Each week in 'Knockers' we order from a different delivery restaurant, assessing their efficiency and keeping a running score.
Chili's
Various Locations
www.diningin.com
Promised delivery time: 45 minutes
Actual delivery time: 45 minutes
Scoring summary:
Easy online ordering: 20
Not having to deal with a human on a bad night: 40
Getting a food hangover: -2
Learning a valuable lessons: 10
Total Score: 68
The Table (So Far)
Sal's Pizza 74
Thai 2 Go 72
Chili's 68
See complete 2008-2010 standings here
Fridays were always my favorite day of the week--"were" being the keyword. It was like a big countdown to the weekend. From the second I woke up on a Friday morning my internal clock was ticking away and waiting for 6 p.m. to roll around.
Well, my feelings towards Friday have changed.
It started a couple of weeks ago when I woke up and realized that it was 16 degrees outside. My bones were frozen and I could barely get out of bed. My internal clock also seemed to be a little slow, too. Of course, I finally defrosted myself and went on to work--into one of those days that was very busy, but seemed like it lasted forever.
My favorite time of the day, 6 p.m., finally rolled around. I was starving and needed to feed this hungry belly of mine, only that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.
To make a long story short, my gas light came on, I was stuck in
traffic, had to make a detour to fill up my car, got lost and an hour
later I finally make it home. And by this point, my stomach was calling
me every name in the book and began thinking of being emancipated.
I already knew that I didn't feel like cooking and, well, the fast food
option was out (not eating fast food for a year; that's a completely
different story). So I hop online and immediately go to
www.diningin.com, my go-to for delivery when I'm not feeling my other
North Dallas options.
I decided to go with Chili's because the thought of their chicken
crispers seemed to brighten my mood a little. I pushed this button, I
pushed that button, typed in my address and credit card info and I was
ready to go.
Well, kind of ready to go. It would be around 45 minutes until I
received my food. So again, I had to talk my stomach out of packing a
bag and leaving me for good. I distracted it with some social
networking online and a little bit of television. Finally, it decided
to forgive me when we both heard the knock on the door.
The nice delivery driver gave me my food and told me to have a good
night, and for a second I believed that I would have a good evening. I
immediately started with the triple dipper, which included boneless
buffalo wings, southwest egg rolls and chicken crispers. About 3
minutes into eating one of each, I started to feel horrible--which
makes a lot of sense considering I've been trying this new thing called
being healthy and I haven't had junk food in forever.
I put down the food and grabbed a trashcan just to be safe.
So my Friday night was not a good one like the driver told me to have.
The next morning I woke with a food hangover and my stomach and I were
on the outs again. I decided to throw away the rest of my leftovers and
about $30 along with it. Then I started nursing my chicken crisper
hangover with a marathon of the original Beverly Hills 90210 and lots
and lots of Sprite.
I did come out of the whole mess learning a few valuable
lessons--always get gas before your light comes on, never order
anything from Chili's again, always respect your stomach and never take
fashion tips from old episodes of BH 90210.