Chili's in Reno

“I've been coming to Chili's a lot lately and ordering the 3 for me $10.99 smasherburger deal, killer deal for the money, but I was getting tired of the same burger, so this time I ordered the 3 piece Honey-Chipotle Crispers® Combo on the 3 for me deals, but it costs $14.99, so oh well, big spender this time. I comes with a drink as well.

The food came out with the usual efficiency of the new and better Chili's service. I was thinking at first 3 pieces might not be enough, but turns out, that was plenty of chicken and along with the fries and free chips and salsa I get with my Chili's membership, it was plenty to eat! I do like the Honey flavor better than the Nashville flavor. This was a good switch up from the burger, but just can't beat that burger deal!“

“I order the basic $10.99 (Chili's) or $10.99 Applebee's (advertised but actually $12.99 charged) cheeseburger deals with some tweaking. Order the bacon crispy or get chewy "undercooked" bacon like all fast food joints make it in this town. Ask for grilled onions instead of fresh onions. Expect the 2 items to make your burger greasy in a way that may require holding the delivered product upright and sideways to let the excess liquids to drip off the bun. I tried both medium and well done on the cook of the patty. Medium (pink) has less flavor and is not served hot. Coupled with chewy bacon this meal is below 3 stars. Cooked to order the overall experience is 4 stars. The habitual slow service has come with all my visits limiting my highest rating to 4 stars. Applebee's advertises $10.99 but is actually charging $12.99 for a similar deal with bottomless fries versus Chili's single order. The burger at Chili's is better value than Applebee's and is $2 less. The slow service is consistent at both establishments which limits the highest star rating to only 4 stars overall. I tip 30% in cash for these bargain meals unless things are less than 4 stars overall. The atmosphere is always 4 stars at best due to some obvious element of the bar being sticky or seating needing some corrective upgrades that are easily noted. Even if the current occupant levels are low when I arrive I sit at the bar where from I make my observations herein. No matter how busy the restaurant is it seems the help are milling around attending to other things which accounts for the longer service waiting times for drink refills or incidental customer meal requests. Sometimes (when all the help disappear from the room for several minutes) I jokingly think about throwing a leg tackle on the next employee I see to settle my bill or get a drink refilled.
Managers are always present. They never come around to ask any of the cus
tomers how the meal went. This is strange but true of both Chili's and Applebee's in Sparks and Reno. My ratings could easily improve to 5 stars with some reasonable improvements passed on directly to the managers I see standing or roaming around (out and away from direct customer contact).“