POLLO TROPICAL'S TEXAS VACATION

Many chains have come and gone from Texas and of these, Pollo Tropical, a Latin-Caribbean grilled chicken restaurant, was a tragedy. I first had Pollo Tropical in Florida around August 2014 with my family and hands down, it was some of the best "fast food" I've ever had, and much healthier at that. 5 star. S-tier. It turned out that Pollo Tropical was owned by Fiesta Restaurant Group Incorporated, which also owned Taco Cabana back in Texas (not nearly as good, or as special). Therefore, it should not have been a surprise that a few years after their spin off from Carrols Restaurant Group, Fiesta Restaurant Group would expand Pollo Tropical to Texas, in the four major Texas markets: Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas-Fort Worth. I'd felt that there was a detectable quality drop from Florida (this was noted in a few Yelp reviews) but this was not enough to make Pollo Tropical unenjoyable or not worth the price.

While Pollo Tropical grew to almost 40 locations in Texas, the stores were not doing well. By the end of 2016, a few stores had already closed, and in April 2017 most of the restaurants closed with the remaining six closing in September (two in Houston and four in San Antonio). Interestingly, Fiesta Restaurant Group spun off Taco Cabana in 2021, fulfilling a plan made five years prior to separate the two brands, and while Fiesta Restaurant Group remains in Dallas, it no longer has any restaurants in the state.

Similar to my page on CC's Coffee House, the locations listed are by approx. opening. They all closed in April 2017 (six closed at the end, some closed earlier) unless I can find otherwise, they'll be marked when I can confirm them. A * indicates that the store closed in 2016 (list). † indicates a store that is known to have been closed in September 2017. The article here indicates that the last two Houston locations were closed after Hurricane Harvey, the September announcement just made it official. Also, like the CC's Coffee House page they are written according to tax records and written in chronological order, they may be slightly off if there was a delay in opening one. Additional notes are written in superscript.

Finally, all of them were in new-build, stand-alone structures unless noted (the ones that re-occupied older restaurants were siginificantly remodeled). Almost all of these are still here (as of this writing, anyway—one notable exception is 211 S. Lamar Blvd.) and still serving as restaurants today.

I do have menus from early 2016 (the height of Pollo Tropical in Texas's time) here: front and back for your viewing pleasure.