Tropical Smoothie Cafe — Restaurant in Columbia

On August 19th, I came in to get a smoothie. Although I'd visited this location many times in the past and I'd had bad experiences, I decided to give it another try. All of the staff working that day appeared to be under 17 years of age. None of them wore gloves when preparing smoothies, which to me is unsafe and unsanitary. The young lady that fixed my smoothie did it incorrectly and it had to be fixed by another employee named Gabby. The one that fixed it then wiped her nose with her hand, sneezed, then did it again. I waited a second, then called her over to me, and in a low tone to prevent her from being embarrassed, I asked her to wash her hands when I saw that she wasn't making an attempt to do so. She turned around rudely and loudly told me, "You ain't gotta tell me to wash my hands!" So I told her, "Young lady apparently I do and I did." "She continued on speaking loudly and disrespectfully. Then a young man with braids also began to talk rudely, "Ma'am you starting to piss me off now! You can just leave!". I told both of them I just paid for an item and I will not leave until I get my money back. She jumped on the phone and called her mother to come up there. My fiancé is in law enforcement so I called him so that he could get an officer there. I then told him to wait a second as they were trying to figure out how to give me a refund. They refused to give me the managers number although they called her and she was on the phone. I know that her name was Dana and they told me that she refused to speak with me. The young lady that was helpful and kind was "Gabby" and the young lady that was preparing food that day. My suggestion is: Remove those two disrespectful children/employees that failed to serve properly that day. Those two will hurt the owner's business for sure. Gloves and hair nets should be implemented when preparing smoothies.

Please review your cameras on that day. I'd like to hear back from someone regarding these concerns. I'm 46 years old and this is the worst retail dining experience...

The morning staff at this location is very unprofessional. I visited the store yesterday and today purchased a detox island green smoothie. The smoothie was watery yesterday. The female who started making the smoothie was new. On of the other female workers took over and was rather rude to her and made her stop making smoothies. She had an attitude as she didn’t want to make smoothies and was complaining about having to work on smoothies. The female who took over blended my smoothie about 3 times so it was so watery when I received it. Her and the 3rd female worker were joking and playing and my coworker and I waited several minutes to be served. There were only 2 people waiting but we all waited about 30 mins for a smoothie. Unacceptable. Tried again this morning and the same 3 workers were there. The new female was working the food section and the other 2 females were working the register and smoothie making. Once again, the female had an attitude and was mumbling and grunting. Another customer made a comment to her and she stated she has s lot going on so that’s why she’s not saying anything to anyone. She blended my smoothie and the other customers then started doing other things. The female from the registered then blended the smoothies again. The first female came back and added more fruit to my smoothie then started to blend it again for the 3rd time. When I stopped her and informed her to please make my smoothie thicker, she had an attitude. Her and the female from the register started laughing and mumbling to each other. She then adds a scoop of ice to the smoothie and blends it. It was thicker and watery and had ice chips throughout. This will be my last time at this location. I have been hearing other people complain about the unprofessionalism of the staff and the inconsistency in the products and now I have experienced it for myself. There should be some form of training for the staff at...

I had the worst experience ever today. I walked in was not greeted and there were 3 people in front of me. They placed their orders and then the girl left and started making their smoothies. She never addressed me at all. Not even give me a minute. I waited approximately 6-10 minutes or so and then the girl making the sandwiches walked over to help her with the smoothies. I am not addressed. The sandwich girl finally comes to take my order because there was a man behind me. I placed my order and the sandwich girl starts making my food..... In the process 2 people come from the back and she starts talking to them. I saw her scratch her head with the gloves on, so I kindly asked her to switch her gloves b4 finishing my sandwich... She had a little tude. But she finishes and hands me the sandwich. I am still waiting for my smoothie after everyone else was gone. Now I have been in here about 20-25 minutes. I asked am i next and the girl looks at me and the screen and said, No. Now I am getting extremely frustrated so I say I have been patient with you all taking forever to get my order now I have to wait forever for my stuff and I have to pick up my son. Then the sandwich girl starts cursing and saying we are the only 2 in here working so yoy just need to wait until she gets to you.... A mumbled some other obscene words... Then the guy comes from the baack and yells do you want me to call the manager and get you a refund.... Im like, No. I want my smoothie so i can go!!! So now I have 3 people yelling at me... I yell right back that you are unprofessional and I am the customer who is paying!!!! I finally got my smoothie about 5 minutes later and now will not ever spend another dime at this location. When employees and assistant manager can curse you out and think it's okay, that is definitely a huge problem. I am old enough to be all of their mothers and was extremely...