Does Chili's Staff Know Raw Meat is Unsafe?

I have a feeling if the manager came to your table and said: this is
NOT accepatable and I will take measures immediately to ensure this is
addressed at once blah-blah-blah it would have eased your mind.

My impression is your stance is to ensure this doesn't/wouldn't happen
to anyone else and the manager may have had an attitude of OOP sorry
we will give you the meal for free and cook up something else etc.

I think this may be more of an issue of how the manager responded and
if he understood food safety importance. if he shared your concern I
doubt you would be here right now. it all goes back to customer
service and knowing how to handle situations with conflict/issues.

Anyone remember Kenny Rogers Roasters from about 10 years ago? We had
one in our area and it apparantly had a habit of serving under-cooked
chicken and it closed down within a year of opening. The health dept.
was right on that one!

I think wings are best ordered in bars, never had bar food I didn't
like!

I'm with the other commenters. If it was a wide-spread, ongoing
issue, the Health Department would already be aware of it. I'm not
familiar with this particular dish, but if it's deep-fried chicken,
which I'm visualizaing, it's understandable to see how this could
occur. As the items are in the fryer, it's possible that they were
stuck together, and the inner portions did not get fully cooked - the
same thing happened to a friend of mine at a different restaurant. We
notified the server, who escalated the issue to their kitchen staff,
and that's where it ended. We're all human, mistakes happen, and
that's why it's important to be aware of what you're eating. If
there's a problem, you can notify the appropriate personell.

Once they were notified though, that's where your responsibility would
end. You can contact the Health Dept. if you feel it's a widespread
issue, but for a one-time occurance, there's not much they can do. In
my county, restaurant inspectins are available publicly, but we don't
have public access to their internal documentation.

There doesn't seem to be any cross-contamination here, just some
chicken that didn't cook thoroughly.

...back when we had the waffles letter, that a few people in the know
said that food like this was pre-prepared -- i.e., already breaded.

However, I'm not sure that this means that it's cooked. I think
Chili's does more than just microwave food. I think they actually do
cook it from raw. It's just that certain steps, like breading, may be
done at a central location or by a supplier.

As a note: while freezing may kill some salmonella, it's apparently
not complete. The food, itself, can actually be used as a shelter for
the bacteria. Isolated, the bacteria is unlikely to survive freezing
(particularly commercial freezing which is at a lower temperature than
a home freezer). But when protected by foods (particularly high
protein ones like chicken), it could survive and grow to dangerous
levels upon defrosting.

Actually, you're potentially not legally entitled to the information
you're demanding in your final paragraph. I filed a formal complaint
with the health department about a grocery store's dairy case, and the
information I got back was very clear: These cases are confidential
and I'm not entitled to know a single thing about it.

Which is stupid--government agencies should handle everything with as
much transparency as possible.

Sometimes with chicken you think it is done, it SHOULD be done, but
isn't.

I doubt this was done purposely, you were offered compensation, what
more do you want?

Call the health department. I got served a raw chicken sandwich at
Wendy's, I called, and they sent an inspector out the same day. In my
area, health inspection reports are public record. If your county is
the same way, then you may be able to get a copy online, or at the
county offices. I do doubt though that Chili's will release internal
investigation information.

I'm sure they do know that raw meat is unsafe and, of course, they
didn't serve it that way deliberately.

The manager apologized, compensated them for the meal, took their
information, said there would be an incident report filed if a
sickness developed.

According to the OP, this is not enough.

As others have pointed out, the OP is not required to be privy to the
follow-up regarding this incident.

Mrs. M.,

Your pursuit of fully cooked chicken is admirable but securing a copy
of the internal incident report as well as being privy to ongoing
internal training and disciplanary action is not within your scope as
a customer.

I am confident that corproate will get back with you. When they do
please stop back and let us know what is said.

BillR.