# Chili’s Restaurant



## Two Knots

We go often, usually once a week.
They always have a special 3 for 10.00
you get a soup or salad an entree and unlimited
soft drink…I belong to the rewards club, they
often email me a coupon for a free appetizer.

For the appetizer we get either boneless chicken wings
smothered in mozzarella and cheddar cheese with bacon bits,
or boneless buffalo wings with ranch dressing.

I get a salad and the head guy got cream of potato soup.
We both got bacon cheeseburgers with French Fries
and I get diet coke and he gets an Arnold Palmer ( Ice tea
and lemon aid mix )

The food is great and plentiful…I took home 3/4 of my hamburger
and most of my French Fries…The head guy eats the WHOLE THING!

the bill for the two of us with a senior discount is 19.55…unreal! 

The Restaurant has only one server (waiter) he takes your order and a server
brings the food out…As matter of fact the bartender is the server (waiter)
and does double duty as both a bartender and a waiter…No hostess,
just one waiter and one server for the entire restaurant.
Don’t know if it’s to keep cost down or they can’t get help?

the salad










The boneless smothered chicken wings









The bacon cheeseburger and French Fries









is not a bargain ?


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## Old Thomas

I like plain food, not all kinds of stuff piled in a bowl or things with a lot of toppings, so I can’t find anything that I want on Chili’s menu. We go to Outback Steakhouse every Friday for lunch. Every 4th time is 50% off up to $20. We get Outback gift cards as rewards at our bank, so usually we use a gift card and $10.


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## Two Knots

Funny, I don’t like Outback. To each his own.


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## wooleybooger

I feel the fat jumping on me and Outback, went once years ago, haven't been back.


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## Two Knots

I only get the soup and salad at the Outback. Don’t care for the food.


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## Gymschu

Love Chili’s, well, at least before Covid when we went regularly. It’s one of the chain restaurants my family really enjoys!

I’ve noticed most restaurants have one person, maybe 2, basically running everything if it’s during their slower hours. A local Italian place we frequent, had one woman doing it all. Hostess, answering the phone, serving, bussing the tables. This is a huge place with outdoor seating. How she manages it all is incredible.


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## Two Knots

As I said we go usually once a week…This has been this way for months, only one server on the floor. Yesterday, our server ( bartender) was excellent, he managed the entire place effectively. And the bar was in a separate room, Not sure how he was able to manage two jobs, bartender and waiter?

We have been there with long waits for the food and messy uncleared tables all around. No bus boys clearing the tables anymore; the waiters now have to do it.

I‘m wondering if the restaurants realize they can do with less staff or are they having difficulty finding people to hire? Less staff is sure a way to keep wages down. But, I’m wondering
what if that bartender gets sick and needs a day off?
Oh, I just remembered one time our waiter was the restaurant manager…


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## Old Thomas

We have become friends with our waiter at Outback so he goes in the back and picks out good steaks for us. I skip the bread, I like it but I try to limit my bread intake. My wife has Celiac disease so she can’t have even a tiny amount of gluten. Outback manages to meet her diet but she had a reaction every time we tried Chili’s.


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## SW Dweller

I ceased going to Chili's when they went to the wireless pay terminals on each table.
HATE THEM. 
Wireless and my credit card numbers is not some thing I want to tempt. I know for a fact
FLUKE makes a network sniffer that can and does pull packets out of the air from wireless.
Saw the demo 10 years ago at a Hotel in Phoenix. We were watching the reservations come in LIVE on the screen. Name, address, phone number, card info. I went and got the manager of the Hotel, under the words that it was all secure. Until he walked in the room looked at the screen and said "OH SH_T"! Fluke did not have to pay for the room and service. 
Years later I gave my doctor his social number as well as his two boys and wife. All taken from the parking lot of his clinic over the weekend. They turned the network on only durning business hours. The company that sold the software had assumed it was secure.


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## Two Knots

Yikes!


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## Old Thomas

I don’t like the pay at the table devices, either. If the wait staff takes my money they get a generous tip. If I have to do some of their work allowing them to handle more tables, they get a smaller tip. That said, it is very rare for me to use a credit card at a restaurant. I don’t like the table devices and I don’t like handing over my card so they can disappear with it. The wait staff has to take my cash. Pay cash, avoid your data being transmitted.


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## J. V.

I rarely use cash. I use credit cards for most everything I buy. Its secure and its simple. Not to mention if there are any issues, it can be corrected quite easily. You can also dispute a charge if you need to.
Personally I would not want to be without a credit card or two and online banking. Makes life much simpler and there is not much of a chance of nefarious activity.
In fact its safer than using a check and carrying around a lot of cash.


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## wooleybooger

I used to carry up to $1K in cash all large bills. I loved to go into a restaurant order under $50 for the both of us and whip out a $100 bill. Loved to watch them run around trying to find change for that. When they would come back frustrated I tell them that's the smallest I have and show them also tell them we ate your food and offered payment in legal tender, are you saying you can't accept offered legal payment. Asking are you going to comp the meals or get change? They got change.
I don't carry that kind of cash anymore.


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## Two Knots

We charge everything, and I mean everything… even my car insurance and house insurance bill, and all our utility bills.
The only things that I write checks for is real estate taxes once a year because the fee far outweighs the credit card points…and for our quarterly estimated federal and state income taxes I write check for as well. 

The month of December is the only time I write a lot of checks for my children and grandkids. 
We spend a lot and rack up a lot of points, I pay my bill in full every month and have no debt over 30 Days…The only cash I use is for restaurant tips…


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## HotRodx10

Once in a while Sam's club has $100 in Chili's gift cards for around $80.



Two Knots said:


> just one waiter and one server for the entire restaurant.
> Don’t know if it’s to keep cost down or they can’t get help?


They probably can't get help. I haven't noticed too much with the restaurants around here, but right now most of the fast-food places have reduced hours "due to staffing shortages".


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## Two Knots

Really, I guess Price club may have them as well…For 80 bucks we could go to
chill’s Four times.
thanks for the tip, I love saving money!


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## HotRodx10

Two Knots said:


> Really, I guess Price club may have them as well


They used to (well, it's Costco around these parts, but same thing) once or twice a year. They typically rotated, where there would be cards for different places at a discount every couple months, and they didn't really advertise or draw attention to it; you just had to scan the rack and look for them.



Two Knots said:


> or 80 bucks we could go to
> chill’s Four times.


Well, 5 times with gift cards (unless you you put the tip on the gift card, too)


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## Two Knots

Since our normal bill is 19.55 We can go 4 times with a 80.00 gift certificate.
I always pay the tip in cash. Yes, it’s Costco here as well.


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## HotRodx10

Two Knots said:


> Since our normal bill is 19.55 We can go 4 times with a 80.00 gift certificate.


I was just saying when they're discounted, it only costs about $80, but you get $100 in gift cards, which would pay for 5 trips to Chili's.


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## Two Knots

Oh yeah, duh! I should have known that! I was thinking backasswards.


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## Old Thomas

We use credit cards extensively, too. We just don’t use them in restaurants. I don’t need to carry $1000 to get a couple of meals in the restaurants we frequent. When traveling I have had my credit card company occasionally see an out of town purchase and deny it. It doesn’t happen often and they call me to check, but the call usually comes after I am back out in my car. I have enough cash on me for a typical purchase. I had a couple of instances of getting surprises on my credit card bill resulting from restaurant staff taking my card to their register. They got resolved after causing me inconvenience. Charge gas, Walmart, groceries, etc., cash for restaurants and purchases under $20 or so. Pay in full every month, no borrowing for anything since retiring the mortgage over 20 years ago. I laugh at people who pull out a card for a $1 purchase at a corner store. So I have a couple of hundred bucks on me. If someone steals it I won’t be bankrupt and maybe they won’t shoot me because they mugged me for 2 dollars.


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## wooleybooger

Two Knots said:


> Since our normal bill is 19.55 We can go 4 times with a 80.00 gift certificate.
> I always pay the tip in cash. Yes, it’s Costco here as well.


What kind of place can you even walk into for 19.55? Gad, around here walk in, order next to nothing, eat it, leave, 30.00 min. Even diners are like that.
We don't normally eat out and like you TK I can cook better stuff than most restaurants serve.


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## Two Knots

“What kind of place can you even walk into for 19.55? Gad, around here walk in, order next to nothing, eat it, leave, 30.00 min. Even diners are like that.”

I know that why I posted the receipt…It’s unbelievable…and it includes unlimited
soft drinks. I agree, I can cook as well as any restaurant…but, I do like to go out for sushi, and greek food ( gyros)
Besides, I love to cook.


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## jimn

Likely the issue is the inability to find employees. People have found other jobs and lets face it working at a chain restaurant as wait staff isn't going to make you much. Even if every person left you a 20% tip, its a 20% tip on a 10 to 20 dollar meal (assuming no alcohol) is going to make you wealthy. Seeing as most people who eat in chain restaurants are likely looking to save some bucks I doubt the tips average out to 20%. That aside there isn't much on Chili's menu anymore that would I pay anything for. For the most part I don't eat burgers out, they are so quick and fast to make myself 
that I can make burgers for the family what one would cost in a restaurant. The Tex mex stuff at Chili's is so bland its not worth calories. Outback is better.. but my lord, the salt level. I need to drink a gallon of water following the meal. 

The help issue just isn't the chains either. We have a few high end restaurants that are only open a few days a week because they can't hire enough staff without everyone working a 7 day week. In these cases a table of 4 could easily rack up a 200 bill and the tip would be 40 bucks. But still not enough takers. Even in area with a 90% vaccination rate and < 1% infection rate.


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## Startingover

Old Thomas said:


> We use credit cards extensively, too. We just don’t use them in restaurants. I don’t need to carry $1000 to get a couple of meals in the restaurants we frequent. When traveling I have had my credit card company occasionally see an out of town purchase and deny it. It doesn’t happen often and they call me to check, but the call usually comes after I am back out in my car. I have enough cash on me for a typical purchase. I had a couple of instances of getting surprises on my credit card bill resulting from restaurant staff taking my card to their register. They got resolved after causing me inconvenience. Charge gas, Walmart, groceries, etc., cash for restaurants and purchases under $20 or so. Pay in full every month, no borrowing for anything since retiring the mortgage over 20 years ago. I laugh at people who pull out a card for a $1 purchase at a corner store. So I have a couple of hundred bucks on me. If someone steals it I won’t be bankrupt and maybe they won’t shoot me because they mugged me for 2 dollars.


years ago a girlfriend’s mom said always carry some cash with you because if you get mugged and muggers don’t get anything they’ll hurt you. So I have my mug money. No idea where I would get mugged around here.


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## Startingover

Two Knots said:


> “What kind of place can you even walk into for 19.55? Gad, around here walk in, order next to nothing, eat it, leave, 30.00 min. Even diners are like that.”
> 
> I know that why I posted the receipt…It’s unbelievable…and it includes unlimited
> soft drinks. I agree, I can cook as well as any restaurant…but, I do like to go out for sushi, and greek food ( gyros)
> Besides, I love to cook.


Besides its just nice to go out and be waited on for a change no matter how well you cook.


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## J. V.

Two Knots said:


> We charge everything, and I mean everything… even my car insurance and house insurance bill, and all our utility bills.
> The only things that I write checks for is real estate taxes once a year because the fee far outweighs the credit card points…and for our quarterly estimated federal and state income taxes I write check for as well.
> 
> The month of December is the only time I write a lot of checks for my children and grandkids.
> We spend a lot and rack up a lot of points, I pay my bill in full every month and have no debt over 30 Days…The only cash I use is for restaurant tips…





Two Knots said:


> Since our normal bill is 19.55 We can go 4 times with a 80.00 gift certificate.
> I always pay the tip in cash. Yes, it’s Costco here as well.


Same on our end here. We put all expenses on card. Can't use cash online after all. And I pay the bill every month as fast as it comes due.
We use online banking. But I do use paper bills. Its to easy to miss a card payment online for me.

I will never for get taking my parents out to eat for mothers day. We ate and drank and when I went to pay, they did not accept credit cards. So my dad paid.
Years ago when I was working as a sales rep I took some customers to lunch now and again. I never did this without cash. Just in case.


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## Two Knots

We always have cash as well, you never know.  I think we’re still carrying the same cash all year long because we charge everything.


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## J. V.

Two Knots said:


> We always have cash as well, you never know.  I think we’re still carrying the same cash all year long because we charge everything.


The local watering hole does not accept cards. So I need cash there. Beer and pool. No other services. Its a dive bar.


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## Two Knots

BTW…chili’s just raised the 10.00 lunch to 10.99 last week…


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## J. V.

We went to lunch for our granddaughters birthday at Olive Garden. It was not good. I remember we went once before and said that was it. But for the party we went.
Never again, I burped up the taste for two days. The sauce was "school cafeteria" tasting. 
The salad was good and the bread sticks were okay.
The place was packed for lunch. I guess there's a reason everyone was having unlimited bread sticks and salad


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## Two Knots

We haven’t been to Olive Garden since before Covid…When we do go, I just get the salad and soup special. Their salad, breadsticks, and soup is pretty good…The rest of their food is a far cry from Italian. Like you said school cafeteria quality.


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## wooleybooger

It's been longer than that since we went. All we had was salad and breadsticks. As for the rest of their food well I worked the saute line in one for a while. School cafeteria quality pretty well described what I and the assembly guy did. Pre-packaged by the production kitchen and shoved in the cooler. Heat a pan with a little butter, drop the package contents and heat/cook for about 3 minutes, plate it and give to the assembly guy to finish plating. Blech.


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## J. V.

I got the eggplant parm and I would bet the breaded eggplant slices were from frozen. Deep fried until crispy and covered with their sauce and lots of cheese.
Had the sauce been good, I would have expected much better. I have no issue with frozen breaded items that are deep fried. But the sauce was horrendous.


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## Old Thomas

This year there was a brand new Olive Garden near Champion’s Gate in FL. We avoided the other nearby OG because their ventilation system never seemed to keep the place from being stuffy, and I don’t like stuffy restaurants. The first visit to the new OG was the best ever, I wanted to go back. A week later we tried it again and it sucked. The waiter was terrible, the food came out wrong and cold, and it was very slow. We didn’t return before coming back to NY. Maybe we will try it again next year, by then they might have their service figured out. There is a new Ford’s Garage going up by the OG, so it will be hard to pass Fords to go to the Olive.


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## DoomsDave

Two Knots said:


> We haven’t been to Olive Garden since before Covid…When we do go, I just get the salad and soup special. Their salad, breadsticks, and soup is pretty good…The rest of their food is a far cry from Italian. Like you said school cafeteria quality.


Why would you of all people bother with a place like OG?


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## Two Knots

DoomsDave said:


> Why would you of all people bother with a place like OG?


I’ll take that as a compliment, which I’m sure you meant it to be..👍
I only get the salad with is very good and very fresh, and the bread sticks which are also very good,..the rest of the food is faux Italian.


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## Old Thomas

I go to Olive Garden because family members give us assorted gift cards. If I have an OG gift card, I eat there.


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## LissArcen

Perhaps in this way they save on staff salaries, especially if one waiter can handle everything. All the restaurants that I visited, I mean which have a very large number of staff, had one common disadvantage - too high prices. But if you don`t set out to save money, then maybe it's a trifle. I really liked restaurant füssen in Germany, where I came to visit my sister. Despite the covid restrictions, we managed to have a great time there. I really love quality steak, in this place it was excellent, but their menu is varied. I cook meat myself too, but only when I have the time to do it. Restaurants and pubs are very helpful in that sense. Wine and steak makes a great Saturday night!


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