Tropical Smoothie Cafe — Restaurant in Garner

I am a frequent Tropical Smoothie customer. I usually purchase my food and drink from the Falls of the Neuse location as well as the Durham location. The food at these franchises is always fresh with ripe vegetables. During one visit, I purchased an online order which included the Turkey Bacon Ranch sandwich. When I arrived to pick up my sandwich, I checked my order for accuracy and noticed the were a few pieces of spoiled tomatoes. I brought this to the attention of the manager on duty at the Falls location and she immediately wanted to make it right. She asked for the sandwich, threw it in the trash and had a member of her team remake the sandwich. She apologized again for the inconvenience and gave me a $10 gift card for my next visit.

Fast forward to last night. I visited the Garner location to grab a bit to eat before visiting my girlfriend. As usual I got my go to sandwich placed online through the app. When I arrived to get my sandwich I checked it as always to make sure it was made right. After lifting up the bread, I found several pieces of brown lettuce on my sandwich. I mentioned that the brown lettuce looked and appeared slimy and I wanted a new sandwiched made as the slim was In contact with my meat and bread. They took my sandwich back and begun removing the slimy lettuce. I told the staff member to stop, throw it away and prepare me a new sandwich immediately. A second person was brought out and was updated on the situation. I was told that a new sandwich could not be made, because they are trying to minimize their waste as they are a new establishment. WTF does this has has to do with my poorly made sandwich, which should not have been presented to the customer to begin with. After going back and forth about doing things right by the customer and making things right the first time, I asked for a full refund (as my smoothie has melted). They had to call the manager to get approval to refund me via a gift card. REALLY!

In short you can see the difference in the level of service between the two locations. Never again will this establishment get another penny from me. Also train your staff to be customer service oriented and do right by the customer at the store level. One should not have to call corporate for something that can be addresses easily at...

Review of Service at Tropical Smoothie Café – Sunday (3:34–4:00 PM)

I’m writing to share a disappointing experience I had at your location this past Sunday between 3:34 and 4:00 PM. I frequently visit this Tropical Smoothie Café and have always appreciated the service—until now.

I called to place a pickup order and spoke with a staff member named Michelle. I was surprised by the sarcastic tone she used when informing me that pickup orders were not allowed at that time. I politely accepted the policy and attempted to end the call, but Michelle continued speaking in a condescending manner, making it difficult to hang up. Despite me saying “it’s okay” multiple times to try to defuse the situation, she persisted in being rude and ultimately hung up on me.

I was only five minutes away and decided to come to the location in person. When I arrived, I calmly explained that her phone behavior was unacceptable and unprofessional. Rather than apologizing or acknowledging the issue, she appeared stunned and showed no effort to correct her attitude.

What made the situation even more disappointing is that the other staff members—young teenagers—were all polite and respectful. The only issue was with the shift manager, which makes it all the more concerning. This isn’t about getting someone fired; rather, it’s about highlighting a missed opportunity in leadership. As a shift manager, Michelle sets the tone for the entire team, and unfortunately, her customer service fell far below expectations.

Customer service is the cornerstone of any successful business. It costs nothing to treat people with respect, but the cost of poor service can be significant—like losing a regular customer. Sadly, after this experience, I will no longer be visiting this location.

I hope this feedback is taken seriously and used as a chance to reinforce the importance of respectful, courteous service—especially from those in...

The WORST location in the Raleigh/Durham area. They have HORRIBLE customer service. The manager Ashley lack the basic fundamentals on handling customer complaints. I usually order thru the app for the Falls of the Neuse location and also the location near Trader Joe's and I typically go at least 2-5 times a week. I was in Garner and decided to get lunch. This location has their pickup online orders so far from the location of the fruit baskets. You have to go thru customers standing in line to get your fruit + walk on the other side of the location. Not a biggie. The issue was I ordered a smoothie that I usually get from the other 2 locations and it tasted like NOTHING. No fruit...just ice and water. I sat there for a minute and decided to ask for them to remake the drink. Ashley the manager stated that you are stuck with the drink and that if every customer came in and complained that they will have to remake their drinks. I was shocked because what if your worker who made the drink forgot to add an ingredient to the drink (by accident) and NOW the customer is stuck with that drink? So I called corporate and corporate gave me a $10 gift card. All I wanted was a new drink so now instead of Ashley remaking the drink for a much cheaper price it cost them a $10 gift card....whoever decided to hire her was a genius (not really). I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND going to the other locations in the Raleigh area because GOD FORBID your order isn't right, trust that the Garner location will not correct it. Trust, I will NEVER return to this...