Tropical Smoothie Cafe — Restaurant in El Paso

I am a regular customer of Tropical Smoothie and consistently frequent the one on the corner of Pellicano and Zaragoza. If it was not for the great product I can assure you that this store would have been closed a long time ago. I can assure you it is not the staff or the cleanliness of the store. I have kept going to the location in hopes that things would change but they are only getting worse. There are two employees that stick out most from the rest. One who appears to be the manager and another employee...a female slim with glasses. On one occasion, while waiting I overheard them gossiping about other staff members which I found to be a bit unprofessional being that I was standing right in front of them. On another visit, my shake had plastic shavings, in it. I had only taken one sip, the cup was full when I returned to the counter. The staff member then called over the female mentioned with the glasses who I will assume is a lead or assistant manger. When I told her about the plastic she just looked at me and then said "well I guess I make you another one". I told her that I come all the time and she said "yeah I know". She was so unprofessional. What I have found unusual is when customers walk in...none of the staff greets or thanks customers for coming in. The shakes are made inconsistently, trash is usually full, and restrooms are filthy. You can clearly tell that the other staff members are miserable working there. I was just there today and it was extremely busy. It was not the first time I see staff members working hard during a rush and the manager not jumping in to help. During another rush she grabbed her laptop and sat down. The good news is if you visit the Joe Battle or Fountains location, you will get a totally different experience. Everyone at both locations are upbeat, friendly, and the stores are spotless. l will not be returning to any of your locations. They just build a Smoothie King closer to my house. I was not really interested because I love Tropical, but enough is enough. As a paying customer...we deserve better. I hope that the Zaragoza location gets the attention it needs. Maybe...

I’ve been to TSC several times and my experience has usually been pretty okay, nothing special but nothing noteworthy enough to complain about. On Sunday 10/17, I went in and ordered a Strawberry Chia Lemonade smoothie (which I’ve had twice before, from this location and from the other El Paso location). For starters, only one (1) of about seven employees was wearing their mask. The rest of the employees were not only maskless but engaging in PDA, flipping each other off, and swearing up a storm. The employee that handed me my drink seemed very upset to be serving me and said “have a nice day” in an annoyed mumble as she walked away from me.

Onto the smoothie, it tasted awful- like dirty water with a hint of stale lemon juice. This was NOT the Strawberry Chia Lemonade I had tried twice before. When I called and asked for the manager, the manager (or whoever picked up) refused to offer any refund or even just replace the smoothie, and argued “that’s just how the smoothie is supposed to taste, it’s not supposed to be sweet”. This was a bold faced lie. I’ve had this smoothie twice before and it’s not the sweetest but it’s never tasted like dish water. I don’t appreciate being lied to so boldly. It was a $5.29 smoothie that could easily have been replaced or refunded, instead I’m forced to write all of this on what was otherwise going to be a nice trip to one of my frequent stops.

Not only was the service terrible and the staff utterly incompetent and rude, but the quality of the smoothies has declined severely. Employees don’t wear masks or even gloves while prepping your food. On top of that they disrespect you and flip each other off in front of kids. Just get your smoothie...

I have to say I was very displeased with the service of one of the female employees. I do not remember her name but I believe it started with a V. I went Oct 18, 2017 and sometime around 4-5 if that helps to narrow it down. I have to say she was incredibly rude, I only went in to pick up my smoothie I ordered through the app and I was left standing by the register for a long time because the employee could not fine the smoothie. She informed me she would remake it which was fine however when I asked how long it would take to remake the smoothie, she gave me some look like I had offended her and told me "When it's ready." Now I know to a lot of people this is no big deal, however I think it's incredibly rude of her to do considering it wasn't exactly so it's not like I was asking to much from her. After she gave me my smoothie and tossed the straw towards the bar where I was sitting, she proceeded to pull out her phone, obviously she was in a rush to talk to someone that she had to toss my straw. But not only that, she was in so much of a hurry, that my smoothie was still incredibly chunky (It was the chia banana with strawberries). This is the last time I stop by the Zaragoza location, the fountains is much better in terms of customer service, especially if my smoothie order...