El Pollo Loco — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Horrible service and management. The restaurant was even filthy. I'm a great fan of el Pollo Loco, but this location just buried my opinion of how this corporation oversees its franchises. I walked in last night and placed an order totaling $27. I waited over 20 minutes before walking back to the counter to ask about my "forgotten"order. The cashier said it was on its way. 5 minutes later, the same cashier approached me and apologized for the delay. She asked me for my receipt, since she apparently was having an argument with one of the cooks. When she went back to the kitchen, I saw them discussing my receipt, and then she was told by the cooks to prepare my order herself. The store had accumulated a line of waiting customers, and most seemed shocked (the only cashier was preparing my food). I eventually stood up (almost 1/2 an hour of waiting at the location), and asked them to cancel my order. The manager didn't seem to see- or care how badly everything was operating. To top it off, the customer who initially stood behind me in line, also asked to receive a refund. Pollo Loco, the receipts are your proof. Please take care of these matters ASAP. To all customers......you're better off driving to another location. (Approximate timeframe of event 8:25 - 8:55pm ...

I walked in and was greeted. The lady was very helpful and assisted me with my order as I experienced an issue ordering my food at the kiosk.

After ordering though, that's when things took a turn for the worse. I ordered a burrito and the family meal. After a few minutes, an employee walked over and told me they were out of beans and wanted me to substitute it. If it would have been closer to closing, I would've understood; however, I really wanted beans with my burrito. I kindly asked if they could prepare some and that I wouldn't mind waiting. The employee got annoyed and went to prepare more beans leaving the remainder of my order uncovered on the counter. 15 minutes later, my food was still uncovered and on the counter. I noticed the employees handling the food were not wearing gloves and were touching receipts/money. I kindly asked the employee to prepare the rest of my order as the one they had prepared initially had been sitting out uncovered. The employee proceeded to put my food in the microwave. At that point, I immediately decided to...

Everything about this place great, except for their frozen salsa. I tend to stop here on my way home after a long day at the office when I know I don't have time to cook--neither dinner nor lunch the next day. They are conveniently open until 10pm on weekdays, and they usually don't stop cooking, so there is usually hot chicken available until closing.

They have healthy food, and they satisfy my cravings whether I'm on my low-carb diet or if I'm craving chips and tortillas.

Their pico de Gallo salsa doesn't compare to that of Baja Fresh. It's wattery and obviously frozen. I have seen frozen chunks of iced salsa, and it makes me wonder about the freshness of their other items.

They do advertise their creamy avocado salsa as made fresh daily, so that's a good alternative.

Also, they have a rewards program, which offers $10 in credit once you spend $100. That's 10%, so get it...