Tropical Smoothie Cafe — Restaurant in San Antonio

If I could give this location negative stars, I would. I usually love going to Tropical Smoothie, however this experience was exceptionally bad as my mother and I were wrongfully discriminated against by an employee who worked there named Jay.

On Sunday, September 29th 2024 at approximately 7:00PM, my mother and I decided to stop at the Tropical Smoothie Cafe on 1604 and Bulverde Rd. for an Acai Bowl. We had placed our order via the drive through window for 1 Acai Bowl and pulled up to pay. As I went to show the employee - Jay, a reward that I had received through the Tropical Smoothie Mobile App for a "free Acai Bowl", he proceeded to cut me off and say "I only have 2 Acai Bowls left. I'd rather save those for a paying customer instead. I don't want to give it to you, because I'd rather give it to someone who is going to pay full price. Can you come back a different day if you're going to use that coupon instead." My mother and I were both stunned, as we have both come to Tropical Smoothie many times in the past. Again he continued to repeat that he did not want to give us the Acai Bowl, (despite me having my QR code open and available) because he only wanted to give the 2 Acai Bowls that were left for the night to customers who were willing to pay full price only and who weren't going to use a promotional coupon.

That is wrong on so many levels. I have NEVER in my life had anyone repeatedly tell me to my face that they were not going to honor a mobile app reward simply because they would rather give the product to a "regular paying customer" - again his words, not mine. I come to Tropical Smoothie frequently. I am an avid buyer of Acai Bowls, not only from Tropical Smoothie, but from other food chains around the San Antonio area as well. To tell me, a paying customer - no, that he will not honor my reward given by the Tropical Smoothie Mobile App is wrong.

This dispute went on for about 10 minutes, to which the employee Jay, still did not believe he was in the wrong about the situation and did not take the initiative to apoloize. I don't even live in the Bulverde area, so to ask me to come back on a different date is wrong.

This would be the equivalent to Chick-fil-a denying their frequent customer the right to use a "free fry" through their rewards app that THEY earned because they would rather sell the fry to a customer paying full price. That's false advertisement and discrimination.

With that said, we will no longer be customers at the Tropical Smoothie Cafe and I would not recommend the Bulverde location to anyone. It took up to 3 separate attempts of going inside after the drive through incident before we were able to get this employees name. Again his name is Jay.

Shame on the...

⭐ 1 star

I had a really disappointing experience here. From the moment I walked in, the energy was off. The cashier barely greeted me and came off as irritated and unfriendly. I get it—working in customer service can be rough, but that vibe set the tone.

I ordered the Mocha Madness smoothie, and it was genuinely awful—gritty, slimy, and tasted weirdly like chocolate chapstick (not in a good way). I politely asked for a replacement, but they just remade the exact same thing. When I still didn’t like it, they acted annoyed that I spoke up. My husband even tried to advocate for me, and the cashier argued with him. Eventually, they offered a different smoothie—but only if I paid extra. I declined and just asked for a refund, which was met with more resistance.

I didn’t feel heard, respected, or valued as a customer. The manager’s name is Jay, and the cashier was a young woman with messy hair—unfortunately, I didn’t catch her name.

I think I’ll just go to smoothie king...

Sunrise Sunset Smoothie has got to be one of the most popular ones & did you know they were giving them away for free the other day? Happy Flip Flop day was the day for a free smoothie. They were ready to give out free smoothies & they did it with smiles on their faces. I didn’t realize this smoothie place had been here for a year now. It’s a great store! The employees are helpful & if there’s any changes you want to make on your smoothie they are ready to help out. I’ve tried a few different smoothies, but I have to say the sunrise sunset is a great go to smoothie. It’s a perfect blend of mango, strawberry, pineapple & orange. I’ve even ordered it as just mango with strawberry. 🍓 This is the one I would recommend trying. They also have a popular detox smoothie. The tables are clean & the vibe has a relaxed island tropical theme. Excellent place to take a break, get out of the heat & sip a...