El Pollo Loco

Worst El Pollo Loco I’ve ever been to. Let’s just skip my rant on the crappy parking situation and dive straight into my experience inside the restaurant.
This location was definitely smaller than other locations I’ve been to. Cramped but still tables and chairs like you see at other El Pollo’s. We walked to the front and didn’t even know where the line began to place our order. My friend and I just awkwardly stood around till one of the cashiers came to the front. It was pretty busy for a Tuesday evening but there was only one cashier available?
Portions received were hella small. Service was unfriendly. The only good thing I can say, is that the bathroom was pretty clean. Unexpected for a location as bad as this.

So how can we start a petition to get this in New York?
Seriously… how?
It’s better than chipotle. Yes, I said it… it’s better than chipotle & you know Chipotle is LIFE!
I got a large create your own bowl with brown rice, black beans, guac, corn, cheese, salsa rosa & a flour tortilla. It was very filling, didn’t eat anything else until the next day.
The neighborhood is kind of sketchy.
A homeless person came & cleared our trays. I was so confused that I didn’t get to take my soda cup before he threw it out.
Woke up wanting it the next day, but we were trying to eat everything that New York didn’t have. No time for round 2.
The stars are for the food.

I have to leave a one star, if I had the choice they would get No Star. Their service was terrible. Walking in, the place was dirty, the employees all goofing around talking behind the counter. The register girl was busy bagging items for a previous customer yet nor myself or the other new customer got a greeting. We stood there waiting for 5 minutes before someone else asked her to ring us up. Not only could I see the kitchen area was disturbingly messy, but they all seemed to not care about their job. In my Opinion they need new management and staff. My chicken guacamole burrito was not appetizing and tasted extremely cold and the meat had been sitting around for hours. Overall, will never be back to this location.

This place sucks. All the employees are very rude and mean. And the food is horrible. And the cashiers are the worst person ever. If y’all don’t wanna take my order then don’t work there.

This place sucks. I told them to make sure that my food did not have poblano cream. I walked back to my office. Of course the moment I was about to eat my food, there’s freaking cream all over my tostada. So now I waste money on a food I am not going to eat. The worst thing is that the poblano cream was in the middle of my food so even when I checked it at the restaurant there was no sign of it. I called the restaurant to complain and their answer was «Oh the cashier should have put no poblano Cream, instead of no sour cream». Needless to say I won’t be going back there to eat, I rather drive to another pollo loco were they will get my order correctly. In fact this isn’t the first time this happens to me, but in the past I have been able to remove the stuff I didn’t want. This time however, I have to go buy something else to eat.

When it comes to the food this is the best pollo loco around… the employees though… I’m not impressed. The person taking my order (I think she was the manager) was having a conversation with one of her co-​workers making it really hard to place my order. I had to repeat myself multiple times. And They ended up messing up my order but like I said, the food at this pollo loco is better than the other ones.

I went to El Pollo Loco today to pick up some lunch and bring it back to work (I work less than a minute away from this restaurant). One of the items I ordered was the Grilled Chicken Mango Tostada. While eating my lunch, I found a twig mixed in with my chicken and cilantro dressing. So… I took the tostada back to the restaurant and showed them the twig that I found. All they said was, «What? Do you want something else or your money back?» I opted to get my money back, but NONE OF THEM APOLOGIZED. ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!
RUDE!

What I ordered:
«ULTIMATE DOUBLE CHICKEN AVOCADO TOSTADA
Love our fire-​grilled chicken breast? We start with a double portion of it, then add hand-​sliced avocado, rice, pinto beans, fresh lettuce, shredded cheese, freshly made pico de gallo and cool sour cream, all served in a house-​made tostada shell.»
This item was good, and so was all the sauces. I loved the salsa bar. I especially loved the avocado sauce. I can just slurp that thing like a drink.
Customer service was okay. Everything was done rather quickly considering the rush hour time during lunch. If you come when it’s busy, be prepared to wait for seats and have some men stare at you (if you’re female).

Family meal 8 chicken pieces, you can never go wrong!
PARKING:
Free parking and easy but it can be busy sometimes
PLACE:
Lots of seating, mostly people order to go. Only few seat and eat. Majority as I have noticed lots of to go order. They need to clean the floor .
SERVICE :
Employees are always smiling, very nice, quick and fast. Most important no matter how busy and tired they always smile and friendly in any given time. which you hardly see now a days, bravo for that !
FOOD:
Since I never dine in there I always to go my food my reviews rate will be for the food and employee. I always order the family size 8 piece chicken, comes with 2 pieces of churros, 2 side dishes, 2 large serving of flour or tortilla and salad
*Chicken :
Always freshly cook and lots of flavor, tender and juicy. except they are tiny.
*Churros :
Hot and crispy all the time. Made me drool
*Salad :
You have an option which salad wanna have in family meal, I always go for avocado bacon tostada you can’t go wrong and I ask for additional sauce salad dressing. Portion is good for 2
*Side dishes :
Pinto beans and rice is my ultimate combination but if your not feeling to eat beans I suggest grab the corn. Taste really good.
*Flour tortilla:
I prefer this than corn tortilla
*tips you can ask for bigger cups to grab some extra salsa and sauces. Overall the family meal 8 piece chicken is good for 3 to 4 people.

The ONLY reason they are getting one star is because the manager re made my quesadilla for me and he is obviously under staffed.
1) The young guy who took my order was SO uninterested in his job and my questions. I asked him what the cilantro sauce was and he said «uh… i don’t know» and starred blankly at me so I had to ask him «Weeelll can you ask?» I mean really do you hate your job THAT much you have to be so rude?
2) Our food took AT LEAST 15 minutes. I would expect this from a fat burger or restaurant but not from this place. I should have went to Taco Bell.
3) DIRTY DIRTY DIRTY … the floor was dirty the salsa stand was dirty and there was barely any salsa left. honestly I felt gross eating there.
4) When we finally got our food my quesadilla was cold. I told the manager and he asked me «Well do you want me to heat it up for you or do you want another one» How about a refund for the worst customer service ever?
Not coming back here, and I don’t think this place reflects the standards of el pollo loco.

Dirty, bad customer service. Burrito was smaller than in others El pollo loco and ¼ of it was empty. Employees couldn’t do anything about it. They do not care.

This place is so filthy and dirty. The sauce counter was unkempt with spilled tomatoes and pieces of cilantro flying everywhere. The small condiments were also overturned and left in a messy heap.
I ordered the Chicken Avocado quesadilla and my friend ordered the Chicken Avocado burrito. My friend originally requested for the 2 piece chicken combo but the cashier said, «We don’t have chicken.» UM… how does a pollo place have no chicken? So my friend asked what he could order from the menu. because essentially every item on the menu has chicken in it — and the cashier said we can order the quesadilla and burrito. She said that they had chopped chicken breasts but (and this is word for word) «No real chicken.» You seriously have to be kidding me right? So I’m assuming that the two meals that my friend and I ordered had frozen chicken.
We get our orders. My food (the quesadilla) is basically what my friend ordered (the burrito), except in quesadilla form. except wait a minute… where’s my avocado? YUP I HAD NO AVOCADOS in my Chicken Avocado Quesadilla. My friend had chunks of avocado.
We also had to let the workers know that the soda machine was out of high fructose syrup. STEP YOUR GAME UP EL POLLO LOCO. There are way better food joints in LA.
Oh yea, my chips were stale.

I come here every once and a while to pick up a bite and am blown away that they remember who I am and what I order! The staff are always smiling and the food is classic Pollo Loco.

This place takes FOR EVER to give you your food. Not a good place to stop by for lunch.

Where do I begin, long pause… First off the location by car is terrible, there’s no where to park!!! Then when I get inside the restaurant is poorly cleaned. Tables dirty and salsa bar had trash everywhere. I places and order of 3 wings, my order is ready, the employee opens the box to show me my order, I couldn’t believe it! Three dried up really no meat on the bone pieces of chicken. And then she goes, «yea I know, that looks really bad.» Excuse me??? I tell her can I get some new ones the chef didn’t want to give it to me! Excuse me??? I had to nearly beg for better pieces. Wow! Get it together el pollo!

Decent attempt at Mexican fast food.
El Pollo Loco is a step above Taco Bell. The food is consistently okay. I haven’t had anything that tasted bad but also nothing that was good enough for me to tell someone else about how good it was. El Pollo Loco hits the spot when i’m craving something that resembles Mexican food and don’t have the patience to look on Unilocal for something better.

This el pollo loco is decent
Parking lot right in front but it usually gets filled up really fast! There’s a valet booth there too but just tell then you’re there for el pollo loco and continue to look for a spot.
The people at the register are friendly enough and asked how my day went
There’s a salsa bar by the register that offer a variety of salsas, onion. Cilantro and jalepenos.
Look for promotional packages if you order for a big group… like I usually do! And You can also ask for big salsa containers if you don’t feel like filling salsa up in teeny sauce containers!
The chicken was pretty good for fast food I just give this place 3 stars because the salsa bar was in pretty bad shape when I saw it. It was a mess and four things were just empty containers

Be mindful of the fact that I’m writing this review for this specific location and it is not indicative of the the actual franchise. Yes it is fast food, but who can deny its tastiness. Every once in a while i get a craving for some El Pollo Loco, and i usually forget because its considered fast food.
Living next to an El Pollo Loco means that my chicken consumption is higher than say beef if I was living next to McDonalds. Customer service is the big key here. They deserve more than a pat on their backs. They make fast food stand out, as a place to return to once again. Even during the phases in life where we’ve had enough of fast food, its places like these that welcome you back because they are honestly good and care at what they provide.

I’ve never been to an El Pollo Loco before, which is weird considering this one happens to be right around the corner from my house.
I’m usually driven away from the fast food in the area since (generally) most of the staff in this area is really, really rude and apathetic towards the guest.
That’s not the case here. I walked up to the counter where this employee welcomed me with a bright smile. She was friendly, funny, extremely welcoming and most of all she made me feel like she WANTED me there and appreciated me being there. Oh, and she gave me «on the house» drinks for it being my first visit!
The food was great, especially considering the alternatives to chicken in the area (and other fast food). It was affordable, quick and delicious. The extremely friendly staff is what really made my trip special, though.
Parking can be a hassle, but if you’re in the area and are craving chicken, FIND PARKING AND GO. It was truly a great atmosphere and I will not only be coming back soon, I will be bringing friends with me!

I notice all El Pollo Loco’s have a problem undercooking their chicken and this one is no different. Make sure to order well done.
Quality: Good, come’on its El Pollo Loco the food is decent and the salsa bar is a great touch. Cole slaw with corn on the cob are my favorite sides.
Cleanliness and Appearance: I give a «C» here. There is way too many homeless and people who shake uncontrollably at this strip mall. And I do mean shake, like they are having a seizure. There is nothing like eating your three piece chicken meal while a homeless person who hasn’t bathed in weeks stares at you with chin-​drool.
Overall this El Pollo Loco is decent during the day but at night I swear this strip mall looks likes something from the zombie TV show Walking Dead. I am a big guy and even I look over my shoulder when I enter this shopping mall at night.