I hesitated to write this review because this location has always been a favorite of mine, and Chili's is my go-to spot. I've eaten here for so many years and have always had a good experience. The food was always delicious, service was quick, and prices were fair. This is unfortunately not the case anymore. After the incident I experienced at this Chili's today, I hate to say that the visit I had will be my last at this location.
I had a few issues with this visit (excluding the service, our server was lovely) but there was one particular shocking thing that was the dealbreaker for me.
I ordered a 3 for me, which is just another item on the menu that I wish they hadn't changed. The 3 for $10 was a much better deal. But, I digress. I chose the 6 oz sirloin, which is my usual, but I subbed out both of the sides (steamed broccoli and loaded mashed potatoes) because the steamed broccoli is always mushy and bland, and the mashed potatoes are essentially just instant potatoes with too much cheese. I chose the roasted street corn and the new white cheddar mac n cheese. Both were good. The steak was the major issue.
Once the food came out, I noticed my steak was a weird shape, but it wasn't something that immediately concerned me. Sometimes smaller steaks like the sirloin aren't shaped like a typical steak and I dismissed it as nothing. However, I took my first bite into my steak and noticed it was particularly soft. I just thought I got lucky with a "tender" steak, but when I kept eating it I noticed underneath that garlic butter steak flavor that there was a very distinct grainy-ness to the meat. Like, every single bite felt like it was disintegrating in my mouth. I thought it was just cooked incorrectly, but when I really looked at the steak, I realized there was no grain patterns like there usually is in a steak. It was a medium steak (or supposed to be) so especially in the more cooked areas, there should be striations in the meat. There was not. The pink/red meat was slimy and sticky, like raw ground beef. And the crust of the "steak" was peeling away from the meat underneath, like a hamburger that was overcooked.
After looking at the "steak", tasting it, and really taking a moment to think about all of the things that seemed off, I realized that, unless this is a sirloin that magically had the same texture, appearance, taste, and physical characteristics of a chunk of ground beef... this was ground beef. Even if I was wrong, what kind of sirloin that you're charging almost $20 for has those kinds of characteristics? It was awful. A pile of ground beef was being passed off as a sirloin.
Me and the person I was with were so taken back that neither of us touched any more of our food, and didn't ask for any boxes. We weren't offered one either.
We didn't feel there was an appropriate time to bring this issue up to our server because once she gave us a tablet to check out on, she kept a conversation going and actually didn't walk away or stop talking until we had already paid and finished on the tablet. We also both felt it would just be pointless because, especially if this was an intentional choice by the kitchen staff for whatever reason they may have, I doubt there would be admittance of guilt. It could be corporate requiring that they use "steak substitutes" when they're out of their normal cut of meat. It could be a lazy cook. It could be a lot of things, but it also seems like it should not be possible to "accidentally" cook a customer ground beef instead of sirloin. It shouldn't even be possible for a customer to THINK they're eating ground beef instead of a sirloin.
We also weren't interested in being pegged as people just looking for free food, and considering a big part of my food was finished before I noticed the "steak", it just wasn't worth it to make a complaint or cause a scene. That's also not considering the fact that it would've been hard to explain this to our waitress as clearly it took a bit to explain it in a written review.
Unfortunately, this Chili's has lost my business. That was honestly an unacceptable experience. After working in the food service industry myself, I know times are tough and many businesses either have to or choose to cut corners where they can. But, any restaurant that could either make this kind of mistake (or think secretly serving ground beef in place of sirloin is appropriate) is not worth my money, or anyone else's. read more