Flame Broiler

I come here on my lunch break every now and then, I’m not a picky eater and have never noticed anything wrong with the food… Taste great to me. I get white meat chicken on top of brown rice – maybe the chicken is always good because they make the white meat to order. The only complaint is the awful smell coming from the bathroom! They need a plumber ASAP because I lose my appetite every time I go to get sauce which is near the bathroom – seriously so bad

Just left with my jerky chicken that tasted like rubber and a mix of other chemicals. I am no stranger to flame broiler. In fact I eat it often, but this was one of the absolute worst flame broilers I’ve ever been to, and eaten from. The guy at the front counter was too busy texting to look up at me while I was standing at counter. They had been open for 20 minutes according to their sign but when he did look up at me, he let me know they wouldn’t be open for 10 more minutes. I waited for 10 minutes, went back inside to order a chicken veggie bowl. The punk kid couldn’t have acted more irritated. I said thank you, he handed me the receipt with no acknowledgement or eye contact. I waited for my food while he got back on his phone. When they gave me my food to go, I was eager to chow down as I had just finished a workout. I bit into the most disgusting piece of chicken one could eat. It tasted like a mix of rubber and other cleaning chemicals. Maybe because I was the first to order? I just threw the entire thing out after a couple more bites to see if it was just an odd piece. Waste of $ 10. Save your money. Go to Waba Grill down the street. Cheaper and better. I wouldn’t give this disgusting and, most likely, harmful food to my family or myself.

I had a bad experience at this location. The lady working was rude. I’m not sure if she can’t handle her job when it’s busy. When I asked her if she could please refill the hot sauce she rolled her eyes at me! I was shocked that she did that. The owner really needs to get his employees some customer service training! I also was not pleased with the amount of food I received! I usually go to the flame broiler in Lake Forest where you actually get the amount of food you pay for! since I was at the library studying for finals I decided to stop here! I will not be returning to this location and will be letting my family and close friends know to avoid this location!

Eat a chicken bowl for around 6 bucks? Sure why not!

MARIA IS THE WORST EMPLOYEE YOU COULD EVER HIRE!!!
she is going to roll her eyes at someone so hard that one day they just might roll out of her eye socket

Quick, decent fast food. This is a healthier fast food option… No skin of the chicken, lighter flavors, 490 calories for the chicken + veggie bowl with brown rice. ~$ 6 for the bowl… And out for coupons that are usually in the mailers!

I had no problems with this place; they must have cleaned it up. The service staff were friendly and very efficient, the restaurant was clean, including the sauce stations. The food was yummy — I ordered a mini chicken veggie bowl and it tasted scrumptious!
Ignore the bad reviews. This franchise has cleaned up its act and is now as good as the other branches.

I am a big fan of flame broiler but this location has gone down hill. When we first moved close to it three years ago the food was as good as other locations. Now I will not go to this location you get half the portions and the quality has gone down. We now go to waba grill which is the same type of food.

I normally am a big fan of Flame Broiler. I live in the Aliso area and that location I would give 4 – 5 stars. Because school is here and I have an hour break between my class I decided «why not»? Big mistake. Unfortunately because I am an average white girl, I know VERY minimal Spanish, and Im not mad because they’re Mexican and that is their first language Im guessing, but Im mad because Im standing «in line» (Im the only one waiting to order) and the lady behind the cash register and the man at the «grill» are looking at me while talking in Spanish. Hello?! Yo soy aquí. Im not here to just hang out, but rather order my food and leave. After taking my order the man throws the chicken on the grill and brushes it with what looks like a Home Depot painters paint brush… And not the cleanest either. Im a college student obviously with a college student budget, but not only is this cheap food, but cheap quality and cheap service to match it. Id refrain from coming here if you had an option.

I got a chicken veggie bowl for lunch today. It was fine. Chicken looked way better than the beef and I actually like the boiled veggies. Service was okay — but I don’t need a smile with my food. I do like efficiency which they had — I got my food in under 5 minutes. I’ll be back if I needed a quick chicken bowl. It has protein, veggies and rice. But as I drove past a sushi place on my way home, I regretted not stopping there instead.

These places are normally super tasty at a reasonable price. Woah… not this location. My first clue should have been the horrible Unilocal rating /​reviews. Honestly I didn’t even notice as I was just looking for a place close to me on my way home from work. When I went to check-​in I’d already ordered. I ordered 2 beef/​chicken bowls and a kids/​mini chicken bowl. The beef was absolutely horrible. Hard and way way over cooked. If I had to guess I’d say it was cooked long before I got there and left on the grill to turn into jerky. The lady working the counter was a real peach too… she seemed to hate her job because she had the most uninterested attitude anyone could have.
Then the sauce stations were just as bad… I saw mold on some of the stainless containers ! This means they aren’t washing them for long periods of time.
In the end we didn’t even eat it. I certainly wasn’t giving this to my wife and kid. I threw it away and pondered leaving this review for the last 2 days.
I can’t imagine that franchise corporate as audited this location in at least a year based on the deplorable conditions of the interior and quality of product. I would avoid this location at all costs. Even if it were free I wouldn’t eat there again.

Service here sucks. I go to Flame Broilers all over OC. I will never go back to this one. I usually order the chicken veggie boil w/​broccoli only, no rice. The girl working the sales counter gave me some very bitchy attitude when I tried to order that. Apparently, they don’t do broccoli only. I walked out… won’t be back.
This location should have franchise revoked.

They close at 9 but start putting up the chairs and washing the floors at 8:30. If you come in 20 – 30 minutes before 9 and you want white meat forget about it because they will always tell you they don’t have it.

I’m sitting here waiting for my food and I couldn’t wait to write a review! I have been to other locations but since this place open until 9:30 i came here for a pick up order and i was so surprised by the attitude! Right when we walked in the lady ruled her eyes! Seriously we are customers and we walked in at 8:45 so they are not closed yet! I would never come back here, if she is not happy with her job she shouldn’t be there. The manager should do something. The lady didn’t even smile. I just got the food we haven’t ate yet but the person who made the food his name is max he was really nice he actually treated us nicely. The owner or manager should read these reviews and make some changes! I would give no star if i could…

The service is okay. They don’t really smile. Seems like the employees are miserable.

I wanted to really like this Flame Broiler, a great little location with a local mom and pop feel, but they just didn’t live up to what they had posted on the wall: a better choice.
The cashier kindly greeted me as I walked in, but there was no way they could have missed me because once you’re two steps in the door you’re also right at the front of the counter… I ordered a Angus beef bowl with no onions and was immediately rang up. They didn’t offer a drink, or any mention of white or brown rice, or if I wanted it for dine-​in or take out.
Not really a big deal, but it’s those little steps that set the experience off right and it reduces mistakes once the order is completed. Oh well.
I sat down in the corner as they prepared my Angus bowl and noticed that the TV was airing CNN (muted with crawls reporting on the increase of Ebola outbreaks) and that the store radio was also blaring KOST… Now, I like mainstream AC as much as the next customer, but it really needed to be turned down, like way down, or off; along with a change of the TV channel to perhaps Family Feud or something other than pictures of African Ebola victims.
Just a personal preference.
About five minutes passed and the cashier acknowledged that my order was ready. She began to bag the container when I stated that I would be eating in the dining room. Surprised, she just handed it to me with no lid, no utensils, and no napkins or sauces to be had. Just a blank stare and a warped tray… I wandered around until I found myself halfway down a narrow hall next to the restrooms where the condiment station was located. The station was an utter sticky mess which looked as though it hadn’t been wiped down since before the lunch shift. Uh.
I found napkins and a plastic fork, and stocked up on some ‘Magic Sauce’, then made my way back to the corner to feast on my Angus beef bowl… The bowl was packed tight with white rice and there was a ridiculously skimpy amount of meat on top. The first bite was good, but every other bite after that was marinated gristle.
Chew, chew, chew…
It was a good thing I had three little cups of ‘Magic Sauce’ handy because this bowl was a failed illusion.
Bottom line, they could have done way better. A complete lack of effort, other than saying hello when I entered and goodbye as I left, that could have turned this two star review into a four… Disappointing to say the least.

I didn’t get the «attitude» from the staff mentioned by other commenters. I’m a pretty easy-​going guy so maybe I didn’t notice being abused. Anyway, the food is good.
The hygiene of the place could use a little TLC. They’re probably overworked and underpaid by a franchise owner who’s more interested in the bottom line than his employees’ welfare. Go figure.
The food? I can’t complain. When I order the «works bowl» I sometimes forget to specify which kind of rice I want, and they always default to white rice. Minor.
But seriously, we need to step up the seafood options here. Where’s the shrimp bowl? Where’s the calamari bowl? Where’s the grilled salmon bowl? If I were the owner of this restaurant, I can guarantee you I wouldn’t stop at beef and chicken!

I’ve been to this Flame Broiler many times. I didn’t really think much of it until I really had a bad experience and read the other reviews. It makes me think twice because they aren’t far from the truth at all.
Let me explain to you my 2 different experiences.
One visit went like this–
Went during lunch time and it was crowded. That place is tiny. You don’t want to stand ackwardly in the middle of the store to wait and block traffic so I went outside and sat down at their tables.
Lunch is 30 mins for me. After 20 mins of waiting I stand there in front of the cashier by the trash can staring at the middle age hispanic lady. She doesn’t say a thing to me. Then I realized lots and lots of other people that came in after me got their food already.
Then I finally went up to her and asked her if my food was ready and gave her my receipt.
Her response– «I called for your order and no one came. So I gave your food away.»
OK WHAT? A million responses come to mind.
–Do you not realize there are people outside waiting?
–Do you think people just pay for a meal and leave?
–Is making an effort to make a little bit of noise outside (door was open) to say that your order is ready not reasonable?
Anyways, being the passive person I am, I suck it up. She was nice enough to give me a brand new stamp card and stamp all of it, and initial it so the next bowl is on them.
Follow up visit. Around 2 months later at the most.
I went inside to order food to go with my friend.
I order my half and half bowl (same lady) I told her I have a stamp card and gave it to her. She has a question mark on her head and askes the cook.
The conversation went like this.
Cook: Sorry we don’t take this here.
Me: Wait what. I’m pretty sure this is the place that I got this from.
Cook: No we don’t accept that here.
Me: I had a bad experience here before and the lady gave this to me. (I then look on the back of the card) Isn’t this YOUR address on this card?
Cook: Yes it is the right address. We haven’t taken those cards for 6 months now. We can’t take it anymore.
Shake my head and roll my eyes. Being passive once again I suck it up and pay for it. (Curse my hunger)
Went to eat there again today. I usually enjoy the food and think it is consistently good.
But the other comments are correct.
–It is usually dry because they don’t sauce it. You’ll have to do it yourself with the magic sauce.
–I don’t mind chewy meat. It reminds me of beef jerky and I love my beef jerky (but it isn’t that chewy).
–The ratio to meat to rice is pretty high now. But I love my rice and i dont mind it at all. But I can understand that all of the other places in general (not just flame broiler) are quite the opposite for me. So much meat that I never have enough rice. So the common person would most likely have rice left over.
The place isn’t that clean compared to the others.
The bathroom could use some work too. They have a paper roll dispenser that you can pull down the lever and paper comes out. It was empty.
They were too lazy to grab a flat head screw driver to open it up and refill it properly. So they just put the paper roll on top of the dispenser.
The workers don’t look happy and it shows. The paper roll shows laziness. Never a farewell good bye when walking out the door.
If you are a zombie and just want to go in and get your bowl and leave then it is the place for you. Don’t expect much customer service.
I recommend eating outside if the weather is decent. Inside it is so tight and crammed that there isn’t any personal space.

Wow. Such harsh comments…
I only give three stars because the employees can take more time cleaning.
I have eaten here many times and always find the food consistently good and always fresh.
Five stars go to the older gentleman that is always working here. He recognizes us and greets us with the biggest smile and always stops to thank us before we leave. It’s this type of recognition that keeps us coming back.

This was the first and last experience I have with any Flame Broiler.
The meat and the rice was super dry. I noticed that the meat they served me was sitting out for awhile.
I only had two bites out of my bowl. I couldn’t handle it any more. Quite gross and disgusting.