El Pollo Loco — Restaurant in San Bernardino

Two stars because I got extra creamy cilantro dressing without having to ask. Yay!

By far the worst customer service I have ever received at an El Pollo Loco… The woman who came to the window gave me a weird total, so I verified my order with her. She confirmed the total and went to scan my coupon then said “Oh, no, it’s -“ right as the scanner beeped taking my coupon. So then there’s some fumbling as they try to reverse the coupon. I see two or three other employees approach to help. I wait for about 5 minutes or so. No big deal, right? A manager comes to confirm the coupon code.

Her: “No, this coupon’s not working.” Me: “I know… she already scanned it for the other order…” Her: “No, no because I scanned it on the other regist-“

I assume she was going to say register because she disappeared back inside. I wait a little longer and feel bad for the people behind me. A completely different employee asks for my card. So I ask for my total because last I was told, they were trying to refuse my coupon. She gives a total that seems fairly accurate for having used a 30% off coupon. I get my food, they almost forget my 2 drinks, and then I finally leave.

So, my issue is not with the error. To err is human, and I don’t fault the poor cashier. My issue was with the manger in charge of those employees. Your employee made a small mistake, but you were trying to pin the mistake on ME? I never asked for anything free, didn’t raise my voice, nothing. No one even told me what was happening while I waited at the window. I just have common sense and knew what was going on based on the weird total she gave me and the scanning of the coupon. And honestly, what kind of manager doesn’t know her own coupon system and doesn’t know that she can’t just go and scan an already-used coupon on a different register??? Computers have technical brains. They can’t go “Well, the first scan was an error, so just resubmit the coupon.”

To whoever owns this Pollo Loco franchise, please train...

If I could give a negitive 🌟 I would but I can't so I will blast them. First of all I got my soup and u get cheese and cilantro what they gave me was the smallest amount ever so I asked for more the drive thru guy Alejandro said that's all there allowed to give so I asked for manager then he changed it to how many do you want 😂. Still there was very little so I'm like ok whatever. So I get back home and open my 🌮 and the chicken was Soo pink 😭 and not cooked 😭 fully so I called. I asked for manager and I told her my chicken wasn't fully cooked and she proceeded to tell me oh the it was the tacos I'm like yeah how did you know she says cause it always is like that we cook it different then our other 🐔. Like what so ur knownly selling undwe cooked food? So she offers me my money back but you have to come back tonight.. I love El Pollo loco but I will never return to this location ever and I will tell everyone I Kno not to go her they have poor customer service 😥 and they are trying to get people sick this location is a disgrace to all El Pollo...

I don't look at El Pollo Loco like a dine-in restaurant that's different from Carl's juniors for McDonald's maybe a little bit more upscale but definitely not like TGI Friday's or Sizzler kind of in-between either way it goes the food is way cheaper and really good my favorite are the nachos they will knock off your toes every trip is covered with evenly hot beans cheese wonderfully seasoned chicken and a whole bunch of other yummy stuff the fact that you can get it for 5 bucks you can't even beat that it fills me up I don't know how big your palate is but it's not huge and it's not really small but it gets you full and you feel satisfied and you can get yourself through the rest of the day it's a great lunch great price really good they're always clean and always friendly no matter your race crease eyes blah blah blah they are always friendly drive-thru...