well, I attached the pictures, you can judge for yourself. Not only was every single slice filled with absolutely baffling levels of pickled jalapenos (and yes, I do mean pickled, the vinegar was overpowering), the supposed brisket was literally the size and consistency of store brand bacon bits. It was more of a crumbled meat paste spread than anything resembling a protein. They ought to be ashamed for calling this "brisket!"

The queso was dried up and stuck against the sides of the cup it was brought in, it had clearly been microwaved. We had to sift through our tortilla chips because half of them were still semi raw and soft, and the other half were so broken and tiny they couldn't even be used to dip in anything.

I give a lot of grace to chain restaurants, I understand that everyone's working against impossible standards set by corporate and doing the best they can with minimal staff, but I am certainly not going to pay $20 each for a plate full of indigestion that makes the mall food court look like it has a Michelin star.

We also had to wait 15 minutes for our bill because, once again, it was short-staffed and the waitress "thought we had a checkout kiosk on our table" when we did not. Twice over the last 2 months we've also left after standing unacknowledged at the hostess stand for 10 minutes. This location is in serious need of an overhaul, back of house to front, and a secret shop...

Edited 8/21/22 The service and quality of food is really going down fast!!! My family and I will stop going there. This is very unfortunate! Edited 4/22 After going there for a while now, I think this place is a 3 star for me. not because of food quality but because restaurant cleanliness and service! Recently, last 4 times when I went there I see the tables are not cleaned and if cleaned the trash from the table are in floor in front of me, ( how appetizing right?!) so I waited thinking the server or whoever will clean it, but no one did. After a while, I got tired and finally decided to clean it myself! Went and took the broom and dustpan and swept it, not to mention that one of the restaurant employees saw me doing that and she did not even bother coming to me and saying sorry or even, I will get that for you!!!! One more thing, it takes so long to get the drinks, in my case 10 minutes, the server disappeared and we didn’t see her until our food was ready after like 45 minutes and while eating we asked for refills but didn’t get them tell we finished eating!! If this continues I will have to find another grill and bar to be my main one, or my first option when deciding what to eat! This edited review is after few months going there in different times including holidays!

Finally, one more thing that upset me is the statement “ so sorry but we are short staff today” so I think to myself ok! So what do you want me to do then?? Should I like start making my food and bring my drinks? yes I understand if there are few times were someone is not there or had to call in sick or the restaurant is so busy they can’t keep up but not every time I go there ! Also, the costumer is not responsible for these issues!! The management of that place have to take care of this. We choose you for a reason if you can’t fulfill then why bother?! If you know what I mean?!

I will keep...

We arrived between 5 and 515. 3 adults 3 small children (5) (2) and 10 months.The manager who sat us, which I didn't know at the time wanted us to use boosters for the small ones because of not wanting to block the isle with a highchair. We ended up getting the high chair because the 10 month old is entirely too small to be in a booster seat, she is visibly very small and petite little girl and was falling out of the booster. The restaurant wasn't busy over half of it was empty. Our waitress was great, no complaints with her. Long story short we ordered one kids meal and for the adults steak fajita, and the trio fajita and a trio with the Southwest eggrolls, this was pretty quick after we sat. I asked for ships and salsa to help with the kids being hungry. People come in get food and go. MULTIPLE and we still have no food. The waitress came by and apologized and said they were just waiting on the fajitas, 25 minutes later, we were getting the kids up to leave, the food started to come. The kids were getting restless because they were hungry. We ended up waiting over and hour to get our food. When the food did come, those fajitas we were waiting, well my steak was blood red in the middle, which made it worse. I had asked for the manager, all he did was make excuses, said he would go in the kitchen and see what was going on, but he had been running the front. Said he would give us free desserts, like them kids would make it beyond dinner. NEVER saw him again, till we left. He was standing at the front again. Anyway, only positive was the waitress. DO BETTER!! When they are small kids and you know it's been that long, at the very least bring the kids food. I am assuming with the way the manger was this won't make a bit...