Pollo Tropical — Restaurant in Florida

I’ve been eating at Pollo Tropical for decades. It used to be such a good restaurant that going there was irresistible. On 12/2/23 after flying into town from a long trip and being ravenously hungry, I stopped at the Alafaya location to eat. The once nice décor has been stripped down to bare, cheap essentials. The gentleman taking my order was polite, but did not ask if the order was take out or to eat inside. I ordered a regular Tropichop with brown rice, chicken, black beans, corn, tomato, and a glass of water. (Not many years ago, a regular Tropichop was a little under $4—an incredible bargain, but now it’s $7.89.) I added avocado slices to the order (five tiny slices, as it turned out), for $2.59 extra. Total with tax: $11.16. While the eight salsas bar is sadly long gone, I planned to get a pack of curry mustard salsa. When a lady started to hand me my order, she was putting it in a bag. I told her I was going to eat in the restaurant, but she continued to put my order in the bag, because she didn’t understand English. She did understand when I said I wanted Curry Mustard salsa, but she made it clear (after some effort) that only one kind of salsa was available in the tiny packs. I took my order and sat down to eat. No tomatoes were in my order. The chicken seemed overcooked. But the worst was I kept biting down on hard stuff, like little rocks. I finally determined it was very undercooked rice or old, dried out rice scraped from the bottom of a pot. I considered complaining, but given the people behind the counter figured it would be a stressful waste of time, and I was fatigued and hungry. I ate the bad food anyway, hoping I didn’t hurt my teeth on the hard stuff. After I left, my first thought was that some private equity group must have bought the chain. I checked and indeed there was a buyout. Usually when this happens, the company is gutted, anything possible is done to raise profits, the deal makers pay themselves a lot, then they sell the company which is then hopelessly saddled with debt from the buyout. The next day, I paid a high price (which I will not describe) for having eaten that food. If you are starving and the only option is Pollo Tropical, go hungry. Your body will thank you. Been to Pollo Tropical countless times. Never again! As they taught me in Hospitality Management class in UCF’s graduate business school, “vote...

I remember getting a grilled chicken breast sandwich a couple years ago, it was my go to with black beans and rice for a side. When they discontinued the grilled chicken sandwich, I didnt go back, wasnt interested in wraps or bowls. So when they advertised the return of the grilled chicken breast sandwich, I went back to get a sandwich combo to go. I was sorely disappointed.

1. First, the combo side was no longer black beans and rice, it was black beans OR rice! I had to pay an extra $3.49 for one and get the other with the combo. That made my combo deal $10.99 to $15 and change, which is a lot for a sandwich-side-and small drink. The rice was ok, much like I remembered, but the beans were awful, watered down, tasteless and devoid of any flavoring. I was offered sauces, and they gave me a decent amount of the curry ranch in little to go cups, but there were no hot sauces available, either from the counter or on the tables like before. The chicken sandwich came with lettuce and cilantro garlic aoli, which wasn't bad, but it didn't come with tomato, I'm not sure because of design or because they ran out. My only real complaint about the sandwich was that it only had a half a breast, about 4 ounces of chicken. If I bought the sandwich only, at $6.89, I would be more upset if the truncated sandwich was all I got.
2. The service was adequate, if not a little less than friendly. I don't expect groveling, but disdain seemed unnecessary. I didnt have to wait for my order, so I had that going for me.
3. The restaurant looked neat and clean. I was disappointed that the sauces were no longer available on a bar where I could get how much I wanted, instead I would have to stand in line and beg for one more 1 oz cup of sauce. There was no bottles of hot sauce at the tables, and like I mentioned, the black beans desperately needed some flavor. However, I didnt eat on premises, I took it to go. Made the experience more...

DO NOT GO HERE! DO NOT EVEN GO TO ANY POLLO TROPICAL!! I purchased food from drive through back in August, because the dining room was closed. That means they had ONE job....drive through. I was focused on removing my cold desert from the bag, sitting on top of hot food, that I did not realize I was missing half my food. I called the store, which goes to corporate customer service. They DID NOT refund my credit card. I was promised a GIFT CARD (exact words) for the amount. They DID NOT send a gift card, they sent $5 coupons I can use one at a time. THEY STOLE MY MONEY and are not trying to rectify the situation. 6 calls to customer service. Many calls/voice mail to the Corporate person that sent coupons instead of gift card. Several online complaints via the Website. Customer Service and Corporate DO NOT COMMUNICATE. Customer Service every time says they will rectify and understand the situation. Corporate does not follow through. They NEVER respond. They don't care about the customers. THEY WILL NEVER get any more of my hard earned $$ as they are thieves.

Update 12/15/21: Customer Service contacted me, see response below. I sent an email with all the information...again. NO RESPONSE! Update 12/19/21: Sent a follow up email on 12/15 with no response again. Can they be more obvious that they really do not care about their customers. Update 1/16/22: Sent them an email that on the 1 year mark I would send a card to honor the anniversary of them taking my money and not giving me my product, even after hours of time spent trying to rectify it. ...