El Pollo Loco

The bad reviews are piling up now. I went in and was stuck waiting to get salsa by a woman who appeared to be a relative or friend of the cashier. She had 16 salsa cups (I counted as I waited) and was going for more when I finally asked could I get just one. Lady got rude saying I need more and I snapped back no need to be selfish and she yelled to the cashier and told her I was threatening her. Cashier told me to leave in a raised voice. I said give me a refund and I would be glad to as I didn’t have my food yet. She refused saying I was causing trouble and kept telling me she would call the police. After a few minutes sitting and waiting the customer’s husband came in and made a verbal threat which people at a table next to us heard. Not wanting to escalate this anymore I left and just resolved to challenge the charge on my card and send a scathing email to corporate telling them they have a hostile environment for customers.
Local area manager called me two days later and claimed he reviewed video and said my actions were threatening based on the face the customer made. He further claimed the husband was calm and shook my hand which is an outrageous lie, the guy told me he was so angry he didn’t know what would happen to me when I walked outside. All from what his lying wife told him.
I told the manager once I get my money back I promise never to set foot again in your property. The manager then in a vicious tone called me a trouble maker and said they would legally make sure I didn’t get a charge back and said if I did this again I would be arrested. I mockingly asked him did they own the police and he responded with we have the footage now, I can call them and they will investigate and I don’t like your chances if that happens. I mean really bizarre, almost felt like I must have upset El Pollo Loco royalty. I finally gave up and said good luck keeping customers and hung up on him. He called back twice and I didn’t pick it up. I really wanted to get some good evidence on voice mail but unfortunately he didn’t bite.
Great customer service eh? If you aren’t a family member of an employee I suggest you stay out of their stores. Too bad really I have been a customer of theirs for 30 years back to their days in East LA and really do like the food.

I use to love to this chain when I was a kid. Now as a adult, I decided to try it again and believe me, I won’t be back. I have gave this location 2 chances and horrible experience. Is there management here? Is there training here? Never again.

Apparently they forget to add chicken to the chipotle chicken burrito. I’ll remind them next time

I have had decent experiences at most El Pollo Loco locations, however this was not one of them. The chicken I was served was clearly from the day before. In addition the portions were tiny. Shriveled, dry and small for $ 9. I will not return. I would recommend not showing up until late lunch or after lunch time to ensure the meat is from today.

The BF, daughter and I ate here this evening around 7:30PM. What a mistake!
Here’s the Cliff’s Notes version: Absolute worst employees and service. Loud, obnoxious, vibrating buzzers they refuse to turn off so they let them go off on top of the countertop all night so the whole restaurant has to hear it. Food wrong, and absolutely disgusting.
Details: When we first entered, there were 2 small families in front of us. The cashier looked either very much on drugs, or like she would have rather been in the depths of hell, rather than at work. She was very rude and not helpful toward what the first (senior) couple. They were asking a lot of questions, as they couldn’t see the menu. She was very snappy at them and had to ask someone else for almost all of their answers. She took a ridiculously long time ringing them up. Next family: mom, dad, kid (I’m assuming). We had already been standing in line for over 5 minutes waiting for her to ring up the first couple, and this family took her about 3 or 4 minutes.
I already researched the online menu of what my daughter and I wanted because I’m a vegetarian and she’s indecisive, so I was ready to go! As the people in front of us walk away, i look at her as I’m moving up and she doesn’t say «hi», «can I help you», «kiss my ass», or anything. Doesn’t even smile, just stares at me. So, I just start ordering and tell her I want the kid’s meal with 2 chicken legs. She asks me what side. I tell her flour tortillas. She then says, «you need to pick one of these», and points to a sign of the side options on the counter. I tell her mashed potatoes. Then she asks do i want chips or tortillas. Wth, I seriously just freaking told her! Then she even asks again if i want flour or corn! By this point, I’m sure its the drugs. I order the Grande Avocado Bowl, she rings something in, and then I tell her that I want shrimp on the side (I’m a vegetarian, so it goes to the BF). She says «oh, you want shrimp?» (it comes with a choice of shrimp or chicken, and she automatically rang me up for chicken) So, I’m like «oh dear Lord, here we go with having to wait another 5 minutes just for her to fix her mistake». I emphasize AGAIN for the shrimp on the side, since she was having trouble even forming sentences. BF orders a large cup of chicken tortilla soup. Painful ordering experience.
While you’re waiting for your order, they give a buzzer. Well, when they call your order, they don’t bother turning them off, they just let them sit on the counter top, vibrating wildly, extremely loud, for at least a minute, PER ORDER! This happened throughout our entire meal. Extremely annoying.
Food comes up a short while later and the BF’s soup is in a small bowl when he ordered large, and she (different lady) says «are you sure??». Wow! So she walks over to the chick that rang us up and asked her, instead of just giving him a larger bowl! She comes back and says «my bad, it was my mistake». (Screening process for employees must not be too extensive here…) My food was totally wrong, it was extremely sloppily put together and it had chicken ON IT. I tell her it was shrimp instead of chicken and on the side, and I thought her head was gonna start spinning around; I had definitely confused her to the point of no return. So I wait about 5 minutes and she gives me my order which strikingly resembles slop you would give a pig from a bucket. It tasted worse. 80 percent of the entire thing were super-​runny pinto beans, which overshadowed everything else since everything was drenched in the soup. Bland slop. I forced down about a quarter of it because I was hungry, but threw the rest away. BF’s soup was fine (but how hard is it to mess up soup??) We’ve been here a couple times and its not normally this bad, but we will NOT be returning. (At least to this location)

What we received were cold burnt chicken. They were as black as they could be and they were not even warm. They were not helpful at all because they were about to close. Well, we paid full price. What more do you need to know? Of course they didn’t give us any refund… as expected.
Update: The corporate contacted us and also we spoke with the general manager at the store and he was very apologetic. We received a refund.

One of the bests HEALTHY fast food places is the U.S. The staff are very friendly and helpful to first time patrons. Everyone in Vegas is nice to tourist. The portions are generous and you get free chips and salsa with your order. Oh and get this, the have Vitamin Water at the fountain and its the same price as regular soda. (included in the combo) Mind Blown!
I don’t know how they get their chicken so juicy and I don’t care! I just love it :)

Just like other reviews… rude customer service… I ordered a 12 piece family meal mixed, as she gave me the bag with salsa, I noticed that a few lids were open and saw salsa all over the inside. I knocked on the window and as she opened it she had a look of disgust. I advised her what happened and asked for a new bag. She became visibly aggravated then rude. When I got home the 12 piece meal consisted of only 10 pieces, three breasts and the rest were wings, small at that. $ 30 for bad service and a messed up order. Hopefully management looks at these reviews as they have just lost another customer.

Had their new black bean chicken bowl, yummy, filling and way to much food for one person to eat and I was really hungry too! I really recommend trying this new dish. I will order this again.

Double-​check your order if you’re going thru the drive-​thru!!! I was scammed out of 4 pieces of chicken with my order and I never got a receipt!!! I didn’t realize until I drove home from this location!!! Not cool!

update: ** i took down a star and now only giving 1 (i would give zero if i could) Worst fast food service at this location i’m sorry i tried giving them a few chances but i am appalled. The weekday lunch drive thru employee is very rude. I asked for sauce when i drove up to the window and she told me i should have asked for it when i ordered and got all angry. The lady at night is not any better either, she NEVER gets my order right and can’t understand anything when you order. Her english is fine so im assuming she just sucks at her job. Always gets my drive thru order wrong multiple times (even since i last posted) Forgetting my utensils, salsa, messed up my drink and even forgot the extra shrimp i ordered. Cmon i want just one order right for once. Its the same two ladies every time and i have a lot of patience but after the 10^th time it gets on my nerves. My mom who loves pollo loco says the same thing about those ladies as well. MANAGEMENT please do something about this if there i start seeing my order come out right ill change my rating.
Food is pretty decent to-​go mexican, with okay prices. Every time I been here they get my order wrong! I have had to go back in drive thru several times already to fix my order. Food is fresh and the chicken is okay. Sauces are good. But yeah I choose del taco and taco bell over this any day of the week. I got a shrimp burrito and they put barely any shrimp or rice.

Probably the healthiest fast food around Love their tostadas salads and their twice grilled burritos. Great value and always clean especially at this location. Plus look in the mail great coupons. Only suggestion is bring back the smores desert it is awesome. I would give them another star (5 total) if they bring that desert back.

You can do a whole lot better for the price here. I came here for the first time ever because it was a late night and Chipotle was closed.
I ordered the Ultimate Double Bowl with chicken.
Here is the description from the website: «Double up on a double portion of delicious citrus-​marinated chopped chicken breast or carne asada on top of authentic pinto beans, rice, cabbage and garnished with sour cream, shredded jack cheese, avocado slices and pico de gallo salsa.»
1. The chicken was so overcooked. Parts of it were «grilled» (aka burned), and incredibly chewy.
2. Shredded jack cheese? Really? …Because there was none.
3. «Citrus-​marinated» — Hardly. The chicken was pretty tasteless and wasn’t marinated in anything.
4. Tiny tiny glob of sour cream and tiny glob of salsa.
5. Mostly beans, rice, and chicken… pretty bland.
My stomach was in knots for the rest of the night after this meal. The quality of the food was just plain poor. I probably won’t eat here again, but I try anything twice just to be fair.
As far as the service, it was good. The drive through was incredibly fast and everyone was relatively friendly.

I feel I’m generous with the 3 stars because they haven’t given me problems in the past but recently is a different story. The last 3 times I tried to come here 2 times being around 10 pm at night and they run out of chicken. It would be understandable if it was like 15 – 30 min before closing but an hour like really? And then I come again at 5pm today and out of chicken. The service is not the friendliest. People working the drive thru talk with such a tone like they are just miserable… Will come back but please get it together.

It is quite annoying to go to a fast food place that solely sells chicken, only to find out they ran out and it will take 30 minutes to prepare. Not the first time this has happened and not the only location. El Pollo Loco really needs to get it together.

Drive through service was ok, just like other locations. It does take them long time to serve folks and they often forget important things like straws, or sauces. I like their skinless chicken breast with steamed broccoli, great post workout protein packed (and low-​carb) meal. Their less than 500 calorie menu is pretty good too, I also like their avocado sauces.

For a quick healthy meal for $ 5 bucks you can’t beat the three chicken tacos al carbon. If you want to splurge add a side of sliced avocado.
This is not super clean eating but in a pinch, for those working out, this definitely gets you out of a jam.

Ordered the 3piece combo for take out. Got the two sides and the fluor tortilla. Food was hot when arrived at home because the container kept it from getting cold. The taste of chicken was good. I personally prefer El pollo loco instead of KFC Chicken.

Got a family meal that includes eight pieces of chicken, two sides, four enchiladas, and four churros. Somewhat a decent meal. Mac n cheese is not that great. The corn cake and the BBQ baked beans was the best things El Pollo Loco had on the menu. I say «had» because both items are no longer offered on the menu. The new enchiladas that was added to the menu is a good addition. Not bad for fast food! Service is generally good. The drive thru does tend to get extremely busy.

I LIKE IT!!!
If you order your food there, they even give you a little number and they bring your food out to you. Not bad for a fast food joint!
They have healthy options too without outrageous calories. Always a plus. Nom nom! I particularily LOVE the little salsa bar they have inside with several different salsa’s and spicy peppers! Nom nom!!!