Charcoal Loco — Restaurant in Mount Lawley

I was mortified by the rude service at El Pollo Loco. The disrespect we were shown when dining in was upsetting, unacceptable and shocking.

We arrived early for dinner as this place doesn’t take bookings. Our order was placed and paid for at the counter. We decided to sit outside on a table, avoiding the high tables with bar stools as they are uncomfortable.

We were settled at a table, and had our water brought out to us. Ten or so minutes later our food comes out. But the woman who brought out our food told us to move elsewhere. She kicked us off the table because they “might” get a larger group coming in. At this point the restaurant was near empty so shoving us to another table was uncalled for as there were other large tables that were empty on the footpath/alfresco level. The place doesn’t take bookings either so tables aren’t reserved, yet we had to move???

We ended up on tiny table with bar stools which was unstable and barely had room for all the food. I was visibly upset by this and it soured the evening. Who on earth does this?

I’m not sure why the woman was rude to us but thinking of reasons it is difficult to exclude discrimination. I really hope not.

It’s bitterly disappointing and embarrassing being evicted off a table when you are already situated. Especially when it’s unjustified as the restaurant only had two other groups at that time. It makes me wonder if this is how they treat other customers or were we just the unfortunate victims of the evening?

Personally I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant based on the service I experienced, let alone the quality of the food. There were plenty of restaurants in Perth which don’t treat customers like an...

I wanted to try this place since it opened. I am always happy for competition and this place gave 100% Nandos vibe. With traditional Portuguese chicken image and all. So let’s try some new Portuguese chicken ! However, after taking it home and rummaging through the takeaway boxes and finally eating it , it just went downhill. . we grabbed two meals deals ( chicken).

Meat : cooked well. Very Smokey but very bland and oily. Way too bland. Who cooked this : British ppl ?

Chips: perfect size and plentiful - really plentiful but undercooked , soft and again no salt at all.

Hummus container with pickles and onion. I did not understand this. And it was confusing. I put it into the fridge. Flat bread : cut into quarters as it is out of bag. . Nothing done to it. Dry and bland. If only there was a way to toast it or char it on a grill over meat. Next to a pile of chips this was left alone. This was so unnecessary. I’ll give you a star for the garlic sauce. I loved it. It was the best flavoured item.

We did take away - tbh I’d hate to sit inside or out with no air con or a single fan in sight. Also seating arrangements are wacky. Also have an issues with the staff greeting and shaking hands with random ppl who came into the store but no hand washing in between. I just thought : this better be worth some random virus “. It was not.

So I’ll stick with nandos for tasty and spicy chicken and local kebab place for middle eastern flavours down the road, while you sort out fundamental issues at this...

I really never leave reviews but the food at this place was honestly some of the worst I’ve had in Perth. I thought this was mexican based on the name, but it’s like a fusion middle-eastern, portuguese vibe. I’ve tried most of the popular middle-eastern restaurants in Perth and there’s so many great options. But the food here was so beyond bland and super oily too. Also way too expensive for what it is, we got a plate of chips + rice and two meals for like $90. I wouldn’t care if it was good, but the rice was bland and too sweet, the chips were ok but chips are always ok, and the meat portions were small, flavourless and greasy. We also waited a good 40 minutes for the food, and by time we got it one of the meals was wrong (we got ribs instead of boneless lamb, and 4/5 ribs were super fatty) but didn’t want to wait another 40 mins for one dish. Nandos is similar, half the price and 10x better flavour and quality wise. And if you want good middle-eastern food, Shesh Besh is nearby, cheaper and so much better. Service was also not great. We were starving and still only ate about 1/3 of what we got because it was just not good. Also their homemade orange drink thing just tasted like water with a hint of orange cordial flavouring for like $10. I’m honestly shocked they have so many positive reviews, maybe the seafood or other dishes are better but overall I would not recommend if you like proper, flavourful middle-eastern or...