Tropical Smoothie Cafe — Restaurant in Southern Shores

First time I’ve been to tropical smoothie and the menu looked great! To start, I stood at the counter for a couple of minutes without even being acknowledged. They were busy! But a “we’ll be right with you” goes a long way in customer service.

When someone came up, I ordered a chipotle chicken flatbread. Again, I’ve never been here before, but saw that it came with chips, fruit, or something else. The lady asked what side would I like and I asked for chips. Some places don’t offer a variety of chips, but they do here apparently, which is great! What isn’t great is that instead of saying “what kind? We have this or that” she just pushes a sign up to me to pick my chips from. Ok...kind of rude, but they’re busy, maybe it’s an off day.

I get my food, go to the car, open the wrapping and take a bite of the flatbread sandwich. It’s not the chipotle chicken, it’s some kind of chicken pesto. I’m slightly allergic to pesto. I’m also pregnant, everything I have a sensitivity to seems to be even more so, I’m in my last few weeks, and reeeaaalllyyy don’t want to go into labor prematurely. I also don’t want to do anything to hurt myself or the baby. I only took a bite but I could already feel the effects of it. I managed to get a Benadryl, and sit for a minute but even a little reaction makes me sick to my stomach for the rest of the day. It’s stupid, I know.

After a couple minutes I took the sandwich back in, told the cashier that I’d ordered the chipotle, not the pesto, and that I’m allergic to pesto. He gets someone in the back who comes up and I explain that I’m allergic to pesto and didn’t order this. I told her I’d like to just get the money back please since I wouldn’t be able to eat anything else. She asked if I wanted the chipotle chicken flatbread and I told her again, “no thank you. I’d like the money back please, I am allergic to pesto, I won’t be able to eat anything”. She apologized, gave me my money back, and I guess that’s what I wanted but the fact that no one even concerned theirselves with the fact that I’m allergic to what they gave me, which was the wrong menu item, and didn’t seem concerned at all that their mistake could be very dangerous, is why I won’t be back or recommend that anyone go here.

Now I have to put everything I’d planned for my day off until my stomach settles and I can breathe a little easier. I also have to wait around before driving home and hope this doesn’t turn into an...

My daughter, 17, went into this location to purchase a meal and smoothie with a friend. When at counter to place order the girl was rude and very unprofessional. She gave misleading information about specials that were available along with being snippy and short. Rather the customer is 5 or 65, you should treat them with respect. She then goes to location where wrap is made and begins to Speak negativity about my daughter and degraded her to another employee. When the other employee realizes my daughter is still in the store she tells her how unprofessional she is and hides in the back until my daughter left. I called, ask for the name of the employee and also to speak to the manager. The girl lied on the phone stating they closed at 8(clearly 9) and that she was the store manager. Once I asked for corporate number she no longer wanted to speak. She also was rude to myself. I have faith that tropical smoothie will investigate this and remove all involved. I did get names after sending someone into the store to look at...

The açaí bowls were tasty, but unfortunately, the overall cleanliness of the shop left a lot to be desired. All three of our bowls were extremely sticky, and there were no napkins or paper towels available in the customer area—not even in the restrooms. We had to come up front and ask for them.

The tables were also dirty, and the front door was covered in fingerprints. Given how sticky our bowls were and the lack of basic cleaning supplies for customers, it’s not surprising that everything felt grimy. When I politely informed an employee that the restroom was out of paper towels, the response was noticeably unfriendly.

We were the only customers in the store at the time, and while there were several staff members present, no one seemed to be concerned with cleanliness. It’s disappointing, especially when the food...