The Tex-Mex-Style Restaurant Chain With A Cheeseburger That Outshines Texas Roadhouse And Outback Steakhouse

That old saying about "not judging a book by its cover" may be overused, but it's still often true. You may wander into a seafood-style restaurant and have the best steak quesadilla of your life or walk into a sports bar for an unbelievably good salad. Would you believe that, above stereotypical sit-down chain restaurants like Outback Steakhouse and Texas Roadhouse, we determined you can get a pretty darn good cheeseburger at a Tex-Mex-style joint like Chili's?

In a ranking of seven sit-down chain restaurant cheeseburgers from worst to best, we placed The Big QP Burger in the number two slot. The Chili's offering placed second only to LongHorn Steakhouse's cheeseburger. It may be a more casual dining experience, but this cheeseburger is anything but ordinary. We found that the beef was tender and chock-full of flavor, complemented by two slices of American cheese, ketchup, mustard, and pickles that provided a crisp, delicious crunch.

Sure, the burger wasn't quite as high-quality as the kind you'd find at a real steakhouse. Still, for just under $15, we found the Big QP is a prime example of what a chain restaurant cheeseburger should be. Now that's a fact about Chili's that insiders would know.

Even though Chili's Big QP was just released in spring 2025, it's become a major hit with cheeseburger fans nationwide tired of the now-typical smashburger phenomenon. "The Big QP is [better] than the smashburger," said one Reddit fan of the cheeseburger, and others online thought the price was great. Another Reddit user was impressed that the Big QP was "cooked perfectly," praising the entrée deal for offering fries, a salad, and a soda al under one price. Another Redditor on the platform said they ordered the Big QP and concluded, "It was better than Chili's has had the right to be for some time," adding that the chain is "doing things right."

Of course, while the burger has garnered plenty of fans, there are some who find it rather lackluster. One Reddit user described it as "a McDonald's QP, with better meat and bun," saying they found it a "bit upsetting, not very Chili's, not very good." Another Redditor on the same thread added: "If you're going to serve a burger at Chili's, Applebee's, any sit-down restaurant, you have to do better than a QP!" Still, in one of our own rankings of seven Chili's entrées, we placed the Big QP Burger fifth out of seven. So, while this burger may compare well to other chains, there are several other Chili's menu items out there to tackle first.