El Pollo Loco

I would give this location –1 if possible. Went to eat lunch there and bit into a Chicken Loco Taco and got jabbed by a bone! Total lack of responsibility from the owner of the location. sharp bone, spicy sauce… soft gums, makes for a great combination. Very painful. I sent email to corporate their poor reply was take it up the complaint with the local store owner. In other words, not their responsibility. After a week, the owner put me in touch with her insurance company, Farmers, who after 3 days told me that a bone in my chicken taco is not consider negligent under CA law and if I wanted to sue, I had two years to do it. I no longer trust El Pollo Loco or Farmers Insurance. I have already lodged complaints with Local Health Department. I think there needs to be warnings posted that there could be bones in your chicken taco so consume with care. Very disappointed. Anyone know a good attorney?

Never fails that I ask for no pico and they put on extra just to spite me. I ask for the creamy avocado sauce & they give me green salsa– bummer. You better rip open your food while still at the window to be sure they listened to your order because 99.9% of the time they did not and you’ll be eating crap you don’t like and ruin your lunch break.

Ahhhhhhh only two cars in drive thru, 23 minutes!!! NOT ACCEPTABLE. Ordered 2 large sides, asked for a «few» green salsas, only 1 side made it in the order :(
Parked, showed cashier receipt and got a skeptical look… I was lost!!! Then it dawned, WE’RE ALL CHEATING THEM?
*deep breath*
I got the side however the Hall Monitor watched me the entire 30ish seconds it took me to retrieve 2 more salsas :/​
W T F people. I just read a few other Unilocal on this location, I agree with most, how does this store rate three stars?! Painful.

I have never had bad food here. I moved just down the street from this location a little over a year ago. I love their variety. They have some nice selections of under 500 calories. The option of getting a bowl, tostada bowl or a salad but all made with the same basic ingredients is also a great idea. In other words, you get to have it your way. However, do not get their gravy. I love salt and this gravy is way too salty for me. At lunch, they have a very nice Hispanic man come around and ask if you need anything, offers to fill your drink, offer to bus your table, etc. Very nice touch for a fast food restaurant.
To quote Tami L Elite ’16:
«Hey! This is healthy eating right here. Roasted chicken? I can eat this all day long.
— Clean location
— Friendly counter service
— Food is always served fresh off the grill
— Reasonable prices
I’ve been eating at this location for about a year since moving to the area. Always a good meal here.»
Thanks Tami.
The rest of you, give it a try. I think you will like it.

Why oh why did I come back here? This is the second time I have been given inedible food. The drumstick was completely dried out and the chicken was like leather. Same for the wing. Moved on to chicken breast. The skin was so over cooked it cracked and broke in 2. You can only imagine how inedible the breast meat was. Ok I have a thigh left. You have to go pretty far to suck all the moisture out of a thigh. Inedible. How long was this chicken on the grill? I picked up at 5:00 on a Saturday. Does the owner ever read the Unilocal reviews? Apparently not.

Food advertised in their mailers not available at 4 pm.

This drive thru is as slow as mud. The speaker system is terrible too — can’t understand the employee speaking and they can’t understand me. Food is okay but don’t plan to drive thru if you are in a hurry.

Unfortunately I re-​visited this El Pollo Loco location. Things haven’t changed much since my last review of this awful operation.
First — some girl taking my order on the drive-​thru must have been wearing a head set and was standing next to whoever was chopping chicken, because when she came back to ask me about my order, I heard about every 4^th word she was saying mixed in with a loud «bang — bang — bang». Ended up just saying «whatever» and headed for the window (turns out they got my order wrong, but since I couldn’t «confirm» the order with them, sort of my fault I guess).
Then I’m met at the window by «Jonathan» (this was 10/​24/​2015 @ 12:12pm per the receipt). «Jonathan» is a representative of so many fast food joint employees who have not had the opportunity to be trained by competent management, or for that matter, management who gives a damn about customers. Jonathan tells me my total, I hand him a bill, he comes back and drops change into my hand with a «here». That was it…“here”, no «thank you», no «have a nice day» or anything like that. «here». Then my food comes, and guess what he says??? You got it… «here». I took the food and then asked Jonathan if anyone here had trained him in saying things like «Thank you» or «may I help you?», or even «Have a nice day»??? He stared at me for about 10 seconds, then turned and walked away. Here I thought he might be getting a supervisor… but no, he returned and then looked at me with a pretty harsh look on his face and said «is there anything else you need?»…
That’s what we’ve come to, a bunch of kids who cannot find a single word of customer service to interact with the store’s customers. Some of it may be some rebel attitude kids today may have, but as I said before, I really blame «I-don’t-care» ownership and management who apparently have no clue how to train team members on how to treat customers (and I’m betting the training isn’t to drop change into someone’s hand and say «here»).
Anyway, same place, pretty much same story. A waste of a business. Your experience may differ, but this is a pretty pathetic El Pollo Loco!

Having had a bad experience at Sushi Kuchi nearby tonight and famished, I came here as a last resort.
I have to say WOW! Oustanding and fredh tasting food for fast food and excellent service!
Thanks you guys!
Awesomeness!

Hey! This is healthy eating right here. Roasted chicken? I can eat this all day long.
— Clean location
— Friendly counter service
— Food is always served fresh off the grill
— Reasonable prices
I’ve been eating at this location for about a year since moving to the area. Always a good meal here.

Never been to El Pollo Loco before. It seemed to be a good first experience and my tummy didn’t get upset. I will try different locations in the future.

Horrible service! Their drive-​thru lane is excruciatingly slow and half the time they get your order wrong! It must be a problem with management because the drive thru attendant never seems to have proper training. They never move cars with slower orders to the parking lot and run their food out to them to keep the flow moving And when I ask for salsa, I’d like more than one tiny cup of house Pico De Gallo, sheeesh!

I read the reviews and hesitated to go, but I’m on foot so it was Benihana or pollo loco.
Service was good, food was on time. Burrito and taco were what I expected. the bad reviews don’t represent my experience.

Holy shit is this place fail. Utter dogshit. I’ve lived near here for about 3 years and drive through every once in a while when absolute desperation overrides common sense. Never in the years I’ve been ‘eating’ here have they gotten my order correct. It’s tough I know. It’s as if they intentionally leave items out. The staff is always fucking pissed off and look at you like you’re disturbing them. Drive through? Well fuck this asshole. No hot sauce for him. Fucking up MY day. You’re better off going next door to Jack and getting some .99 tacos. Those sliders are fucking delicious cept you’ll shit your pants if you so much as laugh.

Thank you for being right off the freeway. It makes it a perfect location to go to when traveling on the 5 fwy.
Thank you for offering healthy alternative options for a fast food drive thru location. For me, I’d much prefer el pollo loco over McDonalds, Carl’s, Wendy’s, etc…
Their mango passion iced tea and the Mexican Cobb bowl are delicious! So much food in the Mexican Cobb bowl! I am stuffed and can now travel happy :)

I have no idea what I ordered but waiting in line for 30 minutes on a Saturday night left quite the impression.
This chicken may be «crazy» but it certainly is not fast!
I give this chicken joint 3 «I don’t even want chicken anymore I just wanna go home!» out of 10.

This El Pollo Loco location is the most professional and clean location I have experienced. I love their food (of course!) and the customer service here is unbelievably great!
The food is cheap and delicious, and the staff is 5 star. If you are craving chicken or El Pollo Loco, this is your place.

Give me your chicken burrito NOW!
I have fallen in love with El Pollo Loco. The food is always delicious, fresh, and fast. I don’t like chicken on the bone so I go for burritos/​tacos and always love them. I also really like their french fries that come with the combo meal (or 8 other sides).
Also, there is a FROSTER’S FREEZE inside the place. You can get a dipped cone, shakes, etc. Always great to wash down your chicken delight.

El Pollo Loco — Why are your TV commercials constantly stuck in my head? GET OUT!
For drive thru food, not bad… in comparison to all food — Meh. I’ve experienced much better :)
Can’t really complain, the food was hot, it was what I ordered, and a notch above Taco Bell.
Eating here was a reminder of why I don’t eat fast food… I feel terrible after eating it and immediately regret it!

The food is delicious. It is very fresh and flavorful. The salsa bar is clean, savory and stocked. Both the chicken and carne asada are awesome because they have the marination and the preparation down.
But, there are problems. The drive-​through is extremely slow. If you are on your lunch break, you will spend half of it in line. Even if there is only 3 or 4 cars, you will just sit. If you are merely, trying to entertain your kids for a while and you are dining in, slow drive-​through is not a problem.
Another problem is the price. Now I realize that there is plenty of parking and a large lovely clean facility which takes more $$$ to rent and maintain. However, the price is high for Mexican food. A steak burrito is 5.99 (before tax and with no drink or sides), a steak quesadilla is 5.99, and I’ve spent $ 30 on a family meal — that’s too much for fast food!
If you are in the parking lot and wondering if it tastes good, the answer is «yes.» (If you are at home and weighing your options, consider all the options first.)