Pollo Tropical Corporate Office — Attraction in Miami Springs

My order for a 50th Birthday party at my house was scheduled to be picked up Oct 12th at 5:15 to 5:30 pm.  I arrived a little after 5:30 and my order was not ready. I spoke with the Manager and he said he only had an order for 9:30 pm pick up. I showed him my order confirmation and he said it would take about 30 minutes, but they would get the order together. I figured it was only 30 minutes, so I would wait. The Manager was trying his best, so I agreed to wait. After over an hour and thiry minutes he came over to me with my order. We checked it together and the pork for 15 people, plaintains for 15 people, the macaroni and cheese for 15 people, the spicy poy poy sauce for 15 people and guava bbq sauce for 15 were all missing. He checked his paper again and realized my order was on the print out under the order that was scheduled for pick up at 9:30 pm.

He said he could give me the pork and plantains but it would be 15 more minutes for macaroni and cheese. I needed the Macaroni and cheese for my little kids, so I agreed to wait longer. After another 30 minutes, I waived him down and he finally brought out my macaroni and cheese. I asked about the sauces and he shrugged his shoulders saying I dont have it.

I ended up finally leaving at 7:45 pm. My order was scheduled for 5:15 to 5:30 pick up.

I paid over $200 for our food, which was delicious,  however I stood in the store waiting for over 2 hours, my guests at my house had no food and I lost those two hours of time that I should have been spending with my brother who we have not seen in almost a year,  due to the pandemic.

What should have been an easy pick up of food turned into a stressful and disappointing experience.

I also called the store as well as the catering phone number earlier in that day just to confirm my order would be ready. I also replied to the email I got confirming my order,  which states if you have any questions to simply reply to this email, but no one ever answered or replied. The phone kept going to a menu to leave a message. I also called the catering number and was prompted to leave a message.

As a frequent Pollo customer, this entire experience was unacceptable, disappointing and quite honestly disturbing knowing I had to stand in the store waiting for over two and a half hours while some customers were not wearing masks or social distancing.

I can only hope that Pollo does the right thing by compensating me and by making sure this experience does not ruin someone else's family gathering.

I sure hope to hear from a Supervisor as soon as possible.

Victoria

In response to the Owner.... I did send an email to that email address. I also called numerous phone numbers only to get a menu and then a voicemail. I also tried the store directly, only to get a menu and then voicemail. I also emailed numerous email addresses. I also called the catering number only to get a voicemail. I finally got a response from someone when I went on FB and sent a message. I am wondering if it's because they don't want me to post a negative...

Yesterday I went to the location at 7901 W Orlo Bronson Memorial Hwy in Kissimmee, Florida. I've been eating Pollo Tropical since it exists and loved it. We ate it for many many years in Miami, but we've been living in central Florida for 3 years and this location is the closest to our home. We have had many issues at this location but yesterday was the extreme. First of all, while we waited for our order to be ready for take out, we saw a gentleman return his food about 5 minutes, after he had it at his table, to the employee at the counter stating the order was incorrect. The employee took the tray with the gentleman's food and took it back to where they prepare the orders and started putting the plantains and other food back to be served to someone else. I couldn't believe what I had just witnessed. I have never ever in my life seen such a thing. Every restaurant that I have seen take food back, put it in the garbage. How can you serve that to someone else? You don't know if that person is sick or did something to the food while they had it. Extremely irresponsible and absolutely gross. Our "whole" chicken family meal didn't have breasts or wings. A whole chicken means 2 breasts, 2 wings, 2 thighs and 2 legs. Why is it advertised and on the menu as a "whole" chicken? The chicken had no skin, was dry and way overcooked. The manager said they can only give out 4 sauces with the family meal because the register won't allow her to put more. I have never heard of such a thing. While I waited for our order, I saw the other employees giving out 4 sauces with single orders. Does the manager have her own set of rules? They kept telling us they were waiting on the chicken, but I could see that there was plenty of chicken ready on the grill. Very bad organization and no team work. Every time we go to this location there are new employees, big turnaround of employees. Tables are always dirty and employees in general are not nice. Corporate should really look into what is happening at this location. There are a lot of other chicken places to eat at in this area that are really good and even cheaper. Will definitely not be going back ever again. Stay away if you don't want...

On Friday August 14, 2020 I placed an order that was delivered to me. The order was incomplete. I was missing the corn for the pork platter and I was missing 2 orders of waffle fries.

When I called to make the store aware of the mistake I was told first by the employee who answered to come into the store to get the rest of my food. I told them that was not an option for me and asked for the manager in duty. That manager was so rude and unprofessional and uncaring. I explained the food was incomplete and it was for my kids. The manager then told me I could come to the store for my food or have them give me more food next time I ordered. Again this options were unacceptable and The manager said I would only get The food missing. Screw my gas, time, and the pandemic I was avoiding by riding online. When I asked about a refund for my purchase the manager said it was fine knowing the store closed in less then ten minutes. The manager also told me they use several delivery partners and she didn’t know which delivered to me and she had no drivers available anyway. Not my problem and that’s not what you tell a customer. The fact that you don’t have any control over your deliveries means you shouldn’t be delivering.

I asked for the phone number to the district manager and was given a number to call and speak with the southern district manager. She was nice but just and said I would get a refund for my purchase which still has not happened. I called her again to remind her of my refund and even sent a picture of my receipt to her. I was offered free food for the inconvenience but the lack of consistency between stores, within management especially at that store makes me never wants to eat at pollo tropical ever again. I just want my refund from my purchase on the 14th. From pollo to pollo you never know what you gonna get in terms of...