Company: Shopped in Buffalo for the day with 2 friends and my sister
I feel a little bit weird reviewing a place like Chili's but I think I'm quite overdue for a blog post and I wanted to write about a place I went to recently! I brought my DSLR all the way to Buffalo with the intention of this since there are tons of restaurants to try there. After shopping at the Fashion Outlets all morning, we headed for lunch nearby the mall. We had decided on Olive Garden but it was too busy and we just crossed the street to Chili's. I've never been there before but I believe there's also one in Vaughan ON. I remember seeing their commercials all the time on hotel TVs while visiting the US but I didn't even know it wasn't a 'Mexican' place until my friend told me. I would probably compare it to a Mexican East Side Mario's, very family-friendly and low-priced food.
To start, we got an order of Jumbo Soft Pretzels, a new item on the menu and perfect size for the 4 of us. It was extremely hot when we got it so that was a good sign. I don't think the salt was evenly distributed because my piece was definitely lacking while others had excess. The pretzels were also more like rolls since they were so large and soft inside. We shared the cheese sauce accordingly but it probably should have came with more, even though it didn't really add much flavour overall.
For my main, I got the Margarita Grilled Chicken which looked great when it came out. It was surprisingly flavourful, especially of citrus and lime. Those who aren't of a fan of that flavour wouldn't have enjoyed it. The chicken was topped with pico de gallo and on a bed of rice, chips, and beans, the combination was actually great together. The chicken breast was cooked nicely and was very tender. Perfect portion size as well.
I also shared +Lilian Chiu's order of Mango-Chile Tilapia that I thought looked a bit stingy when it first came out. They also seem to like to serve broccoli here with a lot of the dishes, my friend who got steak also got broccoli which I thought was odd since that's usually not the vegetable of choice for sides. The tilapia was noticeably over cooked and didn't have that texture that fish should have if it was cooked well. The avocado, salsa and mango combination topping was very delicious but the chile was overdone on certain pieces of the fish which made it too spicy. This was a new menu item which also had a chicken option, they should probably stick to that since I assume they use the same chicken that was in my dish that was actually cooked well.
Despite the criticisms, you get a very decent meal for ~$10 which is pretty awesome. The service was quick and the atmosphere was lively. Probably great for the average American family as there's tons of options on the menu to satisfy everyone.
Food: 1/5 - Not quite fine dining.
Decor: 3.5/5 - Loved how colourful and lively it was.
Service: 4.5/5 - Quick and friendly!
Likeliness to come back: 2/5 - I would probably want to try something else but I wouldn't be against it.
Overall: 2/5
Website: http://www.chilis.com
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