Pollo Tropical Restaurant Review Town Center

Let me just say this upfront, I wasn’t thrilled when the wife suggested I try this place out.  I was in need of a place to review but I didn’t have a lot of time (I was headed to a poker game, I have to make money some how right?) but everyone says how addictive it is so I thought “Why not? Let me shut them up”

4863 Gate Parkway
Jacksonville, FL. 32246
(904)646-9707

Location: It’s off of Gateway right in the complex in front of Costco and Best Buy area.

Food: Like I said above, I wasn’t really looking forward to doing a Pollo Tropical review.  I constantly hear my friends talking about it and I just couldn’t imagine it being anything special.  I mean, it’s just chicken right?  Anyways, I thought, fine, let me go and see that it isn’t good and then I can argue with them.  When I pulled up, I was surprised at how busy it was. While there wasn’t a line to order, there was a constant flow of people coming in.  The staff was keeping up with the flow.

Honestly, when I walked up to the counter to order, I was overwhelmed.  If you look at the picture of the menu board you will see it is pretty busy with options but once you order once, you will see how easy it actually is.  I went with the TropiChop because it looked like the easiest thing to order.  Basically what you do is pick your meat: Chicken, Mojo Roast Pork or Vegetarian.  Once you pick that out, then you move on to your preference of type of rice, mashed potato or a lettuce.

Next step: “Top it off” where you add any combination of Black Beans, Red Beans, Kernel Corn, Tomatoes, Peppers and Onions or Sauteed Onions.  All this was $5.99 plus another $1.00 for a drink.  Once you place your order, head to your table, they bring the food to you fresh from the kitchen.  While I was waiting, I filled up the drink and then wandered over to the Salsa Bar and picked out a couple.  My favorite: Garlic and Cilantro sauce.

The food arrived promptly and let me just say that after a couple bites I WAS PISSED!  You know why?  Because it was freaking good! Yeah you heard me right, it was good lol. The chicken was grilled perfectly and the rice was addictive. I scarfed it down like a kid at home the first day after attending fat camp.  P.S. I’m fat, so I can make fat jokes….if you aren’t fat…stop laughing :)

Extra Info: This place was hopping.  A constantly flow of people coming in and out.  The staff is all over the place cleaning and asking if you need anything.  I wonder if this restaurant has any connection to Tijuana Flats with their great floor presence and level of interaction with the customers.  This is one of those places where you just get up and leave your stuff on the table, they clean up after you. Who doesn’t like that?

Overall Rating 1-10: I’m not doing this category anymore.  What is my rating worth anyways.  I will be doing a new thing, see next topic below.

The Good
-Very Clean
-Fresh Food
-Great pricing

The Bad
-Menu can be intimidating
-Not a lot of locations