El Pollo Loco

Stopped in last Thursday night on my way home from work it was about 630 maybe even 7 o’clock the wait was probably almost 45 minutes. The food was OK but the wait and the service was horrible the people there don’t seem to know what they’re doing I don’t think I’ll be going back.

I would give this location a big 0 if I could. The service and the one thing they sell «Chicken» is the worse. My family love pollo loco so we were happy to know that one had opened closer to us. We usually go to the one on Mac Rd. The first time the chicken was dry and had no flavor, the beans were burnt. (How can they burnt beans when they come in a can half way cooked) I know this because I used to be a supervisor in several pollo loco locations in the L. A area. But el pollo loco menú, ingridients and chicken marinade has changed and is not good cuality like the original pollo loco in.
The second time I went through the drive thru at around 530 pm, there was only one car in front of me and another behind me and barely any customers inside the restaurant, when I got to the window I was told that there’s going to be 10 – 15 min wait on the chicken and to pull over to the parking lot and they will bring my order out when ready. When I got home I was missing one if my side orders and my churros. I was so upset…
Months later I stopped again to get Dinner through their Drive thru and again they were out of chicken. So I promise my self to never go to this pollo loco location. Horrible management, horrible food!!!

Well you definitely need to check your order before you leave, it’s been wrong 3 out of 3 times. However the manager is really nice always fixes it right for me. Love the vitamin water lemonade and the black bean chicken bowl. When the order comes out like you order it, it’s really yummy.

Very disappointing… Chicken is not only so small in size but also either burned or dry and way too expensive for what you get. I think Pollo Loco at Mack Rd Sacramento is better.

Super small side portions… They were being stingy on napkins and salsa. Also all tortillas were broken! Disappointed tonight.

I work in Galt and I was in charge of getting food for a retirement party. The retiree requested El Pollo Loco so I called in the order the day before. I must say this place made everything so easy and I felt at ease. So, today I went to pick up my large order and the staff were very attentive and my order was ready on time. This place is amazing! The retirement party was happy and the food was delicious. Thank you El Pollo Loco for this great experience!

ABSOLUTE GARBAGE NOT ONCE BUT TWICE!!!
IF the chips aren’t stale or soaked in grease they forget your food all together. On more than one occasion this has happened to me. I’ve written in to corporate twice now… because when you try and call the store directly they won’t answer the phones. So out money twice now… and no food to speak on because the geniuses who work there can’t tell that the COLD pre-​prepped taco’s they are about to send out are NOT done. HERE IS A CLUE ITS FREAKING COLD!!!
How hard is it REALLY to get an order correct??? There was only 1 other car in the drive through and NOBODY behind me!!!

Customer service was awful and the chicken was so dry .My drink was half full and didn’t notice till I made it home, The side salad was so old I couldn’t even eat it and my son quesadilla was not even warm, The food here is just gross. I guess I will have to drive to mack road location,

I do like el Pollo Loco and I was excited that one opened in my neighborhood.
1. The chicken is overcooked and dry. When I mentioned it from my previous visit. They actually acknowledge they intentionally overcook their chicken to prevent food poisoning issues.
2. The salsa bins were dry, not empty, dry. I had to pickup the bins and empty the last drops into my container. That was for 3 different types of salsa.
3. Empty ice dispenser for drinks. Warm drinks all around. There were a bunch of customers standing around with empty cups. I couldn’t wait.
4. The mango avacado salad had NO mango, not just maybe a little. There was zero mango nada.
It’s tough to drive by a el Pollo Loco franchise to drive another 15 mins to go to the one on Mack Rd. but this is the second time at this franchise and it is being badly operated and I don’t think the owner is aware that people are avoiding this franchise and going back to mack rd. I’m not the only one, the mack rd staff chuckles a bit and lost some business initially, when eg el Pollo Loco opened, but lots of people like me are coming back. BTW, my order was 3 bowls, 3 chicken meals, 1 mango salad, 1 tosdada salad, 4 drinks.

Two months ago we stopped here and were second in line. A customer was being quite difficult with the cashier and a line began to build. Another employee came up to the second register and we thought okay he is going to take up the slack. NO, he turned and walked away. The manager was working in the kitchen and no one paid any attention to the line that continued to form. We walked out and went somewhere else. There was a line of at least six people behind us.
Tonight we thought we would give it another try. When we entered we noticed several customers sitting and waiting for their orders. The condiment bar was mostly empty and stuff spilled all over including the floor which was filthy. The time on our receipt was 4:48 p.m. and we finally got our food at 5:02. Our food was okay but don’t think we will not be returning anytime soon if ever.

If I could I would give this location a big fat 0
It’s the 4^th of the month and dinner time I order the 16 peace family meal leg and thy and the cashier tells me that I would have to wait 45 min to get my order so I ask her how many pieces can she give me and she says y have four of each ok the so I tell her give me the family meal of 8 peace legs&thy and she says sorry I can’t do that what kind of faking restaurant is this .
Your number one item is chicken and I have
To wait 45 min OMG.
So I end up going to KFC down the street got 16 pc meal grilled legs and thy with out wating 45 faking minutes.

Ordered the Ultimate Double Bowl with shrimp and it was very watery and bland. The shrimp was pretty good, but I only got about 5 shrimps in my bowl. My family ordered salads and they were all «alright» — super bland. Maybe we ordered the wrong things? However, we’re not planning on a revisit to find out.

What a crappy attitude Imani has the way she talks to the customers, «corn or flour» she blurts out instead of «would you care for corn or flour». She says it the same way for the side dishes, «sides?». Informed the manager about her lousy attitude and nothing changes. The chicken was burnt and dry and the size of the chicken is tiny for 2 piece for $ 8. First time there and our last.

I really want to like this place more than i do because they seem to try hard. The restaurant is clean and we had a nice experience with one of their staff who was coming around the dining area asking if we need anything (which we did). The issue is the chicken isn’t all that good and it seems to take forever to get your order, not a good thing for pseudo fast food. It’s grilled chicken for heaven’s sake and from what you can see when you order, they seem to be cooking 100 of them at any one time. So why does it take 20 minutes to get your order? The chicken itself is dry and overcooked. I am sure they want to make sure it is cooked to minimize any liability issue with serving undercooked chicken but there’s a hundred places that seem to have figured out how to cook chicken so I don’t get it here.

1^st time visit at this new location. 1^st time back to EPL in more than 15 years. Not a great comeback.
Ordered 2 shrimp/​avo tacos with small in sweet tea. Was told combo was more cost effective, only 50 cents more! Ok. But when I get to window the total is $ 8.85! You’re telling me two tacos that were 5.99 is now $ 3 more because of small tea and tax. Feeling duped EPL…
Then the good: first bite was enough, cold tortilla, cold shrimp made more cold by the chilly (not chili) sauce. They included chips instead of asking me what sides I might like to complete my «combo». To boot yhe chips were stale and vold. They killed my day by not including napkins.
On the good side the servers were pleasant and the store was clean.
Big let down. …

–5 stars. I ate there on Friday, ordered a chicken guacamole quesadilla and a brownie and it ruined my whole night at the Mike Epps Tour missing the whole show and getting ill as soon as I got my seat. It was so embarrassing I vomited all over the place. It’s Tuesday and I’m still sick.
No grilled chicken-​first time ever getting food poisoning.
I’m so pissed so I called the corporate office and I’m getting a guy named Jason who says they are or have refunded me my money and I still don’t see it in my bank and he avoids my calls. I guess I should call Curtis or something.

So apparently a company can remove your review from Unilocal which makes me want to stop using Unilocal now. But, not before I re-​review El Pollo Loco on Elk Grove Florin Road. I usually cook dinner for my family but when I don’t, my husband grabs fast food or sometime I will.
On my first visit to this place we were missing a side and the customer service was really bad. I asked a question through the drive thru.
Me: «Hi, I have a question about the 16 piece family meal?»
Her: «ok, a sixteen piece family meal, what sides do you want?»
Me: «no, I have a question first»
(after a few minutes and rude as all get out) Her: «OK, so what’s your question!?»
Me: «How much for all white meat with the 16 piece?»
Her: «What we have is in the sign.»
Ok, so I just ordered it regular, that’s too much. I get up to the window, get my food, ask about sauce and the chick leaves for like two minutes and comes back surprised asking did I need something. Got home and yeah, I’m missing a side. WtH, irritating.
Second trip, my husband, drive thru, in the pouring rain. They don’t have change for him so he has to wait, several minutes, then they don’t have the chicken so he has to wait in the parking lot for them to bring it. Gets home, nope not 16 pieces, 11 pieces.
Third trip, my husband comes home with 16 pieces of chicken and two out of three sides. I am enraged so at that point I finally answer their calls regarding the review I posted. I tried to be nice and give them feedback without getting anyone fired but now I’m really pissed.
I told the guy from Vegas that I didn’t think the free meal was necessary but my husband would so yea I’ll take it.
Get up here, the fourth trip, ask about a meal on the house for my family like the guy promised and they have no idea what I’m talking about. So, once again they treated me like I’m buying one piece of chicken. I am not messing with them anymore… Bad service all around.

The food is normal el pollo loco; nothing to report there. But the staff is the real reason I’m writing the review. Now I’ve only ever been through the drive thru but Every single time I’ve been there, the people continue to surprise me by how nice they are. Very personable, friendly, helpful, patient and kind. I’ve never had a problem with this store and I think its dumb when people leave horrible reviews for a place they’ve gone to Once. Oh no, your order got messed up, oh its called they’re humans. People mess up sometimes, big deal. The important thing is that all of these employees are really really nice and they need to keep up the good work. As for me, my food is always the way I asked and delicious. Keep on rockin’ el pollo loco.

The el pollo loco on mack or by stockton blvd have got it going on. this one is still trying to get it together. its been a few months but they still havent quite got it. sometimes the food is cold, burnt or missing something from my order. too bad it’s right by my house! hope they get it together soon.

I was a little wary of this place because of the poor reviews, but decided to give them a shot since they were new. I’m really glad I did! I went through the drive thru at about 7:30pm. The kid who took my order was adorably personable and funny. I ordered the 2 carnitas sopes ala carte. They asked if I wanted salsa with it and I said «sure». Now this is where it gets weird. When I got my food, I noticed that it looked exactly like the picture on the menu board! I’m sorry, but that never happens! To further my surprise, they were actually really, really delicious! The carnitas were tender and savory and the cabbage and salsa on top tasted delightfully fresh. The beans were not overpowering and there was also a tasty light sauce that complimented the richness of the meat. All of this for under $ 6! Great food, great service at a decent price. I will definitely be back!