Chili’s Grill & Bar

YECCCH! Worst restaurant food I ever wasted my money on. The strawberry lemonade was watery. The food was microwave slop, barely warm. I had a chicken soft taco, chicken crispy taco and chicken tostada — The tostada was like cardboard, the toppings were like something fished out of the garbage, there was scarcely a chicken finger’s worth of meat in all three. The dipping sauce was like plain tomato sauce poured directly out of a can. They need a Robert Irvine Restaurant Impossible intervention! It’s a disgrace to the franchise. The restaurant was virtually empty at 1:30 on a Saturday — now I see why. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE! There’s plenty of awesome restaurants in the University City area with hot fresh, authentic food. SKIP THIS CHILI’s!

This place is now closed and rightfully so! It is a shame because I think the new management was trying really hard to bring the service back up to good standards. But the place is just so dated and doesn’t make for eating comfortably. Maybe they will remodel or maybe University City will get its first Maggiano’s or something!

Gotta compare apples to apples, and when compared to other fast food chain restaurants in the area, this is def at the top of the list.
Cheap eats, good crowd, a bunch of TVs, and solid customer service.

this place sucked d*** so hard. waited so long just to take our drink orders, brought the drinks out weren’t the right ones, they came out saying they don’t have guacamole but gave me a small cup, do not check up on us to see if we need refills and it’s been over 45 mins to get our food. DONT COME HERE!!! EVER!

As an ex employee things you should know:
The restaurant has a rat and mice colony living within establishment all staff is aware and yet nothing is done. Food is prepped incorrectly, raw fish and chicken is put to defrost side by side over dirty sinks. The oil in the fryers is changed every 4 – 5 months if that! Food is constantly dropped on the floor and plated for unaware customers. Raw meat is sometimes left out for hours before being portioned and put back in coolers. It’s what you don’t see that you should be worried about. Very poor food safety procedures.

Went here around 7 on a Friday night and it was actually pretty empty. We had a new waitress who had no idea what she was doing for starters. Then we waited 45 minutes just for an appetizer! My glass of water was disgusting had left over food in it! Awful service for average food. After an hour and a half a manager came over to ask how our meals were but we didn’t even have them yet! He was NO help at all. We finally got our food but they all came out at different times so the last meal came out after everyone else was finished eating! Dead line this place is run super poorly. Don’t go here go to the one in center city instead.

The place looked horrible. First got there and 25 minute wait with plenty of empty booths. The waiter spilled drinks on another customer and very very slow service for being almost empty. Waiter was nice, but under my fries was leftovers from bottom of grease like chicken pieces and burnt food.

Can’t beat $ 1 domestics after 9pm. Love coming here cuz the manager Chris always treats us like kings. Will be here again!

I can see why this place is always empty! The place is not very clean or modern. Not a good place to watch a game. The tvs are small and scattered. The service is terrible. Our waitress only had one other table and she didn’t come by to take our order for 20 minutes. They served my bf his food first. Then informed me that they had burnt my pizza. I didn’t get it until he was done eating! They didn’t even comp anything on the check!

First off, I hardly ever visit chain places like this but on this particular occasion my friend and I were hungry and thirsty and tired of searching for a hassle-​free spot to eat near University City, so we wandered into this Chilis — conveniently located above a strip club for those of you who’d indulge. We were seated right away, but the service throughout the entire night was absolutely horrendous. I wasn’t sure to feel bad for my server (as I have family in the restaurant industry and I completely understand the stresses and pitfalls of working as a server and relying on tips) or to be totally annoyed. She seemed friendly at first but eventually came off as completely careless and bothered that I wanted a drink refill or water after sitting at my seat for half an hour. The food took forever to come out and while the burger I had was of typical Chilis/​chain casual quality, the fries were almost ice cold and gross. I’ve NEVER had to say something to a server or complain to a manager about a meal/​experience but I came very close to on this occasion.
I left the place irritated and wishing I had taken 5 minutes to scan Unilocal for another local place before going inside.

Monday Rita is the time to go. Fajitas were good and cheap because of it being Monday. Friendly and fast service.

Food was fine as far as Chili’s goes, but the service was absolutely terrible. Sat at a 4-​top in the bar; server proceeded to ignore me for 10+ minutes (all the while being very attentive to the tables around me), then seemed shocked when we indicated that we might want to order something.
Proceeded to order a beer & a Santa Fe Chicken Salad for myself and a soda for my girlfriend. Another 15 minutes go by, and I watch our server dote on other tables (including making tableside guac a couple of tables away), and I finally have to prompt him to get my beer from the bar 15 FEET AWAY. The soda and salad take another 10 minutes, and we don’t see him again except to request the check.
I travel a bit, and I usually get excellent service when I sit in the bar, even at chain restaurants. This was just an awful experience, even given lowered expectations.

Chilli’s is good for what it’s good for, and you don’t go there expecting something high end. It’s a chain restaurant that’s good for things like burgers, sandwiches, salads, and some okay apps. Their prices are decent, service okay, and generally the place is clean. It can be a little load at times, but it’s a hangout type of restaurant, not one for a dinner date.
We chose Chilli’s because it was close, service is typically quick, prices are good, and we felt it was a spot that would work for us having our 7 month old baby. And, it did all of this for us.
We enjoyed the chips and queso app. My sandwhich and fries were tasty too. Nothing too fancy, but not much to complain about.
It is what it is, and you should not expect it to be more.

My friends and I used to visit the Chili’s location on City Ave. Haven’t been to the University City location in awhile — we came early on Saturday for dinner. We were lucky and beat the crowd. We both thought our meals were good and service was fairly quick.
I had the avocado burger — you can substitute the ground beef for turkey or black bean burger. I decided to try turkey burger. it was tasty, juicy and came with fries. I had 2 refills of diet coke which was great. my friend ordered the 3 appetizers. buffalo chicken wings — all white meat and spicy the way she likes them, tex mex egg rolls — nice flavor and the mini-​cheeseburger. said all 3 were good.
I think this location has been consistent with good tasting food. We will come back when were are in the mood for southwestern-​tex mex.

I had nothing but the utmost respect for Chillis in Center City. However, the franchise in University City is just plain wrong. We just happen to have a gift card for $ 50, so we decided to take a trip to the nearest Chillis. Our party waited for 15 minutes for signs of life; waiter, staff, anyone. Our un-​appetizers took another 20 minutes to show on our table. Having bland chips with salsa that tasted two-​weeks old is far from a siesta.
Contemplating to leave was in all of our minds, but we somehow managed to stay for the full meal. BIG MISTAKE! Our waiter took forever, even getting refills on water. Usually in any restaurant, they would come to your table and pour water into your glass. NOOOO, not Chillis! The staff takes your glass, hide in the kitchen for a half hour, and if you are lucky, return your glass with less ice than before.
Our entrees were decent, with some minor issues. The bacon cheeseburger looked overcooked, and tasted salty. My friend’s fajita was very sloppy, and tasted as if the chefs (LMAO CHEFS) never added salt or pepper. Overall, our food looked rushed. Never come to Chillis during a game.

The food would have been okay, had it not been obviously sitting in the kitchen for quite some time. This happens EVERYTIME, I’m at this specific Chili’s. Seriously, this just makes the food look even more unappetizing. Service is terrible on multiple occasions.
I only go when my friends force me. At least it’s open late but I’d much rather eat somewhere else.

The food is great and the drinks are okay. Service may be a little slow, but they’ll bring your food. They have great burgers and awesome queso dip (especially the ‘wild’ version currently on special) and I’ve eaten there enough to believe their food is consistently good.
Go during lunch (when they have great lunch deals) or when they’re having drink specials.

Go ahead and think I’m lame for going to chain restaurants when I live in the Big Love. We had a gift card.
We went for lunch and I got the bottomless salad and soup for 6.95. If you have the guts and want to try lots of soups, ask for it to come in cups so you get less full and can try more! The salad is boring, but the soups are spicy and exciting! I think I got something like chicken enchilada as my favorite.
Margarita specials are banging. I like strawberry. They have $ 3 top shelf margaritas on monday, and sometimes $ 3 classic ones on Tuesday and Thursday depending on their supply. Maybe call ahead. I really like their Pomegranate special margarita.
Now, I got this coupon for signing up for salsa and queso… the queso is awesome! We got whatever sounded the spiciest and went to town on it’s sizzling pan of goodness! But the salsa… HOW IS THEIR SALSA SUPPOSED TO STAY ON A CHIP? IT’S LIKE GAZPACHO.
And sometimes you get a wowza over-​salted chip. Turns you off the chip bowl for a while.
I LOVE THEIR LITTLE SOUTHWESTERN EGGROLLS THOUGH. Corn and blackbeans in a tiny baby burrito that is fried up like an eggroll. I could eat it for hours. I tried them as part of the happy hour food special, and it was definitely worth it.
I would particularly like to compliment my recurring waitress Asia, who has tips for the girl who really doesn’t know anything about cocktails, and can accommodate special preferences when ordering things like wings and sauces. :)
I will, without shame, go there someday for the 2 for $ 20 dinner special. See if you can stop me.

This Chili’s location really sucks… You would think since its in University City area it would be better but its not. Its really horrible.
Its not too clean and just the whole ambience is soooo dreary…

Wow, quick heads up on the homemade chips (all you can eat), if you get the bottom of the barrel (or wherever they store them), they will be –salty-​.
The service is swift, good for large groups of students wandering in, and the drinks are large and usually decent. Food is in good supply, and at decent prices, and the dessert of choice is the molten chocolate cake.
Mango iced tea here is a mix of sugar, tea, and flavoring, but at least the waitstaff is generally good about getting plenty of refills and is pretty helpful when it comes to boxing up leftovers.
Overall, food is not bad. If you get the queso, get the meat one, it makes it that much better with the chips. Birthdays are celebrated with gusto here, too, nicely.
Only gripes are the wait time (not unusual near a university), and the inability to split checks for one-​table parties (they tend to do more than one table okay, though, oddly enough, might just be the waitstaff on each day).