Bzz Agent Review: Chili’s Guiltless Grill

Hey, there, readers!

In honor of St. Paddy’s Day, we’re going to talk about Chili’s. And what does Chili’s have to do with St. Patrick’s Day? Absolutely nothing, except that it is a good place to hang out with friends, so you can go there if you are wanting to celebrate.

No, really, that was just a lame attempt to disguise that, once again, it is time for me to sell my blog space to corporate America. Actually, I’m not selling my blog, I’m trading it — for free food!

As part of Chili’s Guiltless Grill Bzz Campaign, I received coupons to try Chili’s new selection of entrees that are 750 calories or less. This sounded good to me — I like Chili’s, and I like the idea of eating relatively healthily when I’m out at a restaurant.

I’m not much for chain restaurants, preferring to eat locally, but Chili’s is a top choice when I do eat at a chain. Good prices and vast menu selection make the place great for groups. Plus, they recently fulfilled very important pregnancy cravings for me — one night after childbirth education class I was almost in tears with a desire of steak. A nearby Chili’s provided a terrific steak (and garlic mash potatoes!) quickly and yummily.

But I digress. Back to the Guiltless Grill. Paul and I stopped by Chili’s last week to give the entrees a try. Lots of “Guiltless” options — steak, grilled chicken, tilapia, salmon, black bean burger — ranging in price from $6.50ish to $14.50ish.

I tried the Grilled Chicken Sandwich. Meh. Nothing awesome. It just didn’t have very much taste. The menu describes it as including Ranch sauce, but apparently a teeny tiny dollop was all they could manage to stay under the 750 calorie mark. The steamed veggies that came with the sandwich, however, were absolutely incredible — broccoli and carrots with parmesan cheese. I was amazed at the tastiness, especially because I usually hate cooked carrots.

Paul had the Cedar Plank Tilapia. He thought it was okay, but wondered why they hadn’t spiced it up a bit more. He loved the rice pilaf on the side, though, as well as the aforementioned broccoli.

I would say that the Guiltless Grill options are definitely worth trying, especially for people who are trying to keep their diets to a healthy number of calories each day. While I think that the Guiltless options could have used some more flavor, I really didn’t feel like I was restricting myself by ordering from that section of the menu.

Of course, I probably didn’t feel restricted because um, we might have ordered chips and salsa as an appetizer…..and this ridiculously tasty dessert that involved chocolate chip cake with a milk chocolate center covered in ice cream. Heh. However, the dessert was more of a pregnant craving than something needed to fill me up (okay, it was ALL a pregnant craving, and now I really want a chocolate shake). The chips and salsa plus my entree definitely would have been a feast of a meal, and I think the entree would have been satisfying on its own.