Chili's Restaurant in McDonough, Georgia: An Eaters Review

I have always enjoyed eating at Chili's Restaurants and I was a frequent customer of the Chili's Restaurant in McDonough, Georgia from the time it opened. After moving, I had not visited in some time, but had the occasion to be in McDonough and took the opportunity to have lunch there at 1740 Jonesboro Road. It was a bit disappointing.

There was a wait before we could get a table, but that was understandable, as it was a Saturday and right around 12:30. The wait was less than fifteen minutes. We were seated in the bar area, which really doesn't bother me other than the fact that it is noisy and all the televisions were tuned to basketball-not my favorite sport. The server was prompt to get our drink order and give the day's "pitch" for specialty drinks and appetizers. He seemed a bit disappointed that we weren't "biting." When he brought our drinks, we gave him our meal order and settled in to wait.

I ordered the Lunch Express special which was soup and a house salad accompanied by chips and salsa. My guest ordered the barbeque bacon cheeseburger and fries-just to torture me. (I got him back for that later.) It turned out the waiter brought my guest Diet Coke® when he ordered a regular, so when he went flying by to say my salad would be out in a few minutes we told him the Coke® was wrong. He was a bit annoyed, but replaced it-with another diet Coke®. Based on the overall behavior of our server, I concluded that he must be bipolar and in frenzy mode, because his mood and presentation kept changing from congenial to annoyed and back.

My salad arrived and pretty much flew onto the table. Obviously our server was busy, but don't "toss" the plates on the table, please. When I opened my silverware packet, there was a name written in ink on the napkin. This was a tad unnerving, since people have been known to do not so nice things in restaurants, especially when they are disgruntled or about to be fired, so I opened my guest's packet to see if this was some restaurant gimmick and found there was no name on his napkin. I went to the hostess and asked her to have the manager come to our table when he or she was free. When the manager arrived, I showed him the napkin and asked if it was something the restaurant regularly did. He said no and that the individual who wraps the silverware writes their name on the stack. Apparently someone used the stack ID napkin for a roll. He apologized and brought me another packet.

Apparently our server was made nervous by the fact that the manager visited our table and another Coke® suddenly appeared for my guest, as the server went flying by. We now had three Diet Cokes® on the table-remember we ordered regular. My guest's burger and fries arrived along with my corn soup, which I was looking forward to as it was a bit chilly outside.

How was the food? The salad was good, the lettuce was crisp and fresh, the small amount of cucumbers and tomatoes reflected the season and the blue cheese dressing was excellent. My guests burger was a bit over cooked and dry, but the French fries (one of which I stole) were up to Chili's standards. The real trouble came with my soup. Have you ever taken a fork or spoon full of something with a certain expectation and been met by something totally unexpected? Think of seeing and believing you had a smooth cream soup sitting in front of you and getting a mouth full of something gelatinous and gooey that sent your mind spinning around the idea that someone had dropped something into the soup. After spitting out what was in my mouth and investigating the soup in the bowl, I determined that the corn soup comes frozen and is thawed before serving. Apparently, it had not heated evenly and some clumps of the solidified soup remained. Despite knowing that it was just soup, the one mouthful ruined it for me and I couldn't eat it. The chips and salsa that were to accompany my Lunch Express never arrived.

The manager stopped back by our table and I queried him about the chips and salsa and about the soup. He created a to-go bag of chips and salsa and apologized. He also confirmed that the soup came frozen. He apologized for the "glops" and offered me another soup, but by then we were ready to leave. We were offered no discount and paid for the full ticket. My guest was generous with his tip to our server, though I would not have been so. He's just a really nice guy.

Will I eat there again? Probably not. If I decide to spend money on food someone else is preparing, I expect to get my money's worth. That was not the case. And, while the manager was attentive and apologetic, with three problems at our table, he should have offered us a desert to go or taken something off the bill. All in all, the meal was unmemorable, except for the guy at the bar who seemed to be convinced he knew me and couldn't quit staring at me. He was very attractive. : )