Janet Wilson Review - Chili's on Gunbarrel

[CMF Newsman]

We stopped off for dinner recently at the new Chili’s located at 1921 Gunbarrel Road. This was on a Friday evening and they were packed, so we had to wait awhile. We almost had a first-come first-served table in the bar area, but as we headed toward it, someone (who had not been there waiting), bolted in the door, pushed past us and grabbed it -- Nice manners. . .

After being seated, we looked over the menus, which have a few new items since our last visit to a Chili’s. We decided to order the Hot Spinach & Artichoke Dip ($6.99) to munch on while perusing the menu. I like the inside of this particular Chili’s, kind of cozy. The dip was very good with large pieces of artichoke. It was served very hot, which is always nice (rather than lukewarm).

Wayne decided on the Mushroom Jack Fajitas ($11.49), described as juicy, marinated grilled chicken smothered with Jack cheese, applewood smoked bacon and fresh sautéed mushrooms, served with onions, bell peppers and house-made salsa.

I ordered the Margarita Grilled Chicken ($8.29), which is chicken breast marinated with Chili’s Margarita flavoring, then grilled, served with rice, black beans, tortilla strips and pico de gallo.

www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_106790.asp

[voxpopuli]

Doesn't someone here work for Chili's? Or at least used to?

[TNBear]

I don't think we will ever go back to a Chili's. After having two visits in a row ruined by nasty lettuce, once with even a leaf of good lettuce hiding the slimy stuff, we are finished with them.
These experience were at the Northgate location, but the first one was brought to managements attention, no excuse for the second.
Serving my wife about 5 cents worth of crappy lettuce has cost them, up to now, 6 or 8 $35 to $50 lunches. Really works for the old bottom line eh?

[Gary]

One of our forumotes did work for Chili's as a cook, but he has moved on to much greener culinary pastures, so to speak. He's happier, gets to cook much more interesting things, and is from what I hear much more grounded.

[cdojanet]

I know what you mean TnBear - this is a quote from my article "Never having been much of a Chili’s fan in the past, we might just go back to this one."

[Babs]

I have never had any problems with the downtown Chili's. We have two groups of friends who go there weekly. We went to the one in Knoxville and few years ago and found it to be as friendlly and good as the one here.

[Longshot! [ Saint ]]

If you are hungry and have $40 dollars to spend on two very poorly prepared meals after a long wait with horrible follow-up, I suggest you instead cram the two $20's up your rear with a little-used broom stick.

Same experience, with only a small percentage of the time wasted.


Ask me something else about 'Chili's'.

[Red]

My first experience at the new Chilli's on Gunbarrel was great, sat in the bar with some friends. Food was okay, service was excellent, and drinks were heavy-good.

Now we went there for dinner on Sunday night this past weekend and well... service sucks. One of the most incompetent waitresses ever. Her only good point was that she made a fresh pot of coffee, oh and she was breathing. The food was decent, nothing to complain about but nothing to knock your socks off either.

[TNBear]

It is indeed a big help if the server is breathing, however if the cook staff isn't it still makes for a bad experience.
The only hope is that the bartender makes the marguaritas strong enough to dull the senses. Unfortunately for some places a well made marguarita or 3 makes me become become more than willing to share my disappointment with bad food with management and surrounding tables.

[whimdriven]

I'm sure your "sophisticated" taste buds have never set foot in Chili's. The next thing you'll tell us is that Chili's is completely different in Atlanta and we should move forthwith!

[whimdriven]

It's obvious that what makes the experience at a restaurant is often not the food at all, but the service and atmosphere.

I think Janet does a great job evaluating the nuances, even in what would otherwise be a "cookie cutter" establishment.

[whimdriven]

She obviously thought it was worth her time and intentions. Why question her?

[Racin' Angel]

That way if she had a bad experience we would know NOT to go there....

[cdojanet]

We did it because it was a new restaurant in Chattanooga. It doesn't matter that there are others, because each one is different in their service and even their food preparation. For instance we don't care for the one on Brainerd Road at all. Another example is The Olive Garden at Hixson - all I can say about that one is Yuck!

We need to do a new restaurant at least once - chain or not. You would not believe how many E-mails I receive from people BEGGING us to do certain McDonald's and Krystal's. In fact, one year we did a series on fast food restaurants including those two plus others such as Burger King, Arby's, etc.

A lot of people go to these restaurants and just because it is a chain, doesn't mean we will avoid it.

Again, even though a restaurant is part of a chain, they are different in their food preparation and service, and it's not always for the better. So - any time a new restaurant opens, it will be on our list to check out, chain or not.