Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Yum! Love the smoothies and all of the food! My favorite is the Thai chicken wrap and Bahama Mama with no strawberry! I love the bowls too!

HANDS DOWN THE BEST LOCATION!!! I am a regular and have never had a bad experience as described below. I love the owners and the workers here have always been kind and respectful! The smoothie ALWAYS fills me up– well worth my money! But I can’t resist the food– fabulous food! 5 stars– I’ll come back no doubt. Waits are longer than fast food of course (considering it’s a café not fast food); however I have never been disappointed! Keep it up Bristow TS!!!

I love Tropical Smoothie Café, but this location is very poorly managed. The last few times I have been there, it takes me no less than 20 minutes to get my smoothie. The smoothies are good, I don’t have a problem with that, but the times I have been haven’t even been peak lunch/​dinner hours. So if you have the extra time to kill, knock yourself out!

I come here for the fish tacos. There always prepared fresh and taste great. I didn’t have issues with the wait and there always busy at lunch time. No real reason not to give 5 stars, it just didn’t provide a 5 star feeling. But have no problem coming here and you shouldn’t avoid it.

Decent smoothies although additional size selections would be welcome. Total system fail on their process. It shouldn’t take 25 minutes to get a smoothie.

Very bland watered down smoothies. Stopped coming here a while back and I just make my own at home where I know they will be better! It’s typically slow here… About a 10 minute wait to get JUST A SMOOTHIE! Bad staff!

Agree with the reviewers who said this is one of the worst Tropical Smoothie locations. We waited about 12 minutes for 2 overpriced smoothies and then after I got back in the car and was on my way home, I realized that they gave me the wrong smoothie. Several people were complaining about how long their orders were taking while I was sitting and waiting. A bunch of unfriendly and inefficient teenagers work here.

I truly love this place. Decently priced. Smoothies are huge and filling. Very tasty. You’d think at a smoothie place that the hot food wouldn’t be that good but I had some beef and noodles and they were real good! A very rich taste when I wasn’t expecting much. When I’m in this part of town I always want to stop here for a smoothie… even on a full stomach. I will totally put that smoothie in the freezer when I get home.

This particular location is hands down the poorest from a quality perspective in the local area. The stores in Gainesville in particular and Centreville are better options.
The facilities are generally dirty, and they don’t offer any type of free WiFi access for customers. They used to but stop offering it.
But the true back breaker are the smoothies. They regularly are watery or taste too much like supplements. No other store has the same problem and in fact they are all supposed to make the smoothies the same way with the same training and practices.
It’s horrible, but not indicative of Tropical Smoothie as a whole. Just this specific store. Steer clear and visit Gainesville or Centreville when possible.

I am a regular customer at this location and while I love tropical smoothie because the food and smoothies are great, the service is seriously lacking. I seem to always see the employees stand in the back either chatting with each other or fiddling on their phone. Despite enjoying the food and smoothies I always find my self on the lookout for anther smoothie bar to try out.

I’ve had mixed results with the Tropical Smoothie franchise. The first one I went to was Plaza America in Reston, and I had terrible fish tacos. I didn’t try a smoothie, but my friend said they were great. It was years before I went to another Tropical Smoothie, but the wife and I had lunch at the one in Dumfries and we really enjoyed the food, and my wife got hooked on their smoothies.
But I would never eat at this Tropical Smoothie. Why? I’ve been there three times now, and each time there is a unpleasant, sour smell that permeates through the establishment. It was making my eyes water as we waited for our smoothie. I was hoping to relax there and casually enjoy our smoothie after a long day of shopping. But that smell made us grab our smoothies and beeline for the door.
The one consistent among the Tropical Smoothie franchise are the smoothies. No matter the location, the smoothies are REALLY good. But the funky smell that permeates this location makes this a to-​go option only, and turns my stomach to the point I can’t even think about food when in there.

My wife made me come here Sunday after I made her trek to the top of Bull Run Mountain. I dislike that they only have one size of smoothie. I am not a smoothie drinker but I would have gotten one if I did not have to get the jumbo size. Even for the the 24 oz size, I think $ 5 is a little too much. There were about five people in line in front of us so I must be in the minority. The fact that there were five people in front of us brings me to my next dislike. It took nearly 10 minutes for my wife to get her smoothie. Very slow service. This store did not change my mind at all about not being a smoothie person.

Wow — What a disappointment. We arrived around 2pm on a Sunday to a crowd (usually crowds equal great restaurants… but not in this case). The menu is on a board but without any descriptions. After we got our incorrect order (which I’ll get to)…we were told that the descriptions are on a menu laid out on the counter. Kinda hard to stand there and decide when you have a line of people behind you…
My Mom has dietary restrictions due to her health — she ordered a loaded Spinach Salad (which was on the board displayed)…and were told in a fairly snotty way that they don’t have the ingredients to make that anymore (well, then cover it up or update your menu board!)…Hastily, my Mom ordered the Hummus Veggie Wrap… I ordered the Jerk Chicken Wrap… My son had something that my Mom ordered for him (which turned out to be the best tasting item) …and my Dad had a turkey sandwich. My Mom chose an orange and the rest of us chose Sun Chips. The menu showed multiple Sun Chip options but we were just given Original Sun Chips without choice. We also ordered 3 smoothies. After quite a wait, the smoothies finally come out — two of them. We had to wait at least 5 more minutes for the third smoothie and it was wrong (instead of making 3 different smoothies, he made 2 of one of the flavors). Our food came out a few minutes after our smoothies and it came out in parts — My Dad & son’s order came out on trays… My Mom’s orange came out… and then my Mom & my wraps came out in a bag (together & unmarked & uncut) in the same bag (they stated that they were out of trays). We couldn’t figure out whose wrap was whose… so I had to unroll one… unroll the other… Quick frankly, they looked exactly the same — I’ve NEVER seen any type of hummus veggie wrap with southwestern corn & beans and rice… It looked just like the Jerk Chicken wrap — These two wraps should be VERY different, in my opinion… yet we couldn’t even figure out where the hummus or the chicken was! My Mom was quite upset because now we were dealing with numerous errors. At first, the staff was actually defensive. JUST MAKE IT RIGHT — don’t give excuses. Once the staff member that was assembling the sandwiches agreed to remake both of our’s again… it got better… but my Mom STILL could not find any hummus on her HUMMUS veggie wrap. Another thing that was off putting was the girl on the register getting involved in the situation. It really wasn’t her place and she obviously was not a manager of any kind.
The smoothies were good.
The restaurant emptied while we were still there. Tables were cleared of any remaining trash (napkins, straw wrappers) but I did not see any staff members actually cleaning the tables. Yuck. I’ve heard that the Tropical Smoothie location in Gainesville is better. Next time we attempt to go here again, we will avoid this location, for sure.

Healthy smoothies, good service, short wait times, conveniently located.

Great smoothies. Fake chicken for us veggie lovers too in any of their sandwiches. Get Splenda in your smoothie to save on calories.

Try any drink with kale in it. It’s delicious!
I went for a Kale Lemonade and was later told that they were out of lemonade. Hard to believe, but could happen I would guess. I opted for the Island Green that had kale in it. It was delicious and felt naughty, but a 24 oz. is under 300 calories! The interior and exterior is clean and plenty of seating. A fun place to be with happy music. The staff were pleasant and knowledgeable as well.

Really crappy compared to the one in gainesville…
Gone here 5 – 6 times in the past year and order always comes out messed up, incorrect or ridiculously slow even if they arent busy.
Facilities ran by a bunch of kids… Guess its unfair to be expecting much

What can i say, as a California native i love a good smoothie and Tropical Smoothie Café has good, large smoothies. A variety too.
Loved everything i tried so far.
Most locations are the same. They take your order. Take your name and call you when it’s ready.
I wish i could rate extra stars for the expressions on their faces trying to pronounce my unusual name.

Ordered the King Caesar wrap and ate inside the restaurant. The service was fast and the wrap was decent, lacking on the ceasar dressing side. The wrap was toasted just right and the chicken was tender and well grilled. The loud carribean music was very annoying.

Okay so I have tried to visit the Tropical Smoothie Café three times in the past two weeks. I have really been into smoothies now that the weather has warmed up.
Visit # 1: My first visit was on a weekend and when I got there the doors were locked even though they shouldn’t have been open. The man who opened the door said they really shouldn’t be open and the person who was supposed to open the store wasn’t there. I guess he was an employee at the Dale City store who came over to get some fruit that their store had run out of? He could only make smoothies which was fine because that was all I wanted.
Visit # 2: Last week I decided I would like one for breakfast on the way to work and when I got there the one employee working was on the phone with someone who wanted catering… ok so I waited probably 5 – 7 minutes before she even took my order. Well this morning I decided to get one for breakfast again. Even though the open sign was on the front doors were locked.
Visit # 3: Today I decided again on the way to work to stop. It was 7:50 AM (50 minutes after the sign says they are open) and the doors were locked. The «open» sign was on… waste of my time to even try to stop. I couldn’t see anyone at the front counter. Maybe they were in the back?
So I have decided to pick up my own smoothie ingredients so I can make them at home so I don’t have to waste time driving there in the morning if they aren’t even going to provide great service in the mornings.
I like tropical smoothie café but I can’t recommend going there in the mornings. Maybe hit them up in the afternoon???