Spicy Food Should Come with a Warning, Chili's!

I received a letter from Chili's today acknowledging my experience.
In part it says:

Please accept our sincere apologies for your experience. We work hard
to maintain the highest standards of guest service that our reputation
is built on, and it is very disappointing to hear we did not meet your
expectations. We have forwarded your comments to the Area Director
for review and training purposes.

Enclosed in the letter were certificates totaling $25. Of course
that's nice, but I am also pleased that there will be a review and
training. I am also pleased that they responded so quickly with
assurance that my concerns were taken seriously.

Nice job, Chili's!

Excellent letter!!! I had lunch today at Chili's and had a great time
as usual.

This is the kind of letter i find pleasurable to read. You took a VERY
valid complaint and packaged it as a compliment, Kudos. If i were the
person ant corporate reading this letter i would have sent you a
coupon for free entrees for the whole party! what the kitchen did was
way out of line, what if you had been allergic to the spices? they
could have been sued over something as simple as a chicken breast. I
think you handled this very well and i hope Chili's will feel the same
way.

How can they substitute something that is particularly spicy for a
nonspicy dish without first asking? Nevermind that--ALL substitutions
should be run past the customer first. I am a total spice wuss--I
love it, but some spicy foods actually cause sores on the inside of my
mouth, so it's not just about my taste buds.

The cooks not only dropped the ball here, but so did the waitress. I
am guessing that on a busy night, she opted to not pass along key
information to you.

Very valid complaint. The kitchen should have verified that it would
be OK prior to substituting spicier food.

This is good feedback for all parties involved. "Corporate", whoever
that might be, but more importantly, the local management team and
kitchen/wait staff.

I am surprised that this was not addressed with the manager at the
time. Even though you were tired and looking to get out of there,
calling the manager over would have likely yielded a refund on the
spot (Unless he was too busy making out with the waitress (; ), even
though that it is not your complaint. I think that this is the perfect
avenue to convey your feedback because the manager would have likely
blown off your complaint, however corporate level feedback will likely
get results as receiving complaints is typically grounds for closer
monitoring by upper management, and the penalty is higher.

the overwhelming desire to make some crank comment about Doris and her
waffles aside. . . .

I hope they take care this more from the standpoint that it seems like
the shorted you on what you ordered. Chilli's is not one of the
cheaper chains and not getting all the food you paid for is not good.

As for the spicy issue, it's Chilli's. I pretty much expect anything
I order from there to be a little stronger than say Applebees or TGI
Fridays. I can't imagine that they would just substitute spicy
chicken because they were out, so I wonder if they grabbed the wrong
one by accident. That would make more sense than swapping it out.
But why the waitress didn't immediately offer you something else, a
refund, or finding out for certain that they were in fact, out of the
"plain chicken" when you told her of the issue baffles me.

I'll be interested to hear how they respond to this. I don't eat
there often, but it would go a long way to know they take care of
their customers!

I have been waiting for the right time to reference that hilarious
letter to chilis

wow...I'm glad you were calm. I might have been a little more upset
than you were however. I am VERY sensitive to spicy foods. I cannot
even eat a wendy's spicy chicken sandwhich. Nor can I go to say
chilis or applebees and order chili.

Venice, by the way, this is a great letter! Not only did you take
action while you were there, but you followed up with a letter that's
devoid of hyperbole, threats, or anything of the sort.

...can actually produce chemicals in your body that are similar to
those released when you take certain drugs (heroin, I think). Some
people get high from eating very spicy foods.

I used to love spicy food and stopped only because of digestive
problems. There was nothing too spicy for me and, yes, I can attest
to the "high." Whether or not it was because my body though I was
taking heroin or not, there was a definite great feeling that came
after the initial pain. The high could last several minutes.

In any case, spicy or not, making substitutions without notifying the
customer is wrong. People have allergies and sensitives, not to
mention simply not liking certain ingredients. A simple "we're out of
the chicken we normally use it that dish... would you mind if we
substituted with our spicy chicken?"