I tend to review restaurants based on their category in my mind. So, this is a 5 star experience at a chain restaurant. I'm not overly generous with chains, but this Chili's is exceptional and should be recognized as being such!
This place clearly has great leadership. From the hostesses to the server to the manager to the random server in the bar who yelled, "Have a great night, folks!" as we were leaving... All seemed focused on making us feel welcome and making sure our food was prepared perfectly and our service was seamless.
Cleanliness matters to me. This place was spotless from the bathrooms to the tables and booths to the menus, themselves. Sometimes, the restaurants that sit along a stretch of an interstate can let things slide (knowing many patrons are just passing through anyway). This place truly is run as if it is the neighborhood place that depends on return business for survival. I gave them an extra star here just for being well-run and clean. Grime distracts me from my meal, so it matters.
Our food was delicious, and we are on a strict diet protocol where we can't eat a lot. We had a combo with steak and margherita chicken. We swapped about the potatoes for more steamed broccoli and split the meal. They didn't seem to mind us sharing, either. The flavors were very good.
I like that they wait while you check your steak for correct doneness. Mine wasn't and they whisked it away to fix it and then brought me back my side dish so I could eat with my dinner date. The steak came back perfectly cooked, followed by the manager to check on us and apologize. I eat at a lot of fancy-shmancy steak places in my work travels and have sat for 20 minutes or more watching others eat when the kitchen slips up and overcooks my steak and the snooty waiters begrudgingly take it back to the chef... That always infuriates me. This Chili's, of all places, has more hospitality intelligence than most high-end places. Sometimes, it is what a restaurant does to fix their errors that gives a better indication of their commitment to you as a customer than you can learn from just eating a meal that goes without a hiccup.
Bottom line: If you are traveling on I-17 between Phoenix and Northern cities in Arizona, plan to stop and eat here. You won't be sorry!