I can see why this location has such low ratings. We stopped here on the drive down to San Diego on Sunday around noon. The location is convenient right off the 5. The service is definitely sub par. We dined in, walked up to the counter and while there were several people working, behind the counter, not a single one acknowledged our existence. It took several minutes for a man to finally come up and take our order, and he look annoyed. Mind you, the place was empty when we arrived. No one at the drive thru, only 2 other people inside. Food was what you'd expect at a pollo loco. The service however needs a major overhaul at this location. read more

El Pollo Loco - Inside - Fast Food Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

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Needs to improve service. So many times the counter person seems disengaged and not listening. I don't know why I keep coming here to get my requests wrong more times than not. Also certain side, like small corn ($5.49) as an example, are way over priced for the size read more

El Pollo Loco - $5.49 over priced small corn - Fast Food Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

This El Pollo Loco is near the San Juan Capistrano Costco, which makes it a convenient stop driving between San Diego and Loa Angeles. Sadly, the grilled chicken I frequently overcooked and dry. Service is spotty. We noticed this time that most of the El Pollo Loco signage was missing from the building. read more

7pm 8/28/25 Came in and used the app. I was greeted by the nice lady behind the counter Professional and friendly Used my app for double chicken tostada It was excellent Man who was behind the counter was professional and friendly helping multiple customers Tostada was excellent Bathroom was clean Great experience Thank you Rick read more

This place has employees that are sick or rotten food ! My roommate and I have been violently ill after eating from this location ! Will not ever give this place another dime and have been a customer here for many years ! They employ people that have no common sense by the mistakes in the orders that I've gotten over the years ! I suggest a Pollo Loco do better in managing until then you will never see another dime from me or my roommate read more

went to the drive through day at the window so disrespectful and gave bitchy to me and my grandma!!! like so much for customer service!! food was ok but she should learn people skills to be rude handing us the food then shoving it our way... idk her name but i'll find out read more

Tried their new Pollo chicken tenders and they taste awful. Even worse is the dipping sauce.

This location poisoned me. I was writhing around in agony and moaning for literal hours after eating a double chicken tostada bowl from this location. I almost pulled the trigger on going to the ER and have had surgeries that were less painful than what I experienced after eating a meal at this EPL. Not only will I never return to this EPL, I don't think I'll go to any location ever again after what happened. I have been a EPL customer for over 35 years but after this never again. read more

Pretty average compared to other El Pollo Loco locations. Prices have gone up a lot, and the chicken is pretty dry. Not fine dining by any means but decent for what it is. read more

Have always loved this chain - until now. Very disappointed in the food and the prices have become very excessive. You could go to a nice sit-down restaurant for what your fast food meal costs here. Bought a chicken and shrimp salad and did not enjoy it like I used to. Also, priced at $13.99 for a "normal" size salad. Don't care to go back to El Pollo Loco. No wonder there were no other customers there. read more

I had lunch here today. The restaurant looked pretty clean and the staff members were friendly. My only complaint is that I ordered the chicken guacamole burrito and never found the guacamole. Same thing happened to me when I recently went to another Pollo Loco. The poster showed a lot of guacamole coming out of the burrito but the one I got, nothing. read more

I ordered the Double chicken tostada salad and I got 4 mini cubes of chicken, hardly any rice and beans for $12. What a total rip off in portion size. I dont know who need to regulate this but they need help in portions, especially for DOUBLE chicken when I practically got nothing for my money. read more

Everything perfect and delicious would totally recommend trying this place out. The guy in the drive thru super polite and helped me out a lot , service was 100% read more

Did not get what I ordered. What I did receive was not what they show on ad or look as good as social media reviews. I ordered the new Loco Burrito Grillers. I ordered one chicken and one beef. When I got to work I received two beef very small compared to what I saw on social media and there ad. One had cheese but very light on everything. More tortilla than substance. read more

El Pollo Loco - Not even close!!!!! - Fast Food Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

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This place has gone way downhill in the past six months.The people are great BUT: It smells. The floor is filthy. The soda dispenser is permanently and totally out of order and there are drug deals going on outside in the parking lot. They need a new franchisee to take over. read more

In the drive-through, I order a four piece chicken breast and wing and she says eight piece leg and thigh? I then order lemons, onion, and cilantro and she says lemon and cilantro? I've been asked for flour tortillas and she says OK corn tortillas I walked out. read more

I love this place. I've been coming here for years and as a local it's always been consistent and good quality highly recommend.

Spent $15.00 on two chicken avocado tacos and they literally didn't put any chicken in them! I'm so furious. I tried calling them several times and it just rang and rang. read more

El Pollo Loco - Fast Food Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

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Very dissatisfied, I was a big fan of this business growing up , but this past visit not only was my portion extreme small , but midway through my meal I also had the unpleasant surprise of pulling out a long blonde strand of hair from my mouth ... they also gave me flower tortillas after asking for corn . Overall wouldn't recommend this location , hopefully another one has better portions and quality of food . read more

El Pollo Loco - Long hair in my chicken - Fast Food Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

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The problems of this place and the complains are all the same and have been repeated by customers, yet nothing has been done, the store is dirty, bathrooms are not human, the food is set and the order takers are not giving you your food correctly or the salsa or the service, please close this store as it is an insult to capo beach and San Juan Capistrano ... We need action, I am going to call the health department for the condition of this restaurant read more

Hours show they close at 10 pm everywhere. Employees still in store at 9 but drive thru and lobby closed?

We were shopping at at Costco when Juliette discovered that El Pollo Loco had a vegan burrito! We walked over and were able to order dinner for our family of five. The family meal chicken was so good. Hot, delicious chicken with three sides including corn, broccoli and Mac & cheese. Juju got her own vegan burrito - she loved it! read more

El Pollo Loco - The Vegan burrito - Fast Food Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

Nowadays there is plenty of decent fast and relatively speaking, healthy food. And I have to say El Pollo Loco has amazingly sharp, brighter than life photos that show the food looking perfect, bright, and tasty. The advertising is that good. But the food isn't. The presentation looked fresh, but that's about as far as it went. The food was highly under seasoned and bland, lacking salt and flavor. There was nothing wrong with it, it just had zero oomph, zero sex appeal, zero excitement. I might as well have just snacked on a box of saltines-but that might have been more satisfying. The place was reasonably, but not spotlessly clean. I got the feeling the crew likes to stay back in the kitchen and interact as little as possible. It was one of those places that somehow felt empty, despite a bunch of people in the kitchen. And as the location was fairly quiet on a Sunday evening, I was surprised to see at least dozens of pieces of chicken on the grill. I guess they were waiting for some kind of evening rush or something. Maybe that explains why the chicken was a little on the tough side and a little dry. Need I say any more? read more

Is there less than a one? Worst of EPL. ! Poorly prepared and worse presentation. Dried out old chicken, wilted lettuce, tiny amount of sour cream. Just flat out cheaply served. An extra salad dressing 40 cents??? Good bye !!! read more

This was my first time at this El Pollo location. It was pretty busy. They made my order really quickly. Tasted good, then found a pice of trash / wrapping paper in the fit bowl. It was white paper, looks like something they use to superare or serve avocados. Anyways, it was good till then. I would've overlooked them not giving me the sauce I asked for, and them not applying the free chip promo for downloading their app, but the little trash just threw off the experience. I will go back. Hopefully it was just a one time occurrence. read more

El Pollo Loco - Double Avocado Fit Bowl - Fast Food Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

I don't know why I've been to a lot of fast food drive thrus in the past two years, but on the up side, I'm now qualified to review and compare drive thrus in this general area. I'd have to add "fast food drive thru connoisseur" to my resume on Linkdin ;) Quick pros: It's better than Costco food court in my opinion. Drive thru is easy, fast, and conveniently located right by the road. Quality and taste of the food is good and reliable. Also, I've never been hit on by any creep at the drive thru window, and I thank you for that. It must also be noted that I've never had Montezuma's revenge after eating here :P This is a definite step up for me when it comes to eating fast food. I feel like my favorite order of avocado chicken bowl is healthier than a 6 pc chicken nugget. It definitely has more avocado than a chicken nugget combo, and that counts as "healthier" doesn't it? Now, yeah, all I've ever ordered from here is an avocado chicken bowl but they never ever got that order wrong. I also think it's a lot more filling and satisfying than a chicken nugget meal. It's tasty, especially with both the red and green salsa. My only complaint is that they only give me one of each salsa every time. To El Pollo Loco: Why don't you gimme enough salsa!?! :( read more

They don't listen while taking orders. Even after i repeated my order twice. Make sure you don't pay for something you didn't order. I should have had her repeat it back to me before giving the cashier my debit card. read more

This was located adjacent to Costco, so we stopped in for some chicken. I asked about wings and was told there was a wing lovers combo plate with 2 sides. I couldn't believe how dry these wings were. They were barely edible, like they were sitting under the heat lamp all day. What got me was the poster on the wall with pictures of moist plump chicken. Not my experience at all. Should have gotten the Costco rotisserie chicken instead. read more

Better get take out here. It alwsys smells bad inside and freezing as well. We now go to the one on Pico

OK They have cleaned up (Remodeled ) the interior very well and are back in good standings with J Bossco ... The one issue I still have actually two . 1 You can only get cilantro dressing at all locations , no more ranch . 2 They promote segregation, when you order a three piece meal you have to choose white or dark. I happen to like both i.e. breast , thigh and leg . When you ask if this is possible they short out and say white or dark ! so you have to look around to see who is behind you . With this blatant lack of sensitivity I have no other option but to ding one star and on the dressing one ding or star .,,with all the fake left wing turmoil like woke and gender BS this chicken segregation is not helping .I am very hurt and upset that this could still be happening in CA of all places . Another no BS review by Johnny B read more

I am so pissed i went to this location again. Seriously, about 1 in 3 orders gets screwed up. Go to the location on Golden Lantern. They are SO MUCH BETTER! Why do I even bother - I am not even mad at them for forgetting my kids dinner from my order, (pollo bow). Im pissed that i didn't check the bag and that I even came to this location. Grrr. SO MAD. read more

The whole chickens are contained in large white mop buckets, which is fine as long as that's its sole use, but don't make it visible to customers because It's unappealing. Staff hardly spesk english. Order directions aren't followed and service is terrible. Polo Loco just isn't what it used to be... read more

It's sad to see how dirty this place is so many ppl working here and not one can take initiative to take out the trash nor clean the tables it's so disgusting they need a manager here read more

Driest chicken ever even after telling cashier w broken english to give me the fresh pieces because its not the first time its happened at this location, have some decency to the customers and throw that stuff out and not serve it read more

The woman running the cash register and taking orders in the drive through tried to pocket my cash. On 6/2/2022 . She had to get it back from her purse when I realized What she had done ( I saw this all from my car!) she tried to ignore me but I wouldn't leave the drive thru. I gave back the food and got my money back. I had given her a $20, $10, and two $5s and she gave me dollar back on a $28 dollar order and told me I never gave her forty and That my order was complete - it was missing a bunch. When I tried to get another employees attention she pulled $10 out from her pocket and said 'don't you want a burrito' . I Asked for my money back and gave the food back and drove to the el pollo loco in San Clemente. I would rather waste my gas then go back to sh*T show run by con artists. read more

This spot continues to slide down hill. I went there for the last time tonight. Bones in the burrito.. cold... The quesadilla had very little cheese. I paid $15.00 for a burrito I threw away, and a small tortilla with lite cheese... and to top it all off ... the person at the window was VERY rude!! Take note... managers and owner. Businesses are slow everywhere. Now is the time to be better... not worse!! read more

I love it i love.... theirs chicken.. Tostadas salads.. And churros.....they have burritos and tacos too. read more

El Pollo Loco - I love thos place.. - Fast Food Near Me - San Juan Capistrano, California

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Not all el pollo Are created equal. They got my order wrong. Forgot sauce. Over charged me. And because I was in the drive thru I didn't notice until we got home. Save your time and money and go down the way to a different one. DON'T BOTHER! read more

This place is great! Clean and friendly service! The chicken is flavorful and juicy. I love their salsa bar. The only reason I took off one star is because this location doesn't have horchata like so many of the other locations do. It gets busy during lunch hour. This place also has a drive thru. I look forward to coming back! read more

This location on Doheny Beach Road is our "neighborhood store".  We've lived here for 20 years and once upon a time walked over or drove through for quick, healthy food.  Our grandchildren loved it, so we would take them in.   A few years ago, quality began to deteriorate, and care of the restaurant became sloppy. About that time, I noticed crows in our small water feature ..... they were washing their chicken and leaving  bones in the water!  Going to the restaurant to complain, I then noticed that trash bins were overloaded and open.  Getting no interest from the local staff, I reported it to the Health Dept. Since then, as other reviewers indicated, the quality of the food has deteriorated.  The primary menu item - chicken - is dried out.  I once loved legs and wings. Now it's like eating leather off a bone. Last evening, I was talked into a pickup and relented.  I ordered a bowl.  The chicken pieces on top were all dried out.  I got extra rice because I once liked the rice.  Mistake...how do you ruin Mexican rice?  Easy, I guess - dry and tasteless.  I mixed everything around in the bowl.  Didn't help the chicken, but then it looked like pig slop.  I've tried the burritos to avoid the 2 or 3-piece meal (once my favorite).  Burritos look the same inside - pig slop in a wrapper.  It's really too bad because, now, with so many other fast food chicken restaurants around, I avoid all El Pollo Locos.  I noticed that the management response to negative reviews is standard plug & play text, meaning no one cares.  I hope Irvine Corporate will take notice. On a positive note, the Los Golondrinas a few doors down, has great food. Just not as convenient. read more