Comments on: NYC/NJ Dining: Pollo Tropical

By: Patty Gonzalez

Patty Gonzalez — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:59:39 +0000

I love Pollo Tropical. The food is far from bland and if you want to spice it up they offer sauces on the salsa bar. I am a little confused when someone mentioned finding a diced pepper or a piece of bay leaf in the black beans as an indicator that it is out of the can. That is ridiculous! Pollo Tropical prides itself on making all items from scratch. I think for the most part the food is great. They now do catering sizes and they are really inexpensive to feed a lot of people. I usually visit the one in Kendall by Dadeland and I have no complaints so far.

By: Imani

Imani — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:01:10 +0000

*Hallandale

By: Imani

Imani — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:00:50 +0000

I love Pollo Tropical. And as far as the one in Hallendale is concerned, I’ve been there once, and it was great. Normally I got to the one on University Drive because it’s near my school, Nova Southeastern University. Overall, I was impressed my first visit. It’s great food, great ppl, and …great food. Lol. That is all. Good day.

I said good day.

By: Just-tried-it

Just-tried-it — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:14:20 +0000

The menu reads great, but the food is a letdown.
Today I made my first visit to a Pollo Tropical, a newly opened store in Clermont, Florida. One of our party had the boneless chicken breast meal with white rice and black beans, Two of us had chicken, yellow rice and vegetables Tropichops, plus a side of fried yuca with garlic sauce, a side of balsamic tomatoes and a Caesar side salad.
The chicken breat was reasonably good if not anything special, but everything else was disappointing. The rice and beans were all virtually tasteless. It would be impossible, in a blindfolded tasting, to tell red beans from black, or white rice from yellow, (and perhaps even rice from beans). The Tropichops were all rice, with only a few tiny bites of chicken and perhaps a half-dozen peas and even fewer tiny carrot cubes each. Between the two Tropichops there was one small brocolli floret. The balsamic tomatoes were unisnspired, the Caesar salad nothing but chopped lettuce, bland croutons and a sprinkling of cheese with no detectable flavor. The yuca was also without any detectable flavor save for the garlic sauce, which amounted to nothing more than a watery garlic puree.
The polite and friendly manager queried our table about our meals, and I politely told him that I was disappointed with the blandness. His pleasant and polite response was that they “don’t cook as spicy as your mother would cook so that everyone will like it.” If flavorlessness is the formula then I wish them luck, but it won’t win me as a customer.

By: Roberto Aloi

Roberto Aloi — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:59:07 +0000

I read several comments concerning eating there every day. I eat there at least five times a week. My only issue with the chain is consistency or the lack thereof. The location I find most reliable in terms of quality and cleanliness is the location in West Palm Beach Florida close to 45th street and Military trail.

The chicken is always very juicy and well seasoned. When I am in other areas of town and eat at one out of convenience I am typically disappointed. Chicken that is overcooked and dried out or sometimes downright burnt!

If the location you go to has a management staff who really cares about their particular location and the quality of what they are creating you certainly will not be disappointed. When things are done by the book so to speak the food is excellent.

How the food is cooked is not rocket science so these comments about mom & pop places in the northeast being so much better is rather hilarious.

Now a complaint to round this out - The black beans… Every so often I might find some remnants of diced pepper or a bay leaf. Some leftover clue indicating someone actually seasoned the “out of the can” taste of the bland beans. black beans are a wonderful thing when seasoned. Straight from a can could not be more bland.

When you dine in please ask them to give you some garlic (not garlic sauce). They also have onions you can get. Be certain to put them on your black beans and rice and even distribute some garlic over the rice and beans and it makes that particular side shine.

Maybe it’s an Italian thing with the garlic, I don’t know but it works.

By: mickey999

mickey999 — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 20:22:45 +0000

I have to agree-Pollo Tropical is the best “fast food” restaurant I came across in Florida-Mick,England

By: LHPSNO

LHPSNO — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:28:14 +0000

I agree with ToddJaspers……PolloTropical just opened in Pompano or at least I just found out….LOL I can eat it everyday……YUMMMMMM I commute up to Gainesville, and we don’t have one around there……Keeping my fingers crossed for more Florida Locations…..

By: Todd Jaspers

Todd Jaspers — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:39:17 +0000

I live in South Florida, and I eat Pollo Tropical constantly. I can literally eat it every day. 90% of the people I work with and are friends with are Latino. I’m 1/4 hispanic (Argentine) if that counts, but I think the food is great. Absolutely NO complaints here from the food. I can’t get enough of it. I’m fairly “proper” when it comes to foods and cuisines. I’ve always been somewhat in aristocracy my entire life, eating cornish gain hens and chicken cordon bleu as regular meals at the various prep schools I went to growing up. With that kind of food background, I can still say that Pollo is absolutely top-notch. Of course, it’s served in styrofoam containers, with plastic utensils, but… it’s about as authentic as you’re going to get from something that I would hardly refer to as “fast food”.

By: markymark

markymark — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:25:19 +0000

Gotta disagree with you there, Jason. When my grandfather-in-law lived in Hollywood, FL we used to go to Hallandale Beach to eat at Padrino’s. This was a family-run chain of about 3-4 restaurants with very good Cuban food. One would see a mix of bubbes, zeydehs, abuelos and abuelas there. My kids had their first madauros there and have been eating them since.

By: offthebroiler

offthebroiler — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 02:53:52 +0000

Hallandale Beach? C’mon. Most of the people who live there don’t even have their original teeth, let alone know what latino food actually is. In fact I’d be hard pressed to find ANY good food in Hallandale Beach! That’s where my grandparents had their condo in the early 80’s. I’d try a branch in a predominantly Latino area before trying one in Early Bird Special land.

By: Randi

Randi — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 00:13:16 +0000

This is one time I’ll have to disagree with you. Last March, Robin and I ate at Pollo Tropical in Hallandale Beach, FL and we both though it sucked!! Maybe we picked the wrong location but I wasnt impressed. I might also be comparing it to El Pollo Loco which I love and ate a lot( when I lived in Cali). I dont know what else to say about PT, it just didnt do it for me.

By: Lola777

Lola777 — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 15:39:45 +0000

I am deeply offended by the post about the smell of the food it sounds to me like the person with the complaint has bias issues. I ate at Pollo Tropical and the food was wonderful and the people very friendly, I would love to have a restaurant in Sussex NJ I drove 35 min. to eat at Pollo Tropical in RT 3 and was not disapointed. You have try the Pina Colada Smothie is the best. My advice for TK is to dont knock till you try it buddy. PS: the Restaurant on RT 3 was spotless and its about time we have a nice tropical place to eat thanks guys.

By: Tess

Tess — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:03:57 +0000

I have eaten at the Pollo Tropical in North Bergen. Very disappointing. You’re right - Pollo Tropical is more non-Latino friendly and they have lots of glossy pictures but their food’s awful in comparison to what’s up the street on Bergenline Avenue. There are TONS of great Cuban/Ecuadorian/Peruvian/Columbian/Dominican restaurants there. Most are privately operated and many have English translations. Going to these places is like taking a vacation b/c you can immerse yourself in each country’s respective culinary culture. They’re 100% authentic - the staff and clientele are mostly Latino but won’t give you the hairy eye when you enter b/c they’re just going about their day. Really chill. You MUST go.

By: offthebroiler

offthebroiler — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 23:09:18 +0000

By the way, it is interesting to note that Pollo Tropical is owned by Carrols Corporation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrols_Corporation

Which is a large operator of Burger King franchises plus they own Taco Cabana, which competes with Chipotle in some markets.

By: offthebroiler

offthebroiler — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 21:25:43 +0000

Chipotle -was- owned by McDonalds, up until October of 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipotle_Mexican_Grill

Frankly it is unfair to compare Chipotle to Pollo Tropical. Chipotle is Tex-Mex style food and Pollo Tropical is Cuban/Puerto Rican/Dominican style food. That’s like comparing Japanese food to Indian Food — both Asian cusines, but very different. Sure, they are both Latino, but that’s where the similarity ends.

I’ve never had the opportunity to eat at a Chipotle but I hear for QSR type food its pretty decent.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 21:08:34 +0000

Chipotle? The chain owned by McDonalds?

They don’t do food even remotely like whats served at Pollo Tropical. If people are comparing them, that’s ignorance speaking.

Not that Chipotle is horrid–for what they do they are alright (dumbed down mass-appeal production-line Tacos and Burritos), but its a totally different level of operation. Pollo Tropical actually has to COOK stuff.

That said, I am sympathetic to anyone who has to exist in the space next to a new restaurant location shaking the bugs out of their ventilation, waste disposal, etc. If they are still having these kids of problems in a few months I’d be highly critical at that point, but its pretty much expected right off.

By: tk

tk — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:34:48 +0000

i have the unfortunate honor of working in the business that is right next to the pollo tropical in clifton. the first few weeks their ventilation system didn’t work too good, our store smelled like garlic and assorted old meats. recently their water system got backed up with grease and they had a big grease truck to clean the system. the area behind the store is already a mess with grease and other garbage on the road. customers have come in to our store and told us that the chipotle store is much better then pollo tropical. sorry to burst the bubble that pollo tropical is the best around