We arrived at the Carolina Mall Chili's around 8 PM on Friday night. The hostess said it would be a 20 minute wait. That was odd because I could see 5 or 6 empty tables from where we were standing and the parking lot had been half empty when we arrived, they weren't busy. After about 10 minutes a lady came from the dining area to complain. She said they had been waiting at the table 18 minutes and nobody had even taken their drink order. A few minutes later the lady and her family came out and told them it had now been over 20 minutes with no service and they were leaving. We decided to leave and not be seated. Another family that was waiting to be seated left as well.
We went down the street to Applebees (hadn't been there in years). Wow what a difference. The place was packed but they seated us immediately. A smiling, friendly waitress immediately took our drink order. All the staff was upbeat and cheerful.
We've had one too many bad experiences trying to have dinner at Chili's - glad to find a great alternative at Applebees.