El Pollo Loco — Restaurant in Anaheim

You can tell who the manager is in charge is when they have the house phone clipped to their belt. This guy was working the background where it's usually 2 people. Except you could tell the experience where it lies. This manager was very impressive, flipping from one side to the other. Prepping orders fast and as sanitary as possible in the process. As a former general manager of a food establishment, these are things I keep in mind of. There are 2 people stationed off to the side. One at the drinks where they get the utensils and final bagging of orders for the cashier at the other side to handle the drive threw while counter person handles the front and assists the side soda person if able. I was truly impressed as the 2 in office clocked in they Instantly washed, got gloves on and got to their stations. Then seamlessly in transition the manager made his way to the front counter and took over for the counter person who then went to clock out and nothing was said. I know could have been already talked about between them all before I ever walked in. But the way it was done was so seamless how everyone worked and moved like a symphony. As mentioned former GM of food service so I try not to be all picky bout food service practices however at an establishment an e.ployee not praticing it within the workplace landed me in the hospital which wasn't fun. So hats off! 2 thumbs up! and Highly Reccomend cause these cats do seem to take pride and care in their service and the food safety practices set in place.

Look forward to my next road trip in your area and definitely...

I know this may be hard to believe, but I think this was my first trip ever to a pollo loco. I bought the taco salad in the tortilla bowl and paid for double the meat. Presentation wise, everything looked pretty good. The salad was actually flavorful and there was as sufficient dressing. So why the 3 star rating you ask? 2 reasons- 1. My 3 star rating means average, not bad, but not great. And 2. For a place that has chicken in the name, I was disappointed in the quality and quantity of chicken. As mentioned prior, I had paid for the "double" chicken. The amount I got felt barely sufficient for any salad, and was simply unacceptable for "double meat". Was kind of pathetic for a chicken restaurant. The other issue with the meat was that it was dry and pretty bland. If I go to a place that specializes in serving one type of meat, I expect them to have a pretty good recipe for preparing that meat. I was not impressed at all with the flavor of the meat, which should have been their forte. Anyway, salad overall was still pretty good, but if you want people to come back ... gotta give the carnivores a reason to. If somebody orders double meat anything, that's a good hint they want you to hit them with a generous portion of meat. I'll probably return at some point to see if it was a fluke, but if they skimp on me again... sayonara...

Update September 2023: The drive-thru line here can be atrociously slow and long esp during the weekday lunch rush. Service is a hit or miss, usually a miss - they frequently forget to give you your sides and are often out of breast! Food is generally good but sometimes their churros are burnt or don't have enough cinnamon sugar and their chicken can be greasy. Proceed with caution! Also ordered a meal and it didn't come with the chips it was supposed to come with!

Placed an order online for curb-side pickup and arrived to pick-up. Followed the text-message prompts and even called the store multiple times (call went to an automated voice mail). I sat parked in the designated curb-side pickup location (along with 4~6 other cars) for 15 minutes while I saw employees go in/out of the restaurant. Finally, I get out, walk up to the restaurant, and see a hand-written note stating they are closed early.

Forget getting ANY support from corporate. I reached out to them 3 times and have yet to receive any response. I had to call my bank to cancel their transaction. The lack of service is appalling, disappointing, and heartbreaking as I love their food so much.

If the restaurant is closed, the web portal should not allow any online orders to go through and the restaurant's voice mail should clearly state...