Chili’s -- Never again!

Ok, so I wasn’t going to announce on the blogosphere that it was my birthday today but a disappointing lunch at a Chili's left me no choice but to post it.
My day started off nice enough. Tushar let me sleep in late and had made tea and breakfast (omelet and toast) for me. I do not prefer to eat out much and especially not in a restaurant which serves American and Italian fare on the same menu. We usually do a restaurant lunch only two or three times a year for a couple of reasons. I prefer homemade food to restaurant food for the same reason I prefer home baked cookies to store bought. Since it is usually for a special occasion like a birthday or anniversary we prefer to go to a nice eating joint run by a chef or a family instead of a chain restaurant like Chili's.
Today was an exception since we had to go to the shops and decided to go to a nearby mall which also has a Chili’s restaurant. Usually, it is not our choice of restaurant for any occasion but we had a couple of gift certificates our friendly pest control guy had given us. We shopped around for a while before we went in to eat. Before leaving the house I had googled “Eat this not that at Chili’s” and there was not much to choose from their decadent but grossly unhealthy menu. The Men's Health Magazine which has conducted the survey of hundreds of restaurants around the country, had given the Chili's menu a D grade in terms of serving healthy fair but recommended ‘Guiltless Grilled Chicken burger’ and 'Chicken Fajita Pita’ as a means of "survival strategy".

We finished our meals and ordered their decadent Molten Chocolate Cake since it was my birthday “which comes once a year”.
The food, I have to say, was at best, mediocre. Tushar's burger was “ok” and the side of steamed broccoli was bland. My grilled chicken fajita had sautéed onions and bell peppers smothered in oil and the pita was soft and crumbly. The only redeeming feature of the meal was the dessert but even with the two of us sharing it became too sweet by the time we were almost done with it. With 1150 cal in the cake topped with ice cream and chocolate sauce, it is little wonder we left the restaurant feeling full and heavy. As the day progressed the feeling soon turned to lethargy and an intense thirst (high sodium). By evening I was drinking water like a fish. The two of us had not felt hungry by the time this piece was written (it is nearly midnight) and we had lunch at about 2 in the afternoon.
I shudder to think how we would be feeling if we had gone with one of the more decadent menu choices. A lesson learnt at the expense of our stomachs.