Tropical Smoothie Cafe — Restaurant in Wilmington

Today was my first visit to one of three Tropical Smoothie Locations in the Wilmington area. Today's location was the TSC on College Rd. I arrived to pick up my curbside order around 1 pm with an open mind and no certain expectations. Without further ado...here is my personal review.

FOOD: Caribbean Jerk Chicken Wrap with a Kale & Apple side salad with a Sunrise Sunset Smoothie. Since TSC contains the title of "Smoothie" in it's name, I'll begin with the Sunrise Sunset smoothie. This beverage is definitely smooooth. The first flavors to hit my tongue were fresh pineapple and mango, followed up with hints of orange. The smoothie's consistency was just as it should be...not too thick, not too thin. On a very hot summer day, this is a perfect drink to indulge in without much guilt. The sweetness of the smoothie was well-balanced, although it appeared there may have been some added sweetener (perhaps a small amount of added sugar or natural glucose from the orange juice blended inside?) but it did enhance the tropical flavors overall. I thoroughly enjoyed it!! The kale & apple side salad was the pleasant surprise to me. Fresh, grated carrots, diced apples and TSC's house dressing over the chopped kale gives the side salad a sweet and tangy flavor...similar to a gourmet cole slaw. Within 1 minute, the salad was devoured and it will be a go-to for me in the future. As for the Caribbean Jerk Wrap, I thought it was good...but not exceptional. The wrap was served hot off of the grill. The chunks of chicken breast were juicy, plump and grilled well. The rice and beans added some nice texture inside and the Jerk seasoning sauce was wonderful with it's light, subtle spices and heat. The areas of opportunity I would recommend to help make this wrap exceptional would be if the grilled chicken breast included a light layer of Jerk seasoning rub, eliminating pieces of stalk from the romaine lettuce and reducing the amount of grilled pineapple salsa by approx. 50%. A few bites taken of the wrap included such a large punch of pineapple sweetness, it overpowered the chicken and Jerk seasoning. I believe if the pineapple-to-chicken ratio were to be reduced, the jerk sauce (along with the rest of the ingredients) would be the highlight, then followed up by the sweet and juicy pineapple. But...overall, I did enjoy the wrap and I consumed it all. SCORE: 4.0 STARS!!

SERVICE: For my curbside pickup, the order was ready right on time, each young lady was very pleasant and friendly and you could see the smiles on their faces, covered by their masks. Each employee were wearing masks properly, wearing sanitation gloves and practiced safe, social distancing throughout our interraction outside. I was thanked for stopping by and the overall customer service experience met my expectations. Well done TSC and staff!! SCORE: 5 STARS!!

OVERALL SCORE: TSC delivers good flavors, very fresh ingredients and a superb smoothie. I was impressed with the service, safety measures and the kale salad! I look forward to visiting again to try a new smoothie concoction and a different lunch selection to see how it all stacks up against today's meal. Thank you again for the tasty meal and a delicious smoothie! See you again soon. 4.5...

I used to work at this restaurant, and to put it nicely it was mediocre. There were multiple occasions that not only I but my co workers were mistreated, as well as cases of general unprofessional behavior.

-No one is trained the same, but we were all expected to know the right way to do things. -There was a time I came down with stomach bug, and didn’t feel comfortable coming in. I got my shift covered for that night, and received this text message from my manager,

“Hey Zach! If I don't have a doctors note for your shift tonight you'll be written up. I'm aware * is covering your shift. With how you were completely healthy yesterday. Too many people are calling out of shifts and just getting away with it. So if I do not have a valid note you will be written up.”

Now this would be pretty understandable, if this rule had been enforce equally. NC state law states that an employer should “Notify employees in writing, or through a posted notice maintained in a place accessible to employees, of any changes in policies and practices before those changes are implemented.” The text I received was during the time of the shift in question. I was then asked to work an added 3 hours on my shift the next day because I “missed my hours last night”. -There were multiple times that I saw an expired day/dot (sticker with exp. date), mentioned it to one of my higher ups, and was told to print a new sticker and use it anyways. -On another occasion me and a coworker discovered approx. 4 bags of chibatta bread that were covered in mold being stored with the other buns. -Me and other minors working here did not always receive our required 30 minute break. Along with this, there were many times that me and other coworkers would have to stay so late that I and any other underage coworkers would have to leave, and leave our other coworkers to finish by themselves -I also had a shift lead that was younger than me (by one year) that was made to stay past the time we were required to leave by. -I only had a problem with one of my managers. She was the main manager of the store, and she intimidated a lot of us working there. I got accused of “talking shit” about my managers, and was taken out back and basically put on trial for something I didn’t do. I literally cried after they berated me 5 minutes before my shift. R -For the entire first month working I was terrified of being fired, due to the VERY HIGH turnover rate. -There was favoritism with our managers. Something my coworker would do, I could get lectured for. -There are some really great people working here, and I feel bad for them honestly. The amount they ask of you if outrageous. They expect you to stop whatever you are doing and hop onto something else, and then back and forth. -We were severely understaffed while I worked there, and when fall hit, they made us start closing with one less person, even though business didn’t slow down, and closing would take an...

I came here with my friends around 8:50 pm on December 1st. We didn’t know and didn’t really think about that they closed @9pm. But we all walk in with the open sign that was on and the girl says “we close in like 6 minutes”. Nothing else so I said, “okay so what does that mean, you can’t make anymore food? It’s not even close time yet.” She said “no we can’t. We are closing down now. Sorry have a good night” Mind you, it was atleast another 8-10 mins before close time. As we walk out, this couple is walking in, supposedly for an online order. So one of my friends decided to last minute put an order in because they knew the app couldn’t decline his order since it wasn’t close to 9pm yet. We sat a few parking spaces away from the door. The two girls both walked outside giggling and placing his food on the ground. I had my window down so I saw them do this. One of the girls noticed me looking and got the other girl’s attention. So I said “are you really gonna put that on the ground?” One of the girls had a bad attitude and said “you want it on the table?” I said “yes and not on the ground” They ended up leaving my friend’s food on the ground and going inside and locking the door. It was not 9pm yet. I understand maybe they were upset that my friend put an order in last minute, but integrity and patience is so important! I walked up to get the food and saw them both talking to someone and yelling about the situation that had happened. I’ve worked in the restaurant and food industry before. Don’t have the open sign on if you claim your closing for the night. They were cleaning up early for the night, but never once have I done this or experienced someone declining me because they close in 8-10 mins. We were getting one order. I get it, they were probably ready to go home. But both of those girls working, my god, acted like their lives were miserable. My friend definitely could’ve picked somewhere else to eat, but he knew that he would get his food if he placed it online, so he did. Those girls were very disrespectful by their tone and putting his food on the ground. That to me sounds like a health violation. And they thought it was a funny thing to do, placing food on the ground. Especially right before...