El Pollo Loco — Restaurant in Culver City

This is my favorite El Polo Loco.. I travel to this location in Culver City, California because they ALWAYS get it right... EVERYTHING is fresh... The Chicken is fresh NOT left over from the day before and pushed on the 1st lunch customers the following day... The Cook at this location has it down to a science and is an excellent griller. Customer service is good. My only complaint is they never want to give their customers enough dressing the creamy avocado dressing ( that they water down to stretch the salad dressing is really DISAPPOINTING.. After spending $43.00 on a Family El Polo Loco Chicken meal and only given a table spoon of creamy avocado to put on a salad for 4-5 people... then want you to pay more money .65 cents for another table spoon of creamy cilantro dressing... El Polo Loco.. you've not going to make customers happy when they can't thoroughly enjoy their meal because you REFUSE to give the proper amount of condiments... then the fact that it is watered down to stretch it and it has no taste whatsoever.. Treat your LOYAL customers better than that... you hand out tons of salsa but won't give a customer with a large salad enough creamy cilantro to fulfill their Family meal after $43.00 spent is absolutely ridiculous and poor customer service. Then for the cashier to treat you like or look at you like you are crazy for asking for enough creamy cilantro salad dressing makes me rethink patronizing your establishment... I like to enjoy my meals and feel like a valued customer. Meanwhile you give tons of salsa to customers who don't want or request it just to get the creamy cilantro but NOPE GOTTA PAY ADDITIONAL $ for watered down creamy cilantro dressing in the amount of a table spoon worth... Do Better! I've been a loyal customer for over 30+ years at least allow me to enough my meal with the condiments that I requested without hitting my pockets for more $$$ after I've spent nearly $45 for some El Polo Loco Chicken and 2 tiny container side orders and a salad with white not green lettuce plus tortillas.. EL POLO LOCO has been disappointing with the lack of condiments; otherwise NEVER had a complaint at this particular location.. but should I continue to patronize if I spend my money and can't even get enough creamy cilantro to accommodate 4-5 people eating the Family meal? I don't like to be annoyed so I might just go elsewhere to eat after 30+ years.. if El Polo Loco doesn't appreciate me as a customer then why am I there paying my money and can't get condiments to make my...

I am surprised and delighted at how totally impressed with this place.

Ive been going to this El Pollo Loco location for a while now, but had stopped more than a year ago because (at least during lunch rush) the chicken was often dry and I felt like I'd had all of the Pollo burritos and plates I could handle.

Thanks to a mailer touting their new bowls, went with the instantaneous answer about which bowl to pick, and couldn't be happier...!

The charming, polite youngster (holy cow, am I old enough to say that word?) who served me was so excited about the corn salsa and chicken avocado bowl (name might be off, but I'm close enough)... and surprised myself by scarfing the entire thing down, despite its formidable size.

I'm actually contemplating getting the same bowl for lunch tomorrow, it was that good!

A bit more on the staff -- even at 10 pm they were obviously enjoying their job, and it showed. I cant remember the young man's name that helped me, but he was a gem, so much so I told his manager as much. She was not surprised to get positive reviews of him, they both obviously enjoyed their jobs.

A great example -- the most adorable elderly man came in as I was eating -- I found out later to be a veteran customer that has been a regular at that location for at least a decade -- was enthusiastically greeted by name by my awesome cashier, who was sweet enough to tell him that they had wondered if he would be coming by to see them tonight, and were glad that he did.

Richard was so happy to see the various staff members (and he caught them at a slow time so they could give him extra attention), he must have spent a good 5 minutes at the counter chatting them up as they worked.

Now, how many fast food chain restaurants have you been in recently -- in our hustle and bustle city -- that cared about doing a good job, and went out of their way to care for the customers that frequented there? Not enough.

Summary : two thumbs up! And if like me you'd grown bored of the same old menu items, it's a fabulous time to revisit them and enjoy their tasty new menu items. I'll be the one in a booth scarfing down another...

Rude rude rude! Terrible customer service. I was at the drive thru ordering a chicken bowl and requested chicken breast only on my bowl. The lady starts laughing and thinks I can’t hear her tell her co worker (is she serious) she was whispering like if I can’t hear her. I said idk why is that funny I always request chicken breast only and no one makes fun of me. She started acting like she couldn’t hear me. She then comes back trying to get my order again and she just couldn’t stop laughing. I got so angry I just drove off. I called right after driving off to get her name and the manager said she didn’t know who was taking orders in the drive thru . It was 8:40 pm not busy AT ALL but she didn’t know what employee was taking orders. Then she switched the story to ( I can’t give u her info) ummm I’m asking for her first name to report her I’m not asking for her social. And yes you can give me her name ! We all do it at our work places . This manager obviously was having her employees back. Disgusting behavior. Who makes fun of what you order???? This took place on 7/25/23...