Pollo Tropical Trinidad
I see that so far there are two branches in Trinidad of this American franchise which originally opened in Miami in 1988.
They tend to sell grilled chicken as well as chicken a la latina along with white rice, yellow rice, black beans and French fries
There are also Caesar salad options as well as beef/lamb/ribs offerings in lieu of chicken.
Have any of you tried the food and what are your views on the offerings?
Official site
Pollo Tropical Trinidad (Hover)
Hi Pandora. I've been there three times and I've bought four meals from them (Trincity Mall branch) The latest was today at lunch time. Here is my assessment:
1/4 Chicken and chips ($30) I liked it. The chicken is rotisserie-ish with a little less salt. The fries are like those of Royal Castle or Church's Chicken but also with less salt. It comes with a bun and small soft drink. What made this enjoyable were the sauces that they offer - Honey Mustard, Guava BBQ, Ketchup, Salsa and Pepper.
Wrap - Chicken Chipotle ($30) It would taste almost normal to somebody always eating gyros and chicken wraps but they seem to add cheese and a special chipotle sauce so there's a minor difference.
Grilled chicken, Black Beans, Yellow Rice - $40. This was my first meal and they had the yellow rice in a ball and the black beans in a plastic container/cup that looks like a very large version of the condiment cup that KFC gives out.
Grilled Chicken- a little salty but normal.
Black Beans - slightly less salty than we normally make them here and the beans were small. I loved them though.
Yellow Rice - it was a little sappy the first time around but acceptable.
Overall, I enjoyed the meal - it had a "healthy" Taste to it as it wasn't too salty save for the grilled chicken.
1/4 Chicken, Red Beans, Yellow Rice As per the above. Here the chicken is the non-grilled version mentioned first. The Yellow Rice was more spread out and less soggy with more vegetables like green peas. The Red Beans were VERY bland with no pumpkins and there was little salt for flavor. I still loved it for the nutritional value as the food was healthier than the competition. Again the sauces added flavor where the salt was lacking.
All in all a good buy for the health conscious Trinidadian but if you want to feel extremely full where every last dollar stretched your stomach, it's not the place for you. In that case, D Ranch is better.
Thank you so much for such detailed review. I wanted to try the 1/4 Chicken and chips, no salad? The chips are the size of a small KFC fries or large? I love to eat and I like to get value for my money and I find these days, some places give you less and less.
There are salads but you need to purchase them separately if you are buying the chicken and chips. The meals often come with optional sides so you can choose the salad instead of the beans or rice. As for the portion size of the fries, they dumped them in the Styrofoam container but it seemed like midway between a large and small KFC portion as it was enough to fill up half the container. It may not full you though if you have a VERY empty stomach.
Edited: Cagel on 18th Aug, 2013 - 12:41am
Pandora I think Cagel gave you an excellent explanation about the things Pollo Tropical has to offer. I usually order the 1/4 chicken but I am a small eater! The portions aren't large, perhaps you should add a salad or some rice or beans.
I have always been curious about this place, mostly because of the clean attractive atmosphere it presents, but the location is odd and the name is a turn off (I'm vegetarian). Judging from the menu as well I don't see anything worthwhile there for me, just another junk food place with a fancy name and marketing appeal.
True it's not for vegetarians, but are there restaurants in Trinidad that cater strictly for vegetarians? In your case, if you choose to dine here you would just have to order sides and as the portions are small, it might not be worth it for you.
Like I said before, the food here is for a late meal where you don't want to eat heavy or for snacking (The wraps)
Edited: Cagel on 18th Aug, 2013 - 7:52pm