Pros
Uniform is jeans or shorts, shoes for crews, and a chuy's t-shirt. The waitstaff are fun, friendly, and genuine. It's a close knit family, so don't expect full acceptance overnight, but it's worth the wait. Easy to turn and burn tables and most customers are great tippers and/or regulars. At most times, atmosphere is laid back and fun, with good music playing while you work. The GM is good about asking waitstaff what they need or what the restaurant is low on each week and then ordering it. No limit on customer to server ratio, so a party of 25 is all yours. If you have experience but wouldn't consider yourself "experienced", you can learn a lot from Chuy's and probably enjoy your time doing it.
Cons
4% tip out Sun-Thu and 5% on Friday and Saturday nights. It is the highest tip out I have ever encountered or heard of, while at the same time the most work I have ever had to do before/during/after a shift at any restaurant. Ever. [Sidenote: Tip out is configured by % of an individual server's sales for one shift, but at Chuy's no consideration is made for the number of hours tipped out employees worked, so for example, if your expo was cut/left at 2 p.m. your sales might only be at $200...But if you stayed on and closed lunch, you might end the day with $500 in sales, and be required to tip out on the full $500, even though $300 worth of your sales came after the expo left. Daily, it may not add up to a huge difference, but the idea that I was paying someone who was relaxing at home while my duties increased never sat well with me.] Of the 4% tip out, 1% goes to bar, 1% goes to expo, and the remaining 2% goes to your bussers. Now you would think that with that high of a tip out the bussers would be refilling chips, salsa, teas and waters for your table, but aside from an occassional favor or two (if they like you) all they can and will do is clear cups off tables and wipe them down. You MUST prebus down to cups only, refill chips and salsa and creamy jalapeño( a spicy ranch dip that is the main reason people eat at Chuy's) and refill all drinks. In addition, it is each server's duty to stock and maintain the two bev stations with ice, clean cups, salsa, and creamy jalapeño ( on a busy night these are depleted every 30 minutes or less). Inevitably, silverware stockpiles will run out, so it must be cleaned, sorted, and then sanitized....After which, forks and knives must be bagged and sealed (known as stuffing and dotting). This is a somewhat lengthy process required every couple hours or less and yet another responsibility of servers. Every time you leave the kitchen you must have some kind of restock(full hands out), which IS a great idea in my opinion. However, it becomes a con when, after clearing 20+ plates from a big top and running them to dish and running back out again to split that table's check 15 different ways a manager stops you to inquire why you don't have a handful of monkey bowls- then demands you go back to dish and try again (That particular instance is an illustration, admittedly, but based greatly on true events). You must run your own food ( trayed up by expo) as well as everyone elses. Even Friday/Saturday nights when an extra 1% is added to tip out for a food runner, you are required to run as much food as possible. Lean on the food runner too much and you will be reprimanded. Obviously, as servers we know there are times when running all our tables' food just isn't possible, but management believes otherwise, so make sure those moments are few and far between. Ironically (and frustratingly), most of the managers @ Shenandoah Chuy's have never even waited tables. Ever. But this will not deter them from telling you that you should be running more food or lecturing you about the importance of teamwork (even if you just refilled ice and chips and got triple sat whilst doing so). As this manager stands behind the expo doing nothing but motioning and shouting for food dying in the window to be ran, you may wonder what is stopping him from picking up a tray and leading by example......