Chili's (Reading)

Last Saturday (12th June), some friends and I decided we would go into Reading town centre for a meal, in order to continue with my birthday celebrations. Searching the net, I came across several restaurants all based in and around the Oracle, Reading’s newest shopping centre, and as we would be walking into town, this seemed the ideal location and found restaurants varying from American to Mexican to British Cuisine.

I’m useless ...
...eat, as I like to satisfy everyone’s different tastes, so I compared a couple of the menu’s for a few of the restaurants, Old Orleans, Ma Potters Grill and Chili’s. And Chili’s came out on top with the greatest selection.


*Location*

The Chili’s Bar and Grill I visited, is based in the Riverside Unit of the Oracle Shopping Centre, in Reading, Berkshire.

They are classified as an American/Mexican ... more

Last Saturday (12th June), some friends and I decided we would go into Reading town centre for a meal, in order to continue with my birthday celebrations. Searching the net, I came across several restaurants all based in and around the Oracle, Reading’s newest shopping centre, and as we would be walking into town, this seemed the ideal location and found restaurants varying from American to Mexican to British Cuisine.

I’m useless at making decisions when it comes to choosing somewhere to eat, as I like to satisfy everyone’s different tastes, so I compared a couple of the menu’s for a few of the restaurants, Old Orleans, Ma Potters Grill and Chili’s. And Chili’s came out on top with the greatest selection.

*Location*

The Chili’s Bar and Grill I visited, is based in the Riverside Unit of the Oracle Shopping Centre, in Reading, Berkshire.

They are classified as an American/Mexican food outlet and they have 100’s of restaurants in the United States. They are known worldwide and have restaurants in 92 International countries including Australia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Japan and the United Kingdom.

*Availability*

Chili’s in Reading is renowned for being extremely busy, as it is highly popular, and we were advised on our last visit that due to this customers are unable to book a table, in advance, on a Saturday night. Anticipating this we strolled down to the restaurant at 8:00pm, and asked if they had any tables available that evening. We were advised that they could seat a table of 5, in a smoking section, around 9:00pm. They did have tables available in the non-smoking section of the restaurant, but considering we were all in a happy mood we decided to frequent one of the surrounding bars instead. Leaving our name and allocated time, we left Chili’s and strolled into Bar Med for a drink.

Around 8:50pm we ventured back to Chili’s and asked if our table would be ready. Unfortunately they had had a large group in the restaurant and apologised that our table would not be ready until 9:30pm. This was acceptable to us, although over customers may at this point have decided to try a different restaurant, and we went down to Old Orleans to sample their cocktails.

Returning to Chili’s at 9:40 we were told our table was ready, and we were escorted upstairs, into the smoking section, to our table.

If you had children, and wanted to eat out at Chili’s then I would advise going at a slightly quieter time of day, probably late afternoon when it doesn’t appear to be as busy.

*Cleanliness and Facilities*

The restaurant is well maintained and hygiene standards appear to be high. They have small bars in both sections of the restaurant, so you are able to see you drinks being prepared if you wish. You can also purchase drinks from the ground floor bar while you are waiting to be seated at your table. Our table was well presented with standard condiments in the centre of the table, and napkins and cutlery placed around. Tables are wiped down and cleared promptly once the customers have left the area, and on our visit every thing appear to be kept clean.

The toilets however are a different matter. There is only one set of toilets and these are located in the foyer, outside the ground floor restaurant, and at the base of the stairs leading to the top floor. Although there is a chart inside the toilets, advising when they were last checked and cleaned, this didn’t appear to be the case. Although we were one of the last customers in the restaurant, I still expected the toilets to be maintained regularly and cleaned. On our last visit before we left, in the ladies toilets, two out of the three cubicles had no toilet paper left, there was scrapings of toilet paper littering the floor and there was no soap at one of the sinks.

Although there is disabled access, i.e. seating on the ground floor, the restaurant is quite compact, and due to its popularity has a high density of chairs and table in a relatively small area, so may not be too accessible for those in wheelchairs.

*Service*

Upon being seated at our table, we were passed food and drinks menu’s, and although we were given a food menu each we were only given one drinks menu, so we had to wait while we all decided what beverage we would be choosing. After being left for a couple of minutes our waiter returned to the table and asked what drinks we would like. These arrived promptly, and before we had chosen our starters.

The waiter was pleasant and friendly throughout our visit to Chili’s and we had no trouble attracting his attention if we required further drinks or any other service.

The food was all delivered in a timely fashion and we didn’t have to wait an excessive amount of time between finishing our starter and receiving our main course,

At the end of the evening, it was also very easy to attract the waiter, to ask for our bill.

*Starters*

There was a good selection of starters available to us, ranging from Classic Nacho’s to Fried Mozzarella sticks. Prices varied between £4.00 and £8.00, the higher end of the scale for those starters that were intended to be shared between 2 or more customers.

None of us were particularly interested in the starters, as it was well known to us that the main meals were always very large, so opted to share a Triple Play, for around £7.95. The Triple Play consisted of a combination of their three favourite starters – Chicken Crispers, Boneless Buffalo wings and South-Western Egg rolls, with a selection of sauces for dipping.

With us all able to try at least 2 of the starters, this was an excellent choice, and between 5 of us, we considered it to be of very good value.

*Main Meals*

The selection of main meals was excellent. You had a large varied choice to choose from, with prices varying from approx £6 for the salads and sandwiches, to £15 for the large steaks.

You were able to choose from the following selections:

Soups and Salads – e.g. Caesar Salad or Grilled Caribbean Salad
Sandwiches – e.g. Chicken Caesar pita or California Club
Chili’s Grill – e.g. Margarita Grilled tuna or Grilled baby rack ribs or Ginger-Citrus Grilled Salmon
Steaks – e.g. Flame-Grilled Rib eye
Fajitas – e.g. Classic Fajitas (option available of chicken or steak)
Guiltless Grill – e.g. Guiltless Tomato Basil Pasta (Low fat meals ideal for those who are calorie counting.)
Big Mouth burgers – e.g. Chipotle Bleu Cheese Bacon Burger or Mushroom Swiss Burger

I choose the Classic Chicken Fajitas, which were served with warm tortillas, guacamole, pico de gallo, cheese & sour cream on a side plate, and onions and bell peppers served sizzling away. The chicken breast had been flame grilled and was served, sliced up, on the hotplate with the peppers and onions. There were 6 tortillas provided with my meal, but I will confess to only being able to eat 4 of them, and these were stuffed with the accompaniments.

*Just for kids*

Due to the large portions received when ordering a main meal, Chili’s have devised a just for kids menu. Prices are lower than the adult main meals and of smaller quantity. Examples include Ribs Basket, Little Chicken Crisper and Pepper Pals Pasta.

*Desserts*

Considering we each felt as though we’d eaten enough food for a week, we politely declined the desserts that were on offer. However they all looked remarkable, as we saw a few being brought out to other customers, and all wished we’d left that little extra room.

Example desserts include, Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie and California-style cheesecake and prices were all around the £4.50 mark.

*Beverages*

There was a good supply of soft drinks and alcoholic beverages on sale, with coffee, tea, lemonades and fountain drinks being offered on a bottomless beverage list, i.e. as soon as your glass is empty it is refilled for free.
The cocktail list was quite short, covering around 10 different cocktails, of which my friends and Strawberry Daiquiris and I had a Woo Woo (Archers, Vodka and Cranberry juice), which I must say, was very refreshing and easy to drink.

Chilis also have a plentiful list of Margarita’s – their special being the El Nino Margarita, served in roughly a 500ml glass, shaped like a large brandy glass.

*Summary*

Chili’s Bar and Grill is a restaurant I will be visiting again, the service from the waiters is of a very good quality and the food is faultless. I have been to Chili’s on a number of occasions and have always come away feeling very satisfied with the food and the prices charged.

It is unfortunate that you are unable to reserve a table in advance but they are willing to take down your name and offer a time as to when a table should be come available on that night.

The restaurant caters well for smokers and non-smokers with completely separate eating areas available. Customers are also allowed to sit outside on a balcony when weather permits.

The main negative point I would have to stress is the condition of the toilets. Its easy to understand that this is a very popular restaurant but they still need to maintain the high standards of all areas of the restaurant or they are likely to lose customers.

For customers with children, the restaurant is also accessible, especially during the quieter times of the day, and I have seen a table decorated with balloons for one child’s birthday, so they are equipped to deal with children.

In summary, we had a very enjoyable meal on Saturday, and it wasn't even very expensive. With a shared starter, a main meal each, and at least 2 cocktails each and the bill came to £25.00 each. The service was great, the foo delicious and it was the perfect end to my birthday week.

Many thanks for reading
Kels x
 

...less