El Pollo Loco — Restaurant in Gardena

As I've come to find, with every visit, the food was great. The chicken was moist and flavorful. Sadly, as I've ALSO come to find, the service at this location is hit and miss, favoring miss. My first visit to this location, was a huge disappointment. They were lacking leadership, the flow of food was so mismanaged, that numerous guests were told the wait would be 30+ minutes(having already waited 15 minutes). The counters were a mess, with trash and receipt slips everywhere. Items were missing from the order, and worst of all, some of the chicken was undercooked. In that case, I spoke with a manager the following day, and she assured me it would be addressed, and replaced the entire order.

April 1st(yesterday), I placed a mobile order, specified that I would pickup "In Store", and paid for my order. When I arrived, the lobby was locked, but several employees saw me there, and just waved me off. I held up my phone, showing my order, but they just continued to wave me off. I finally decided to get into the drive thru. When I gave them my order info, the worker asked 'is this really right, you want 3 of one salsa type, and 6 of the other?' I confirmed that, yes, it is correct. She said 'That Many?!?' Now, consider this, I ordered (3) Three Whole Chickens, as well as a 2 piece chicken meal.

When I got to speak with the manager, he was very dismissive. He says, oh yeah, our dining/lobby area closes at 9pm. I explained that the lobby being closed, was not the issue, it was the lack of service. They could have, and should have, come to the door, asked what I needed, and moved on, but they never Even tried to help me out find out what I needed. He just kept repeating the same thing about the lobby hours, and seemed to really not care about anything more than getting me to leave.

I wish I could give them 5 stars. I also with I could give them zero stars. They deserve the zero stars, and the customers deserve service and food quality...

I've been on a streak of bad experiences at Pollo Locos all over LA. Tonight I arrived and there were 4 people ahead of me. It was busy but not crazy. Unfortunately this location must have been understaffed because after the cashier took the first lady in line's order, the cashier began putting orders together. For both people who ordered ahead of me and online orders about 4 orders or so. Then she ran outside twice to deliver the curbside delivery. The two women at the front of the line began getting upset. They were yelling at the cashier and almost left. They felt ignored, all of the customers in line did. Around 12 minutes of not getting anyone to take their order, they yelled really loud. Then someone out of sight asked what was going on. The cashier explained how the ladies were upset because she couldn't help them. Then a man appeared at the register, he wasn't very happy about it. The two ladies even exclaimed "What did you say ?" Apparently not happy with his answers. Their experience with this man (manager?) was not smooth and easy. I thought this was bad but got worse when I gave my order. I just tried ordering nicely not bringing up the long wait. This person was not nice and didn't apologize for the wait. I tried using the El Pollo app for a coupon and I scanned it and he said OK and ran my credit card. I looked and noticed it didn't give me the discount. Once again not apologetic he shrugged his shoulders and said "you scanned it". I asked a couple more questions if it is not good at his location. He didn't answer. Then I got a little upset at his apathetic attitude. I brought up the 15 minutes of standing in line with no cashier. He gave me $2 back but didn't apologize and rushed me off. This used to be one of my favorite EPL locations, but now I...

Poor service. Chicken was over-cooked and dry. Nothing like the traditional Pollo Loco Chicken from other locations. All staff members are young with no experience. Managers appeared to be without any concern to the operation of this Pollo Loco location. I observed an African-American customer in front of me, attempt to place his order. Where he felt bothered by the response of the young lady taking his order that he walked out of the store. I then observed a Hispanic lady who did not speak English attempted to place her order. The young ladies taking her order who were also Hispanic, belittled this lady by saying they didn't speak Spanish. This lady had to alter her order because the young ladies told this lady they were out of items she was requesting to be included in her order. Frankie Hernandez and the African-American Manager had no concerns for the issues...