El Pollo Loco

This place is hit or miss. Remember that line from one of the Lethal Weapon films «they always F… you at the drive-​thru»? Yeah. Take my advice, if you want to get your grub on from this particular EPL, go inside to grab your food. That way, you can make sure that, oh, let’s say you order an 8-​piece dark meat meal, and you would think you’d get 4 thighs and 4 legs, you can be sure you’re getting that and not 2-​thighs and 6-​legs BEFORE you get all the way home.
Other than that sort of incident. the food is usually good. Sometimes the chicken is a bit over-​cooked, but that’s hit or miss as well. The sides always seem to be as expected.

I’m writing this review on behalf of my sister. My sister informed me she ordered mashed potatoes and a bunch of rubber bands were at the bottom of her potatoes. This is dangerous and disgusting. She informed the pollo loco worker and was told if she wants another mash potatoes. This is unexceptional. Please beware. My family and I will never come here again.

This place gets a zero. I’m writing this review on behalf of my sister. She is a new mother and was very upset today. She discovered a bunch of rubber bands at the bottom of her mashed potatoes. She informed the workers and was told, would you like another one WTF. Disgusting. I have had issues here before and never wrote a review until today. Save yourself and don’t eat here unless you like rubber bands for dinner.

Ohhhh El Polo Loco!!! How I love the!!!
Grilled chicken, flour tortillas & avocado sauce. Consistent outstanding food at a good price.

This review is solely for the sweet young gentleman that was helping me out too long ago: I went up to order and being the intelligent girl I am said «oh hey can I get the classic burrito but with carne asada or just ground beef?» The guy without hesitation just said «I’m sorry ma’am but we only serve chicken here at El Pollo Loco». Anyone else could have easily been a dick and said «UH DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE WE“RE CALLED POLLO LOCO FOR A REASON LOL». But he was nice, just doing his job and I just really, really like that. Keep it up, Young man.

BEST decision everrrrr! Got a Great burrito work the price and great customer service!

My recent visits to this Pollo Loco were outstanding! I work every Sunday up the street a few blocks away and I eat at this location every Sunday and let me tell you they have the BEST service ever! from the cashier to the Manager Raphael they are so nice and welcoming I feel as if I am part of there team. My order is very weird I get a broccoli burrito for my boss and they know exactly how I want it without me telling them. Hands down Best service, Best Food and Best Pollo Loco in the area!

This fast food chicken place is so good. I cannot explain how good this chicken is. The sides are okay. What you would normally expect from a fast food place, minute spanish rice and pinto beans. I know they also have some pretty good mac and cheese. We love the chicken and their variety of salsas with chips. The guacamole salsa is to die for as well as their homemade guac. We first tried this place at Universal Studios and fell in love. We have it when we are in town.

This location’s food is below average El Pollo Loco fare, in my experience. Not so inferior that I haven’t partaken of the convenience of drive through, even though the quality of the food at the Santa Monica EPL is far better.
It’s the inferior customer service at this location that’s largely responsible for my rating.
Tonight I drove through, ordered a Tostada Salad and a 2 piece chicken combo. I got home with a 2 piece chicken combo and a side salad, no condiments. I didn’t check the bag before driving away — my mistake. By the time I was home in Santa Monica with dinner for 2, it was too late to go back.
I called the location and spoke to «Marta.» She not only had no apology for the drive through screwing up my order, she had to be talked into refunding the price of the side salad I didn’t order and didn’t want. No acknowledgment of her restaurant leaving me with 1 dinner for 2 people, the wasted trip, or lack of requested condiments. I spent 10 minutes on the phone with «Marta,» to get a reluctant credit of $ 1.99 on my next order. I’m not convinced she even recorded my name.
Thankfully, the EPL a couple of miles due north in Santa Monica, at Lincoln & Pico (behind the fnew Starbucks), has excellent customer service and superior food. There’s no drive-​through, unfortunately, but that’s the only thing the Venice location has going for it, when you compare them.

I like this location because it’s right around the corner. The parking during lunch time sucks because it gets crowded but they have a drive thru if you don’t want to get out of your car. Only thing that sucks about the drive thru is that sometimes the line can be long, it’s a hit or miss so just keep this in mind if you are in a rush. Other than that, they have fast and friendly service.

The only thing i really like from this pollo loco are the quesadillas BUT i am very suspicious that the quesadillas are made with the chicken left over from the day before.
I have been eating pollo locos quesadilla now more often because we have recently moved near it. i have been noticing the chicken they use on the quesadillas is very hard. IT DOES not taste like it was freshly made. i guess every body has their own iittle tricks they use to same money. like mcdonalds if you go get a fish filet sandwich you will notice you only get half of a slice of cheese. pollo loco you are to a rip off.

El Pollo Poisoning they should call this place. I only add the review the now because not only were my GF and I treated to a disgusting drive through food (which we thankfully did not eat) but I now hear that my GF’s work colleague was off work for 2 days due to food poisoning from this place. A once off bad experience is fine but when I hear others are physically sick from this place.

I love this location, but today I went to get my favorite spicy burrito and the burrito was not spicy at all. What a deception! I was sooooooo disappointed. I traveled at least 30 miles only to get a tasteless burrito. I am not sure what happened to the cook. Did he/​she not put the chipotle salsa, forgot to put the salsa or was low on the salsa and decided not add any. But don’t forget guys, we the customers pay for what we ask for and it is your obligation to give us what we pay for.
This site is weird. It does not let me write another review and it takes me back to… whatever. I thought I would just add this review. All right here we go again. I often times go to this Pollo and a couple of Latina ladies always help me and everything goes well. This evening though was not a good one. I ordered a few items from the menu. I ordered a salad, but the lad y (who was not a Latina by the way) who took my order asked me what kind of dressing I wanted even though this salad already come with its own dressing. Anyway, I got my drinks, I only get one drink instead of two that I had ordered. I said to the lady that I had ordered two so she gives me the second drink, but with one straw. She gives me an extra item I did not order. I ordered a dessert which she forgot to put in my bag. She gives me the dessert, but does not give me a spoon or fork and no napkins (I was already far from this establishment when I realized it). The thing is, the order either missed the items that I had ordered. I guess the worst scenario is the attitude of this lady. Why do they keep giving us customers attitude. Again, where are the supervisors? Do they go through training? Also guys, make sure your chicken is cooked all the way and not raw/​red inside. You don’t want us to get sick, do you?

This is the El Pollo Loco in Venice where Hepi and I were taken as guests, with a friend. They had the best grilled corn bowl I ever tasted, and we both ate a full meal for less than $ 10 together, for 2 people + bones for Hepi.
They have those big family meals for $ 20-​$ 25, but I haven’t tried those yet. My favorite meal here is a BRC burrito (beans, rice and cheese) with guacamole and chips on the side. Their fresh-​every-​morning salsa, which is made on site, is also way better than any other fast-​food salsa.
They sometimes get busy during lunch hour — It’s for a reason; the food is good.
Even when it’s very busy and they have a line, you will have hot food on a plate, for you to eat, within 10 minutes of walking in the door. It’s enough time to wash your hands and be social.
Hepi loves the bones. I know that people have said that dogs shouldn’t eat chicken bones, but so long as she doesn’t eat in a rush and she isn’t stressed out, plenty of time is given to her to chew the bones and eat together with the humans. Also, Hepi isn’t a stupid dog, since she is able to detect evil spirits. She isn’t likely to choke on the bones she loves to eat. She isn’t a politician, so she may learn to choke on food later, if she becomes a politician, but for now, she can chew bones just fine.
But seriously, if your dog is stupid, constantly in a rush, or stressed out, please don’t give chicken bones to your dog. Chicken bones do splinter, so only smart dogs should eat them, and they need to have their peace, time and be stress free during that process. Splintering chicken bones may be a choke hazard for stupid dogs with overbearing, stressed out owners who are always in a hurry, just a FYI.

I have visited this El Pollo Loco location a few times over the past few years. They never seem to be consistent with the other locations but at the end of the day, they’re still part of a chain and that chain still sells the same things with the same promotions.
Luckily when I stopped by recently, they still had the stuffed quesadillas. Are they relatively «healthy» like the other options? Nope. Did I care because I was off from work and enjoying myself for once? Nope. So I ordered the fresh avocado one. After waiting for a while, our food was finally ready and I bit into my quesadilla. Sure enough, it was the guacamole and bacon one. I love guac so I shrugged it off and ate it, anyway. Normally I would’ve thrown a fit about them screwing up my order but I was in no mood.
The quesadilla was still decent. The man had the two piece chicken combo. The chicken was good but the sides were a little «off». Service here is also slower than some of the other locations. But whatever. Like I said above, it’s a chain. You can’t ask for too much.

I love El Pollo Loco. The food is always steaming hot when you get it… and who can’t say they don’t love a nice hot meal? The chicken is juicy and delicious. Their sides are so good (I usually get double mashed potatoes, since they have the best around). I love their fresh salsa bar. This location keeps their salsa bar very clean, and that’s a big part of why I like this place. it’s well maintained, despite the location. being pretty close to the beach, etc.
The staff are really friendly, patient, and helpful. I’d definitely come back if I was in the area. It doesn’t compare to the Washington Blvd./Beethoven St. location though ;)

This is probably one of the best fast foods I’ve had. My friend and I have become addicted to this place in our short visit to LA. We have gotten the 4 pc combo w/​breast and thigh, it comes w/​2 sides, a drink and a flour or corn tortilla. The chicken is grilled, its so flavorful and juicy. We tried the sweet corn cake, which is absolutely AMAZING, the spicy corn, bbq beans and coleslaw. So far everything has been more than satisfying. Make sure to get the green sauce and pico de gallo on the side.

i went late last nite and accidently gave three five dollar for a 9 dollar charge and the female employeee gave the extra five back to me without hesitation. i was happy to see how honest people can be as she didnt have to do that. her name was elmira i think… i told the manager who was thankful i told him. btw… the quesadilla and fish tacos i had were delicious as well.

On my way back to work from visiting with my sinking ship of a bank (WAMU), I had the sudden urge for a salad.
A chicken salad.
I didn’t want to travel the distance to the nearest Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, so I went to El Pollo Loco.
Char-​broiled chicken breast, greens, Cesar dressing — can’t screw with that.
Back at my office, I opened the container and immediately look a whiff.
«Smells weird and looks great!» I said to myself.
I tasted the chicken and it was cooked all the way through — so, I didn’t have any concerns with acquiring some weird food-​borne illness.
As I dug deeper into the salad, I noticed multi-​colored tortilla strips, a green roasted chili and salsa.
Yeah. Not a fan of all that jank in my salad — but I ate it anyway.
I wouldn’t say this is the best chicken salad I’ve had — but it wasn’t bad either.
The grilled chicken alone is great — but I’d definitely bypass some of their specialty items on the menu as they tend to be heavy and riddled with guilt.
But the flan is pretty good. Probably the best flan I have had in a long time.
Ha. There’s my miracle diet; Grilled Chicken Salad and Flan.
I’ll let you know how it works out.

I never knew about El Pollo Loco till very recently. I had seen locations before but never thought that the food would be high quality because the buildings never look better than any Jack in the Boxes from the outside.
I was amazed when I saw that they actually do flame cook their chicken! Finally real food! I LOVE their Classic Chicken Burrito! It is amazingly delicious, filling, and cheap!
For real quality fresh fast food, El Pollo Loco is about as good as it gets in terms of chain restaurants.