Tropical Smoothie Cafe — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

This location continues to disappoint, but today was the last straw.

On July 29th at 2:22pm I placed an order here and honestly felt tempted to walk right out and cancel the whole thing. For the first time ever, I actually received a proper "Welcome in!" when I walked through the door, a rarity at this location. But the moment I stepped up to the counter, any hint of decent service vanished.

I was greeted (or rather, not greeted) by the cashier named Alana W, who looked like she couldn’t have been more disinterested if she tried. Despite the initial warm welcome from someone else, Alana W. stared at me blankly — no “Hi,” no “What can I get for you today?” Not even a nod. Just an energy that screamed I don’t want to be here, and frankly, it showed.

What made it worse? Two people clearly managers or GMs were sitting just feet away, fully visible, and yet she still made zero effort. I placed my order awkwardly and moved aside, already regretting my decision to come in. She didn’t ask if I wanted my receipt, didn’t say thank you, didn’t smile, and the next customer got the exact same cold treatment. No greeting, no acknowledgment. Just vibes. Bad ones.

Here’s the thing: I usually don’t even expect great service at this location because… well, it’s been consistently underwhelming. But today made it clear that the issue is deeper than just “off days.” It’s a pattern. The front-line team — especially those working the register — often seem like they’d rather be anywhere else. And that’s unacceptable.

I’ve had warmer service at McDonald’s drive-thrus. Seriously.

To whoever’s managing this place: do better. Hire people who care. Or at the very least, train your staff to offer a basic level of courtesy and professionalism. A smile and a simple “How can I help you?” shouldn’t be too...

I’m going to start by saying that I work in the hospitality industry and I have never experienced anything like what I experienced just now with one of your employees. I placed an online order and when I went to pick it up it wasn’t ready. It’s fine. They’re busy. I completely understand so I patiently waited. After almos 40 minutes they give me my food and forget the smoothie. I let her know and one of the girls makes it. The smoothie is ready in the blender. All they had to do is pour it in the cup and give it to me. The girl that was making the smoothie continues to make other ones while mine is just sitting there. I kindly ask her if she can pour it in the cup so I can leave. All of a sudden another employee with long red braids jumps in with an extremely rude attitude and says “there’s a lot going on so you have to wait”. I told her that there was no need to speak to me that way since I wasn’t trying to be rude. The smoothie had be sitting there for almost ten minutes and all I wanted was to leave at this point. She continues to raise her voice at me in front of everyone and purposely took her time to hand me the smoothie. Mind you this entire time I never complained or was rude to any of the employees. I never write reviews but I just had to this time because no one should be treated the way I was treated today by...

Almost didn’t go in because of the mediocre reviews but always willing to give things a chance. It does seem to be a very busy location as their isn’t really a lot of options in the area. I definitely had to wait for a bit on the two days I went (back to back) but the smoothies were good and made perfectly. Both girls behind the register were making multiple smoothies at a time so using time management well.

Location was surprisingly very clean and well kept up including the bathroom — again surprising given the reviews but those all seem to be several+ months old.

Music first time was a little “off brand” the first time around but pretty “corporate approved” the second time.

There’s a great little outside “courtyard” area to enjoy your food and even an oversized Connect 4 board for your enjoyment.

Staff wasn’t overly friendly though which was a little disappointing but overall again, did a good job. Both seemed very focused on what they were doing and I can...