El Pollo Loco — Restaurant in Cathedral City

This was my first time here. I'm from Canada, so I'm not familiar with the menu or the hours. I came to this location last night to try their chicken at 9:15 pm. The drive-through clerk explained that in order to have chicken, I would have to arrive by 8, 8:30pm because they start cleaning the grills at that point.

My first thought was, (as a business owner myself), to pay the staff for an extra hour and start the cleaning after closing, not before. This was disappointing. He then suggested I try a burrito, so I did. I ordered the avocado chicken burrito, with a side of mashed potatoes. I also asked for salsa, and he recommended 4, as they were quite small, and I'm so glad he did. 4 was perfect. If I had only 1, I would have been pouting.

The burrito was delicious. I asked for extra cilantro and really pleased with the flavor. I don't eat the shells, but the contents were yum,yum. The potatoes and gravy are OK, obviously instant, so low expectations.

Today, I went back, 6:10 pm. I ordered a 4 piece meal, dark meat, 2 drums, and 2 thighs. My sides are corn and the Mac n cheese. I also asked for Pico, and they graciously gave me 4, as one of the staff made a joke to give me 1. (I think he was kidding)

The staff were great. Friendly, helpful, and right on point. I enjoyed the ordering process on both visits, last night and today, A+ for customer service.

The food? 👎Bad news, the chicken I was given was overdone. The skin was like paper, and the meat was dry. It's really too bad, I was hoping for good things after the burrito. The corn is tasty, plump, and juicy. The Mac n cheese, however, had been sitting in sauce to the point that the noodles are mush and the sauce has a powder undertone.

Coming right at dinner hour, I shouldn't be getting dry meat. If it wasn't for the great service, this visit would've been a total bummer. Thank you to the vibe clerks. You made a difference, your smiles, attentive and friendly,...

I love their chicken, Mac cheese, pinto beans, I drive sometimes 6miles one way, and 6 miles coming back, to find out their dining room is closed hours earlier (paper notes on doors), then I am forced to use their drive thru, BUT Every time I go over their service seems and feels like prison, Walmart, DMV service style aggressive. I must request fresh juicy chicken otherwise I will receive small fossils of what used to be a chicken. I ordered a 2 pc combo, with 1 extra side of tortillas, I paid with GC, their reader isn’t going through, I suggested/recommend the male cashier to enter it manually, he’s not listening for suggestions and he rather struggle, finally mgr came to assist him, he gave me my order of 2pc combo with the total of 12 pks of tortillas (it’s obvious the cashiers aren’t repeating orders and they’re not reading obvious/common things like 12pks for 2pcs combo that sounds incorrect). I let him know about it and now he’s trying to refund me the money. I arrived to their drive thru at 7:12pm and left at 7:39pm (27min stuck at that line). I brought it up to the gm, mgrs, wrote feedback on their surveys, I asked to be contacted and nobody has ever reached out. We’re dealing with rude and lazy prison/Walmart/DMV attitude. Dirty restaurant. Dry fossils of what used to be a chicken. Mistakes due to Not confirming orders. Long waits. No intentions of any apologies. And Corporate never reaches out to follow up with us customers. Hours of operations changing constantly. This restaurant is VERY CONSISTENT on being INCONSISTENT.

I expect people’s attitudes from Walmart, DMV, Court clerk, TSA, correctional officers, recovery centers and prison BUT never from pollo loco. Or a restaurant.

Hopefully someone can reach...

I was very disappointed in their service. I went there for lunch and order their chicken nachos. The chicken was cold and had weird smell. I still tried to eat them. I felt a little sick at the stomach and could finish the rest. Had to continue day with No lunch. After work I took them back to store and explained to manager what happen. She was very rude. She accused me of not buying them today. She said they were all gone. Which obviously they were not or i couldn't have brought them back. Then she said what did I want her to do. I asked her to replace them with another menu item. She said unless i had receipt she would not do anything. I went to car and found receipt. Then she angrily gave me my money back as if it were my fault the food was unacceptable. What happen to the customer always being right. Or is that only for non black...