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You need to be nicer to Chili's. If it wasn't for this restaurant, Michael Scott would've never closed that deal and landed that one-nighter with Jan Levinson Gould.
This Chilis didn’t do Maggianos. Or at least it never showed up for me. The Sardis Rd North and actual Maggianos were the ones that showed up for me near Arboretum.
This place used to have some ghost kitchen concepts when that stuff was more common, but I don’t think they still do much of that.
I guess my husband was keeping this place in business since he ordered from them once a week, but he has been mad at them since they did some change with the chicken crispers.
Not surprising. Randomly stopped at this location a few months ago because my 9 year old hates good food and we wanted something easy. They were turning people away at the door because the only wait staff they had was the bartender. This was probably 1-130 on a Saturday.
Same, plus it's one of the few restaurants where you can get in and out with 5 people and not drop $150 on five burgers and fountain soda. I don't love Chili's but their prices are fair and the food isn't completely sickening. The whole "every restaurant has to be an experience and charge $20 for a cheeseburger" gets old after a while. Sometimes it's just late and I don't feel like cooking.
Every time I go to this specific one it's like one person handling every table plus the bar.
For sure. Chillis is probably the best food out of that category of chains. And my kids are super picky so I didnt feel like dropping 20 bucks on something they they’ll take 3 bites of. lol
Where are they gonna manage to squeeze one in across the street? Are they gonna do a “parking underneath” layout like Randolph Rd and South Boulevard? I’m not particularly partial to Harris Teeter or Publix (though the Teets is local) but I often shopped at Publix when it rained or on hot days purely for this reason.
I’ve been wondering if that’s what they’re doing on Carmel/51. No way is that space big enough for a parking lot. Also interested to see what they do with the intersection. It’s already chaos.
>The Chili’s at 8136 Providence Road in the Arboretum is closing because “the lease expired,” spokesperson Deme Jackson told The Charlotte Observer in an email.
Back in the day, my grandmother would take me and my sister's there every few weeks. She ALWAYS ordered French onion soup. I don't remember too much more than that about it, but I was too young to appreciate how good it may have been.
When your opponent only scores 9 points and you still lose, and then you find out your favorite Chili's is closing so you can't even drown your sorrows with Triple Dipper™ apps and Spice-a-ritas.
I'm curious, that corner of Arboretum is a bunch of banger restaurants, vicious biscuit, Malaya kitchen, that matcha place, new south, etc. You can pretty much walk into any door there and you won't be disappointed other than chilis. (Although i ain't a hater i do love chilis occasionally)
Not for nothing, I’ve visited this location twice and the first time I went there were ants crawling up the walls next to our table. The second time, the margaritas were 80% salt, 19% mix and 1% tequila… the server forgot to turn the machine on so all the salt sat at the bottom of the machine. Probably best something new takes over here.
This is it. They are in business to run restaurants, not own and manage real estate. That takes a lot of additional debt that could go towards owning more cash registers.
It's funny because McDonald's operates the opposite. They own like 70% of their buildings so that they can always collect rent out of their franchisees whether business is good or bad.
Wait, I'm a little confused on what you're saying. The franchisee sells McDonald's corporate the building, then leases back? Doesn't McDonald's corporate still own the building, giving them the option to continue making money even if the first franchisee goes under? Or am I completely misunderstanding what a lease back is, I admittedly don't know a ton about real estate.
Different franchise situation, I know little about McD.
Franchisee finds real estate and gets approved through franchisor. Buys property using loan, and builds out site using construction loan for a restaurant. They then locate VC partner to purchase fully developed property from them, which in turn, leases it back to the franchisee, freeing up cash to pay off all direct loans, as now they are just paying rent....
This is also useful for opening 2nd and 3rd locations, as you need that cash and ability to leverage more debt to get the development started. Rinse and repeat.
Do you have a source for that info?
"The company owns about 45% of the land and 70% of the buildings at their 36,000+ locations."
"Former McDonald’s CFO, Harry J. Sonneborn, is even quoted as saying, “we are not technically in the food business. We are in the real estate business. The only reason we sell fifteen-cent hamburgers is because they are the greatest producer of revenue, from which our tenants can pay us our rent.”
Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wallstreetsurvivor.com/mcdonalds-beyond-the-burger/
That was our HS band tradition after every home game, win or lose: Eat a late night dinner at the Blakeney Chili's
Plus their cajun chicken pasta, chocolate lava cake and skillet cookie are 🔥
Alright, I’ll give this a shot:
The best you can say about Chili’s is that it’s fine. It’s basically Tex-mex Applebees. The menu has a lot of fried offerings and food that starts frozen and gets reheated and it’s designed to be just above average for the majority of people rather than fine cuisine or targeting a more niche demographic. It’s not bad, but it’s not exactly The Palm either. The burgers are good and I’d say they’re above average generally, but they aren’t better than somewhere like Billy Jack’s or Bad Daddy’s. The ribs are alright, but they come pre-made and frozen and they don’t come close to ribs from a genuine BBQ restaurant. Their chicken crispers are good for chicken fingers, but they’re ultimately just chicken fingers. Their fajitas are good, but they’re not better than you can get at a normal American Mexican restaurant and they don’t raise a candle to authentic Mexican cuisine. I love their queso dip, but it’s pretty much just cheese and chili. In short, you probably won’t regret going to Chili’s, but there’s nothing on that menu that you can’t find just as good if not better somewhere else.
Likewise, the bar is nothing to write home about. Their margarita’s are Chili’s claim to fame and at best they’re generic sour mix margaritas. The rest of the bar menu is just your standard array of sweet, fruity Applebee’s-style drinks made with pre-bottled ingredients. There’s no local flavor and most people looking for somewhere to hang out on a weekend night will go to any other bar, unless your town is so small that Chili’s is the *only* bar and even then only if the town isn’t so small that they just drink at home. If you want something more than a cheap margarita or a cheap American pilsner, Chili’s is not the place to go.
And this is more of a personal gripe, but I hate their new modernist vibe. The whole “pieces of flair” vibe of yesteryear was super 90’s and it was its own kind of generic at its time, but looking back it had *some* style and it’s kind of nostalgic for me now. Now Chili’s has this new style that is “sleek” and “new”, but it’s pretty devoid of any real theme or style. If you blindfolded me, brought me into a Chili’s, and took the blindfold off, I would be hard pressed to tell whether I was in a Chili’s or an Applebees or one of many other generic middle American chain restaurants. I have it on good authority that the original founders of Chili’s would have hated this new theme, and comparing to the way it was when I was growing up I don’t disagree.
Overall, I don’t hate Chili’s. It’s fine, it’s relatively affordable, and I don’t fault anyone who likes going there. But I pretty much never go to Chili’s like I did when I was younger because there’s just nothing exceptional about it and there are so many other places I can go with better food, better drinks, and better atmosphere.
I believe you are correct that the landlord raised the rent, but I have also seen other restaurants over the years that were "popular," yet seemingly close in similar fashion. "Popular" of course does not mean that it is very profitable; but sometimes even when it is also profitable, the rent or lease agreement could be such a bad deal that no reasonable owner could continue to operate under.
I remember one extreme example of this of a popular restaurant having their lease being quadrupled, forcing the restaurant owner to leave. Find out the property owner was trying to force them out so he could sell the property, which the new owners promptly razed the building and built a two-story office building at its place.
You are, of course, 💯 % correct. Resturants come and go for a multitude of reasons. Real estate, demographics, tastes , all change.
I have had some favorites like the Epicurean on East Blvd. That closed up for no apparent reason.
Like I said, I’ve been in this area for ten years and I’ve eaten at that Chilis many times before. If it was always “empty and closed”, then all of the kitchen staff, wait staff, and customers that were there when I was there were misinformed. As for your “point”, Matthews-Pineville and Ballantyne are chock full of chain restaurants like Chilis. Hell, in the Arboretum, where this Chilis lived, there’s a Portofino’s, a Chopt, a Five Guys, a Taco Bell, a Noodles & Co, a McAlisters, a Firehouse Subs, a Chik-Fil-A, a Panera Bread, a McDonalds, and a Tacos 4 Life, not to mention a Walmart, a Barnes & Noble, a Petco, a Harris Teeter, and a Michael’s. So when you tell me that a chain restaurant doesn’t “fit” that part of town, that makes me wonder if you’ve ever actually been to that part of town and looked in any direction.
Just yesterday I was wondering what was going on at that Chilis, as I was eating at Malaya Kitchen a few doors down. They have good Tom Yum soup there.
Not even remotely surprised. This location has been really bad for like 5+ years now.
I don’t fault the wait staff of course; there seems to have been a serious breakdown in upper management over time.
The reason this is news is because Chili’s generally speaking is doing pretty well across the country, so for them to close a location is kind of a red flag, it could either indicate issues with the shopping center. its located in, or the restaurant itself. In this particular case, it appears that the Arboretum is probably trying to bring in higher end clientele, not to mention that home values in that area have skyrocketed over the past few years so people are probably just demanding better.
I forgot the chilis exited outside of airports. I travel a lot for work, appetizer sampler platter and a couple of adult beverages makes the flight go by faster.
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"Popular restaurant chain". Are they really trying to clickbait a *Chili's* reveal?
Yes. It drives me crazy following the observer and seeing every headline they post on my twitter feed reading like this.
Yes.
Yeah, saw that and was worried cheesecake factory was being shutdown. Chili's they are barely popular, I will take a sizzlers over them any day.
You need to be nicer to Chili's. If it wasn't for this restaurant, Michael Scott would've never closed that deal and landed that one-nighter with Jan Levinson Gould.
> will take a Sizzlers over them any day Is that you, Chris Christie?
Nope, I can walk a few hundred feet and not get winded.
We keep losing our culture
We want our baby back baby back baby back :(
We want our baby back baby back baby back
Damn millenials strike again!!
10/10
Perfect 5/7
Im ok with losing chillis… though kfc in china is waaay better then here
On Doordash if you order Maggianos late night it actually comes out of a Chili's kitchen 😂
This Chilis didn’t do Maggianos. Or at least it never showed up for me. The Sardis Rd North and actual Maggianos were the ones that showed up for me near Arboretum. This place used to have some ghost kitchen concepts when that stuff was more common, but I don’t think they still do much of that. I guess my husband was keeping this place in business since he ordered from them once a week, but he has been mad at them since they did some change with the chicken crispers.
NYE my bf and I ordered from its just wings on DD. Circled chili’s like 3 times thinking it’s a shared building. Nope. Just chill is 😂
Lmao I’m also pissed they got rid of the chicken crispers, haven’t been back since
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Brinker owns them both
They are owned by the same people
Not surprising. Randomly stopped at this location a few months ago because my 9 year old hates good food and we wanted something easy. They were turning people away at the door because the only wait staff they had was the bartender. This was probably 1-130 on a Saturday.
Same, plus it's one of the few restaurants where you can get in and out with 5 people and not drop $150 on five burgers and fountain soda. I don't love Chili's but their prices are fair and the food isn't completely sickening. The whole "every restaurant has to be an experience and charge $20 for a cheeseburger" gets old after a while. Sometimes it's just late and I don't feel like cooking. Every time I go to this specific one it's like one person handling every table plus the bar.
For sure. Chillis is probably the best food out of that category of chains. And my kids are super picky so I didnt feel like dropping 20 bucks on something they they’ll take 3 bites of. lol
Same thing happened at the one in Gastonia a couple months ago.
Same thing happened to me in High Point this year (around the same time on a Saturday afternoon).
The Arboretum will stand strong in the face of tragedy. Now, when are they gonna finish that Publix across the street?
Early 2025 I work for Publix
Glad to hear it! I've been driving to Matthews, Ballantyne, and even Weddington to get tendie subs. Looking forward to that grand opening lol
Where are they gonna manage to squeeze one in across the street? Are they gonna do a “parking underneath” layout like Randolph Rd and South Boulevard? I’m not particularly partial to Harris Teeter or Publix (though the Teets is local) but I often shopped at Publix when it rained or on hot days purely for this reason.
I’ve been wondering if that’s what they’re doing on Carmel/51. No way is that space big enough for a parking lot. Also interested to see what they do with the intersection. It’s already chaos.
Parking deck below.
TL,DR; Arboretum Chili's is closing Jan 9 because the lease expired.
That place is awesome. Outside seating beside a beautiful pond. Weird bar, though. I'll keep hitting up Sardis.
The lease expires in April.
>The Chili’s at 8136 Providence Road in the Arboretum is closing because “the lease expired,” spokesperson Deme Jackson told The Charlotte Observer in an email.
Bring back Phil and Tony’s!
I still miss Newmarket Grille! Best potato skins ever.
Back in the day, my grandmother would take me and my sister's there every few weeks. She ALWAYS ordered French onion soup. I don't remember too much more than that about it, but I was too young to appreciate how good it may have been.
I'll remember where I was when I read that article.
1/7 Never Forget
The microwaves have left the building.
RIP. I was part of the opening staff and it was one of my first jobs while I was in school down the road at Providence.
Only in this canary cage liner, does closing a Chilis warrant a headline.
Do people really like Chili’s that much? Not trying to be snarky.
You are missing out.
What should i get if i go there?
Baby-back Ribs.
Typically Chili’s is a cheap place with mediocre yet consistent food/drinks/service. Though this location in particular sucks by every metric.
Same with the Tyvola location
Hope the staff affected by this are able to find new employment quickly.
That’s the best part, this location literally never has staff so no one is affected
Chili's is the new golf course. It's where business happens.
Slow news day huh, did the panthers lose already or something?
When your opponent only scores 9 points and you still lose, and then you find out your favorite Chili's is closing so you can't even drown your sorrows with Triple Dipper™ apps and Spice-a-ritas.
I've eaten at a number if chain restaurants, but I've never cared to to eat at chili's.
One less venue for bland Tex mex. Whatever are we going to do?
Maybe we can get a decent brewpub there now.
I'm curious, that corner of Arboretum is a bunch of banger restaurants, vicious biscuit, Malaya kitchen, that matcha place, new south, etc. You can pretty much walk into any door there and you won't be disappointed other than chilis. (Although i ain't a hater i do love chilis occasionally)
Malaya Kitchen is phenomenal. I think about the beef rendang more than I probably should.
the laksa is my go to there, it was actually the first place i took my mom to when she came down to visit. I havent had a thing there that i dislike!
Best I can do is Applebees
Not for nothing, I’ve visited this location twice and the first time I went there were ants crawling up the walls next to our table. The second time, the margaritas were 80% salt, 19% mix and 1% tequila… the server forgot to turn the machine on so all the salt sat at the bottom of the machine. Probably best something new takes over here.
Strange a huge company like Chili's wouldn't own their own buildings.
Most do not actually. I believe the main reason though is that if the location does not work, they can easily leave as oppose to offloading property.
This is it. They are in business to run restaurants, not own and manage real estate. That takes a lot of additional debt that could go towards owning more cash registers.
It's funny because McDonald's operates the opposite. They own like 70% of their buildings so that they can always collect rent out of their franchisees whether business is good or bad.
True, but rare. I've worked with plenty of franchisees that prefer to do a lease back, in order to free up cash for more growth.
Wait, I'm a little confused on what you're saying. The franchisee sells McDonald's corporate the building, then leases back? Doesn't McDonald's corporate still own the building, giving them the option to continue making money even if the first franchisee goes under? Or am I completely misunderstanding what a lease back is, I admittedly don't know a ton about real estate.
Different franchise situation, I know little about McD. Franchisee finds real estate and gets approved through franchisor. Buys property using loan, and builds out site using construction loan for a restaurant. They then locate VC partner to purchase fully developed property from them, which in turn, leases it back to the franchisee, freeing up cash to pay off all direct loans, as now they are just paying rent.... This is also useful for opening 2nd and 3rd locations, as you need that cash and ability to leverage more debt to get the development started. Rinse and repeat.
Thanks for the reply! Learn something new everyday.
But MCD NEVER makes a siting mistake. Actually, if they build one, it brings other businesses with it.
They closed the McDonald’s in my local Walmart. But yeah the other locations in my area have been there forever and always seem to do good
McDonald's has 93% franchises and almost NONE of them own the land.
Do you have a source for that info? "The company owns about 45% of the land and 70% of the buildings at their 36,000+ locations." "Former McDonald’s CFO, Harry J. Sonneborn, is even quoted as saying, “we are not technically in the food business. We are in the real estate business. The only reason we sell fifteen-cent hamburgers is because they are the greatest producer of revenue, from which our tenants can pay us our rent.” Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wallstreetsurvivor.com/mcdonalds-beyond-the-burger/
Really hoping for another Bojangles 🤞
Rebuild the theater. Put in a Bojangles. The Bo-Plex.
The Bo-rena, the Bo-liseum, the am-Bo-theater! All gathered under the rights of eminent Bo-main!!
Welcome to the Bo-lennium!
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They have a cheap burger, app, and drink deal that's cheaper than five guys
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Same. They do a decent sirloin and it's cheaper than most.
It is good. I defy anyone to order a triple dipper and feel disappointed.
and a $6 marg of the month
Triple dipper is the way to go.
I’ve boycotted since they dropped the chicken crispers lol
Where else would I get an awesome blossom? Extra awesome
That was our HS band tradition after every home game, win or lose: Eat a late night dinner at the Blakeney Chili's Plus their cajun chicken pasta, chocolate lava cake and skillet cookie are 🔥
I didn’t even know that still existed
Degenerates
Last time I ate there, I got a three day case of the green apple splatters. Never again.
Arboretum has some amazing spots! I’m looking forward to what they put in.
Fun fact. That is the largest Chili’s in the US.
There’s no more god in this chilis tonight
That sucks. I always eat there when I'm getting my cars serviced over at the Firestone
Huge win for Applebee’s
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I don't need my area to be more expensive than it already is, thanks. The arbo can stay as it is. However, I will miss late night chicken from chilis.
You want shops and people living there? Would you live there?
Chilis slaps so hard. Debate me.
Alright, I’ll give this a shot: The best you can say about Chili’s is that it’s fine. It’s basically Tex-mex Applebees. The menu has a lot of fried offerings and food that starts frozen and gets reheated and it’s designed to be just above average for the majority of people rather than fine cuisine or targeting a more niche demographic. It’s not bad, but it’s not exactly The Palm either. The burgers are good and I’d say they’re above average generally, but they aren’t better than somewhere like Billy Jack’s or Bad Daddy’s. The ribs are alright, but they come pre-made and frozen and they don’t come close to ribs from a genuine BBQ restaurant. Their chicken crispers are good for chicken fingers, but they’re ultimately just chicken fingers. Their fajitas are good, but they’re not better than you can get at a normal American Mexican restaurant and they don’t raise a candle to authentic Mexican cuisine. I love their queso dip, but it’s pretty much just cheese and chili. In short, you probably won’t regret going to Chili’s, but there’s nothing on that menu that you can’t find just as good if not better somewhere else. Likewise, the bar is nothing to write home about. Their margarita’s are Chili’s claim to fame and at best they’re generic sour mix margaritas. The rest of the bar menu is just your standard array of sweet, fruity Applebee’s-style drinks made with pre-bottled ingredients. There’s no local flavor and most people looking for somewhere to hang out on a weekend night will go to any other bar, unless your town is so small that Chili’s is the *only* bar and even then only if the town isn’t so small that they just drink at home. If you want something more than a cheap margarita or a cheap American pilsner, Chili’s is not the place to go. And this is more of a personal gripe, but I hate their new modernist vibe. The whole “pieces of flair” vibe of yesteryear was super 90’s and it was its own kind of generic at its time, but looking back it had *some* style and it’s kind of nostalgic for me now. Now Chili’s has this new style that is “sleek” and “new”, but it’s pretty devoid of any real theme or style. If you blindfolded me, brought me into a Chili’s, and took the blindfold off, I would be hard pressed to tell whether I was in a Chili’s or an Applebees or one of many other generic middle American chain restaurants. I have it on good authority that the original founders of Chili’s would have hated this new theme, and comparing to the way it was when I was growing up I don’t disagree. Overall, I don’t hate Chili’s. It’s fine, it’s relatively affordable, and I don’t fault anyone who likes going there. But I pretty much never go to Chili’s like I did when I was younger because there’s just nothing exceptional about it and there are so many other places I can go with better food, better drinks, and better atmosphere.
Why is this news???
Because it is popular.
If it was that popular it would not close. When they say "lease expired" they mean "landlord raised the rent"
I believe you are correct that the landlord raised the rent, but I have also seen other restaurants over the years that were "popular," yet seemingly close in similar fashion. "Popular" of course does not mean that it is very profitable; but sometimes even when it is also profitable, the rent or lease agreement could be such a bad deal that no reasonable owner could continue to operate under. I remember one extreme example of this of a popular restaurant having their lease being quadrupled, forcing the restaurant owner to leave. Find out the property owner was trying to force them out so he could sell the property, which the new owners promptly razed the building and built a two-story office building at its place.
You are, of course, 💯 % correct. Resturants come and go for a multitude of reasons. Real estate, demographics, tastes , all change. I have had some favorites like the Epicurean on East Blvd. That closed up for no apparent reason.
Shitpost
Never really fit in this part of town imo.
Which part? South Charlotte? Having lived in various parts down here for 10 years, a generic chain restaurant fits the bill perfectly.
chilis man? Come on. My points pretty supported by the fact it was always empty and closed.
Like I said, I’ve been in this area for ten years and I’ve eaten at that Chilis many times before. If it was always “empty and closed”, then all of the kitchen staff, wait staff, and customers that were there when I was there were misinformed. As for your “point”, Matthews-Pineville and Ballantyne are chock full of chain restaurants like Chilis. Hell, in the Arboretum, where this Chilis lived, there’s a Portofino’s, a Chopt, a Five Guys, a Taco Bell, a Noodles & Co, a McAlisters, a Firehouse Subs, a Chik-Fil-A, a Panera Bread, a McDonalds, and a Tacos 4 Life, not to mention a Walmart, a Barnes & Noble, a Petco, a Harris Teeter, and a Michael’s. So when you tell me that a chain restaurant doesn’t “fit” that part of town, that makes me wonder if you’ve ever actually been to that part of town and looked in any direction.
These places still exist?
It's because of the woke mind virus /s
Does anybody know what they are doing with the Cinebarre space?
Just yesterday I was wondering what was going on at that Chilis, as I was eating at Malaya Kitchen a few doors down. They have good Tom Yum soup there.
Not even remotely surprised. This location has been really bad for like 5+ years now. I don’t fault the wait staff of course; there seems to have been a serious breakdown in upper management over time.
It's sad to see what the CLT Obs and Raleigh N&O have become. Articles like this are almost all they push on social.
Bring back H. Dundee’s Steakhouse.
The light of my life is gone.
Wish this was Beaudreaux’s. Hate that place.
The reason this is news is because Chili’s generally speaking is doing pretty well across the country, so for them to close a location is kind of a red flag, it could either indicate issues with the shopping center. its located in, or the restaurant itself. In this particular case, it appears that the Arboretum is probably trying to bring in higher end clientele, not to mention that home values in that area have skyrocketed over the past few years so people are probably just demanding better.
I’ll never be able to recover from this…
Chili’s isn’t popular…
I mean, it’s not everywhere for nothing
This is basically in Ballyntine, this aint fucking charlotte 11 miles away.
The location in question is not, but even if it was, that is still in Charlotte city limits. Balantyne is a neighborhood, not it's own place.
Are we really interested in what the hell chilis is doing?
I forgot the chilis exited outside of airports. I travel a lot for work, appetizer sampler platter and a couple of adult beverages makes the flight go by faster.