Pollo Tropical

Continuously the worst franchise establishment I’ve been to of Pollo Tropical. Every time I visit, I am constantly disappointed by the service, the attitude of the people who work there and the overall functionality of the restaurant as a whole. I’ve had numerous orders that were in complete disarray or were just wrong. It by no means is a surprise when it takes 15 – 20 minutes just to order food based on how many people are there. Unfortunately it’s placed within perfect view of traffic so it’s nearly always busy and the people who work there cannot keep up. Just a few days ago, after walking in and waiting behind a gentleman who took about 10 minutes to order a bus of students from a soccer team walked in. There was now 30 people in line. About ten people in the kitchen and only one person at the registers. A fully packed line and only one register open. The food in itself isn’t bad, that’s if they even have it. It’s not surprising to me when I show up and a restaurant who’s entire existence is chicken doesn’t even have enough chicken left to make a simple salad. To which I’ve heard a few times, «Well we got some wings and some ribs and that’s it.» Well thank you, I just waited 15 minutes in your infuriately slow drive through to listen to your attitude and leave hungry. I know you hate your job, but just care a little bit.

Not sure why this place is getting such horrible reviews!!! I am giving it a 4 out of 5 star because they messed one of the four orders I placed that day, I got extra rice instead of Mac n cheese which I didn’t find out until I made it home.
Young lady at the register was very friendly and patient while I was getting myself re-​familiarized with their menu since I haven’t been to this place in so long. The end result was me picking the usual, quarter chicken with a side of rice and black beans, good deal at under $ 6.00. Maybe I’ll try and convince myself to try something different next time.

My order was half way cooked rice, burned chicken and black beans which should of been red beans. This is not the first time I got burned chicken but it will be the last time I go there.

Their white cheddar mac and cheese is great. Portion size has increased as well. Located conveniently down the street from my house. Cant get better than that. However i wish the machine for frozen drinks.

This place is horrible. I go through the drive thru and asked for jalapenos on my chicken quesadilla wrap, the drive thru lady informed me they ran out of jalapenos so I pull up to the window and get my food and the cheese on my wrap is cold and nasty and the fries were burnt oh and by the way the cokes tasted like soda water. So I go in to replace my drinks and I see there jalapeño bin is completely filled so I said I thought you guys ran out of jalapenos the lady said I don’t know I just got here and oh by the way when I asked for sauces I was completely ignored. Anyways don’t come here it’s only crap food and crap people!

Math is not their strong suit. The cashier nor the manager could understand that adding a regular drink to my meal for $ 1.00 was cheaper than buying one outright for $ 1.89. What through them was that I also added a bottle of water which was regular price at $ 1.99. She charged me $ 1.20 for the water and $ 1.89 for my regular drink which equals $ 3.09. If they had charged me correctly, I should have only paid $ 2.99. Yes, I know it’s only 10 cents, but if they do that to 100 customers, they make an extra $ 10. That’s an extra $ 300 a month. Way to rob your customers!

I normally don’t recommend fast food chains but PT is a favorite stop in central and south Florida. I wanted to write a more recent review as I notice There are a few old and negative reviews for this location. I’ve been here 3 times in the last 6 months. Every time it is busy, but tables clean.
At busy meal times the drive through is slower than going inside and ordering to go.
I’ve tried both the chicken avocado salad and the tropichop at this location and pleased with both. They have healthy salad and brown rice options. Of course the sauces are legendary– garlic cilantro, curry mustard and guava BBQ. It’s what keeps me coming back.

I attempted to dine at this location for lunch and was turned away. I used the drive-​thru at around 11:30am and I asked for a sandwich and I was told they didn’t serve sandwiches at that time. No sandwiches at the busy lunch hour seems like an excuse not to work. Unfortunately, PT has been on a steady downhill for awhile now. It definitely isn’t the same PT I remember dining at.

I love the flavors of the ribs and chicken but apparently they buy leftover mini-​chicken somewhere because the legs /​thighs look like they came from a parakeet. The black beans are tasty but the white rice is consistently undercooked everytime I have tried it. The salsa bar is great as long as the staff keeps up with it. I have been there a few times where all of the salsa bar containers are empty.

Pollo Topical, you have failed me for the last time.
We went here to take advantage of a coupon, and this location looked pretty decent from the outside so I was hoping it was better than the last time I went to a Pollo. It wasn’t.
I ordered a couple of chicken platters, one with sierra mist and one with sweet tea. I paid and then wandered around the dining room looking for a clean table. When I say this, I am not exaggerating: Every single table in the dining room had food, sauce, or trash on the table itself or on the benches and chairs. Every damn one.
They were not short staffed, nor were they too busy to clean the dining room; the staff just doesn’t care. I eventually found a booth with just some food in the bench so I sat on the edge. I put my napkins and sauces down, then went to get my food.
I was given my platters and one sierra mist and one cup full of ice and nothing else. I figured that the sweet tea dispenser was self-​serve so I didn’t think anything of it. I took everything back to the table to unload, then took the ice back to the front to look for the tea. There was no self serve iced tea, so I asked the staff for some. Their response: «We’re out of sweet tea.»
Sorry, I had something retarded in my ear, could you repeat that? So instead of telling me when I picked up my food that you were out of tea and offering me something else, you figured giving me an empty cup of ice was the best alternative?
The food was fair. If the dining room was clean and the staff weren’t a bunch of lazy idiots, Pollo Tropical would be a great place. However, I’ll say this: This is the fourth different Pollo I have been to, and only one of them has been acceptable. I kept trying different locations, assuming that I was just getting unlucky, but I’ve been to three different ones in the Orlando area and all have been dirty and filled with lousy, uncaring staff. Never again; I’m done with Pollo Tropical for good.

Many locations in Central and South Florida. Check Google.
I normally do not recommend fast food or chain restaurants, but I have to make an exception here.
For the last five years I worked as a road warrior, AKA Traveling Salesman. I covered Florida from Orlando south to Homestead, and I learned that no matter where you are at the end of a long, hard day you can always get good food for a small price at Pollo. And as an added plus, the person taking your order usually speaks pretty good English.
As road food goes, Pollo Tropical is hard to beat.
Its tasty, cheap, and fairly healthy since the meat is cooked on a grill, and almost nothings fried.
Order the ¼ chicken value meal with black beans and rice, $ 3.99 for a leg quarter, $ 4.99 for breast and wing. [prices, of course, are subject to change.]
Then walk over to the condiment bar and add as much fresh salsa and chopped onions as you like. And I LIKE tomatoes!
They have a nice mustard curry sauce for the grilled chicken, but its already so tasty and moist it really needs no sauce.
The only complaint I have is that if you choose to dine in, its very noisy around dinnertime.