El Pollo Loco

I have been to this location more times than I can count. I absolute love their tostada salads. They constantly have new specials and often this includes new types of salads. Their salads come with awesome choices and and there is a great selection of dressings. If you do not like a particular dressing the employees will happily switch out the dressing for you. I personally love the double chicken tostada salad without pico and either with ranch or citrus dressing. The chicken is full of flavor which is awesome in the salad. They often have other salad like a shrimp or carne asada, so be on the look out for those items. The taco shells are great. They are not too greasy which is a nice change from many other places that have tostada salads.
I have also had their bowls which are great. I particularly loved it when they had the create your own. Their cheese sauce was amazing and all of the ingredients to choose from were very tasty.
The grilled chicken is very good. There is no other fast food place that has chicken so well flavored. It is amazing.
My favorite dessert was the chocolate and cream cheese chimichanga, but unfortunately they have removed this item. I really wish they would bring it back.
Don’t forget to grab your salsas. The avocado salsa is wonderful. The employees are very happy to get you any salsa you would like.
The only reason I did not give this place 5 stars is service. While the employees are always very friendly, service can be very slow at lunch time and my order has been incorrect more times than I know. The employees really need to double check orders for accuracy.

Family meal for 4 adults 2 kids 16 piece & 3 sides good price, good amount, super patient Alejandro helping me decide which package works best for us! Great employees make this an even better experience!
Thank You Alejandro!

I’m giving them one star due to the fact, they had probably fifty pieces of hot delicious looking chicken on the grill, and yet they put old dry, plastic texture chicken on our tostada. I know somebody has to get the old chicken, we can’t let money go down the owners drain, today I was the sucker ;-). The pineapple was on the bottom with the warm beans and rice. Also it was so noisy, like a club in TJ, non stop laughing and shouting in Spanish constantly by employees. I wrote an email to corporate customer service and no response. So I feel one star is what they deserve.

We always love this fresh food. Their grilled chicken and sides are yummy. Lunch bowls are also a deal.

I love El Pollo Loco since it first opened in San Diego around the 1980s. Usually get the 2 piece combo with tortilla and 2 sides — spanish rice, coleslaw or loco side salad and a refillable drink. Love the grilled chicken which is always fresh and tasty. The salsa bar is also amazing with a few types of salsa and other garnishes — cilantro, onions, lemon wedges, jalapenos, etc. Once you become a regular patron, the managers I met (both Alex) and staff greet you by your first names and make sure that you are happy with your meal and visit. At less than $ 7, you can’t beat the value for such a healthy meal. A bonus, there are occasional coupons that lower the cost to $ 5! Another secret, there is a 10% discount for people over 55 but you have to ask for it. See you soon Alexes.

Great deal for the Family meal. Feeds 4 – 6 for around $ 20 and there is often a coupon available for 4 extra pieces of their delicious chicken.

Came back here recently after a long (2 – 3 year) absence and got a wonderful surprise: the place has been completely remodeled, is spotlessly clean and obviously under new management. Service is fast and friendly and the food fresh-​tasting and delicious. Props to the new management and staff.

I love El Pollo Loco but this location is grossly mismanaged. I recently moved to this area (about a year ago) and I have gone to this location 3 times now. I went yesterday and walked out never to return to this location. For the 3^rd time they didn’t have any chicken ready and this time they said the wait would be 25 minutes. All I tried to order was a chicken breast combo. That’s 1 pc of chicken. I know food costs and spoilage is a concern at a fast food but this was 6:45 pm still in the dinner rush time. If you want El Pollo Loco try a different one in the area because this one doesn’t like to cook chicken.

We pulled in the drive-​through & were told that it was a 10 minute wait until there would be chicken ready. ?? Best part, we were blocked in the drive-​through waiting for everyone else to wait for their chicken.

Pulled up to the drive-​thru (my friend was driving) and she asked what came in the Classic Chicken Burrito. She had to repeat her question 4 times before she finally got an answer. It comes with shredded chicken. When asked if she could get grilled chicken, the answer was a solid no. No? Oh, well actually yes but it’s $ 2.00 extra. ??
Forget the burrito, we’d like to order the 8-​pc family meal, mixed. «Um, it’s going to be like fifteen minutes for the chicken.»
???
We went elsewhere.
1 star because EL POLLO LOCO DIDN’T EVEN HAVE POLLO.

Just ordered from the drive-​thru a 2 nice meal with rice and the loco salad. Got home to the chicken pieces were small, the salad had very little dressing and got no extra, didn’t get tortillas or any salsa. This is not the first time I’ve been dissatisfied with my meal! This store needs to train their staff better. When we pay for stuff that’s what we expect! Frustrated again!!!

This place is delish!!! Sometimes though, say 1 outta 6 times something goes wrong… Like forget to give extra green sauce (so dam good), the chicken is too dry, or takes too long to get my food. Other then that the overall service is friendly and great :)

I came here a couple days ago with my mom and this place is terrible. First off it’s expensive and the food doesn’t even taste good. I got an avocado salad and asked for no cheese due to a dairy allergy. I go to the drive thru window to pay and I hear the workers talking crap in Spanish about my decision of not getting cheese on my salad. Uhm, hello, just because I don’t look like I speak Spanish doesn’t mean I don’t understand it. And then back to the salad, what kind of salad has cooked broccoli? That’s just gross. Don’t come here unless you want workers talking crap and expensive salads with cooked broccoli.

I love this fast food joint! Man, where was this place when I was growing up? O, right. I got stuck with that crusty old white dude and 7 herbs and spices. Everything here is flamed grilled, tasty and so much more fun tasty than Taco Bell — with no mystery meat.
Store has gone through a major remodel since I last visited. Very comfy booths and far cleaner than the old store.
Love their spicy avocado salsa — a must get while eating here!

Went through the drive thru– Placed an order for eight piece dinner and requested it with chicken breasts and thighs. The nice lady at the window stated, you will have to pay extra for the breasts, do you want thighs and legs instead? Our answer, no, we will pay more and would like chicken breasts and thighs, the nice lady at the window repeats the ordered and then comes back with Oh, we don’t have chicken breast cooked right now, you will have to wait 5 minutes extra do you want thighs and legs instead? No, we would like breasts and thighs and we will wait 5 minutes. The nice lady at the window– Oh it will be 15 minutes for breasts– you want thighs and legs instead?
Come on– you should have better customer service than this, who runs out of chicken breasts at 5:15pm on a Sunday, at a chicken joint? Now your customer is stuck between cars in line at the drive thru and cannot get out. Your employee did not need to keep asking if we want thighs and legs instead. You lost the sale– went somewhere else to get what we wanted, not what someone was trying to push on us…

I love el pollo loco! it’s my favorite place to eat! ask any of my friends and they will say el pollo is my favorite until today. first they didn’t give me my drink. I drove off stopped and asked for it and it was handed to me. second what’s up with the quesadillas? The cheese is supposed to be melted … it’s not. thanks for the cold tortilla with the lump of shredded cheese in it. We ordered the avo chicken quesadilla too. same thing! Tell your cook to leave the food on the grill longer! nobody wants a cold tortilla with cold lumpy cheese. Last, I got home no chips and only one cilantro dressing. Ughhhhh! now I have to cook dinner again instead of it being easy. I gave 2 stars bcuz normally this place is on point but tonight, the staff needs help.

This is a no brainer, calorie conscious, and inexpensive lunch option. The chicken is always on point with flavor and don’t forget the tasty green salsa! I even spice it up further and ask for a side of Serrano peppers.
I like that there is an option for skinless chicken (saves calories.) I also like their iced tea options.
Great place for a healthy inexpensive quick meal.

I am so loco for the tacos el carbon. Two for a $ 3.00 on the dot?! Math so easy, keep the change!
Don’t even get me started on the $ 5.00 (plus tax) combo with 3 tacos el carbon (or is it carbones, is carbon even a word in Spanish?), chips, and a drink. The Barq’s root beer was sooo delicious and the chicken is flavorful and tender. The freebee mild salsa tastes so fresh and the avocado sauce adds a very slight kick. The white onions and cilantro perfectly complement the chicken in warm corn tortillas.
Did I mention the tacos el carbon are the bomb?

Pretty darn good! Try the passion fruit freshly brewed tea! Yummy! I had the chicken avocado taco.
Pro’s: Hot, fresh, tasty, flavorful, pretty healthy
Con’s: none
I’d eat here again. The restaurant was clean. I was helped right away. It had curb appeal. Service was good.

I was quite surprised to find that this El Pollo Loco is the cleanest fast food restaurant I have ever seen! Also, the lady who took my order was very sweet!!! Fresh salsa… yummy! Tables were quickly wiped down after each guest left so the next one could sit in a clean table right away! I love their food!
Yes, I’ll be coming back!