Chilis in the UK!

[bubbalee]

We went to Chilis in Reading yesterday. It was an hour's drive away from where we live.

We checked out the website before hand and it all looked like what you get in America (although much more expensive)! :d:

Well it was well worth the drive, the food was really good, just like it is in America!!

To start we had:
VEGGIE & SMOKED CHEESE QUESADILLAS
Spinach, artichoke, sauteed mushrooms and fajita onions, w/smoked
mozzarella cheese. Served w/lettuce, sour cream & pico de gallo £6.25
&
BONELESS BUFFALO WINGS
Crispy breaded chicken breast tossed in spicy wing w/bleu cheese dressing £8.95


and for mains we had:

GRILLED BABY BACK RIBS
Served with french fries & Coleslaw
A full rack of any one flavour £15.75
Original - Triple-basted w/Chili’s classic BBQ sauce.
&
CITRUS FIRE CHICKEN & SHRIMP
Our Margarita Grilled Chicken topped w/spicy garlic & lime shrimp. Served w/rice, fresh veggies & pico de gallo £15.25

The buffalo wings were exactly the same as American ones, and were so good! My starter was really good too, and you got really good portions.

Both mains were lovely, and there was certainly plenty of food!!
Couldn't manage a desert, although i saw one desert and it looked really good :tounge:

We will definitely return there that's for sure.

Here's the link to their site : http://chilis.uk.com/menu/

Definitely worth a go if you're nearby!!

[ely3857]

OMG! I love Chili's :omg:

Such a shame none are anywhere near where I live :(

Fingers crossed one opens in Leeds, or at least near Leeds soon

:grin:

Jodie

[speedwayfan]

Oh thanks for that, love Chilis and the Hatfield Galleria is around halfway between our house and my son's.

We'll look forward to trying it once it's open.

JIll

[Edayy]

Oh wow the Galleria is on the way to my daughters school, will def try it. Does anyone know when this opens?

[gala]

There is one here in Cambridge but it gets lousy reviews. We had a meal in it a few years ago and it was diabolical - nothing like the great one on I Drive. I dont know why it is so poor but I would be willing to try any of the other Chilis in the UK if they were as good as the Orlando one.

Margaret

[loadsapixiedust]

:cry: I used to live just 20 minutes drive from Reading, why did we move? :(
I love Chilis, do they do the awesome blossom?

[ju_itfc]

There is one here in Cambridge but it gets lousy reviews. We had a meal in it a few years ago and it was diabolical - nothing like the great one on I Drive. I dont know why it is so poor but I would be willing to try any of the other Chilis in the UK if they were as good as the Orlando one.

Margaret

We did a day trip on the train from Norwich to Cambridge the other year and ate in Chilli's. It was absolutely awful. A pale imatation of the USA restaurant if you ask me.

Thankfully there are some pretty decent pubs in Cambridge which helped dull the pain of the meal......!!!!! ;) ;)

[freckles]

There is one in a shopping centre at Canary Wharf that we tried last year with much excitement, being huge Chili's fans in Orlando.

Sorry to say, we were disappointed. The menu had a lot of the same things on as in the US, so it looked good, but when the meals arrived they were nowhere near as good, and it was as though you had ordered a child's portion in some cases, they were that much smaller!
Twice the price though...

And the drinks (as usual for the UK) were much dearer - its amazing what a difference that makes to your bill, compared with the US.

Oh, well, I'll just have to go back to Florida then...

[tiggerlicious]

I so wish there was one near me :( chilis is one of my fave places. I suppose I will just have to wait until I go in December.

[sharonb]

We have one about a 10 minute drive away in Basildon, it is just as good as the American ones, we also have a Macaroni Grill on the same site as Chilis

Sharon

[rusty30]

We are only a few mins from the Basildon one too - the food is very nice but its one of the most expensive restaurants round here (and we have a lot). £16 for fajitas, I think, is taking the P a bit! We have a Chiquitos on the same leisure park and they do bigger (and better!) ones than Chilis for £12.

We used to go to Chilis every week (the kids love it) but its priced itself too high. We did go last week as it was DSs birthday and he requested it and a meal for the 4 of us (no dessert and a shared starter) was £70. We can eat in TGIs (WITH dessert!) for £30..hence we go there instead now! Its my guess that the days of the UK Chilis is numbered.

We also have an Outback nearby and although they are expensive, the quality of the meat and veg/ salad is generally VERY high and on a par with Florida. In fact its one of the few UK places I'll eat a steak. On occasion Ive had a rough steak and they have always cooked me a fresh one, refunded the meal AND usually give me vouchers for money off another meal.

[Carly1234]

We have been to Chillis in Reading and had an awful meal - it was over Christmas though and the restaurant was heaving so that may have been the reason why. I also love the Outback in Orlando and have tried the one in Wandsworth which was just like America - the food was lovely. Unfortunately the one in Staines was pale in comparison.

[Treacle44]

We went to the one at Lakeside a few months ago and were really disappointed. Expensive and not good quality. Whereas the one near Disney was great value and the cocktails were on happy hour - yum! :)

[Treacle44]

We are only a few mins from the Basildon one too - the food is very nice but its one of the most expensive restaurants round here (and we have a lot). £16 for fajitas, I think, is taking the P a bit! We have a Chiquitos on the same leisure park and they do bigger (and better!) ones than Chilis for £12.

We used to go to Chilis every week (the kids love it) but its priced itself too high. We did go last week as it was DSs birthday and he requested it and a meal for the 4 of us (no dessert and a shared starter) was £70. We can eat in TGIs (WITH dessert!) for £30..hence we go there instead now! Its my guess that the days of the UK Chilis is numbered.

We also have an Outback nearby and although they are expensive, the quality of the meat and veg/ salad is generally VERY high and on a par with Florida. In fact its one of the few UK places I'll eat a steak. On occasion Ive had a rough steak and they have always cooked me a fresh one, refunded the meal AND usually give me vouchers for money off another meal.


We live pretty near each other! :)

[lausan]

Reading here we come
Thanks

[scooby99]

Chilis has been open in Reading and Canary Wharf for approx 5-6 years now.
The UK sites are a pale imitation of the US sites I'm afraid and the Canary Wharf restaurant is certainly showing it's age.
They no longer do the Onion Blossom despite having signs up that say "The home of the onion blossom"!!

The Outbacks here are another rip off, they charge for bread and salad which is included in the price of your main course in the US.

Also, just as in the US their steaks can be great or not good at all as I guess they use mass produced hormone pumped beef just as most do in the US.

Give me steak at the Black and Blue chain of steak restaurants in the UK any time where they can trace where the steak comes from.

[ANGEL]

Chilli's is one of my dd's favourite haunts and we often go to our Reading one :) I do think it's pretty expensive for what it is, but the food's not bad!:)

[bubbalee]

WOW..... lots of mixed reviews!
I'm glad i didn't read these before we went, or i think we may have given it a miss!

I'm glad we went though, as we had a really good (but expensive) meal, and we certainly love our food....just take a look at my trippies from this years Florida trip)!!

I would definitely go to the Reading one again, i guess it just depends what you have, i wouldn't have a steak there as nowhere can do a steak as good as America!!!
But what we had was good.

:thumbs-up

[bongodog1964]

The Cambridge Chilis seems to have upped its game in recent times. A few years back the service was terrible. It seemed like the staff had taken a meal break themselves. The food is definitely improved too.

With regard to the prices; well thats the way things work out here in the UK; we must remember that as tourists to the US we get the great benefit of the low prices in the shops and restaurants; whilst not suffering the high medical costs and low wages in service industries.

[lexie32]

We quite often eat at the Reading Chillis, and have never had a bad experience there, but we didn't think much of the one in Kissimmee!

[fionagee]

I love Chilis and always make a point of going to one when we're in Orlando but I bet the ones in the UK don't have the BOGOF on the 'ritas and beer :drinkbeer

:d:

[speedwayfan]

The Hatfield Galleria one is now scheduled to open on 15 November, may decide to try it on our way home from Gatwick next month - be rude not too when we drive right by it!

Jill

[TimP]

Just looked at the UK prices and nearly died.

£15.95 for fajita trio !!! its only $9.99 in US

What a rip off this country of ours is .

I'm off to live in Orlando, sod it !

[elise]

I think theres going to be one at the new snow place near the trafford centre,for any northerners out there!

[debcon]

well we must be one of the lucky ones as we live in reading and eat there often so when we go to orlando we dont need to eat in chillis as it happerns we are of out for dinner later so i might go to chillis yummy

[bubbalee]

Paid Reading another visit today, this time decided to try Old Orleans for lunch rather than Chilis.
It was SO good!

http://www.oldorleans.com/

I have to say we preferred it to Chilis!
It's a nice restaurant, good size, clean, nice friendly servers, and really good food (menu was similar to Chilis, but was actually cheaper)

They had lunchtime specials, pretty cheap drinks and a nice variety of food...it was hard to decide what to have!

We went for the following:
starter:
Louisiana Bits*
Chicken tenders, quesadillas, hot and spicy wings, coconut shrimp and our mini riblets plus a rich blue cheese dressing and trade winds dip. C’est formidable!

then mains:
Wings & Ribs
Wings & RibsSticky, grilled half rack of baby back ribs with BBQ sauce, with an accompaniment of hot or BBQ chicken wings, served with coleslaw and choice of fries or jacket potato.

and

Mushroom Chicken Mushroom
So nice we named it twice. Tender chargrilled chicken breast topped with sautéed mushrooms, then smothered with melted cheese, plus breaded Cajun mushrooms.

and 4 x diet pepsi
Total = £40 and we left a £5 tip.

Well worth a visit! It's just a shame we have to trave 40miles to find a decent restaurant!! :spin: