El Pollo Loco

The corporate offices of El Pollo Loco will advertise holiday deals with coupons, but this location will not honor them. I came on Mother’s Day with a coupon and was told I could not use it. I complained to the manager. No joy. I complained online on El Pollo Loco’s website. No response. I called their toll free number TWICE and although the kind lady on the 2^nd time was very helpful, all she could do was to send a message to the store. Got no response from the store.
I don’t think they really care to have my business… (so I will take it elsewhere)
For those who follow the stock, El Pollo Loco IPO’d in 2014, with its stock hitting $ 41 in August. Today it is nearly ¼th that price at just $ 11 and change. A company that blows off it’s customers will eventually go Chapter 11.

I come here at least once a week for the soup and a crunchy taco. If not for the fact that it’s right around the corner from home, I probably would make the drive to the Santa Clara store on El Camino only because that store is much cleaner and organized… and the salsa bar isn’t right next to the cashiers… I still get a nice bowl and a good crunchy taco– so the food is on point for fast food– but the store could use some attention from management for cleanliness, organization and overall customer service.
Just sayin. I still go there often, nothing is a deterrent but it would be nice if it weren’t such a hotmess all the time.

Is super hard to put this in words I came to eat at el pollo Loco and there was no pollo cooked. they said it was going to be 10 minutes and here I am 30 minutes later still waiting. this is not the first time this happens. it was not busy. floors were a mess.

Prices up, they hired some very nice new people but overall quality is down. Burnt chicken twice in a row, never seen burnt chicken at any other El Pollo Loco. Been going here for years due to solid value and lack of alternative nearby locations, but I’m moving on.

This is a regional chain of fast casual restaurants specializing in Latin style chicken meals.
This location is in a strip mall with it’s own sizable parking lot. In spite of this parking can be difficult during peak hours as the strip mall has a couple of really popular restaurants. You will however, be able to find parking somewhere in that strip mall at all times, if not next to your restaurant of choice.
Décor is identical to any other fast food restaurant.
I picked up a taste for latin style grilled chicken when I was living south of the border, and typically have found the El Pollo chain a decent way to fix those grilled chicken cravings when they occur, my personal favorite being a half or whole chicken with or without tortilla’s, beans, pico, etc. Add to this the awesomeness of a self serve salsa bar, and hey, I’m in. Not at this location however.
Pricing here continues to rise, with a the above mentioned meal running about 15 dollars or so, but the real problem is quality. Portion sizes are really really tiny. those tortillas are getting to be smaller then a slice of bread, and the chicken is unremarkable in flavor. The salsa bar on my last visit was totally getting watered down. Bonus negative points for the homeless guy positioned between the door and the counter who hit up each and every person in line when they tried to pay for the meal. I get that homelessness is not the fault of the business, but having a panhandler by the register seem within their control to affect. 15 bucks for what is functionally a quarter chicken indifferently flavored?
I’m not a fan. There’s better out there for the time and money.

Service is okay only thing I really disliked that was everytime I went in the past week there ebt machine was broken everytime

This was my local go to El Polo Loco location, I’ve been ordering the same meal once a month for a couple of years. Unfortunately standards are heading downhill fast.
Chicken portions have suddenly changed, last 10 piece mixed chicken order counted the top portion of the wing as 1 piece! Net chicken pieces was 8. Worse yet the chicken is suddenly very dry. The salsa bar now contains two selections of salsa with no discernible tomatoes, onions, chills or cilantro; it is more akin to some type of light pink fermented/​bubbly purée. No more fresh salsa or pico de gallo.
I called into the store after finding out I received only 16 pieces of the ordered 20. The manager was very apologetic about it and offered a free 10 piece (really 8). When I stopped by to get the meal I was glared at for wanting free chicken.
Can you say «Extra Crispy»?!!
Cheers!

Ordering made easy with online ordering. Picked up a catered order for work. Drove from Fremont to Sunnyvale just so I could share my love of this El Pollo Loco. Got there a little early and they were just packing up the order. Checked the order to make sure it was complete, they didn’t forget a thing. Pouring rain and they even helped me carry out the boxes. Everything was piping hot and tasted nice and fresh. All my co-​workers loved their lunch.

Technically fast food but fresher than other chains. Great that I can get a meal for around $ 5 and coupons are great when they come in the mail. I like the food and the place is close to home. I place my order and by the time I get to the end of the counter my food is usually ready. That’s the good part.
The other day I was given a meal and was told that even though she didn’t just make it, it had been prepared not too long ago, but it was cold.
I’d like to bring something to the attention of the management. You have some younger workers at the counter who appear to have had way too much coffee, speak too fast, rush you even when you’re the only one ordering, or are borderline disrespectful. Everyone having fun at work together is great but I would prefer a little more professionalism and less attitude.

Great food. Table was dirty. Floors are filthy. Dirty footprints covering the floor. The booth seats have large holes with insides coming out. Mediocre service

Am I the only one who thinks of KFC when coming here? (without the fried chicken option, of course)
I’ve lived in Sunnyvale my whole life and have now finally stepped into an El Pollo Loco. I love the avocado burrito with a side of mashed potatoes (such a random mix, I know). The burrito is tightly packed with chicken, avocado, pinto beans, & pico de gallo/​salsa. It looks skinny and not-​so-​fulfilling but I personally can only eat half of it; it’s worth it.
They have tons of sides– from mac and cheese and mashed potatoes, to coleslaw and broccoli. And lets not forget the salsa bar. There are so many options. My favorite is the avocado salsa– it’s a little spicy and adds a kick to my burrito.
I wouldn’t eat here all the time but I do find it to be a pretty healthy fast food option.

Best fast food in our area. They specialize in marinated flame broiled chicken that’s so authentic it tastes like home cooking. There is nothing else like it anywhere around here, it’s that yummy and as good as it tastes, it’s still fast, fast food.
The sides are ok, you really want to come here for the chicken, it has such an authentic Mexican style flavor that this place can get packed, but the service is so fast that the wait is very short. I also like that the kitchen is laid out in a way that you can watch the chicken being cooked from beginning to end.
We like to get a huge bucketload of chicken wig some sides, take it home and think of it as home cooked. If you like chicken you might love this place.

Pollo Loco is a public chain restaurant. I thought putting «Pollo» to the stock market means its chicken is something. No, I was wrong. Its chicken was not worth an investment or even a casual visit.
The service was fast and the cashier was a really happy/​friendly guy. We got the 8 piece family meal for $ 25. The chicken was a major disappointment — it was dry, bland, and unflavorful. The skin was the only seasoned part but completely detached from the meat and was not crispy at all.
I hope Pollo Loco can do the chicken right, unless the «pollo» part means something I don’t understand.

This is fast food. I didn’t expect much. I ordered the 2 person meal, 4 pieces of chicken, a salad, 4 tortillas, churros, and 3 sides. We ordered mac and cheese side, cole slaw, and mash potato sides.
THe chicken: dry as a bone. The seasoning was okay but wow terrible chicken for a place that «prides» itself for the chicken it sells.
Mac and cheese and mash potato: my goodness, so salty thank goodness for the flour tortilla to dilute the saltiness of everything else. It was so salty that it was barely edible.
Cole slaw: too sweet, I couldn’t eat it.
Churros: only thing that was decent with the whole meal.
Wait staff didn’t give us any utensils nor napkins. This order was to go.
The ambience was modern and redone but if the food is lousy why bother?
It wasn’t a one star, inedible meal but it’s borderline. I wouldn’t go back for their food personally but my husband thought it was tolerable.

My husband and I ordered Mango Avocado Chicken salads tonight, but when we got home, there were NO mangos OR avocados. I immediately called to let them know we were coming back to get our order fixed, but was told the mangos are in the salsa and then the woman on the phone proceeded to tell me the restaurant was closed. We were just there 2 minutes earlier. The woman kept saying, «We’re closed. Come back tomorrow.»
Not to be deterred, we drove to Safeway and bought our own mango and avocado to add to our salads at home. BUT, when we finally started to eat, I almost choked on a bone!!! In chicken breast??? That’s when we realized the chicken in our salads looked more like chicharrónes. Overcooked and bones in every bite.
Never again, Sunnyvale El Pollo Loco! The best El Pollo Loco to dine at is at 5124 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose. The menu items look more like the website versions and their customer service rocks!!!
UPDATE 9÷16÷15:
I received a call from El Pollo Loco’s District Manager, expressing his apologies for our unsatisfactory dining experience. He reassured me he will train his employees to provide better customer service. He not only is refunding our complete meal purchase, but is adding a free meal for our inconvenience. What I was most impressed with was his concern to keep us as customers. A rarity in the fast food industry. I initially decided I wouldn’t return to this location, but after Mr. Nollaco reached out to us to make it right, El Pollo Loco has gained back a customer. Bravo!

Chicken was great, but all of our veggies were wilted. Sides were decent. Overall quality and cleanliness a bit lower on the rating spectrum in comparison to other locations of the same chain.

Seems like Afghan food is dying in these parts. There used to be one in this strip mall but it’s way empty. So goes for Afghani house down the el camino. Being late and hungry i decided to take the chicken plunge. Never been to one of these considering i used to live within walking distance of one right out of college. The clientele are almost all hispanic. That’s a good sign. 3 piece thigh and leg combo with rice and fries lplus flour tortillas. Pretty decent deal. Chicken was properly cooked, fries were crispy. Rice was a bit dry and tortillas could be warmer. But the combo of those things wrapped together with the crisp salty skin of the chicken was solid. Guess ill have to try it again during peak cooking hours but even at 2pm this place was more than half full

Have to update my review since it’s been five years (wow, have I been in the Bay Area that long?).
This location has improved a lot since my first review. They’ve definitely improved to earn another star or two from me. Their décor has been modernized and cleaned up, and their staff is efficient and really friendly. Seems like management has been doing something right, as this is a big improvement over what it used to be.
The chicken is amazing as always, can’t think of how it could be more delicious. It’s on par or better than chicken I got from a local rotisseria in Mexico City (although they had an amazing rotiserrie display with mouth-​watering chicken rotating all day long). But the same could be said of any El Pollo Loco location really.
Unfortunately, tonight my order slipped through the cracks. Hey, it happens. First time it’s happened to me though, so I tried be forgiving. I think someone else may have picked up my order by mistake.
In any case, as an apology for the long wait they gave me extra tortillas and a small box full of extra chicken (two drumsticks and one chicken breast!). They gave me a sincere apology. Now I’m stuffed, happy, and pacified, so I went ahead and sat down to write this review.

My co-​workers and I were craving for their chicken since we went there 2 weeks ago, we gotta satisfy our cravings. The lunch line has always been long and waiting for the chicken is always even longer. So we decided to call and check if we can do a phone order and pick it up since we work about 10 minutes away. The manager Edgar took our order, 1 family order with 3 large sides rather than us ordering 4 different meals and 2 sides per order.
One of us went in line to pay for the order while we got our salsa. The food was not ordered and it was in queued like everyone else. After waiting for a good 15 minutes we asked about our order since we called it in. The manager, Edgar then said, they take phone orders but not during lunch since it is busy and he was doing us a favor. But where was the favor if our order followed in line and was not ready at all. We don’t mind waiting in line, but if he would have told us that the food would not be ready and that they do not take phone orders then we would have opted out and dined some place. By the time we got our food and brought it back to the office we had less than 5 minutes to eat.
The food is delicious don’t get me wrong, that is why we wanted to eat there. But during lunch be prepared to wait… is it worth the wait? sure, but not under time constraint… in my opinion. I want to savor the food and not scarf it down =)

I used a coupon in the mail to get a free salad, with a $ 10 purchase. The place is packed, and it seems like English is the second language here. It takes me a moment to figure out they have two lines here: one line to place order, and a second line to pick up order.
So I ask the employee what they have for $ 10, and they say they have the $ 9.95 eight piece dark meat chicken. I ask if I can use it with my coupon, and they say yes. So I pick out the chicken salad with 4 big slices of gucamole.
All the other coupons in the mail require that I buy a drink to get something free, but drinks are $ 2+ here, so I pass on that, and give the coupon mailer to some big family seated next to the window, and they smile and thank me.
Lots of Hispanics here, mainly working people, in this white collar high tech town.
Service is very fast –in a few minutes my order arrives to take home. I go over the salsa counter and stock up on the very hottest salsa –just the way my wife likes it.
At home, I eat 4 pieces of grilled chicken with rice that I’ve made. The chicken is very tasty, but the size of the chicken is smaller than what I expected –not the same size as the 48 ounce rotisserie chickens at Costco for $ 5. So eating 4 pieces of El Pollo Loco chicken is like eating 2 pieces of the Costco chicken. The chicken is very flavorful, but since it is so small, there are a lot of bones, even from the legs and thighs.
The chicken salad with guacamole comes with a ranch like dressing, and is huge, and can feed two people — a very good value for $ 4.
Not sure if I will come back without a coupon, as there are tons of places to eat chicken in the Silicon Valley.