Tex-Mex Restaurants near Gurnee

“I was in Gurnee to visit Great Wolf Lodge with some friends and we stopped into this Chili’s for lunch.
I just have to say, this manager, Amber, was absolutely incredible.

While there is a list of reasons she deserves recognition, there is one reason in particular I’m writing this.
I witnessed her perform something extraordinary that I do not believe I will likely witness again in any other restaurant or non-restaurant setting.
Kudos to other “Ambers” out there if you have done this or would!

I was sitting in the same section as this single father with 2 young girls, (who couldn’t be over the age of 7), and when they needed to go to bathroom, he obviously stood outside the door on guard and to communicate as best he could while they were inside.
Upon hearing the girls in distress, Amber did a sweep of the bathroom to see if anyone was in there and after confirming there was NO ONE else, she allowed the dad in to console and assist his daughters.
She stood guard outside the bathroom and made sure that no other woman entered while he was in there with his girls (which only took a minute).
This ensured that the little girls were in a safe space with their dad AND other women who would potentially need to enter wouldn’t feel uncomfortable being in the bathroom with a man present.
She protected everyone in the situation in a very professional way.
As a girl myself, if I were in the same situation as the little girls, I would be so grateful for a woman like Amber, letting my dad- my hero and guardian, come in.
As another patron, and still as a girl, I have so much respect and appreciation for how she handled it and I am totally understanding of the need to wait to enter until they made their exit.

Having worked food service myself, I wish I had a manager as engaged and customer-oriented as she was/is.
Not only was she so sweet and down-to-earth, but she also did table-touches, chatted with us, gave time to her employees if they needed her, seemed to be in multiple places at once, and handled everything with poise.
She communicated so well with staff and was hands-on. It was so clear she was their go-to manager and they enjoyed working with her. I wish I had that myself.

To Chili’s: you’ve got a diamond in the ruff
I was honestly surprised she wasn’t the GM.
Get this woman into that position ASAP!

Not to take away from our outstanding server CeCe!
Spotlight for being bubbly, fun, attentive, relatable, flexible and sooo on top of everything!!
Truly contributed to making a notable experience and made everything come together.

Short, boring review:
Ordered a lot, food was tasty, service was great, restaurant was clean, staff was friendly.“

“I don't get the older one star reviews. My experience with this "gas station food" was surprisingly really good!!! I had a rice and bean bowl with fajita chicken on top and it was delicious!! Up there or even better than Chipotle! The young woman who waited on me could not have been nicer. Great food, good price, super fast and convenient.“

“Eileen was super attentive and went above and beyond for us!!! If you go to Chili’s Waukegan you better hope she’s your server 💯 the sweetest server ever and was super nice even though we came in a bit close to closing time!!! We love love Eileen and the manager with her tonight (6/18) 🫶“

“The girl at the register was really nice and she helped me out with figuring out what i want. Speaking of what i want, my foods was absolutely packed full, I've never been to a taco bell with such full tacos, and it was still really good 100/10 amazing experience“

“Earlier today I went there with a friend of mine, and we got lunch and brought it back to the house to eat. WOW! It was absolutely outstanding. The torta Cubana was huge, and you could easily identify all of the various meats inside. Very well prepared. Even the lettuce was cool and crisp and identifiable The taco El Pastor was delicious. The tamale was well-made and tasted. I may just have found my new favorite Mexican restaurant.“