Tropical Smoothie Cafe — Restaurant in Gurnee

I’m giving the quality of the food, the taste of the food and value the 4-star. It’s a great place to catch a healthy meal - the flat breads are awesome and the freshness of the ingredients makes everything extra delish!

However this chain and particularly this location needs help from an Operations / Customer Service expert.

The wait times for the drive thru are high, I literally have sat to eat my lunch across the street parking lot and time the orders…average on a weekday is 6-7 minutes from the time the car drives past the speaker. I’ve seen in one day 2 cars leave prior to paying because the drive thru is understaffed or not prioritized. I’ve worked at BK in my teen years, the drive thru had a timer that started ticking as soon as someone drove up, we had the goal to have the food out the window in less than 2 minutes. Have a live sign on expected wait time, have them drive up and pay, and park them and run the Oder to their window. Also know how long it takes to make your menu items and so time studies! Fresh food takes time, the customer knows that - but it’s about setting up the right expectation and a great experience. If your drive thru is not increasing your sales by 5-8% in profit - you’re doing it wrong.

Finally this is across the tropical smoothie sites I’ve been to in Waukegan-Gurnee-Mundaline…. I get it - it’s a smoothie business, but look at your repeat customers and note how often they don’t order a smoothie. If your front cashier asks which smoothie they want with their food combo, and the customer says none…then push your other drink options otherwise you leave money on the table and you leave the customer without anything to drink. I didn’t realize there were other drink options until going there the 5th time, I was stopping by McDs to compliment my meal with a drink.

Hope you all...

I am beyond upset and disappointed with this specific location. I went through the drive through today and got a couple smoothies. Two Island Greens and a Sunset Sunrise. I always orders these because I know that they do not contain lime/lemon and my 6 year old is allergic. To my surprise my 6 year old started to have an allergic reaction as soon as she started to drink it. I tasted her Island Green and it DID NOT taste like an island green but instead all I tasted was lime. I know there’s always a possibility for contamination, especially since I did forget to mention the lime/lemon allergy. I went inside to address this issue and to my surprise when I told the workers what was going on, they looked at me like I was stupid and like it wasn’t their fault. Instead of offering a solution (such as a refund or to remake the drink) one of them got really defensive and told me to come look behind the counter myself so that I could see that none of their ingredients are mixed and that cross contamination was not possible in a very unpleasant and defensive tone. I was baffled. I looked her and ask if they could just make me another one to which she said okay but, only because I suggested. They never once offered anytime of help or apologized. TRAIN YOUR EMPLOYEES BETTER!!! I have worked in fast food places before and have never disrespected anyone the way I was disrespected today. I go here at least once a day…. Sad to say I won’t be back to...

Updated review due to response** -I did leave bad feedback on my last order, I don't want to do it again as no one contacted me the first time:)

I used to be a frequent customer here, it's on my way to and from work so it was nice to stop here. Unfortunately the food is inconsistent, they forget a lot of things and when I was offered a refund, it was never given. I am not one to right bad reviews as I know everyone is human and forgets things, it's no big deal. This review is not about the food mistakes.

It was the last time I went where I ordered through the app, went to pick it up through the drive through (as I always do) and they made only ME come in to pick it up. The drive thru window wasnt broken, everyone else in the drive thru got their food but they made only me pull around. It was such an odd experience, as if they did it on purpose but who knows. The girl who told me to pull around was there at the counter waiting for me with the food, it wasnt even in the pick up side. If they were messing with me, idk, But I will no longer return to this location. The amount of money i have spent and points I have saved up from going to this location alone is insane....