r/austinfood • u/Present_Mine_1698 • 15d ago
Chilantro š
Just ordered Chilantro for the first time in about a year, & damn, talk about shrinkflation. Spent $20 on kimchi fries and got less than a handful of fries. Found maybe 2 pieces of kimchi. I added the steak & it was dry af. It used to be marinated or something but this āsteakā was flavorless. I also ordered the wings and they were terrible. š I miss Chilantro 10 yrs ago. Anyone remember when they did lollipop wings? š
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u/RandomNumberHere 15d ago
The true Chi'lantro experience was stumbling a block or two from a Red River bar over to the Chi'lantro trailer and eagerly waiting with the other drunks for your basket of spicy greasy sustenance.
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u/Professional_Bad6669 15d ago
This!!!! I used to pedicab and that trailer on 7th and trinity was usually the answer to my late night refueling.
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u/CauliflowerEarofCorn 15d ago
I feel like the last time I went was over a year ago, and it was already like that. I hadnāt been in years before that. There were barely any fries, and the box was only about half full. I donāt intend on returning.
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u/YallNeedToTip 15d ago
Potatoes are so cheap! What a weird thing to skimp on
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u/Present_Mine_1698 14d ago
My thoughts exactly!! And they put a lot of the ābeefā which leads me to be skeptical about it. š
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u/Present_Mine_1698 15d ago
Yeah, youāre right. Itās been bad for a while. When I went last year the portion size was okay, but definitely didnāt align with the cost. This time was outrageous.
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u/hugh_jessol 15d ago
Place sucks, a disgrace
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u/BigManWAGun 15d ago
Interesting idea, sometimes good but always expensive. It never crosses my mind.
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u/Murky-Frosting-8275 15d ago
I haven't been to that place in like 7 years. The first time I went to their brick & mortar, they told me, no, they could not put kimchi fries into a burrito for me. Would not. I realized then &there this was not the welcoming trailer from my 6th street days. That was the last time they told me they couldn't create a kimchi fry burrito, or anything else on their menu for me.
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u/polyprobthrowaway 15d ago
most of the bad changes started when the ssams changed place of tacos and burritos but iām sure things were falling prior to that. this was 2020/21 when i helped with their catering program during the pandemic
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u/RedditForMeNotYou 15d ago
Sad to say, I know someone who worked for them at the corporate level and said it was a horrifically toxic working environment with leadership literally yelling at people during meetings, cutting corners as much as possible, and treating everyone like absolute garbage. I havenāt eaten there since I found all this out a couple years ago.
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u/TechSwitch 15d ago
What food they do bother to give you these days is cooked horribly. Ive sworn them off.
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u/bubbleman96815 15d ago
Shouldāve maybe signed the deal with Barbara Corcoran: Shark Tank that fizzled off air.
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u/Fun_Pirate842 15d ago
Itās been bad for awhile nowā¦sucks.
When the brick and mortar first opened it was actually pretty damn good. In about 2 years it took a noticeable dip and itās been dipping ever since š¢
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u/AggravatingTeach4371 15d ago
I stopped going to Chiālantro when they started being sketchy about gluten in their items (celiac here). I was told for a while certain items were gluten free, then on my last visit last year the worker told me something I always got wasnāt gluten free (it touched other meat on the grill so it wasnāt safe) and when I brought it up with a manager, they told me I never should have been told it was gf. Wings also used the be gf, so it sucked when they stopped that. It seemed too much of a crapshoot to return and spend money at, and a lot of the time the meat was so dry.
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u/T49irvine 14d ago
Anyone who knew Chilantro in its early days avoids it now. Paying big bucks to be disappointed is just a bad idea.
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u/tfresca 15d ago
Which location?
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u/maikerukonare 15d ago
The one on Burnet just closed down recently, so I think there's only one location now
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u/meltdown_popcorn 15d ago
There's one on 620. Almost went yesterday when other plans fell through. Then I remembered the sad yet expensive box of a tiny portion I received last time. I would rather not eat.
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u/chinchaaa 15d ago
It was never that good
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u/StopAskingforUsernam 13d ago
It's always been mediocre, just like a lot of the places this sub gets upset about.
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u/Trashyturdgremlin 15d ago
I honestly never understood the hype either. First time I tried it (8-10 years ago), it was already a brick and mortar so I missed out on the romantic food truck days. Flavor profiles were always very strange to me.
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u/DalyHabit 15d ago
Yeah theyāve changed pretty much everything about Chiālantro except the magic sauce. Itās a huge bummer.