Pura Vida Miami — Restaurant in Miami Beach

I’m leaving a 3 star review because of the lady with braces who I assume was the manager? I came to this location because I actually like the food. I ordered 2 cali chicken sandwiches and 2 juices from the cooler case in their store. My total was $59 and some change. I ordered to go so I left the restaurant to go eat at the beach. I begin eating my sandwich and notice there is a hair in one half of the sandwich. Taking note of how expensive this sandwich was, I quickly tried to call the restaurant to let them know. I was directed to a chat where a link was sent to my phone and I had to chat with someone about this issue. The person quickly apologized and offered to email me a $25 gift card which I accepted but for some reason after multiple attempts, she was not able to send the gift so she offered a refund to which she said she would refund tomorrow and it wouldn’t be available to my account for 7 business days. I live in another state and I don’t play that. I need my refund just as quickly as yall took my money. I told the person I would just go back to the store to pick up my gift card in person. The gentleman at the case register was polite however; the lady with the braces approached me and said, “Next time, bring the product back so we can remake it for you.” Not, “I apologize for the hair in your sandwich”, (because y'all should be wearing hair nets when preparing food; ESPECIALLY SINCE ITS SO EXPENSIVE). Ma’am, I paid $60 for 2 sandwiches and 2 drinks, IF there is a next time, YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE I DON’T FIND A SPECK OF HAIR IN MY FOOD! So me getting ready to go back to my home state, decides to reorder the sandwich while I’m here. The lady with the braces brings me my food and asked me to check it, which I happily did however, her tone and unprofessional attitude (looking at me with disdain and rolling her eyes) let me know she could care less about the fact that I’m a paying customer and that’s I’m going to make sure I get what I paid for and that’s does not include someone’s personal body hair. I’m going to bet she thought I lied about finding a hair in my sandwich and was mad she had to make me another. Like I really enjoyed the inconvenience of having to come back to the restaurant and have them make my food again, TRUSTING THAT THERE WASN’T a hidden hair in...

I’ve been leaving good tips at restaurants willingly since I was a teenager but it is getting so out of hand with these mandatory tips & service charges that it’s making me not want to return to restaurants no matter how good the food is. This restaurant includes a service charge on to go orders if you order at their register but not when you order it off the app to go. This is quite weird because they are doing extra work packing/shelving the mobile orders but if you order something as simple as a coffee at the register, you are charged a service fee. I asked them why they are charging this if it is a to go order and they said it’s to "show appreciation”. How is it me, as a customer "showing appreciation” if I don’t even have a choice on leaving it? What a cringe thing to say. I leave tips if it’s a to stay order to show appreciation for the additional service and cleaning up after the customer leaves but what did the employee at the register do aside from charging me for a coffee and pouring it into a cup where that service hasn’t been factored into the cost? Aside from leaving a mandatory tip, I "show appreciation” by choosing to go to and support this restaurant over other restaurants in the area. I "show appreciation” by spending more time and going to the register on several occasions when the app has malfunctioned. I know I’m not the only one that feels this way about these types of mandatory tips/"service charges” and more people would continue to visit these restaurants if they weren’t always adding little charges like this. After I was told by the cashier it was to "show appreciation”, she proceeded to tell me "oh, it’s only 10%”. Maybe I would leave more than that if I left it when I was supposed to and not have it be a mandatory charge and have the company put a price on my...

Ridiculous wait. The manpower does what they can but the demand is bigger than the place there’s no places to sit for the customers and if you order ahead you’ll still have to wait 20+ for your food even if you give them the window to make the food so it’s ready on time. If this wasn’t close to my work I wouldn’t waste my time. Also expensive for the service you’re getting.

Edit:

I’m a Miami Beach local, I seen the rise of this franchise. I’ve spent and been at pura vida lots, just because I go out to eat basically every day as my schedule and lifestyle are fast paced and busy. I experienced every location and they’re all the same. Ridiculous wait times, underwhelming service, expensive menu, and overly packed restaurants. The locals hate it, we only go as a last resort because we know it’s there. If I planned things better I’d go to the local shop that on 12 or 13 in Washington, they make the same things for much cheaper and they’re Miami Beach locals for decades, I think it’s called the smoothies shop idr. The food at pura vida is good and you can rely on the quality of food but everything else is a bust. The interior design is nice and the space has a signature scent, they’re branding works but it’s just super annoying to dine here. The beach is ruling out other options and closing everything since the pandemic, it’s all business. Sucks, the local house is good also.

They’ve been like this since the beginning so they’ve had plenty of time to fix these issues. They’re more focused on opening franchises than fixing the issues in...