I was very shocked to see the low rating. maybe 15 years ago, someone introduced me to this restuarant. It was the first time I had Peruvian food. It was also the first time I had Peruvian food at the top of my Top 3 favorite type of food. Really fell in love with Peruvian Food at this restaurant. I was in the area so I stopped by to pick up some Lomo Saltado. Still amazing as I remembered it 15 years ago. Staff was friendly to me. A little confused on some of the comments about being pricey. The price here is way better than their neighboring places. read more

Unacceptable Service, Unexpected Hidden Fees, and Poor Hospitality I usually don't write reviews like this, but our experience at Pollo Inka was deeply disappointing. We came in as a party of 7 and had a RESERVATION to celebrate my friend's birthday, spending over $250, but the service and atmosphere completely ruined the evening. First, the security guard was an awful host--demanding a $10 service charge after one hour into our meal. Shortly after, our waitress did the exact same thing. On top of the forced extra charges, the flavor profile was noticeably off compared to other Pollo Inka locations we've been to. No bread was offered and they removed it from the menu! To make matters worse, after being seated directly in the dancing section, we were asked to leave for not paying an additional "dancing cover fee" that was never disclosed to us beforehand. Treating paying customers--especially a large group celebrating a special occasion--with such hostility and continuous hidden fees is unacceptable. We won't be returning. read more

This location had been in our take-out rotation for quite some time. However the quality had declined each time we order from here! We decided to stop by to eat at the location, we figured we would at least get a nice hot soup for a change...we quickly turned around when we saw the giant C health grade on the outside of the restaurant. We have been ordering from this location, no wonder their soup always arrives cold, their fires are under cooked and their sauce is always super watery and runny. Please do yourself a favor and make sure you read up on the health grade for this location. The fact that they haven't been re-inspected in almost a year is alarming. We will stick to the Torrance or Redondo Beach location, they never disappoint! read more

My wife and I have gone a few times to Pollo Inka and always enjoyed their Lomo Saltado. Thinking that location didn't matter, we decided to try another location from the same restaurant chain. Unfortunately, this experience was very different from what we were accustomed to. It took maybe about 5 minutes to get seated, which was reasonable, and the waitress was friendly and welcoming. We already knew what we wanted, so ordering was quick and easy. We both ordered the Lomo Saltado, which comes with a cilantro-based chicken soup called Aguadito de Pollo. This is where we noticed the flavor profile at this location was not the same at all. The soup was salty and almost lukewarm. We were hungry, so we finished it, but it definitely wasn't enjoyable. As for the Lomo Saltado, it lacked flavor overall. It felt like the only flavor on the plate came from the meat being charred over the flame, but even then, both the meat and the dish itself tasted bland. About the only thing that had a consistent taste was the canned Inca Kola. Unfortunately, I will not be coming back to this location and will stick to going to the location in Lawndale instead. read more

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Bad Service from the server. She never went to ask if everything was ok. She also never brought one of our plates. Terrible read more

El Pollo Inka - Latin American Near Me - Gardena, California

I used to go to this restaurant for lunch when I worked nearby so I was in the area and tried it. They have daily lunch specials and today was different fried rice (Chaufa). I ordered the seafood chaufa. Chicken soup came immediately and it was nice and hot. A large plate of seafood fried rice came with lots of fish and was a generous portion. It was delicious and I took half of it home. Service was good and I would come back. read more

El Pollo Inka - Chaufa de Mariscos - Latin American Near Me - Gardena, California

We felt like we made a great choice coming here, especially since it was our first time. We weren't very familiar with the menu, so we ordered based on the photos -- and everything turned out to be delicious. The food tasted very fresh. A lot of the dishes we ordered included squid, but each one was prepared differently, so the textures were all unique and enjoyable. It made the meal more interesting and satisfying. The atmosphere felt a bit exotic to me in a good way, and the service was friendly throughout our visit. The only downside was the restroom. It didn't seem to be cleaned very well, which was a little disappointing. Overall, though, the food quality and service made it a place we're glad we tried. read more

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Food was OK, meat was very chewy. Service was horrible server with tattoos (couldn't get her name since she didn't have a name tag I just remember a "x x )" smiley face on her hand) never checked on our table, and was rude when we were ordering by rudely gesturing us to order + rushing us. When we needed our missing drinks or new silverware (bc we received used ones) We made eye contact with her and tried flagging her down multiple times and she blatantly ignored us. BEWARE THIS LOCATION HAS A "C" GRADING read more

Have you been to the best restaurant in town??? Its Pollo Inka located located on Artesia, Gardena. The food is absolutely deliscious and fantastic. I've never been to Peru but sitting and eating there will make you feel that you're in a different world. Run by Antonio Atoche who is personable and friendly, He and his staff will make you feel comfortable and special. You'll feel like a VIP! I recommend you go and try the best Peruvian food in town! Your palette.friends and family will love you!!@ See you there soon! read more

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Haven't visited this place for a while and was craving some good chicken. Place did not disappoint service can use some hep the may be understaffed but food was on point. Took a bit to get seated and even paying the bill was hard but small price to pay for delicious food. Got the pescado encebollado the whole chiken and a seafood dish. Will recommend all of them. I like the intimate family ran feeling however they maybe need more sense of urgency and friendlier people serving. Over all if you are just looking for good food at a chill place this is def place to be read more

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I've been going to El Pollo Inka for decades; since about 1989. Originally at a different location but this one for at least 15 years. I stop on my way to visit my parents and pick up lunch. I went on 9/19 and got food for the family, 1 child 9 yo, & 5 adults aged 38 - 86. Everyone loved it as we always do. I called in my order while on the way and it was ready when I got there. Super delicious and the staff is always friendly. It's good for dine in, too with plenty of tables and booths. read more

First tine there very bad experience i made a reservation and it was empty i waited 30 min to be seated ( the hostess just told me that table over there pointing. Drinks were good but really really bad customer service never come back to asked if we want anything else and they over charge an obligatory tip and service fee. When it was a bad bad bad customer service we will never go back. read more

El Pollo Inka - Latin American Near Me - Gardena, California

First time going to this place ! My father in law loves the food and the service here . The food was really good , we ordered Lomo saltado de mariscos its was really good sauté seafood and white rice and fries . 10/10 . I ordered calamari 10/10 nice and crispy with a delicious green salsa. Lastly, to drink I got their "horni margarita " that was actually delicious as well . Great vibe and great music . Will definitely come back ! read more

Service was okay and the soup was decent, but the lomo saltado was awful. The beef was overcooked and tasted like it had been frozen for far too long. One of the pieces of beef was clearly bruised, and it had that unpleasant, metallic taste that seemed like old blood had soaked into the meat. It left a terrible aftertaste in my mouth for the rest of the day. The fries were soggy and barely seasoned beyond soy sauce and salt. The place was also dirty and smelly--the floor was sticky, the booth was gross, and even the menus looked filthy. Overall, a very disappointing experience. read more

I've always really enjoyed coming to this place, and every time I've visited before, I've never had any issues with the service, it's usually great. This time, however, was a different experience. I won't mention the waitress by name because I understand how that feels, but the service that night was disappointing. She walked past our table several times while our cups were empty. We only ordered water along with our meals, and we didn't receive a single refill the entire night. I ended up sharing my water with my wife since I'm a slow drinker during my meals. It felt like there was time to check on us, as she was often engaging with coworkers instead. If you decide to come here, I would recommend sitting with one of the more experienced servers, as they seem more attentive and on top of things. I did notice a few of them guiding the younger server, so it may have been her first day. Either way, a bit more instruction and focus on customer service would really help improve the experience read more

Be careful in judging this place on their abysmal Yelp Rating - it seems to be both a nightclub and restaurant and most of the one star reviews are actually for the nightclub. We came for lunch on a Sunday. Service was quite slow and we were largely ignored after placing our orders, but the food and drinks were delicious! Our server completely disappeared after taking our orders and we had to flag down someone else for the bill. My ceviche was delicious! read more

El Pollo Inka - Ceviche Mixto - Latin American Near Me - Gardena, California

Complete nightmare! Got to the restaurant at 7:40pm - 2 hours before closing and was seated within 10 min (which was great) and the problems started when the waitress (Lourdes- awful attitucame back to table letting us know they ran out of noodles and calamari (2 combos) we ordered (WT...) then to top it off they do not serve bread!!! Then the waitress brings us our bill and states they close in 3 mins, mind you there are 4 other tables of folks eating and then the lights start turning off ??? Crazy - what's going on at this crap hole establishment. read more

Horrible service. Rarely write reviews, but this review needed to be posted. They seemed extra busy on Fathers day and understaffed. The major problem is that there was NO acknowledgement of customers by staff. A simple, "we will be with you shortly" would have been enough. We saw people just leaving because of this. We were picking up a an order. First and last time coming here. NEVER AGAIN. read more

I've been here a number of times over at least 15 yrs. Really love the place, but they were severely understaffed this last Father's Day. Sure, it's normal to expect some delays on a holiday, but after we were seated, we sat in the booth for 15 minutes and didn't receive even a glance from any of the staff, so we left. During our wait, we noticed a busboy that took 7 trips to the table before it was cleared. Instead of bringing the trash cart to the table, he just walked back and forth between them. This wouldn't completely deter me, but also like the review from Damaris E., I too saw the "C" health grade. I thought they had done away from the letter grades, in favor of a pass/fail, but I'm not taking changes. Never going back. Now to write my review for the Torrance location ... where I went after leaving here. read more

Damn!! This is definitely one of the times that I wished I would've read the reviews because believe me when I say the food here is AWFUL!! Well the lomo and pollo saltado is!! This is easily the worst I've eaten! In Life!! The beef they used was by far the cheapest cut of beef they could find- it was super thin, bland, chewy, and had plenty of gristle.. Ever Been Super hungry and took a big bite of food that tasted horrible and as the nasty taste fills your mouth, you wish you could spit it out but there's no napkins available so you swallow it but your throat won't let you so your stuck gagging on it like a toddler! This was my experience with their pollo saltado!!! The chicken was off textured and just gross and left me wondering whether or not it was that new lab created chicken?!?!! Both plates consisted of 50% of the cheapest fries they could find, 35% hard, thick sliced undercooked onions, 5% big soggy, mushy, over ripe tomatoes and 10% meat (my goodness I hope that chicken was real meat) I was super appalled at how bad they both tasted and the Aji could Not help!! Oh and even the bread was even bad- it definitely wasn't freshly baked, it tasted like it was made 2 days before yesterday!! I am guessing the El Pollo Inka in Redondo is better because that's the one that I used to frequent- but it's also been a minute so real talk, I may not even go there and find out!! I wish I could reclaim my time and my money from this dreadful (take out) dining experience!!! I am truly so traumatized that I wish I could reach down in my stomach and remove the few bites I took!! Avoid this place at all costs, they actually deserve less than the 2 stars they have! read more

Me and my mom love Pollo inka. We usually come in on Friday night and it's usually busy. Yesterday it wasn't so busy so we got sat right away. Our server was very attentive and kind, he was a younger guy. The food was delicious per usual. We got the Anticuchos de pollo and Lomo saltado. The ambience is nice and it's so spacious in there. Always look forward to coming back! read more

El Pollo Inka - Anticucho de pollo (chicken) - Latin American Near Me - Gardena, California

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El Pollo Inka has been around for many years and was my first introduction to Peruvian cuisine. The meal started off with a bowl of their pollo gallina soup, it could have been a bit hotter, but is good with the hot sauce mixed in. I've always liked their Lomo Saltado, especially with the Aji Amarillo sauce. The sautéed beef, red onions, tomatoes, French fries and rice is a great combination, especially smothered in the delicious green sauce. It's an okay restaurant to meet your fix for Peruvian food in Gardena. There are better places in Hollywood like Mario's or Los Balcones. read more

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Went tonight because Tik Tok promised Saturday was Cumbias and Disco night. Invited 3 additional friends. Arrived at 8 pm for good seating. We paid $10 each for the dance. I ordered Pina colada and it's was on the rocks as well the margaritas. Dinner was delicious as usual. Other people arrived for dinner And stayed for the dance without the bracelet which meant no cover charge for them. Cumbias were minimal and the Disco was non existent. I asked the DJ exclusively to put the disco music on, He put on 3 songs no one's ever heard of and continued with merengue and salsa. The place was SUPER hot no Air conditioner at all not even fans. It's an older crowd which is a plus plus with no drama. It's an ok place to get dinner and a night out. 80s music must be updated and don't call it cumbias because it's mostly merengue and salsa which is played on Fridays supposedly. Waitresses are tired so not very friendly and take a while to come back to the table, Will return as the food is good but will bring my own fan hopefully the blender is working and will NOT expect good Disco music. read more

I've had so much better than this. The soup was the highlight and it was salty. The saltado with cabbage just wasn't good. Too salty. I ate less than half and left it there. I had eaten there several years ago and enjoyed it but not this time. I'm hoping it was a fluke. Btw, my companion had a rice dish and loved it so maybe it was just my dish that was the problem. read more

Good chicken, service was excellent. Ordered the chicken to go and it was delicious including the sides. read more

We ordered from this location for delivery instead of the Torrance location as we normally do. The portions seemed on the smaller side than normal and it also took a very long time to be ready and then delivered. I know this could be in part the delivery service, but the latest arrival time change prior to the driver arriving and then once they did arrive it seemed they waited for the order quite a while. The food was still decent, but again smaller portion sizes. A few days later I went to El Pollo Inka Express for the first time and the portions were bigger. I'll go back for in person only to better judge the experience and portion sizes and adjust my review and rating accordingly read more

I was in the area of Gardena and was hungry and ready to eat lunch, as I walked in to the restaurant I notice there was a "C" grade. I asked the gentleman who was an employee what happened and he was very rude and unprofessional and did not want to address the matter and just asked if I wanted to get a table and I left. That is not a way to treat a guest. Very disappointing because Pollo Inka has a good reputation and story of how they started in the restaurant industry. I've been to the other location in Lawndale and it's is not like that. The owners need to be on top of their restaurant locations and teach their employees better customer service skills. read more

The chicken was undercooked and bland and the passion fruit was watered down. I was still charged becuase apparently I ate it. I only ate the rice. For future references do not charge your customers for an undercooked meal. read more

El Pollo Inka - The chicken was undercooked and bland. Also the passionfruit was watered down. - Latin American Near Me - Gardena, California

Después de esperar casi una hora sin que nadie nos atendiera en persona, solo había una lista para anotar el nombre. El servicio fue horrible y el establecimiento estaba muy sucio. El olor del baño era insoportable, lo que me hizo imaginar cómo estaría la cocina. Al empezar a leer Yelp sobre la baja calidad de la comida y el mal servicio de las meseras, decidí irme. Había mesas vacías dentro del restaurante, pero la espera afuera era excesivamente larga. No regresare a este lugar. read more

I probably didn't get the full experience of El Pollo Inka as I'm on a budget and honestly only came in to use WiFi, so yes I got the cheapest thing on the menu, aguadito soup. They don't have outdoor seating for my dog, who is technically a service animal, so I kinda got some flack for her being with me...but not only is she a service dog, she has to stay with me now of all times because our place burned down. She doesn't have any signs of aggression so it bothers me when people discriminate or give us the crappy unseen seats so they don't have to look at us i guess? Anyway the waitress was fine, she checked up on me. It took a while to get served maybe due to our location on top of it being lunchtime but I got the food quickly. Can't honestly say I'd recommend soup but I'm pretty sure no ones coming here for soup. It's just like a green sauce chicken rice soup that maybe you'd eat if you had a cold or something. With a roll on the side. I might come to another location and try the more tastier offerings. I don't live near here so it's just as well. Nice music at least. read more

El Pollo Inka - Aguadito soup (medium) - Latin American Near Me - Gardena, California

Ordered on door dash. Location my dasher picked it up from was only a couple of blocks away so it shouldn't be cold. But it was. The soup was cold. Not to mention, tasting a bit spoiled. I couldn't stomach it. It's advertised that it was clams and muscles as well as fish shrimp and calamari. I should've just ordered the calamari, as this dish was musically it. Barely had shrimp, did not have muscles or clams. Quite bland, no seasoning on the seafood. If not for the ahi verde, i would have been very disappointed. I'm disappointed, but not VERY. read more

El Pollo Inka - Latin American Near Me - Gardena, California

Poor service. The electricity went out so no A/C & their system was done. BUT we were not told until we were seated for 10 minutes & we're told that there was no server for our table. The manager was aware & 3 servers were aware that we were waiting. read more

Bad service been waiting for more than 1 hour to receive our food.But there was just 2 waiters working their hardest but the boss would not help them out. read more

Our company came for lunch. The waitress was nice and friendly. The service didnt take too long for food to come out. The pollo was well seasoned and tasted great with their spicy cilantro sauce. My coworkers tried the other chicken and rice dishes. For dessert we tried their ice cream. It was delicious, refreshing and sweet. The flavor reminded me of flan. The waitress informed us this location has music and dancing night on fridays and saturdays I think. It's close to our office so it was a good place for peruvian food. We all liked what we ordered. read more

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Horrible food .. quality is bad service is terrible cold food waiters don't care don't get why this location is still open ????!!!!!

Food always fire at the Pollo Inka Express restaurants. Today's dinner was excellent. I drive all the way from Victorville just to have a lomo saltado! Restaurant looks great. I know the disco nights are fun from previous experience. Great Service! read more

This is not the first time it's happened. So never come back this place. Screw up the order . The guy there today 12-29-2025 really needs to check orders last time same thing don't ask the problem just go elsewhere for food. That way you don't have to pay for bullshit in this shithole. read more

El Pollo Inka - Bullshit this guy is so dumb - Latin American Near Me - Gardena, California

Food is good but service is HORRIBLE!! -A lot of staff do not speak English. -I have been here multiple times...I've tried to give them a reprieve but they are prejudiced against anyone who is not of Latin descent. The last 3x I have been there with family/friends, they take FOREVER to serve you. This last time, took forever AS USUAL, and when we did get any food, it was lukewarm or cold. -Didn't get waitress' name but she was young and not personable or friendly. Either her RBF was super natural or her prejudice was truly evident. Last time I will ever go there. The Torrance location on Hawthorne is MUCH BETTER. I don't care if they changed the way you order, staff is much more friendly and welcoming. read more

Still a Great Spot, but Some Changes... I've been coming to Pollo Inca for a while, and while I still love this place, I've noticed some changes that made me drop my rating to three stars. The aji green sauce just isn't the same anymore--it's not as green or spicy as it used to be. It's still good, but I definitely miss the old recipe. We also ordered the lomo saltado, and it was a bit too salty this time. Not sure if they changed the recipe for that too, but it wasn't quite as balanced as before. That said, I still enjoy the overall vibes here. The restaurant turns into a dance floor after 9:30pm, which adds a fun touch, and they serve food until midnight, which is a huge plus. The service was great, with the staff checking in on us regularly to make sure we had everything we needed. Despite the recipe changes, Pollo Inca remains one of my favorite Peruvian spots. Hoping they bring back that bold aji sauce flavor, but I'll still be back! read more

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This was the first Peruvian restaurant I had ever been to over 30 years ago but sadly I hadn't been here in over 10 years since I moved out of the area. A reunion of college friends brought us back here and as excited as I was to try my all-time favorite dish, Saltado de Mariscos, it just didn't seem to have the "wow" factor that it did back then. I've had better elsewhere, which hurts me to say because I normally rank El Pollo Inka pretty high. Not so flavorful as I would expect. In fact, I was dousing it with twice as much Aji Verde sauce than I normally use. It wasn't horrible, just wasn't mouthwatering like I expected. Hoping maybe the chef was having a bad day because I really do like this place and I will be coming back. read more

El Pollo Inka - Saltado de Mariscos - Latin American Near Me - Gardena, California