2200 66th St N Saint Petersburg, FL 33710 (727) 316-5007

Posted by Jan

Okay y’all, let me just go ahead and give everyone a friendly public service announcement, because I’m not about to keep this to myself. If you’re thinking about ordering from Chili’s restaurant in St. Petersburg, Florida—the one on 66th Street—you might want to hear my story first. I’m even going to drop the full address when I can, because I feel like if somebody had told me what I’m about to tell you, I would’ve saved myself a whole lot of frustration (and maybe a couple of chicken wings too).

So here’s the deal: Chili’s at that location does not staple, tape, or seal up their to-go bags. Nope, not even a cute little sticker. Nothing. They just tie the bag in a simple knot and hand it over to the driver like, “Here you go, good luck.” I don’t know about you, but to me that feels like leaving your diary open in the middle of the living room—anybody walking by can flip through it. And in this case, “anybody” was my Uber Eats driver.

Now, I ordered wings—because Chili’s wings are one of the few things on this earth that consistently make me happy. I don’t play about my wings. They are my little piece of joy after a long day. So imagine the look on my face when I opened the bag, all excited, and realized some of my wings were missing. I had to blink a couple times just to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. Like, did I order the “diet pack” version? Is there a “missing wing” option in the app I accidentally clicked?

At first, I thought maybe the restaurant had made a mistake. So I did what any logical person would do—I called Chili’s directly. The lady on the phone was polite, I’ll give her that, and she told me that it wasn’t their practice to short people on food. She sounded genuinely sorry. But when I asked if maybe next time they could put some tape or staples on the bag, she just laughed and said, “We don’t really do that.” Ma’am… what? You don’t “really do that”? So basically, you’re just sending my food out into the world raw and vulnerable, like a baby deer trying to cross I-275.

That’s when it hit me: I had no idea if the mistake was on Chili’s end or if the driver decided he wanted a little snack on the way over. Either way, it’s a lose-lose for me because I paid for all my wings. And y’all know how food prices are these days—I’m not trying to donate free meals to strangers.

So then I had to get on the Uber Eats app to report it, which is a whole circus of its own. You know they don’t make it easy to reach a real human. It’s like you have to climb through twelve hoops just to talk to someone who’s willing to help. Eventually, I got through and explained the situation. The rep was nice, apologized, asked for pictures, and then hit me with, “It’ll take 12 to 62 hours for us to process your refund.” Excuse me? Sixty-two hours? That’s like three days of sitting around thinking about the wings I never got.

Now picture this: what if I had spent my last dollar on that food? What if those wings were supposed to be my dinner and breakfast? Am I just supposed to sit there starving, waiting on Uber Eats to decide whether I qualify for a refund? It’s laughable if it wasn’t so upsetting.

Honestly, I couldn’t even stay mad for too long because the whole situation had me cracking up. I sat there staring at the bones of the wings that did arrive, like they were survivors of a tragic event. I almost wanted to light a candle for the missing ones. Somewhere out there, someone was enjoying the wings I paid for, and I was just left with the leftovers.

But on the real, it does make you think: how safe is our food when there’s no seal or protection? We’re trusting both the restaurant and the driver, and neither side seems to take responsibility if something goes wrong. Uber says “talk to the restaurant,” the restaurant says “we don’t do seals,” and here I am in the middle with a half-empty box.

That’s why I’m putting this out there. If you’re going to order from Chili’s on 66th Street in St. Pete, just know what you’re walking into. Maybe you’ll get lucky and everything will be fine. Or maybe you’ll end up like me, wondering if your driver got an extra snack on the house.

For now, I’m still waiting on my refund. And no, I haven’t sworn off Chili’s forever, because let’s be real, those wings still taste good when they make it to you in one piece. But as for Uber Eats and the lack of safety measures? That’s where my trust starts running out.

So, take this as your friendly heads up: don’t count on your order being safe unless somebody decides to actually seal the bag. Until then, your food is basically out there in the wild, and you just have to cross your fingers that it makes it to your door untouched. And me? I’ll be side-eyeing every Uber Eats bag I get from now on.

Stay safe, protect your wings, and may your orders always arrive whole.

– Jan

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