El Pollo Loco

The shrimp avocado tacos are a good option for a good Friday. Tacos made on corn tortillas, cabbage pico de gallo salsa, shrimp and sauce very tasty I must say

Good, clean and up to date dining area. Salsa bar was well kept even with it being 30 minutes before closing. Fast service, accurate items which I was nervous about considering all the other bad reviews. Was so convenient to the softball field at Lemon Park. Will keep it in mind for future game days.

Really El pollo loco? Mixing in new rice with the old stale rock hard rice, you think were just stupid and wouldn’t notice. The young cashier girl felt bad that I recieved old rice, while the Manager girl was getting me a fresh batch. Would it kill you to tell your customers sorry about the bad rice? This Manager /​Team leader has no PR skills and should be trained in customer hospitality. Come on management your making your restaurant look bad.

Close to the gym and freeway — ish! I’ve always had a pleasant experience here (except when there was hair in my food once… But it was fine after that. I just love chicken too much.)
Both the chicken and service are good. I always see the workers in the back grillin our chicken which is awesome cuz I know it’s fresh. The chicken itself is standard, just like the other branches of El Pollo Loco out there.

Stopped by here last night. The outside of the restaurant is unkept and filthy. Inside, the floors were dirty and covered in grime. Only one couple in the dining area, yet the tables were not cleared of trash.
The service was HORRIBLE. First, the cashier couldn’t understand what I was ordering, and I was ordering exactly what the menu said. It wasn’t busy at all, including the drive thru, yet the employees took forever the get my 2 item order complete. All they did was talked and joked around. Then, they screwed up my order. To top things off, the chicken was cold in my tostada.
Never going to this nasty place again!

Love, love, love El Pollo Loco… Do not like this location due to the service. I frequent this location often, as it Is the closest to where I live. The chicken is occasionally undercooked, but I will stick it in my toaster oven if need be. But tonight, I walked in at 9:45 (they close at 10). The girl at the counter seemed visibly upset that I was there 15 mins before closing. I received eye rolling and attitude as I ordered. I can understand it being a bit inconsiderate to arrive at a full service restaurant 15 mins before closing, but this is a FAST FOOD establishment. I decided to cancel my order, and go elsewhere. HORRIBLE customer service. :(

I don’t usually write bad reviews, but I guess today is the day for that. I go to this location often because it’s the closest to my work. I’m diabetic so I try to eat as low carb as possible.
The problem is that this location manages to get something wrong on my order ⁴⁄₅ times I go here. How is that possible? My usual orders are pretty simple (2pc leg and thigh meal with broccoli and black beans or a power bowl combo).
If you go here, double check your receipt and order every time.

Today me and my family had dinner at el pollo loco and everything was fresh and delicious we order a family meal and it was a great deal lots of food, the restaurant was clean everyone was nice and we got our food really fast, we will be back for sure!

This one location in particular never fails me outstanding and pleasant service. The food is always to my liking very very yummy!

Very satisfied! Food was great, not burn or over cooked. Salsa bar was clean and fully stocked. Employees were very friendly and helpful. Went in around 8 pm, seating area is small and there were plenty of patrons enjoying their meal. Seating area clean. Kimberly went out of her way to make sure our order was delivered promptly. She provided Excellent Service. Definitely will be returning.

They were out of tea when I ordered. After I left the drive through I thought the bag was light I noticed they forgot my burrito. I went in and got that. After I got home I realized I didn’t get any salsa, my tortillas were all broken into thirds and there was barely any chicken in my pollo bowl. The burrito had dressing on it as well, by the receipt she added cilantro dressing to my burrito? Oh ya, I didn’t feel to hot after I ate, my husband was fine :/

I was very disappointed came in for lunch went through drive thru and ordered a avocado burrito. When I got back to work and starting eating, the meat was cut up in big pieces looked like old left overs was VERY COLD! Only had 2 bites I stayed hungry went after work and explained to front girl & she was very nice and made again at no charge, showed her what I got and she shook her head in disbelief.
It was a great inconvenience since I get out late from work 7:30pm…I work 2 blocks from there and this happened 3 weeks ago have not been back since I usually would eat twice a week… seems that lunch crew is farely new.

Employees were super friendly, and the food was bomb! I love fresh chicken. I got double chicken tostada bowl. My new favorite meal!

Occasionaly come here instead of the El Pollo loco on Placentia. I’ve gotten cold burritos before, but tonight I literally got a half cooked avocado burrito.
Reallly dissappointed in this place. Would recommened the other location instead.

Food tastes fine, when they are a little busy the portions and service suffers. Got an ultimate double chicken salad and it was anything but ultimate. Should’ve stayed with Rubios.

The chicken is fine. The service is subpar. I can never get my order done correctly. Never. I don’t know why I keep coming back. The workers do not like to be bothered with questions or concerns. They would really appreciate if you would just take your wrong order and leave.

Located in the middle of a strip mall off Orangethorpe and Lemon, just north of the 91 freeway.
It’s a busy place, especially the drive thru. The restaurant is tiny, holding 10 tables, if that. The tables were clean and salsa bar fully stocked.
I ordered the Wings Lover special, 4 wings plus 2 sides. The food was hot and fresh, burning my fingers. The negative part was the wings were puny like little nuggets. EPL is known for small chicken but this really was anaemic. The sides I chose was Mac and cheese, which amazingly was creamy, and the new corn kernels.
Taste wise, delicious
Portion wise, adequate
Cleanliness, decent… Even the ladies room was clean!
Chicken size, dismal

I was sad.
I come here occasionally and make it part of my work lunch rotation. I usually never have a problem except for the salsa being near empty in the salsa bar and the expressionless drive thru employee.
But today was when I lost my faith in this El Pollo Loco branch. Despite the low reviews, I still came here and persuaded my coworkers to come here. Why? In the end, the chicken was still flavorful and moist.
There was a shocking moment that left a lasting ripple effect.
It’s my birthday month and I received a coupon for a free 2 piece meal on the first of August. It made my day! Who doesn’t enjoy a free meal on their birthday?
So today my coworker asked me what I was doing for lunch. I told him I was going to El Pollo Loco because I had a free meal coupon. He agreed to come too.
I grew up watching the WWF (now the WWE). Hey sure, there might be scripted story lines and more than your usual exaggerations, but I grew up watching it. It was what I watched Monday and Thursday nights and The Rock (the most electrifying man in sports entertainment) was my hero.
In all sports, there are accolades and perfect records. To name a few, the Red Socks being the first baseball team to ever come back to win a 7 game series being down 0 – 3 and the 2007 New England Patriots having a perfect season only falling short to the New York Giants in the Superbowl. Well if you haven’t known or heard, a veteran wrestler, a legend, named The Undertaker, had a perfect record. He had 21 consecutive wins, but sadly all perfect records must come to an end.
There was a long line and I waited patiently as I got my smartphone ready. It was my turn and I showed what appeared to be a new cashier my coupon. She pushed several buttons on the cash register and I waited in front of her. Again she pushed some buttons and then the thought of «What if she screws this up?» sprinted through my head. «What if this doesn’t work?»
Time suddenly stopped. The words I never wanted to hear echoed in my ears and brought chills through out my body.
«The coupon has been used,» she said.
Those dreaded words… It took me a couple of seconds to comprehend. This can’t be… and on my birthday month?! I was thankful that it didn’t happen on my actual birthday.
Either there was a glitch in the sytem or the new cashier had to have entered it wrong because I purposely saved it to use today.
With what was supposed to be a free meal, I had to buy it. The manager was right beside her and gave me 10% off. But still, those words tore my heart into pieces. What made it worse was that my coworker had a coupon and I couldn’t use the same one because I needed another copy of it. You just ruined my free meal, the least you can do is let me use that coupon…
Remember the Undertaker? He lost this year and everyone who was there live and watching on pay per view was stunned beyond belief and this same face (the link below) was what formed on me when those words told me my birthday coupon was not valid.
I write this, to prevent this tragic incident from ever happening again.

Pros: I have a love hate relationship with this particular location. One great thing that they have here is fresh chicken. I don’t know if i just get lucky every time or if they just make chicken better at this location, but every time I stop buy on Sundays I get the biggest mouth-​watering delicious pieces of chicken from the drive-​thru window.
Cons: 99.9 percent of the time my order is wrong. I don’t know how this happens each time. I would think that once someone calls in or comes back to the restaurant to complain that the manager would have a team meeting and tell everyone, «Hey lets not mess up the orders this month, go team!», but no same thing each time. Another problem is that the inside of of this restaurant is disgusting the salsa bar makes me lose my appetite. I always order to go so I don’t have to stay inside.
Note: The staff is very friendly and I feel that they may be possibly overworked. The problems that I see from this location may be a reflection of the management.

Ordinarilly, I would never review a fast food restaurant. I mean, I have: In-​N-​Out, The Habit, Nick’s, etc. (And these reviews, with the exception of In-N-Out’s supremacy, were primarily written to further expand the scope of my «Best Burger» list:
.) So it happens sometimes, but only if for some special reason.
El Pollo Loco is getting a review because it’s my go-​to place after workouts – when I am simply looking for protein and not interested in cooking. I don’t purchase anything other than chicken and maybe – just maybe – coleslaw. No tortillas, no macaroni, no fries, no sodas, no salsas (I make my own.) Just chicken. So when it comes to poultry, I’m sure you would agree that El Pollo Loco knows a little something about what they’re doing. For their chicken alone, I am giving them a 4-​star with a bullet! :)
***Tip #1***
If you already knew this, my apologies. I had no idea, nor am I completely sure that it’s valid, but I heard that if you ask for «juicy» chicken, they will make sure that you don’t get any dry pieces. I asked at the front counter when ordering, and that’s what I was told. If it doesn’t make any difference, and there’s no real truth to it anyway, hey, it doesn’t hurt to ask, right?
***Tip #2***
Again, maybe I am preaching to the choir here, but if you look on the back of your receipt, there is a «$ 1.00 off your next purchase» coupon for those who share their opinions by either calling the number listed or visiting their website. (The coupon opportunity says that it expires after 14 days, but I’m sure that is only in reference to the time frame for sharing your opinions. Using the coupon doesn’t have to be within the stated two weeks. At least that’s my understanding.)