Chili’s Restaurant

We have been fans of Chili’s since it reopened at Tanglin Mall a few years back. Yes, the first time we visited Chili’s, we fell in love with their Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie. After a long hiatus, we went back to Chili’s on Thursday, hoping to fall in love, once again…

Chili’s was having a lunch promotion – Lunch Combos (1 soup/salad + 1 entree) at $14.90, 11.00am to 4.00pm on weekdays. We ordered a lunch combo (soup of the day + half chicken quesadillas) and the Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie.

Lunch Combo - Half Chicken Quesadillas & Soup of the Day

Soup of the day

Chicken Quesadillas

The soup of the day was Chicken Soup. The chicken soup was very salty, too salty. The clear soup was filled with quite a significant amount of semi-cooked rice grains. The rice grains weren’t soft like cooked rice or porridge, rather they were a bit on the hard and chewy side. There were also a few mini bite-sized chicken chunks inside the soup. But overall, the soup looked and tasted like it was made from overnight ingredients, akin to the chef mixing all the leftover food from yesterday into a big pot of broth. Looks and taste wise, it was far from Texas-Mexican food, and was not appealing at all.

Our entree consisted of 4 small slices of Chicken Quesadillas, alongside a serving of pico de gallo (fresh, uncooked condiment made from chopped tomatoes and onions) and sour cream. The Quesadillas in the ala carte menu comes with rice (which is pretty good) and black beans, but were noticeably missing in the lunch combo. The Quesadillas are essentially Fajita-marinated chicken with grilled onions and jack cheese in buttery toasted tortillas. When the dish was first served, there seemed to be a lack in appeal factor. It didn’t look appetizing to us. The tortillas were buttery, but tasted strangely similar to Indian pratas. There weren’t much onions inside, and the cheese was rather bland. The Fajita-marinated chicken didn’t look and taste grilled. Rather, we felt that they were more like boiled chicken slices. It was a major disappointment for us as we used to love Chili’s Quesadillas alot. Looks and taste wise, the Quesadillas were far from good.

The only saving grace of the lunch combo turned out to be the pico de gallo. Every mouth of tomatoes revealed a burst of refreshness, tanginess and spiciness. It was a commendable side dish, which greatly outperformed the main lead.

Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie

Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie

Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie

Well, the waitress actually forgot about our order of Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie, and hence we had to wait almost 20 minutes for it. After the disappointing lunch combo, we were quite worried that there would be a drop in standard for the desserts as well. Thankfully,our all-time favourite did not disappoint us. Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie – a warm, chewy bar layered with chocolate chips, walnuts and coconut, topped with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with hot fudge and caramel. The entire plating was great; the big scoop of vanilla ice cream and generous toppings of hot fudge and caramel were enough to make our mouths water. The pie itself was warm, and very chewy with a texture similar to that of digestive biscuits. On previous occassions, we felt that the coconut taste was very mild and barely detactable. However, this time round, there was a stronger coconut taste and texture. But fret not, for those who do not like coconuts, the coconut taste isn’t all that overpowering and in fact, complements well with the entire pie. The cold vanilla ice cream was a perfect match with the warm chewy bar. This dessert is a combination of many textures: a warm pie with cold ice cream; a chewy bar, crunchy walnut chips, smooth ice cream and sticky caramel sauce. The cake was pretty sweet and would be a definite hit with those with a sweet tooth!

Chili’s Restaurant
#02-23 Tanglin Mall
163 Tanglin Road