My husband and I went out to eat Sunday evening. We went to Chili's in Salisbury. The hostess said there would be a 20-25 minute wait. There were numerous tables vacant. One of the other customers asked why the tables were vacant and why they couldn't be seated. She explained that they didn't have enough kitchen staff to handle any more customers. Hey, there were plenty of customers. They are having a difficult time staying open and they seem to be doing themselves in. Why didn't the manager come in and fill the empty spaces? Believe me, if I have customers, I or someone else will be here to take care of them.
I don't intend on visiting their establishment again. I'll play it safe and go to a local restaurant that values me as a customer.
33 comments:
If you weren't complaining about the wait, then you'd be complaining about the service. If they don't have enough people on staff, why would they seat you?
Anon841 - Exactly. They would have waited longer and walked away with the same bad feelings. They could have sat EVERYONE, but it appears they attempted to think the issue out.
This is a ridiculous thing to say about a restaurant. I was a server for 15 years (since I was 14) and I understand rude people who do not understand how it works. You need to get a job in customer service & then you would really understand how hard it is to work in a restaurant. If they sat you then you would complain how slow the food was coming out. There are worse things in life to complain about, don't give a good place to eat a bad reputation just b/c you want to complain.
It was a Sunday night. Restaurants aren't usually that busy on Sunday nights and with the way the economy is still, they probably had to cut a little corner here and there if they want to stay a-float. I would have a little more sympathy if this happened on a Friday or Saturday night.
People complain so much about the state of the economy and how we have to get out of it soon, yet are frustrated and inconvenienced when something as little as being a little compassionate about a restaurant that has minimal staff on a Sunday evening.
Come on people, there are worst things in life to be worrying about!
I've always had a great experience at this Chili's. I bet if you had waited and been seated, the staff would've likely comped your meal. Once they comped my meal when I didn't even think I'd been waiting long!
Looks like the first four comments where from employees. Just face it, Chili's food and service sucks. I only went there because I had gotten gift cards. After the secound lousy trip I gave the last gift card to someone else, maybe they'll have better luck (or get pissed at me for the gift).
Go to your local restaurants and keep your money local.
JM
Man o Man. ONE bad experience and you're walking away for good!? Not to mention putting a very negative post about the business online!?
C'mon people! You gripe because businesses are closing left and right but you turn your back on one that's maybe having a tough time right now, only because you were going to have to wait???
Self/instant gratification....how's that workin' for ya?!
People need to learn PATIENCE and UNDERSTANDING!
Maybe one of your friends or family members will turn their back on you the next time you inconvenience them! How does that feel? I thought so!
We will play hell getting through these economic times if people don't start pulling together!
That woman on in the picture is sexy from the back.
We had a similar experience at Famous Dave's. The hostess was
very forthcoming keeping us
updated when we would be seated.
I personally did not have a problem with it and our server
brought out some FF for the kids to snack on while we waited for our dinner.
It's a man in drag for some chili food LOL
"I only went there because I had gotten gift cards"
Good... guess you won't have to worry about the place again. BYE!
I can't believe this is even a post. If you no longer visit this establishment they are probably better off. I'll bet you are a pain in the butt to serve. I am not an employee of Chili's and I have only eaten there a couple of times but the food and service was just fine.
I worked in restaurants many years ago and there are a certain percentage of people out there that just want to complain about everything. I'll bet you are one of those people that talk down to your servers and are just miserable and rude in general and then leave little or no tip.
blah blah blah i can't stand all of you people defending chili's. Look I was a server through highschool and college and I know what this is all about. The managers are UNDERSTAFFING like managers are prone to do, ESPECIALLY at a chain. I can't count the number of times at the 4 or 5 different restaurants I worked at that the manager would leave us 2-3 people short to "cut costs". Patrons get worse service and us servers get slammed. The cooks dont like to be understaffed either. It's just bad management guys.
Anon 9:39-
I am not an employee of Chili's nor have I ever waited tables in my life. It's just simple common sense, patience & understanding. 9:47 has a great point in his comment....how do we expect to get through this tough time if we can't pull together?
Granted the economy isn't where we would like it to be, but ya know what....we have to do what we have to do right now.
How ironic that there was a post about this establishment. My family and I were at the mall on Sunday afternoon and decided to call in an order for pickup to Chili's on our way home....we ordered at 5:25 and the lady on the phone said it would be about 20-25 minutes before it would be ready. Forty minutes later we were still waiting for our food...the manager finally came out and after talking to him about the wait he gave me our order for 50% off. I appreciated his effort to make the customer happy but when we we got home we realized that there were some things still missing and the food was terrible. I am glad we didn't pay full price for the food and we won't be returning there anytime soon.
Keep our money local? Do you beleive that the employees of this restaurant drive to work from Baltimore? Of course not. Those employees depend upon this place to pay their bills, and then they go spend their paychecks at the store you might be working at.
As for making you wait for a table, you'll be in good shape if that's the worst thing you have to endure.
It's only food people. I could understand complaining about a 20-25 minute wait in the emergency room.
I am not a "Chilis" person but wanted to comment on "customers from hell".I always leave a substantial tip when I get good service and am always shocked at some of the people at the next table when I eat out somewhere.They complain throughout the meal,treat the server like a slave and then get chintzy on the tip.Those people need to stay home.
I love how these comments are trashing the OP! Seriously, get over it, and be happy you have the DISPOSABLE INCOME to enjoy a night out at a restaurant ... not all of us are so blessed these days!
um, this is SOP at most restaurants.
Don't seat people unless a meal can be produced in a reasonable amount of time. Worst possible is for someone to walk out whose meal is already cooking.
As for staffing, there is the tough issue. Idle cooks cost money.
Get a life, I'd rather have to wait to be seated then wait once I'm seated for my food. I think the management there knows the limits of their kitchen and if they thought they couldn't handle more tables at that moment they made the right decision to have customers wait at the door for a bit. Did you ever thing they might be short staff if someone called out sick or something and had no one else to fill the slot. Get a life and stop your b#tching...I love Chili's.
Salisbury Chili's has been horrible since the day it opened. It's like everything else that has come to Salisbury. You get the local people working there have no clue how the experience is supposed to be. Everything gets Salisburyfied....
You can go anywhere in the town of Salisbury for dinner and you will have to wait at least 20 minutes for a table. Then you wait another 10-15 minutes to get your drinks and place your order. Then you wait a little while longer and get your food. Then you eat and go home. It's called a night out.
Whats next? A post about how awful it is to wait at traffic lights? Or, the painful wait behind a school bus while it picks up kids? My god, have you been to the MVA lately?
Whoever wrote this post needs to do a really check. I know many people who currently cannot afford to eat out, and your biotching about wait time.
SALLLLLAAAAAAAM!!!!
You could have gone into the bar area and ordered an appetizer. By the time you got an appetizer and a drink your table would have been ready. Chili's for me is hit and miss. Sometimes good, sometimes not. I wouldn't diss a place just cuz they made a decision to prevent more problems. The worst meal I had recently was from Texas Road House. I was very disappointed. I won't be visiting that establishment for a while if ever.
My husband and I went to Chili's one time. We were seated at a table and were ignored for 45 minutes. We left and have never gone back.
Dinner at chilli's sat night 65 buks the food is overpriced cold serviced suked
sex with my wife sat night priceless
www.lorarestaurants.com All local all the time. If you have a problem they fix it NOW! No B.S. Keep the money LOCAL. No $ goes to corperate and out of the area. Check it out. Great values and coupons. You can go to Break time and get a gift certiticate for $25.00 for any of the 17 LOCAL RESTAURANTS. Don't know where your friend likes to eat? Let them choose for them selves. What a deal...
I went for lunch one time, but after looking at the menu, I knew I was at the wrong place. I needed to eat out 3-4 times a week, and they would have blown my budget. Maybe if they were more competitive on price, they would have more customers, employees, business with the same total income and better ability to handle more patrons; but then, what do I know.
lol @ anon 4:39
It's a tough issue and we really don't know the circumstances that were going on that night at the restaurant. That's the bottom line. Just cause your defending the restaurant doesn't mean you work there.
I work at a restaurant in Ocean City and sometimes we are short on servers. Therefore we won't use some tables unless there is experienced servers that may be able to handle more tables than a normal workload. People say "why cant we just sit at that table it's open" when we are just stretching ourselves thin and sacrificing good service.
How many people that are on the staff per shift are sometimes determined by anticipated business. Maybe they were a little busier than they thought they would be. Who knows really.
But my guess would be they want your business and if they weren't shorthanded they would have seated you. saying "If i have customers, I or someone else will be here to take care of them" is easier said than done.
I swore that place off a few months ago for under cooking my chicken, ISH!
DONT order the chili! I seen what they do to it.
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