My husband and I dined at the Chili's location in Manassas last night.
We were greeted by the host in a timely fashion, and were seated in a booth across from the restrooms and adjacent to a family with a baby and a toddler. I prayed for silence from the children.
After having sat for about ten minutes, a member of the waitstaff finally alerted another server that we had not been waited on yet. To his credit, our server (Bryan) did apologize for the delay. We immediately placed our drink and food orders, since we already had such a lengthy time to peruse the menu. Chili's had a special on their menu where you can order an appetizer, two entrees, drinks, and dessert from specially selected menu items for a total of $35. We opted for that, and chose to upgrade our drinks to Patron Mango Margaritas for an additional $4.
For the appetizer, we ordered the tableside guacamole. A couple minutes later, a different server returned, and she told us that we couldn't get the tableside guacamole, because they were "out of the little cups they make it in." What? Anyway, she offered to give me a pre-made guacamole that they apparently had in the fridge. I told her that was fine. When she brought it, the appearance and smell of the guacamole revealed that it was either old, made from overripe (read: rotten) avocados, or both. Yuck! It was a dull yellowish color, instead of the normal vibrant green one expects of a good guacamole. My husband ordered some salsa, to avoid eating the less-than-appealing guacamole. I don't blame him. (I brought it home for my pet rat to eat, who, by the way, also refused to eat the guacamole....he's a bit of a gourmand.)
My husband ordered baby back ribs, which were quite good, according to him. I ordered the 6 oz sirloin, to be prepared rare. To my delight, my steak actually was rare upon its arrival. Although tasty, it did not come with the grilled avocado as was listed on the menu. Instead, it came with French fries and broccoli. I like cruciferous vegetables, but they don't like me, so I didn't eat the broccoli. I wanted avocado! The French fries were good.
Finally, our Mango margaritas came, and they were pretty good, although they were served in big beer steins, instead of traditional margarita glasses. Guess they ran out of those, too.
While we were seated in the booth next to the restroom, there was a sudden onset of shrieking by an infant inside the restroom. I advised my husband that they must be replenishing their supply of baby back ribs.
At this point, from our vantage point at the prime seating location at the restroom, I spotted a muscular male food service person walking around the kitchen wearing a black tank top (aka, "wife beater shirt") while dealing with food preparation. His underarm hair was visible. Yuck. He proceeded to strut about, ventured out to the bar, and stood with his arms touching the bar and leaning forward, so I got another good view of his armpit hair. Nice. I'm sure the health department would LOVE that.
Lastly, dessert. We decided on a piece of cheesecake, from the list of dessert items to share with the dinner option we had selected. Upon its arrival, the slice of cheesecake looked really good! Alas, it was frozen inside. And I do mean frozen. There were ice crystals throughout the cheesecake, similar to what you'd experience if you eat ice cream that has been in the freezer too long.
Again, our waiter, Bryan was pleasant. I'd say he was the most positive aspect of our visit, but we won't be going back. I hope he gets a job at a restaurant with higher standards, because he is, quite frankly, too good for Chili's. read more