Sometime after he moved to Seattle, Soma Mondal began hankering for Chili’s.
A Google search, however, turned up distressing news: the closest location was 4½ hours away – in Spokane.
Last November, Mondal and his partner drove across the state to eat at the only Chili’s in Washington.
The chain of casual southwestern-themed restaurants was a favorite of Mondal’s childhood, having grown up in the restaurant’s home state of Texas. But there is a considerable lack of the recognizable chain in the Pacific Northwest. Most Chili’s closed in Washington and Oregon in 2008. The last Oregon restaurant closed in 2015, and the Spokane location has been the only one in Washington for the past five years.
“I have very fond memories of Chili’s as a child. And it’s just a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s this goofy slice of kinda southwestern Mexican Americana. There’s kind of a kitsch factor, but we didn’t go to Chili’s to make fun of it. We were legitimately wanting to have a great time.”
It was Mondal’s first time to Eastern Washington, and he would not have made the weekend trip if it wasn’t for the Chili’s in downtown Spokane.
“I’d like to think I’d make it to Spokane someday, but Chili’s was kind of the thing that put Spokane on my radar,” he said. “It definitely was a big motivation for us to go.”
Mondal’s experience is familiar to Chili’s Spokane general manager Chris McCandles. The once-struggling location across the street from Spokane’s convention center is now thriving. And that is in large part because patrons are driving from out-of-town specifically to eat at Chili’s.
“We get people from the Tri-Cities. We get people from the Seattle area. We get people from the northern Oregon and Portland area coming up in here. We’re blessed to be the only Chili’s in Washington State, but we are busy,” he said.
McCandles calls the Spokane Chili’s a “landmark” of which the city should be proud.
The craze started last spring when a TikTok influencer posted a video of eating a Triple Dipper appetizer that went viral. That started a trend of videos in different locations of the chain. The Spokane location’s traffic “tripled overnight,” McCandles said.
But the bigger shift happened when a TikTok video was taken at the Spokane location last summer. That social media personality noted the Spokane Chili’s was the only one in Washington. That made Spokane a “chilihead destination” for the whole western United States, McCandles said.
The Spokane location, 207 W. Spokane Falls Blvd., used to be owned by a franchisee but was sold back to Chili’s parent company three years ago. It opened in 2000 on the former site of the Union Gospel Mission. The restaurant recently got its first remodel since it opened. A Chili’s also opened at the NorthTown Mall in 2000, but it has since closed. A Coeur d’Alene location that opened in 1999 closed last year.
“We’ve got a new, clean, relevant, inviting look, and people are enjoying that,” McCandles said.
There are no plans to expand Chili’s back into Oregon, but there is a Chili’s scheduled to open a location in the C Concourse of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport sometime this year or next.
“We are regularly evaluating new communities for Chili’s expansion. As part of this process, we consistently listen to guest feedback and also take into consideration other elements such as distribution logistics and available real estate when considering new locations. It’s still early in the construction process, but we are very excited to open a new location in Washington at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Who doesn’t love an airport Chili’s?!” Chili’s spokesperson Melissa Corum said in a statement.
But even though there may soon be a second Chili’s in Washington, Mondal expects Spokane to retain its landmark status.
“I’ve definitely been to a Chili’s in an airport. That’s cool, but weirdly enough, a Chili’s at the airport means no one in that city is gonna go. Chili’s is serving literally everyone that doesn’t live in Seattle,” he said.
Mondal would “love” a Chili’s in Seattle proper, but he also wants to return to the one in Spokane.
“We had such a good time in Spokane. We weren’t there long. In a weird way, it reminded me of home,” he said. “We’d love to come back.”
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