If you know anything about my family it's that we do, indeed, enjoy going out for a night to eat. And the go to spot? The Palisades Center Mall! It's a 4-story mall with most of it's popular shopping centers on the first three floors (from the bottom up) and then all of the eateries are on the fourth floor, with the exception of the Food Court that's on the third floor. Naturally, we flock to the fourth floor where all of the sit down restaurants are. Everything from Buffalo Wild Wings (*a fam favorite*) to TGI Fridays, Tony Roma's, Yard House, Outback Steakhouse, Joe's Crab Shack, and several others. Friday night came around and we decided to go for Chili's as the dinner spot for the day.
Let me tell you this - Chili's has definitely revamped and upped their menu recently. I'm pretty sure it's just because of the upcoming summer months, but regardless everything on that menu looked phenomenal and I just wanted a taste of it all. Let's start with the drink:
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| Watermelon Margarita |
Sometimes I can be pretty basic when it comes to drinks anywhere I go. Plus, it also depends on what I'm eating on whether or not I get a beer or some kind of a mixed drink. Since I hadn't even had much time to consider what I wanted to chow down on for dinner, I decided to give their *NEW* Watermelon Margarita (cue the Beyoncé music) a try. Now, naturally, I was a little skeptical about this considering watermelon has a high, duh, water content to it. It's bad enough that I have to be concerned about the ice in my drink watering it down but now you add this water filled fruit to it and...it's just a mind game.
Overall, I thought this was an okay drink. It was super cooling and refreshing and would probably be better suited it I were sitting out on a beach (or more like out in my own backyard by the pool) on a super hot day, but it wasn't anything fascinating to me because it was heavier in watermelon flavor and barely there tequila.
(NOTE: They also have a new Watermelon Cooler which is the same base as the margarita (watermelon puree & watermelon chunks) but instead of tequila it's made with vodka).
(NOTE: They also have a new Watermelon Cooler which is the same base as the margarita (watermelon puree & watermelon chunks) but instead of tequila it's made with vodka).
Now let's take a look at the entree that I chose to tackle for dinner:
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| Green Chile Chicken Enchilada |
This is another one of their new additions to their menu, Chicken Enchiladas. There's an option to order it with either a Green Chile sauce or a Sour Cream sauce on top of the enchiladas. I went with the green chile since I'm not much of a sour cream fan.
First off, this plate comes to your table so freaking hot that they double plate it. So thanks for that Chili's. You saved my fingers from falling off. Next, the size of this plate is huge, well, at least for me it is. If you know me well enough then you know that I can't handle large overwhelming plates. Which sucks because I'm also the person that barely ever takes home the leftovers because I know myself and I know there's a 95% chance that I won't eat the leftovers so they will end up in the trash.
Overall, this dish was decent. I like spice so I didn't mind the heat from the Green Chile sauce. And I know the enchilada is the main attraction of this dish, but I was super unhappy with the rice to bean ratio. I'm also not a fan of how the beans are just kinda spewed onto the plate and dripping onto everything. I didn't even try going for that far enchilada next to the beans cause I knew it was going to be soggy from the beans and that just makes me sad. Dear Chili's, take a page from some of the little Spanish restaurants that you find out in Washington Heights - put your beans in a little cup on the side of the plate so that it's not dripping ALL over the place.
