Chili's Grill & Bar on Marsh Road in Okemos
Hey, why not start of the 2009 with a review of a chain restaurant? J’s mom picked up a gift card for Chili’s for me for Christmas. Just like Applebees (review HERE), I have never been to a Chili’s. Growing up in the Kankakee (IL) area, there was no Chili’s and by the time I moved to Peoria, I was already on my “hunt out the local joints” kick, so I never took the time to actually eat at Chili’s. J said she used to eat there all the time when she lived in Idaho Falls (ID) because they had great drinks and appetizers, so when I opened up the gift from her mom on Christmas and found a Chili’s gift card, J got excited that she was going to get to take me to what could maybe be called her favorite chain.
The Chili’s Grill & Bar in the Lansing metro is in Okemos adjacent to the Meridian Mall. It sort of shares a parking lot with the Olive Garden. Our plan was to hit up Younkers at Meridian Mall then go to dinner, but we were too late for shopping as the mall must have closed at 6:00 and we arrived closer to 6:30. Since we couldn’t go shopping, we just headed over to Chili’s for dinner.
We were met inside by a hostess who I’m pretty sure punished us for picking non-smoking over smoking. I was hoping to be seated where I could see the Rose Bowl game, but the only TV’s must have been in the smoking section which is basically the bar area. Instead, she took us into a cramped dining room around the corner and sat us in a booth right next to the Chili’s To Go entrance. The restaurant was not packed by any means so there was really no reason to put us at this table. The table was fine, but it was right next to an outside door so every time someone came in or went out, we were also treated to the 20 degree weather outside. Kind of ruins dinner when you have to eat with a coat on. Read the rest of this entry »
Mid-Michigan Dining 
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