Pollo Tropical — Restaurant in San Juan

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Comfort food after a long Puerto Rico adventure!

After a full day of climbing rocks, beach-hopping, and kayaking, we made it back to the Carolina area hungry and tired — and stumbled upon an old favorite from my Orlando days: Pollo Tropical. What a perfect find!

I ordered the big rice bowl loaded with black beans, sweet amarillos, and juicy grilled chicken chunks — hearty, flavorful, and just what I needed. Kim went with the half grilled chicken and salad, which looked fresh and cooked perfectly. We grabbed our meals to go and enjoyed them back at our VRBO with a couple of adult beverages — island-style comfort food at its best.

The lady at the counter was friendly and spoke great English, which was such a relief for our travel-tired brains. The restaurant itself felt a bit dated but clean, and even though it was close to closing time, the food was hot and fresh. Prices were very reasonable, portions generous, and parking was private and free — a nice bonus in this busy area.

The location is easy to reach, less than a 10-minute drive from the east side of Carolina, even with late-evening traffic. Overall, a great quick-serve spot for authentic grilled chicken, rice, and tropical sides — and a welcome taste of home after a long...

Unfortunately, this place was a bit disappointing.

We needed something fast, not too greasy and close to our hotel. I heard some good things about this place and it was one of the only placed open.

Firstly, the menu was all Spanish which is fine because there were pictures and I had a translator with me 😉 Second, after verifying our order twice, they still got it wrong and the food was lacking, not only in quantity, but on flavor.

The plantains were good, and the flavor of my wrap was good but it was so poorly constructed I felt like thete were air pockets in it. The chicken bowl barely had any chicken, and it was accompanied with just rice and beans.

Unfortunately, there are other places I would eat first before...

The people who work here are so nice - and this place makes the best fast food burgers around - right off the grill… I grew up on an organic angus beef farm, and this is the closest taste I can get to the bbq burgers we had as kids.

I really wish we could have reaction emojis to some of these reviews…. Jesus, it’s a fast food grilled chicken place…. Having your family leave multiple telenovela 1-star reviews because you don’t like the food - shows more about what terrible people you are, than about them being a bad restaurant. Just shut up and eat somewhere else, they didn’t insult you or throw your kids...