It was a really a spur of the moment decision. The claypot chicken rice I had cooked for lunch was all finished, thanks to our lunch guests: uncle-in-law, brother-in-law and his fiancée. So we had the perfect reason to go out for dinner last Saturday night. What started out as a trip to McDonald’s ended up with us walking into Chili’s Gurney Place. Would you believe it was our first visit there, since it opened so many moons ago? (well, a few months ago we *almost* ate there, but were turned off by the non-politeness of the welcoming crew)
Anyway, we stood outside and waited to be seated. No one came for a good one minute or so, and when the lady came to ask us how many people in our party, she did so with nary a smile. But we thought we would bear with it and see how the whole experience would turn out to be. We were then ushered to our table and provided menus.
Hubbs ordered the lamb shoulder and I ordered the chicken monterey. One cool thing about Chili’s is that they offer bottomless fruit juices, so of course I went for the mango juice, while hubbs went for the pina chillada (non-alcoholic, mind you. Pina COLLADA is alcoholic, CHILLADA is not).
By the way, don’t you think the mosaic design on the table is way cool? Really unique.
Just like Friday’s, kids get to dine for free at Chili’s too, so I ordered a plate of spaghetti for Ethan and I was also pleasantly surprised that Ethan’s drink was on the house too. My boy loves iced lemon tea and since it was not in the list of kids’ drinks, I requested for it and was delighted that they willingly obliged. He finished the whole glass all by himself too!
All in all, the food was fantastic. I especially loved the lamb shoulder and would definitely order it the next time I go, IF I go. Service was well below par, I’m afraid. In addition to the no-smile-greeting we had, right in the middle of our meal, someone interrupted us in a weird manner, I might add, and asked us how we found our dinner. I notice this is something most restaurants practise these days, but unfortunately, it wasn’t done with tact, and so it appeared rather fake-ish.
When we were leaving the restaurant too, no one thanked us for coming, unlike the jovial goodbyes we get at Friday’s. There were no free balloons to give out to the kids at Chili’s too. But then I suppose most Malaysians tend to overlook the bad service and go for the food, huh? As long as there is bottomless chips, drinks and free food for the kids?
Little Miracles
Our Journey of Love
Is that the same Chili’s as the one under the g Hotel along Gurney Drive? The one where we had to push EastCoastLife in her wheelchair into? The table ceramics look familiar.. as do the bricks in the wall.. But I may be completely wrong..
The Giddy Tigress says: Same one LB…you are pretty observant, aren’t you?
Yes, Chili’s has horrible service… don’t go to the one in 1Utama. Service is as bad as what you described above, if not worse.
But… the Chicken Monterey is nice and so are their Bottomless Tostada chips (free refills of chips and salsa for as much as you can eat!) and I always have the fajitas. *grin*
The Giddy Tigress says: Been to the 1-U one once before – didn’t really find the food anything to shout about. I’ll need to try the bottomless tostada chips the next time I go…maybe we have a girly get-together then? You know…I *almost* ordered the fajitas! Are they better than the one at Friday’s?
Yeah I hate their service too! I am sure even if you complain about the food, the manager will not do anything.
The Giddy Tigress says: We are kicking ourselves now for not filling out the comment card though. You know how I like to complain about service 🙂
what is wrong with providing some good customer service eh???
i really wonder what is going on in their minds…
but bottomless fruit juices sounds good to me =)
The Giddy Tigress says: Probably the staff was not well-trained.
I can’t remember whether or not I have been to that restaurant. But my cousins love it. They go there all the time.
Never once I hear them complain about the service though … but come to think of it, we Indonesians are used to bad service in food industry. Nothing can shock us. Hahaha!
The Giddy Tigress says: Most likely it was a case of the lesser of two evils… keke
Food looks good to me! 😀 I am really bad when it comes to bad service because not only will I leave right there and then, I might even request to see the manager.
The Giddy Tigress says: Unfortunately nothing much will be done here in Malaysia, I know that in US good service is given the utmost priority and they take it really seriously when the customer complains.
I only go there when I have insatiable urge for their bottomless tostada chips and beef queso. Otherwise it’s Fridays for me. Tony Romas got sucky service too – worse than Chillis.
The Giddy Tigress says: Oh my..one other item on the list to try! Beef queso…what’s that? As for Tony Roma’s, I admit their service was bad when I was there the first time several months back, but recently, it seemed better. Our server at Tony Roma’s was quite informative too!… though it would have been a good thing if they had a wash basin installed in the restaurant itself!
You should try Chilli’s classic nachos!!! It’s gorgeous! And the dessert… the Molten Chocolate Cake! I can’t say any more, you’ve got to try them to believe me. 🙂
The Giddy Tigress says: My tummy is growling now…and it’s an hour to midnight…please don’t do this to me!
I used to go to Chillis for their vodka lime drinks during happy hour on week days. They had one of the cheapest in town and my friend could always wrangle an extra bit of vodka in ours 😉 Food is so so IMO though the fajitas aren’t too bad. The bottomless chips and drinks are good for a laugh though.
The Giddy Tigress says: Vodka lime! I haven’t had that in ages! Speaking of which, I have an unopened bottle of vodka in my cabinet…hehe..
it’s not advisable to visit some blogs when one is hungry. not that i’m erm.. saying anything about.. your blog. *drools*
The Giddy Tigress says: Here…have a hanky to wipe that drool off your shirt? *grin*
I had stewed lamb shank for dinner last night.
Simply delicious!!!
p/s I’ve finally updated my blogroll & your link has been added on.
The Giddy Tigress says: Was the lamb shank homecooked? I am trying very hard to sniff if I can smell it from here….. thanks for updating your blogroll 🙂 Actually I hadn’t noticed that it was not there all this while!
aiyer…u make me so want to go chillis
The Giddy Tigress says: Chili’s Penang? When..? *clicks onto Outlook calendar to mark date Jazzmint is coming*
yumm..i just love Chili’s. Service here is better though. Once the waiter even kept Ashley’s attention by chatting to her while i attempt to feed her. That’s till she completes her food, no less
The Giddy Tigress says: Whoa…which branch of Chili’s is this? They should send this particular waiter over to Penang to train the staff here.
I love their lamb cutlets! they’ve pretty good desserts too. but the one dish that always gets my tummy smiling is their mashed potato 🙂
The Giddy Tigress says: I saw the lamb cutlets, but opted not to order cos hubby already ordered lamb.