Food is always fresh. I ordered tacos al carbon. These are pieces of grilled chicken with cubbed onions and cilantro. They were pretty good and fresh. I recommend them. There is plenty of parking too.

We love El Pollo Loco on Carson St! The manager, Murphy , is always nice, friendly, and doesn't forget anything. All the employees, from cashier to cooks, are great and food is cooked perfectly! Thank you!

Came here for lunch, the food and service was great! The manager Isela was friendly and polite! Her team had great customer service! The inside was also very clean, will be coming here again.

When I visit this establishment, I am very satisfied with my service. The place is usually clean, and orders come out in a timely fashion. Last visit, I asked the manager if I could re- charge my phone behind the counter. He said yes, and that saved me from losing calls, etc.

The second best chicken to KFC as far as flavor. Try to get coupons from the cashier or in the mail to get great deals. The app doesn't seem to have as good of deals.

Anna and Robert always give excellent service with a smile making sure everyone is happy and enjoying their meal. Great place!

I like their 5.99 bowl.

MISS KEKE

Everything was nice and fresh.My favorite place

Bill M

Always a great location but ripped seats is not acceptable and speaks badly of an establishment with over 30 years in business

lenie acodile

Absolutely amazing experience! The place smells like fresh grilled chicken, It tastes really good, and the MAC 'N CHEESE. IT IS TO DIE FOR. Definitely recommend this place.

Baldemar Villarreal

This is one of my favorite restaurants. They have superior high quality chicken AND DELICIOUS, CREAMY Mac 'n Cheese. Oh, I want to go there right now.

Leatrice Keys-Moss

I really enjoyed the food. It was very appetizing and affordable

Gustavo Aguilar

Thank you, to all your staff! My 15 family meals I ordered last night were perfectly hot with juicy chicken! You all never fail! We'll be coming back next week for more!

Clete Reed

Good service and the chicken is just so tasty.

Guess Again

Extremely busy place. Manager is AMAZING on handling her team and hands on working hard along with the employees! That’s a GREAT manager hardly ever see this! She needs to be recognized and deserves a raise! Great Job team! You will have our huge lunch order again! Nothing messing and food was very fresh! Most of all restrooms and dining room was very clean.

Kian N.

The food quality was as great as other branches. All crew had mask and hat, that’s a great policy.

The food was very good. We ordered an 8 piece chicken and 2 bowls. The order came out pretty quick and the salsa bar was stocked and clean.

Tried the double queso and it was great. Chicken quality was good, pretty juicy and jalapeno was abundant but not overwhelming. Limited staff but they put in the extra effort. Thumbs up for putting in that work!

Employee should asked if customer want mild, med or hot salsa & if they will be dining in or take-out. Employee assumed we wanted hot salsa & was taken our food to go. They put our food & condiments in bag to go.

Similar to other restaurants in the chain, the food quality is consistent between them, which is fairly good in general, howevever there are some big differneces between the food served here and in mexico itself, so it's not the best place to go if you're expecting something totally accurate. The food is good regardless of this.

Good food. California proposition 65 warning

This El Pollo Loco is a smaller location. It's always a long Line with a lot of people.But The service is fast. I like their drink selections they have a couple of different drinks than other El Pollo Locos have. In their Salsa and guacamole station is always clean and full. The parking lot shares space with other stores so parking is 1st come 1st serve.

Carlos Rendon

I ordered to take out. The older guy cooking needs to be reminded who he is cooking for. I was slow to oder as I couldn't read the menu, visual impairment, the cook was also taking the orders, he was pushing for me to order, there was no one behind me, he walked away and started cooking another order, he must taken before me. Instead of assisting in placing the order he was loudly challenging me read faster even though I told him I could see the combination plates were further away on the menu. He finally returns,q took my order and prepared the 3 smallest thighs he could cut. Goes to proof that complaints to the cook can be hazardous to your health and if the cook gets angry you better get out of his kitchen and go some place else. The food as always good, I'd one of the healthiest in fast food. 3 pieces where always that small I would order 4.

Marilyn Mathews

Walk in..no drive through at this location. Had the white meat combo I wanted. They may run out of white meat later in the evening like chicken places tend to do but this was b4 6 pm. Service was quick & the young man at the register packed every item choice I asked for plus gave me my $1 off senior discount I asked for. The chicken is tasty & their small garden salad is good. I ask for ranch dressing instead of their green cilantro dressing most people like & they give with their salads. I got mashed potatoes/gravy & 2 flour tortillas too. Beats fast food burger & fries for a quick take out meal.

Appreciate the convenience of picking up an order made online but while watching an order being put together, I saw an older gentleman literally TOSS salsas and other wet items in a container where they could have opened and spilled, ruining the food. Turns out that order was mine.

They would've gotten five stars if they still sold tamales. I hate it when fast food joints get me hooked on their limited time only specials.

Lunch time hours the service is slow, before you leave with take out be sure to check your order has all you asked for. I did that and was happy when I sat down to eat.

Food good but sometimes they mess up my order. They don't even say hold on they just walk away when it's your turn to order. They had one good employee, but they let him go!😕 And the kitchen had a big pile of trash

The Mac&Cheese is too RUNNY but all the other food is pretty good! When MANAGEMENT isn't there, the dining area goes untidy. Homeless people come in with their own cups and get FREE DRINKS without paying. Also, people get WATER CUPS WITH THEIR MEAL BUT DON'T GET WATER....ESPECIALLY THEIR KIDS. THAT'S STEALING PARENTS! SAD TO SEE THIS EVERYTIME I COME.

I bought chicken tacos with chips, and soda, you can hardly see chips and tortillas were cold not warmed properly for tacos not happy at all. Not clean tables and salad place was not nice a little messy.

Great chicken. Crowded around 6pm on a weekday when staff is stressed thin to point salsa bar was stocked but a bit of a mess, table tops, floors and bathroom also needed upkeep. Employees are so busy preparing orders..... they need additional staff to do upkeep.

Fast food takes too long now a days

Place kind of small. There are not enough parking spaces during rush hour.

Chicken was delicious, guest service not so good. Young lady who helped us seemed in a rush, like if she wanted to get our order and move on with the next one. Manager gave me my order and when I said thank you, he mumbled "you're welcome". And quickly went back to cooking the chicken, without gloves. No , "Have a nice day." Nothing. I guess me working in customer service as well, I expected a little more friendliness. But oh well.

Service was good but the chicken is really burnt or dry most of the time and the portions are not consistent, sometimes I'm satisfied and then sometimes there's barely any chicken in the bowls/salads.

Not the best service. Food was generally OK. I order welldone skinless chicken that when ready had a big piece of skin hanging on the side. The guy on tue register was never rude but he lacks that good polite vibe. Mainly my rating is because on 35mins. I was there i did not see anyone attending the dining area and a couple has to clean its own table with napkins.

Joseph Mendoza

The staff was very nice. They were very professional the food was great. However the inside of the restaurant was a bit messy. Now if they could clean the tables and chairs and leave it spotless that would be great

david rancifer

El Pollo Loco use to be my go to place. But now, the portions are really small. I ordered a double chicken tostada and I watch the preparer put one scoop and a quarter of chicken in that small bowl. Now, double means two scoops, right? So, the server handed my meal and I asked her a question and she ignored me. I stood there until she prepared the next person's meal to ask her a simple question, "May I have ranch dressing". Needless to say, I ordered a meal and did not get the tortilla chips. So, for all that, they get a 3 score.

armida beltran

The food was good and the employees were pleasant. HOWEVER, I had an uncomfortable experience! The female manager(heavy set) was belittling a young employee over a rumor she heard. She stated that she heard he was going to quit and she needed to know when this was going to happen. It immediately made me feel uncomfortable and the once bustling kitchen became quiet and you could feel that the other employees were uncomfortable too. He told her he was thinking of it. She snapped at him telling him he needed to give her 2 weeks notice. He was visibly stunned by her confrontation and told her he wasn’t sure but that he would do his best to let her know. Being in an at will state this gentleman doesn’t have to give a 2 weeks notice and this was a direct breach of his privacy because now the whole restaurant knows this locations may possibly have a job opening. The manner in which she put him on the spot and was forcing an answer out of him was bullying and harassment. I was not able to eat my food in peace without thinking of what happen and how this manager blatantly aired this employees laundry and how it really stunted the work flow because every employee had eyes on them. If she was truly a good manager she should have taken him to her office and spoke with him there and even then it’s none of her business if he quits or not. It was clear she was inquiring to put pressure on the young man. I didn’t appreciate her approach to her employee and instead of enjoying my lunch I thought of way to bring it up to her attention that she needs to go back to sensitivity training. She was rude about it in no way was it a calm conversation of wishing him well and to please give her a 2 weeks notice if he can. She was demanding and exercising authority over him. I know Pollo Loco can do better in choosing their managers.

Too many orders. Good deal. Gave my food to someone else's order. Had to wait for a long time. Never experienced this at this location.

Nothing like what you see on TV the burritos are getting smaller by the week the chicken is burn and the service you get charged extra for something you never get but you don't find out till you get home.

Great tasting chicken! But ... No white meat for 40 minutes? And 20 minutes for my family meal to be ready? On a Monday night?

More than often they will run out of certain foods on its menu. Two or three times they've actually ran out of chicken. This has happened before 5:00 PM. The reason, their order didn't come through. The tortilla soup they run out for the same reason.😣

I get that it's El Pollo, but this one is a bit too dirty. The trash was overflowing and no one seemed to care. But it is what it is, it is El Pollo and can't really expect greatness... but they should still make sure the place looks presentable especially since the salsa is self served.

Ordered 8 pc meal for take out. Took over 20 minutes before my order was ready. They could stand to wipe the place down some. Other locations are much quicker and cleaner.

Ordered online and picked up at promised time. Cashier was friendly. However, the chickens at this location must be borderline anorexic because the pieces were extremely small and there was hardly any meat on them. A little dry, but flavor was fine, though. Not sure if this is typical for all El Pollo Loco restaurants, but I would have second thoughts returning to this one.

Worst one I've ever been too. The food tastes fine but they always get my order wrong or leave something whether u go in person or order it through door dash. Every single time I'm missing my sauces and salad dressings or, for example if I don't want Pico and I say that to them they still put it on. It makes you feel like they don't really care what you ask or say as a customer. And their phone number doesn't work so you can't even call and let them know of any issues. I don't ever want to come back.

I waited about 5 minutes to order with only 2 people in front of me. They were out of flour tortillas and Large drink cups. I waited 16 minutes to receive my food. My salad didn't have cheese on it. The restaurant was clean.

This Carson location is really terrible. They don't fulfill orders properly!! Everything is on receipt, BUT when you get home it's not in bag!! This is the fifth time no Creamy Cilantro Salad Dressing was in bag with order... how do you eat a Double Chicken Tostada Salad with NO DRESSING (?)... JERKS

Same taste. Nothing new. I'm kinda of sick of El Pollo Loco. They are way overpriced even with a coupon! I wish there was a Pollo Unico in Carson! They are way better in taste and quality and worth the price! Very reasonable price for good quality chicken and sides!

Firme_gee 93

Dinning area and restrooms were dirty took forever to get my food. My 2nd order took forever as well had to go up and they had my order wrong..recommend going to another location

Kimberly Croxton

The service was good, the restaurant was clean. I really love El Pollo Loco!! What I don't like is that I spent almost 30 dollars on chicken (which did include 10 dollars off in the app,)so originally it would've been almost 40 dollars. Point is they gave me fresh chicken and old chicken, which ticked me off. I visit many different sites and there is always an issue. Did I return to the location...No. one reason is that I didn't live close. The second reason would be when you spend your money you expect good quality food and service. Throw that old chicken away and give consumers what they see on the menu, or in the window!!! & don't have careless employees that won't do their best to make our experiences a happy one.

They will pretend like you don’t exist and just leave you leaned up against a wall with a bunch of other customers awkwardly waiting for all of your orders to be taken. No acknowledgement at all. They also have attitudes. It’s the worst. Just go to another location.

Staff is unfriendly & definitely not on the job when it comes to cleaning. I asked to have my table cleaned & the girl left it wet... I had to get additional paper towels to finish the job.

You shouldn't have to wait 20 minutes for meal n when you get home they had order wrong which took another 45 minutes before you ate your dinner. They do this all the time never have enough food cooked.

Horrible place to eat the cook doesnt seem to care the cashier is slow and it seems nobody cares i had to wait 30 mintues for just a burrito like are you kidding me!!! And when i end up taking a bit of the burrito the chicken was cold and it wasnt cook right i honestly hope the owner fires everyone from there

Came in just before 10pm, and wanted to eat there. Manager says dining room closes at 10pm. The hours posted outside were 10am-11pm. I told him the place doesn't close till 11pm! He then stated "that it was closed for cleaning!" I looked at the empty dining room, floors & tables were clean! Manager was "rude & arrogant", just gave me a blank-stare! English was his 2nd language, and I couldn't understand half of what he said! Never even apologized, acted like I was bothering-him! The cook was also giving me "dirty look's!"(fight me) I ended-up walking out, going to Del Taco!(dining room closes 1am) Won't be going back-there! Plenty of other-places to eat! Workers get paid till 11pm, but don't want people eating there after 10pm? This shouldn't be happening at a multi-billion $ restaurant company? El Pollo Sucko!

This place is filthy..as soon as you walk in it smells like urine. I just saw someone walk in to return some old chicken and the worker just grabbed the returned chicken and put it back on the grill. This will be my first and last time coming here..good thing i wasnt buying any chicken

Bad service, one cashier took like 20 mins to order. After took 15 mins to receive it. At to top it off when i received it wasnt correct. I asked for a double tostada bowl with no rice nor beans..just salad and chicken.

Don't get me wrong, I like El Pollo loco Chicken, got the chicken that I got from this restaurant smelled kind of gamey so I only ate one piece I just couldn't get past that smell p I definitely will not be going back to that El Pollo loco again even if it is just a few blocks from where I live.

No people in line. Had to wait 5 mins for manager to train/clear register (Just use the other register WHEN CUSTOMER WAITING!) THEN, ordered the 5$ Nachos Combo which INCLUDES chips and drink. Told them they didn't include my chips. The response? Employee proceeded to tell me chips are already in the nachos.Uhhhhh, no. Explained to him Combo description does NOT exclude nachos. Then he tried to explain how nachos are made. Huh?? I asked for the manager. Then SHE says, "Well we usually don't give chips since the meals already have chips in them" AGAIN, I explained that's not what is advertised, AND every other El Pollo Loco I've gone to gives chips. Eventually she said, "I'll just give them to you." Uhhh, no chick, I PAID for them...Ugh....Guess I'm South County spoiled...LA County customer service sucks!!! JMO

I'm giving it a one star because in the website said they were open. I went around 9: 30pm during my lunch time from work. I get there,and on the door it says open .But the door is locked and they were closed. So because of that they get one star I'd rather give them zero because I wasted my time during my lunch time for nothing but you can't give it zero so they get one

Bad service!!!! They did not have a breast & wing for the 4pc meal a did not want to give me 3 thighs and told me they have to charge me for the creamy cilantro dressing. Looked at my receipt and I was charged for sour cream and explained that's how he has to charge me. I politely asked for my money back. I live in Carson but I will continue going to Compton.

This location has no salsa, bad service, not enough cooked chicken at a restaurant that mainly serve chicken! long wait times, was waiting over 15 minutes for my order. Short staffed and unmotivated employees. I Don’t recommend anyone dining at this location. Save yourself the trouble and Google another location in Carson besides this one.

This was the most disappointing El Pollo Loco meal of my life! The rice and coleslaw don't taste the way they should. We ordered taquitos and they were completely cold. We also ordered an Avocado Chicken Wrap and it was almost all corn. What is going on here! Never coming again!

Stopped by to use the restroom & was gunna order lunch on the way out but I lost my appetite when the female worker with lashes as big as her attitude decided to answer rudely when we asked for the code to the restroom. She’s bad for business.

This is the worst El Pollo Loco ever do not go there the chicken is burnt to a crisp can't even eat it

This place is noo good if u want healthy food, All left over chicken will be packed for the next day until its gone. I use to work there 7yrs ago. Sometimes chicken that were made the day before would use for the following day. Until it sells.

This is one of the worst el pollo loco I have ever been to why because customer service sucks also having bad attitude towards customers. The food tastes weird almost threw up as well as it being cold I ordered a BRC burrito and it was cold and the cheese was not even melted and the beans tasted horrible. Even the salsa isn't fresh either.

Sub standard from any other branch. BAD MANAGEMENT. What a waste from a good location. 3 years later from original review: This is by far the worst El Pollo Loco branch. How do they manage to sell Old Cold Chicken all day everyday?

My family and I love Pollo Loco and it never fails that we get bad service from the pollo loco on main and Carson st and what’s worst is that Humberto the so call manager has a bad customer service . My mash potatoes and Mac cheese was watery. I called Humberto and he said “what do u want me to do? I am short handed” and that his excuse all the time. It’s sad that I will be telling my family and friends to no longer go there.

They opened at 10am, but the chicken wasn't ready until 11am so unprofessional from their part... plus I ask them to give me the chicken well done so it took them another extra 20 minutes to get my order.... one hour and twenty minutes to get my order

Let me thoroughly explain the one star given; El Pollo Loco is delicious, but this location has some shortcomings that affect my experiences every time I have visited. I've driven to this location several times to find out that theyre closed early because they dont have any chicken. It's an ironic situation, right?! I know parking is limited in LA county in general, but their parking location sucks so much. There isnt adrive thru option either. And yesterday, they said that they no longer sell black beans.... 😒 Despite these annoyances, the employees who work at this location have always been nice :)

I apologize to anybody trying this El Pollo loco for the first time.. this location is their poorest example of what their food is like.. I live a couple of blocks away but I will drive a few miles to their other locations because of their poor food quality poor service and dirty restaurant.. my last visit here was because I got very sick from raw undercooked chicken.. I called her corporate office to complain several times but I've never gotten through or had return calls made to me El Pollo loco just doesn't seem to care much about this location.. El Pollo loco food is very good and they do offer good deals just do yourself a favor and avoid this Carson location.

“Alejandra so RUDE” wowwwww bad attitude I asked her for more sauce and she threw it in the food with a bad angry attitude my visit date was today AUG-29-2021 I paid for being badly served bad experience.

My son just returned with some food from this particular El Pollo Loco. The chicken in my burrito was burnt. Not overcooked, it was black burnt. Same with his burrito, and they messed up my wife's El Pollo Bowl. The staff, as my son told me, was fighting with a customer. Staff, undertrained and unprofessional Food, burnto to a blackened unidentifiable mess. I can assure you we will not be returning to this particular El Pollo Loco. There are two closer to the place of my employment, I'll just buy from those and bring it home. I don't expect a five-star restaurant from an El Pollo Loco, but I do expect some semblance of an edible meal.

The food is good they are always busy used to go there at least twice a week but the last 4X I've gone their hot food program is not working. So I end up getting pizza again. I wish they would fix it or if they no longer wish to serve people on hot food program let us know instead of getting us all worked up for a great healthy meal and being let down.

I placed an order on line on Tuesday for a pickup on Wednesday. When I arrived at my scheduled time of pickup (12:15 pm) I was told that they did not have any chicken ready and that I would have to wait 20 minutes for my order. Now keep in mind that I placed my order 24 hours prior. I will never use this location for online orders, large orders, or lunch orders. In fact I don't think I go to this location for any orders. How can a chicken store not have any chicken ready during lunch rush hour? Very poor management of this store.

I ordered a pollo bowl about 20 minutes before closing time, I waited a good 15 minutes in the drive thru (assuming they would be making fresh chicken) since we were waiting so long. I get my bowl there is no beans or pico, just filled with a lot of rice and a few chicken scraps. Not sure if management tells them to only put a certain amount of pieces in the bowl but this is ridiculous. Just because I order before close I shouldn’t expect to get the last ends of food and it would of been nice to know there weren’t any beans. I basically feel like I just ate rice.

They never have enuff chicken!! Or it's over an hour wait! It's A5050 chance you'll be able to get you get your order timely at this locale and they will not substitute meat portions Even if you ask to pay for them.

I don't know if Pollo Loco's quality has gone down like crazy or my standards have gone up but Pollo Loco now to me taste like microwaved food. Their chicken on the outside appears to be natural but it tastes like it has some kind of preservative or chemical and is too chewy. This is probably the last time I buy this chicken. Chicken Maison in Torrance beats the feathers off of them.

If I can give -5 stars I would. Me and my associate who work hard in construction couldn’t find another pollo loco and this was the only one we found and the last thing we want is ignorant employees who all they were doing was talking and took 5 mins to take my order and didn’t even acknowledge when I said thanks and one young lady gave me a nasty look. I worked in the food industry before and this is a poor way to run this business. YOU GUYS NEED TO STEP IT UP!!!

Google wrong about it not being busy at this time. 1 register and 7 people in line to order. Salsa bar a mess. I'd imagine they'd want to put all the best employees but it always seems it's the slowest ones at this time. Sorry. But I still rather drive another 20 minutes in this traffic to Compton or Torrance and get faster service than here.

I placed my online order $40 worth the chicken pick it up and it was burn completely burn call back and that’s for the manager and some one told me that she was in a meeting! No customer service whatsoever he hang up on me.

This is the worse EL I have ever seen. The food, the service and atmosphere are terrible. Always check your order before you leave, they never get it right. Oh yeah, be prepared to wait 20 to 30 minutes. I love EL, and it pains me that this is the closest one to me. But bad is bad, so I don't have EP at home any more. My feeling is that the place makes a lot of money so the quality of the food, and service are not important to EL here, based on where the store is located. I doubt if the EL Corporation would allow a store to operate in this state, in a more affluent area.

Am at the Pollo Loco at 2:30pm and they're out of chicken so they want people to wait 30 min. People are angry just as last week I came and same thing. Cashier is very nice but says owner doesn't care how badly folks insult her they only cook about 50 chickens max. So, I went to KFC further down Carson and the manager there said she used to work at that Pollo Loco and not just that store but all stores owned by that boss are operated the same and she couldn't handle it anymore. And when they do have chicken the service is slow with 1 cook, 1 person putting salads together, a friendly African man putting orders together who between clients refills salsa bar, cleans soda dispenser, picks up tables, takes out trash and sweeps so basically can't upkeep store cleanliness by himself, and a cashier so lines and service is awfully slow.

The staff were unfriendly, the restaurant interior was dirty, and the atmosphere was unpleasant.

Spartaco

I went to buy a chicken tostada, and the cashier, an older person, was in a bad mood. He asked me questions in a rude way, so I had to leave without buying anything. They should talk to him or give him more training in customer service.😦☹️

Juan

The hot sauce here is really good but they were run out of it 😫

Frequent Shopper

Employees are rushing you and watching every step you take while Im looking at the menu, shes pacing back n forth like a gage animal and then another cashier comes a d ask if they can help me, I said ok yeah I like to order, then he says right there all self serve, like what, then what's the rush if im doing g everything myself, finally I get my food comes and has melted plastic on it , why cant I place my order and also go back n cook it, might as well. 👎👎

alijah nicolee

I made a mobile pick up order that was going to be ready in an hour automatically made the website. When I came to pickup my food, my food was cold!! I also ordered a creamy cilantro sauce for almost 5 dollars which was not included in the bag and I could not get the sauce because the store was closed by then. There are also no utensils included! I am so disappointed because I live just one block away from this restaurant!! Do better!