Tropical Smoothie Cafe — Restaurant in Lynchburg

This is long but PLEASE READ!!

I am rating this two stars rather than one because the female worker who helped me was very polite and kind! She did not feed into the way her coworker was acting :)

Sunday night, I walked into tropical smoothie at 8:58 pm. There are nights when the store closes at 10, and while I didn’t check to make sure this was the same case Sunday night, I was under the assumption it was. I did not realize the store closed at 9 pm on Sundays.

I ordered one acai bowl, then sat down and waited. All of the sudden, I overheard from behind the counter (as my food was being made), “I’ve never understood the fascination with these açaí bowls,” from the male coworker. He then proceeded to call my order either dumb or stupid (I can’t remember which one). I do not remember his exact words, but I do know he spent almost the entirety of working on my order trash talking it. Then, he stated, “you know, I could never do it. I could never walk in 2 minutes before close and order something from someone.”

For context, I worked in a coffee shop restaurant for four years through college before I ever came into my career at 23. It is the WORST when people walk in less than five minutes before close.. UGH!! I completely understand why anyone would be frustrated with that! However, in my four years of working in the food industry, even with people who walked in AFTER close, I still never handled anyone that way. The only time I was ever frustrated with a customer was if they walked in within the last five minutes, followed by me stating, “hey, just to let you know, we do close in five minutes so I will need to get you something quick.” If someone chose to order something even after that statement, THEN I was slightly frustrated. But I still never spoke like that! No one told me they were closing Sunday night at 9 pm. Actually, if someone HAD warned me the way I used to as a food worker, I either would have walked out and said, “never mind, so sorry to bother you!” OR, I would have ordered, but left an extremely generous tip, probably over 70%, because that is how I feel food workers deserve to be treated :)

When the worker came around the counter with my order, I looked at him and said, “hey, I didn’t realize you closed so soon, but thanks anyway.” I was very frustrated!

Please do NOT go here any time after 8 pm!! You may accidentally be walking in close to close, which means you’ll have your order...

I filled out the store survey, and I was so focused on typing all the great attributes of the Manager Keri and her staff that I forgot to type her name in the store survey which I had to do something about, so I decided to do a Google review. If you have not been to the Tropical Smoothie Cafe on Timberlake Rd in Lynchburg, VA you are missing out on a great dining experience!

Keri is ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING MANAGER THAT I HAVE EVER CAME ACROSS IN MY 57 YEARS OF LIVING. SHE WAS VERY KIND, THOUGHTFUL, PATIENT, COMPASSIONATE, POSITIVE, INSPIRING, UPLIFTING. I came in with my 2 sons, one who has severe autism and Keri showed us so much love and kindness while we were taking a long minute to decide from the wonderful array of delicious items that are on the menu. Keri also took time to tell us about food items and smoothies and gave wonderful suggestions that I took her up on. I tried the Bahama Mama with aded Mango since I am the mama of many, and it was so delicious and amazing. I also had the Chipotle Chicken Club and the Spinach Feta and Pesto wrap that I shared-both great choices. One son chose the Mango Magic and Baha Chicken which he obviously enjoyed every bite. My son with severe autism can be very difficult to please but he chose the Blueberry Bliss, and he acted like he had gone to heaven. He also chose the 3 cheese chicken which he also loved. PRAISE FATHER GOD/YHWH/YESHUA/HOLY GHOST-HOLY SPIRIT that he was clam and happy for this is turning out to be a great day!

The staff is also amazing, very attentive, and they follow the directives of Keri, the manager, the first time which is so great to see in our present day world. They ALL work together as an AWESOME TEAM giving GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE WITH KINDNESS AND COMPASSION, and that speaks highly to leadership!

Keri is passionate about her work and people and is intentional about everything she does. I see a great future ahead for her in upper management when Our Father God opens up that door. Any company she works for is truly blessed to have her on their team. I am very blessed to have met her, and I will become a regular customer just because of how she and her team treated me and my sons. I have over 1900 followers on Facebook and I'm definitely going to share my experience today at Tropical Smoothie...

.. UPDATE.. NO ONE has reached out to pay me my money back. I got this reply here, which doesn't mean much other than words to look like you care. I followed the step from your response. Still nothing! I just can't believe that its tropical smoothies practice to just not make an order and keep the customers money! I was polite when I was there... I called customer support and was polite the first 2 times. The third time, the woman seemed to have an attitude because it's not her responsibility to get me my money she did her job, so I might have come off annoyed, but I am blown away by this! Call me Karen if you wish, but if you order from a restaurant and give them your money, I believe, like me, you assume they will have an ethical practice in place! So, to the person who wrote the generic, truly sorry response, the words don't match the action. Please evaluate your ethics.....

They didn't make my order. Said they couldn't make the sandwich after saying they were working on the order. I had waited a half hour before even being told. They had said they were working on my order when I got there. I asked for reimbursement since the sandwich couldn't be made. They hadn't even started the smoothie, and I had to get to an appointment. They said they couldn't reimburse me because I ordered online. I called customer service, who told me all they can do is submit a claim. This was two weeks ago, and customer service still says there's nothing they can do. They have done what they can. I find it unethical that tropical smoothie doesn't have a way to pay back people who order online if the order can't be fulfilled. How long does one have to wait for whomever to decide if I'm telling the truth? Knowing that there are no guarantees on getting our money back if when order online is disappointing, and I think it's unethical to keep my money. I will never eat tropical smoothie again because there are no guarantees or protection for the consumer or...