Chili's - Make Me Happy!

It's my birthday!!

Last month, after we had drinks at Chili's, we decided to come back this month for our lunch. And it also happened to be my birthday! We had a great time until the end, but that's not Chili's fault. Other people can sometimes just be so rude. But more on that later.

Restaurant: Chili's

Location: 26 Mile Rd, Shelby Twp, MI

It is my 31st birthday! I was very excited to go out with the girls. Not only because I would get to spend time with family, but because I knew there would probably be cake. CAKE! We had been seeing the recent television commercials advertising Chili's a lot. We were all anticipating lunch because of the commercials. And we were not disappointed at all in the food.

Mom, Jeri, and I arrived first. We ordered our appetizers and drinks while we waited for Susie and Martha. I wish for once we could be on time! It's NOT ME! It's HER!" - Marti. "I gotta do my hair and make-up." - Susie. This is actually a quite common conversation. And it's so funny. Heehee!

Highlights

Our Empty Cake Plate

Free Tasty Cake! - Since it was my birthday we of course had to get some cake. We chose the Chocolate Molten Cake and it was delicious! They brought it out with all the servers and sang to me. "I would lick this plate if there weren't spoons." - Jeri. That's how good the cake was. Also, Bonus, it was FREE!

Appetizers - The appetizers were the best we've ever had. We chose Bottomless

Onion & Jalapeno Stack

Chips & Salsa and the Onion & Jalapeno Stack. Do you see that to the right? Doesn't that look fabulous. We were practically fighting over it. I would go back JUST for that appetizer. It's deep fried onion strings and jalapenos with ranch dipping sauce. So good. And the chips for the chips and salsa were amazing. They were warm and crisp and fresh and just a little bit salty. And they were bottomless. You know how much we love bottomless! And they were only $3.29 for the chips and salsa and $3.79 for the Onion & Jalapeno Stack. So affordable.

My Balloons!

Rude Other Customers - No this isn't a highlight. It's a warning. Susie and Martha brought me fabulous balloons. Aren't they pretty? So we're sitting there eating our delicious free cake and this lady brings a screaming toddler near our table and he quiets when he see's my balloons. So she comes over and has him TOUCH my balloons. And she's going on about the balloons and I say that I'd give him one, but there all tied together, and she says, "Oh sorry Timmy (not his real name) you can't have one." So my Mom hands me a knife and says here. So I cut him off one of my balloons and they leave fast. Now at the time, I was okay with it. I didn't mind giving one of my balloons to a little kid. But as they are leaving we look over there and they have not only my balloon, but a Chili's balloon. They already HAD a balloon and they came over to me and conned me out of one. How rude. Who does that? Who takes a toddler over to strangers to guilt them out of a balloon? I would NEVER in a million years do that. My kid would've been taken out of the restaurant and gotten NO balloons. So beware rude people and don't give up your birthday balloons!

The Ratings : On a Scale From 1 to 5

Waitstaff

Mom - 4; I think she could've checked on us more. There was almost no one in for lunch and she didn't come around very often.

Jeri - 4; We sat for awhile before we were served and there was almost no one else in there.

Terra - 5; She offered to take our picture, she was friendly and smiling. When there was an issue with Marti's drink, she offered to fix it with a smile on her face. Our orders were all correct.

Susie - 5; She was outgoing and friendly.

Marti - 4 1/2; She called Mom "Grandma", but she was still very friendly.

Food Quality

Mom - Sante Fe Chicken Salad; 5. It was very good and so big that I had some left over for dinner later that night.

Jeri - Chicken & Bacon Quesadilla; 5. The best quesadilla I've ever had.

Santa Fe Chicken Salad

Terra - Chicken & Guacamole Sandwich; 5 You could chose half a sandwich or a whole and I chose half because it came with fries. We all agreed that they were the best fries ever.

Susie - Beef Fajitas; 4. There could've been more cheese for the fajitas, but the components were brought out at the same time and the meat was sizzling. The taste was pretty amazing.

Marti - Chicken & Guacamole Sandwich; 5. I love guacamole and the fries were pretty spectacular.

Food Value

Beef Fajitas

Mom - $9.39; Definitely worth it. There was so much that I had plenty for leftovers.

Jeri - $7.00; Worth it. That's a great price for lunch.

Terra - $8.00; So worth it. I was full and had some french fries left over. It was a perfect lunch price.

Susie - $14.00; Not really worth it. We figured the high price was because of the beef, but there wasn't
enough to really warrant that price.

Marti -$8.00; Worth it.

Drinks

Mom - Presidente Margarita; $7.49; 8; Hand-shaken Sauza® Conmemorativo® Tequila, Patrón Citrónge orange

liqueur and Presidente® Brandy.; I expected more drink and less ice. But it was tasty.

Jeri -Strawberry Daiquiri; $5.99; 2; It was way to thick and I couldn't even taste any alcohol.

Terra - Long Island Iced Tea; $7.20; 6; BACARDI® Superior Rum, Tanqueray® Gin, Smirnoff® Vodka and Patrón Citrónge Premium Orange Liqueur.; I've had way better.

Yummy!

Susie - Presidente Margarita; $7.49; 7; Hand-shaken Sauza® Conmemorativo® Tequila, Patrón Citrónge orange

liqueur and Presidente® Brandy.; There was a hair on the shaker, but other than that it was tasty.

Marti - Sex on the Beach; $7.20; 6; I had to have juice added cause the liquor was so strong. After they added the juice it went from a 4 to a 6. It was also way smaller than the one we had last time.

Overall the drinks were disappointing when compared from last month.

Chicken & Guacamole Sandwich

Bathroom

Out of the four of us that used the bathroom the ratings were between 4 and 5. "It was clean" was all I got out of them. And one complaint of a bad smell, but it's a bathroom. We may cut this and only let you know if the bathroom was really atrocious.

Overall

Mom - 5

Jeri - 5

Terra - 5

Susie - 4

Marti - 4 1/2

Bacon Chicken Quesadilla

We had fun. They sang happy birthday to me, gave me free cake, and fed us great food. The drinks could've been better, but that could've just been a different bartender than last time. If you'd like a nice quick lunch that won't break the bank, Chili's is a great choice. I think they're actually underrated as a lunch choice.

Terra

Panera Bread + Chili's = Happy Hour Success!

This month the vote went to Panera Bread. But since they don't have "happy hour drinks", we went to the Chili's next door for our drink. It worked well. So this month we have separate reviews for lunch and for drinks.

French Onion Soup

Restaurant: Panera Bread

Location: 26 Mile Rd, Shelby Twp, MI

Panera Bread is, at heart, a soup and sandwich cafe. They have great bread. I've never had a bad bread at Panera. The paninis and sandwiches are made well and the soups are delicious. I know from previous experience that they do a wonderful salad as well.

We did decide that we prefer restaurants with table service. Not that we didn't have a good experience with Panera, we have just become used to and enjoy the table service more. Though we all did agree that Panera could do with busing staff at least. We really didn't like having to clear our own dishes. Maybe we're just spoiled from the sit down places we've been to so far. 

The only other drawback is that Panera has made it so comfy inside. Combined with the free wifi, many students and business professionals come for lunch and stay a long time. With their laptops. And take up at least one full table per person sometimes two. We were hard pressed to find a table for all five of us and in the end we had to steal a chair from a table and add it to our booth. Panera is definitely not a "Large Party" type eatery.

Highlights

Surprise Whipped Cream! - Jeri ordered a Cafe Mocha and when she opened the lid there was whipped cream and chocolate drizzled on the top! Surprise chocolate is always good in our books. The Cafe Mocha itself was pretty tasty. and only $3.80, which is pretty reasonable 

Spicy Mustard - Mustard again. I hate mustard myself. But Susie and Jeri love the stuff. And Panera has some good brown spicy mustard that they really enjoyed. I'm not sure what it is with those two and their mustard, but I blame it on that greasy spoon diner in Dayton, Ohio we went to back in the late eighties. Cheeseburgers and Waffles. I'm just sayin'. 

Atmosphere - The general atmosphere of Panera Bread is really good. They have comfortable seats (when you can find one), free wifi, and nice background music. It's a pleasant place to spend your lunch hour or meet with the girls.

The Ratings: On a Scale From 1 to 5

Waitstaff

There wasn't really waitstaff in the traditional sense of the word. Really, we just had the cashier. But we, being us, decided to rate and JUDGE! her anyway. Go figure. 

Mom - 4

Jeri - 5; "She tried, like, a hundred different phone numbers for my Panera card"

Terra - 4; She was kind of annoying and kept pushing the baked items, even though we repeatedly said no. I know they have to up-sell items, but after the third "no", give it a rest. 

Susie - 4

Marti - 4; She had a nasally voice.

Food Quality

Broccoli Cheddar Soup and Frontega Chicken Panini

Mom - Alfredo Tortellini and Roasted Turkey & Avocado BLT; 4; The sandwich was bland, which is surprising considering the type of sandwich it was.

Jeri - French Onion Soup and Chipolte Chicken Panini on the Demi Asiago bread; 5; The soup was delish!

Terra - Broccoli Cheddar Soup and Frontega Chicken Panini; 5; The best broccoli cheddar soup I've ever had. Not to mention the bread they give you to dip in your soup. I love it.

Susie - Broccoli Cheddar Soup and Sierra Turkey sandwich; 5; Love, love, love the bread that comes with the soup!

Marti - Broccoli Cheddar Soup and Sierra Turkey sandwich; 5; The soup is the best and the sandwich was really tasty!

Food Value

Jeri's Choice

Mom - $10.04; No, it wasn't really worth it. The tortellini portion was smaller than I expected.

Jeri - $7.79 for the food; No. The sandwich was quite small.

Terra - $7.79 for the food; Yes. The panini was very nice size and the soup portion was almost too much for me to eat in one sitting.

Susie - $6.79 for the food; Yes. The portions were quite large.

Marti - $6.79 for the food; Yes. It was well worth what was paid.

Bathroom

What bathroom? Seriously though. It was hard to find. It was okay as far as bathrooms go. Mostly clean. We liked the shelf that they had to set your purse on by the sink. I really hate when I'm forced to put my purse on the floor in a bathroom. There was some paper trash on the floor and the paper towel dispenser was malfunctioning. It got an average of 3 1/2 out of 5 from those of us that used the restroom.

Susie and Marti's choice

Overall

Mom - 4; I prefer table service and I hated busing my own table. But the food was tasty for the most part.

Jeri - 4; It was pretty good, but my sandwich was small.

Terra - 4; I too prefer table service. But the quality of the food was there.

Susie - 4; The background music was nice and the food tasty. I don't like having to buss my own table.

Marti - 4; The table was kinda small and the bread was the best.

Bar: Chili's
Location: 26 Mile Rd, Shelby Twp, MI

 After lunch we decided we needed to get our "happy" part of the happy hour. So we went next door to Chili's ("Wait. Where are we? Chipolte's?" - Terra).

We told the host that we were there to "Get Happy!", so he sat us right at the bar. Jeri did NOT want a frickin' Martini. But that's what she got.

Drinks
Mom - El Nino; 10; Herradura Reposado Tequila (100% Blue Agave), GranGala, Patrón Citrónge orange liqueur and fresh orange juice.; It was HUGE!
Jeri - Tropical Sunrise; 2; Hornitos Reposado Tequila (100% Blue Agave), DeKuyper melon liqueur, pineapple juice & a splash of grenadine.; It was too tequila-y tasting
Terra - Tropical Sunrise; 10; It was so pretty and tasty. The way the liquids were put in the glass made a rainbow!
Susie - Tropical Sunrise; 10; "It's a rainbow!"
Marti - Sex on the Beach; 9; It was okay, but I was jealous of the other drinks when they came.

The drinks averaged $8.00 and were mostly worth it. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we decided that next month's lunch will be at Chili's!


Terra

 

Tropical Sunrise

El Nino

Sex on the Beach