El Pollo Loco

Horrible. Made me violently sick. The whole dining was extremely dirty and staff was rude. Should have known that I’d end up ill for a whole day after. Will never go back again. The place should be shut down.

I love El pollo Loco and normally don’t have bad service, however during a drive thru Vista at night last month (December) it took 30 minutes to get to the window. When I finally pulled up to the window I saw why, what seemed like an ALL GIRL staff that night was standing around gossiping and laughing.
How do I know they were gossiping? 1] the window wasn’t fully closed. 2] you could here them clear as day! Very un-​professional!!!
Since then I have not returned. We’ll see what happens on my next vist.

Everyone here has always been friendly to me. The food is fresh & fast. I don’t really understand the negative reviews. I come here a lot and have had nothing but happy, efficient service and decent food. And I’m honestly not that easy to please when it comes to food.

I ASKED THE LADY CASHIER FOR EXTRA PICO DE GALLO AND EXTRA SALSA VERDE. And all she got me was 2 small cups of pico de gallo!!! I don’t see any green sauce in here! You think 2 small cups is enough for a 3-​piece chicken combo??? LEARN TO LISTEN!!! How hard is it to do your job right? 9÷21÷2015 at 9:20PM.
The cashier lady was also having a great time chatting with her coworkers that it took a while before she even said hello to me. No wonder she wasn’t paying attention when I asked for extra salsa, and extra green salsa. SUCH PROFESSIONALISM.
I hope the manager is reading this. But if the manager is also in on this lack of professionalism, then you just lost a customer. There’s better branches out there.
Also, last night, 9-​21-​2015, my drumstick was light colored. It obviously wasn’t cooked as long as the others. Not only is it no appealing to eat a pale looking chicken, but chicken also has to be cooked thoroughly because of its susceptibility to salmonella poisoning. I’m not saying it was raw, but come on!!! The best part of El Pollo Loco chickens besides their citrusy juiciness, is the crispiness of the skin!!!
The other time I came here, they were out of chicken. How is it possible that El Pollo Loco runs out of chicken? Maybe whoever did the inventory didn’t do it properly? Maybe they forgot to order more when the inventory was already running low?

Worst el pollo loco ever!!! Food always is dismal. The women that work the drive thru are straight rude every time no fail. One time they actually patronized us for trying to use a coupon that had part of the coupon code ripped off. Bitch started talking to us like we were stupid like nah bitch u the one working drive thru!!!

One of my worst experiences ever concerning fast food places. Staff is totally unresponsive and rude. I’ve found hair multiple times in my food as well as forgotten items when going through drive-​thru. Even general manager is unprofessional. Got food poisoning at one time, and a few weeks later, my boyfriend was poisoned too. General manager has not responded till this day. Would never go here again.

Worst El Pollo Loco Ever! Although the place looks nice from the recent remodeling the service & food need help. No butter I mean how can you have tortillas without butter?! Come on! We ordered salads with ranch, we go to pick up our order and you guessed it, they are all out of Ranch!

It was a good experience, not too bad .Food was hot and delicious, drive-​thru was kinda busy but overall it was nice!

Sooooooo dissatisfied with this place. Every time I go they get my order wrong. Missing stuff, wrong stuff. I wish there was another pace in this city that sold grilled chicken, unfortunately this is a small city.

IF THERE WAS A WAY TO GIVE LESS THAN 1 STAR I WOULD BECAUSE THIS LOCATION DEFINITELY DESERVES IT. This was by far the WORST fast food experience I have ever had and it will be a long time before I ever return to this location; if ever at all. The customer service was horrible and the food was worst than terrible. The final straw was when I notified corporate of this experience their only reaction was to offer a free 2 pc on a future visit despite me telling them that it would be a very long time before I returned. Here is what happened:
On Saturday May 30, 2015 at 4:45pm I placed an order for the 3 course family meal and was told over the phone that we were restricted to only a large rice and large beans as the sides. This was not what was listed on the webpage which I had open in front of me and the individual I was speaking with on the phone (later Identified as Rocio) said that the signage in store stated large rice and beans only and that it also stated «no substitutions.» When I asked to speak with a manager, the phone individual stated she was the manager and that this was the way the order would have to be. I let her know that I would be contacting corporate regarding this false advertisement issue and lack of customer service and she stated that they would be able to substitute the sides we wanted since the website didn’t mention the rice or beans only policy. At no point did she mention any other problems or concerns regarding the phone order.
However, when I went into the store to pick up my order I reviewed the signage posted in the store about the 3 course meal and NO WHERE on the signage did it say that there was a no substitution policy. SO I HAD BEEN LIED TO BY THE STORE MANAGER BECAUSE THEY WERE TOO LAZY TO FIX THE SIDES THAT WERE REQUESTED. Then when I went to pay for the order I was notified that they DID NOT have the churros that normally come with the order and would therefore substitute a large side in place of the churros. (thought they said there was a no substitution policy) Again this problem was not mentioned when I placed the order on the phone and while placing it I had ordered an additional set of churros so this should have come up in the conversation. In place of the churros for dessert, I ordered a mini cheesecake burrito and 2 chocolate chip brownies. I was then told that they could make the cheesecake burrito but they only had 1 chocolate chip brownie. Their excuse was that they were expecting a power outage tonight and didn’t want to have any inventory on hand when it happened. (Hope they were getting a new truck load in the next morning or they weren’t going to have any food to sell on Sunday and how do you expect a power outage.)
When we got the food home it was to discover that the chicken was burnt, the brownie was hard and stale, the coleslaw side was literally dry, and the bacon on the salad we had ordered tasted like burnt cardboard. The truly sad part was we had been planning to have this location cater a wedding rehearsal dinner in a few months, but are now seriously considering taking our business to the local pavilions instead. I can say this for sure, it will be a long time before we return to any El Pollo Loco establishments.

I found a sharp piece of chicken bone about an inch long in my taco, thank god I didn’t swallow it I would have ended up in the hospital or worse. No one from the restaurant or corporate seem to think it was a big deal and no one would even return my phone calls. So I finally had to contact the county health department and even then EPL didn’t fix the issue or respond appropriately. Eating here is like playing Russian roulette.
As for the «new» look, its what my grandpa used to call «putting lipstick on a pig.» Its the same mess in a new wrapper, maybe they should invest in training their people before painting the building.

If you want to be served by incompetent morons then by all means go here, if not then I would suggest McDonald’s right next door, at least the workers there aren’t all idiots.

I guess the food is pretty good but the place smells bad. I always take my food to go. They run out of chicken breasts and they don’t have churros all the time. I guess on the plus side they have a drive through.

The sooner I got in it smelled horrible. Its bad service. They put all my food in one bag. I ordered chicken and when I saw the chicken it was raw you can still see the blood. I asked for more napkins and they gave me a mean look. They didn’t even have the red salsa I like. Very rude service.

This place would get negative stars if it was possible! My wife ordered 3 tostada salads, not a soft taco salad! We ordered it to go, so we did not see our order which they tightly tied up until we got home. Talk about bad customer service and disregard for giving you the food you paid hard earned money for. They cannot in good conscious say they made a simple mistake!!!

I read some of the reviews and I’m glad to say I haven’t had any bad experiences here. I also know better than to come during busy time typically I come at night. Everyone has been nice and I always ask for extra salsa! :-)

We eat here because my son loves their food. This location is always dirty. Any time we go thought the drive through, its 20+ minutes waiting. Today we we’re greeted by trashbags at the entrance. Elegant!

Like the crazy chicken. But this location is not up to par. Drive threw is really slow. ³⁄₅ times order was wrong.
And prices (witch have nothing to do with this location) are getting a little high for fast food Mexican. Much rather go to mom and pop places where they put heart into their food.
Some locations are 4 star. Their tostadas are tasty. This one is just lame.

I don’t know how they are «A» I hope the kitchen is nothing like the the dinning area it was a mess. Couldn’t find a clean table. The worst part about it is that two of the workers came out said to each other in Spanish what a mess it was and then one of them starting wiping tables threw crumbs and stuff on the already filthy floor and never came back to sweep it up. Incredible. Feel bad for the owner of this franchise. It was obvious that the manager on duty could care less since she was sitting eating her dinner. I guess if she’s on break she’s not technically on the clock.

The only reason this place is even getting 2 stars from me is because I actually like their food. The wait in the drive-​thru has NEVER been less than 20 minutes! That’s no exaggeration!
Today was the most horrible experience of all. I get behind a girl who has the nerve to ask for 3 separate orders in a drive-​thru during the lunch rush hour! Really?! Go inside if you’re ordering that much food! (And in case you’re reading this you were in a white Honda Accord with the pink shimmery license plate frame). No common sense whatsoever! And they weren’t small orders! Each one was about $ 20 and tweaked to her specifications!
So anyway, I get to the front and ask to speak to the manager to request that they ask people who have multiple orders to go inside. She tells me they are not allowed to do that & they will get in trouble for it. Whatever. I pay for my food, she hands me my bag & as I’m grabbing my drink from her the entire thing spilled all over the side of my car, inside the window track, on my carpet & all over my left thigh! I was soaked in diet coke! My window is probably gonna start squeaking once the soda dries. The panel will most likely need to be removed in order to thoroughly clean it! Not to mention the sticky soda all over the inside & outside of my car!
The manager looked over at the girl who was working the window & told her, «you didn’t put the lid on tight, it’s all over her car, grab some napkins & help wipe it down». What did the girl do? She hands over a bunch of napkins to me so I can wipe it all down myself. I told her I will be contacting corporate & she responds with «okay» & shrugged her shoulders. I’m infuriated & I WILL in fact be contacting corporate!