The Tropical Grill — Restaurant in Spruce Pine

I have eaten here many times and loved it. The owners are very sweet and passionate about their food. However this time was different because they have hired 2 young girls to waitresses here and they are incredibly rude. I waited outside for 20 minutes after telling the blond haired girl I would be eating outside as well as what I wanted to drink - no one came to get my order. So I went inside to order, I was surprised when I was informed I had to pay at the time of ordering. I was told this was they have had people leave and not pay. Ok, so I pay and wait for my drink so I can take it outside with me. The dark haired girl told me to go outside and they would bring my drink to me. After I offered again to bring my drink with me she rudely said to go outside and they would bring it to me. So I went. I watched her take orders for and serve 2 other groups before she brought me my drink. Another 20 minutes passed before she brought my drink. After another 30 minutes my food comes and the blond girl walks away without acknowledging my request for more tea. After waiting another 20 minutes I called the owner from my phone because I had already been told to go outside and sit down. Here is where it gets interesting. The owner came outside, and apologized. She said that they don’t have the staff to wait on tables. (There were 5 tables seated tables). She said she would send the 2 “waitresses” over. They each came and “apologized” by stating that they can’t wait on the tables because they are to busy. The dark haired girl even said, ”If you want a drink you can get up and walk inside to get it” as a part of her apology. When I said that she had already told me to go outside and sit down already. Her response was well that was different, now you need to go inside for your drink. So to sum it up. The food is great, however, the “wait staff” that is not wait staff is incredibly rude. They really need to find another non customer service related job. It now makes sense that patrons have been leaving and not paying. Order takeout from this establishment until they get things sorted. That’s what I will be doing the next time I am craving their...

My recent experience at this restaurant left me utterly disappointed. The service was shockingly rude and unprofessional – it felt like the staff was doing my group a favor by acknowledging our presence. The food (sandwiches) was disappointingly dry, took forever to come out, and the overall taste was just average at best. I wouldn't advise anyone to waste their time or money at this establishment, given the subpar service and lackluster lunch experience. Unsure why this place has such a high rating. Other points to acknowledge: only had one side, coleslaw, for sandwiches our server only offered us water when we were practically done with our meals looks like preference is geared toward the locals

Note: I can't reply to the response provided by the restaurant so I decided to make an edit to my review: my niece removing onions and tomatoes should not result in dry, burnt bread and overcooked steak. I should also mention that I am Cuban and I have had a variety of Media Noches and Pan con Bistec. I've had plenty of these sandwiches without mayo that were perfectly tasty and good. This just didn't hit the mark. Im not going to list everything we were disappointed with because I still want to end my vacation on a good note. We aren't being harsh to be harsh, we've traveled to plenty of places and went to this lunch spot and it just missed the mark. By the end of the experience, we just wanted to leave and be on our way. I'm sure other groups had great experiences here, our party...

We just got home from a week long motorcycle trip to the Spruce Pine area. We visited several restaurants and The Tropical Grill was a highlight of our week! You find a lot of restaurants offering very similar, and typical menus. When on vacation we always look for local unique spots and this place filled the bill!!! We went on a Monday evening (which a LOT of place are closed on Monday) it wasn't busy so we didn't have to wait...but let me tell you if we went again and had to, we wouldn't be sad...it is worth it! We started with the Arepas, my husband had the Atlantico, and I had the pork Tropi Chopi Platter. So yummy and those plantains.....ughhh sooooo good! The portions are giant and neither of us were able to eat it all! The wait staff was sweet and never forgot us even though we chose a table outside on the side of the building where "out of sight out of mind" would be easy. If you are in the area support this local business and treat your taste buds to an explosion of sweet,...