El Pollo Loco — Restaurant in Baton Rouge

I ordered online some dinner for my family about10:30 pm tonight. I went through the drive thru to pick up. There was no one else in drive thru or inside this place. I waited patiently for them to prepare my order even though my pick up time said 9-10 minutes and I arrived way after that. I finally received my order. When I got home, I proceeded to take things out the bag. Two of my crunchy chicken tacos that I ordered as a combo was not in the bag. Also, one of the cheese dips I ordered had opened & spilt all over the bottom of the bag. I drove WAY BACK UP to this place to get the 2 tacos I paid for and also to let them know the cheese dip spilt all over the bag. The employee that was working drive thru (curly dark hair, had it pinned up, Hispanic- I wish I would have gotten her name) told me at first that I could get my tacos but that was it. I asked her about the queso since it was spilled all over the bottom of the bag.. she told me no. I then told her how I had driven ALL THE WAY BACK UP THERE to get what was left out of my bag and she told me, "Well, it wasn't my fault". I asked her, "Well, it wasn't my fault and you say it wasn't your fault, so whose fault was it"? She tells me...it was the guy who bagged the.food. I then asked her if I.was to return with the food could I just get a refund. She then told me since I ordered online, then I would have to.go through online to get my refund. By now, I was just frustrated and wanted to get home so I asked her if I could just get my tacos so I could go. She then told me that she would have to talk to the person bagging the food and find out why he left the tacos out and then call the manager to see if she could give me the tacos I already paid for. I asked her, " Was she serious and why did I have to go through all this to get the 2 tacos THEY LEFT OUT MY BAG even after I drove WAY BACK UP THERE to get what I paid for".. she told me YES.. I told her not to ------- worry about it, that I will never be back!! I WOULD HIGHLY ADVISE YOU - IF YOU GO HERE FOR FOOD, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE EVERYTHING IN THE BAG BEFORE YOU LEAVE. When I got home, I just threw everything away. This whole situation was ridiculous and uncalled for. All I wanted was...

Looks like a great place with good quality food. It also looks like it has good prices, which are sadly hard to find in Baton Rouge. It's never open tho.

Will update this when I notice it's open again. It's been closed for two months so I don't recommend coming here at all until it's open.

UPDATE: It's open. Have updated to 4 stars since I haven't been here b/4 and it's not easy to delete review.

UPDATE 3/17/2023: I think this place is a solid 4 stars. I went there today and got the al carbon combo for 5.99. unfortunately the guy didn't understand me when I said no, drink. I didn't want just 3 tacos... which oddly alone are $8. I wanted the $5.99 combo since $8 for three tacos is... ... well...

5.99 for 3 tacos, unsweet tea, and chips is a bit much too, but it's reasonable. Definitely compared to other places around BR it is.

Anyway I took away 1 star for 3 reasons: Each of these reasons deserve -0.3 star

The guy seemed uninterested... which... eh I don't like the culture of making workers act, but a little more effort could have been nice.

The tacos were dry.

I didn't get what I wanted

I went into the store to get the refund or what I wanted to pay for; I realize that mistakes happen and that's totally okay, but I did put a good amount of effort at the drive through at getting the order right...They gave me what I ordered and gave back the "difference."

Anyway, my lesson is to ask for the combo with the drink next time.

One thing I do like about here is that they make it clear that not serving rubbish food (unlike McDonald's, burger king, sonic, checkers etc. Etc) and bang for the buck is something they want (whether or not that's actually right, i don't know) so I definitely will be back :-)

Have a nice day :-)

Update 6/24/23

Raised to five stars for reasons which I would prefer not to spend time writing about.

Update 7/31: came back today and there were a lot fewer nachos in the shredded nachos- to the point where I felt it wasn't really worth the money. Four stars.

Update: 8/3: got the burrito; it was kind of "small." Three stars.

Update:...

If you haven't been yet, you're missing out on one of BR's best-kept secrets. Because it's easy to drive past and not notice it. And if you don't travel out West or to Texas, you may not even be familiar with the chain. The last time I ate at one was in a border town in Mexico, and believe it or not, the food was actually better at the BR location. Juicy marinated chicken, grilled with that good crispy skin you get when someone roasts a turkey to perfection. Good sides. And best of all, horchata is setved along with typical fast food drinks. Tastes just as good as the kind abuelita makes. I also love that they have outdoor benches, now that the weather is a bit better at night. You can hit the drive through at 10pm, park and enjoy your meal in peace on a bench with others. Since there's no real foot traffic and it's fairly quiet in the area. Almost all the staff is bilingual, it was a nice change to actually be able to order "fast food" in Spanish in BR. This spot is a must-visit. If you're not used to Mexican or Tex-Mex, don't be afraid to try the charro beans and rice as sides instead of mashed...