El Pollo Loco

I grew up in San diego and demolished so much el pollo loco after swim practice, multiple days a week. I've been very excited to get a WA location, even if it is a little far away from home. We ordered the two person chicken meal with side salads, rice, corn and churros. An order of chips and guac. And a chicken verde quesadilla. Really like the rice and quesadilla. Corn was fine. I dunno if it's bc there were so many people/long wait (45 minutes)...but the chicken was not how I remember it. Our chicken was really dry. Also. It was supposed to be 2 thighs, 2 legs, but we got a thigh, a leg and 2 wings. Also this, given the popularity and the amount of people coming through, the place was relatively clean. I saw a woman w glasses repeatedly attending to the lobby area, stacking cup lids and wiping stuff. It didn't seem like that was specifically her job, but she was getting it done. I want to try again in a while to see if the chicken changes.

Definitely worth the wait, try to go as early in the day as possible so you are guaranteed hot & delicious food. Came on a Tuesday morning after 11am and got the food within 45 minutes. Still long, but not bad. Can’t wait for our next visit!

Waited about an hour for food. I know that's not that bad for this place right now but initially called and was told 20 mins, and I got there in 5. My order number was 8123, and I heard numbers being called beyond mine up to 8131 and 8132 before I asked what the deal was and they claimed waiting on my legs and thighs, as if I wasn't watching people after me get legs and thighs. Whatever though look past that. Nail in the coffin is getting home to find out my 12 piece leg and thigh combo is instead a mixed combo, so 4 pieces of my 12 piece chicken is wings and breasts which my kids or I don't like. Pretty mad about it to be honest. Wanted to go back and get my meal corrected but figured it wasn't worth the additional time and gas just to wait another 30 to an hour. This all overlooking the fact that you're cooking the chicken too long for sure, on the dry side. Flavor wise dark meat was tasty, sides are tasty and the crispy chicken tacos were actually really good, just wish I received what I paid for, but the combination of things combined make me not wanna go back and just wait for southern US trips. Hope you guys will get things ironed out eventually.

Very very good but pricey . My mom got the chicken quesadilla combo, and I got the Mexican Caesar salad.$ 28.00. But the chicken is awesome and the Mexican Caesar dressing went well with the spices of the chicken. I really wished I hadnt liked it cuz its so expensive,but ill be back when I have more funds lol . Very good and worth a try!

Just ate here on Sunday night. The dine-in & drive-thru was packed. The dine-in experience was good, clean bathrooms and tables. While we were ordering an employee named Maria offered to take our order personally, tell us her favorites on the menu, and got our order out in a timely manner despite how busy it was(thank you Maria!!). When restaurants are jammed, service is paramount and the staff was dialed. I’ll definitely be back soon.

Ordering was easy enough through the kiosk. But the food takes forever to come out. Also why don’t they put napkins out instead of hiding them? As for the food… well, there’s not much to say. Definitely not worth craving.

I ordered 12 pieces of chicken and they served me all dryer than normal cooked so I not happy at all I don’t know if this place is similar like the ones located in California state because there is completely different nothing compared like the chicken I eat today

Come for the chicken, don't buy anything else on the menu. I actually hate rating a place on customer service where others might and I try and focus on the food. So I'll keep this part short. They messed up my order and I waited for probably an extra 10 minutes and have my food to other people. They're new and packed and the drive through is to the street. That being said. I got the chips and salsa, burrito bowl with the shell and churros. I'll start with the positive. The meat was really flavorful and I appreciate that they cook it whole before tearing it up. That's always a good sign. The churros were soft and had a lot of cinnamon and sugar. Not much else to them and they fill that gap on being flavorful enough to at least get a kid to eat them without tasting without bready and the ingredients were fresh enough that you could see some similarities of Chipotle but not really as fresh. The taco bowl was about as good as Taco Time's bowls if you want to be weird about it but I prefer Taco Time. The bad. Everything else. The chips tasted worse than the bagged ones and were kind of dense. The crunch was like eating a cracker. The salsa was watered down and seemed like an after thought to and after thought. It insult to injury from the chips? Not sure. I won't order those again. The beans and rice were just beans and rice. The rice and chicken were dry. Let's keep in mind this is fast food, so I had low expectations. The reason for 3 stars. They do one thing and do it well. They bailed the flavor on that chicken. The portion of chicken I got in this salad was a small chicken breast worth. If you're buying the bowl get double the meat and I'd say double the sauce. So, if you like chicken by itself, come on down. It's tasty. I can't see a reason to go back especially with a small dining area unless other people wanted me to go.

Food was absolutely amazing and so flavorful. Thank you for opening here in Washington!!

Thank you for opening a new location in Washington. I grew up eating El Pollo Loco in Los Angeles, and this new location delivers the same great, delicious taste and friendly service I remember. It truly brought back a nostalgic experience, both in flavor and atmosphere. I'll definitely be coming back!

grand opening was great! service was great and I was checked up on, consistently cleaning, and fast service as well.

I had the opportunity to come here on a weekday and the drive thru line was busy as expected. We were lucky to find a parking spot and decided to walk in. The wait time didn't make a difference whether we ordered in or at the drive thru. what we ordered... - crunchy queso bowl - I would order this again! It has beans, rice, guacamole, queso, chicken, pico de Gallo. the chicken was moist with good flavor. - 2 pce chicken leg & thigh - The chicken had good flavor, perfectly grilled, and came with rice, mashed potatoes w/ gravy and 2 tortillas. While the food was good, it didn't live up to the hype that surrounds this place. I would only return after the hype dies down and the lines are shorter.

Tried again a week later. Rating went down from three to two. Only because this time I waited an hour for this small meal. Decided to try again...This time I got the meal I wanted instead of tacos and burritos. It took over an hour, got home and they forgot to add salsa Fresca to my bag. How can you eat the crazy chicken without salsa Fresca!! Good thing I ordered guacamole. So far the chicken is not burnt. Too dry but not burnt. They really need to iron out the kinks still. Cars still long out on the street causing traffic. When chick fil an opened a few years ago by our house, they knew what they were doing. Sure lines were long but it did not take two hours to get our meal. They even had PD taking care of traffic. Also the meal isn't as good as when I was a teenager. As far as cleanliness, the gal cleaning tried her best to wipe the tables as fast as she could. Only one gal. She wiped the table, but just pushed the mess in the floor. The floors need to be cleaned up too! As I mentioned earlier about chick fil a when they opened. There was a little old lady wiping down the tables with wipes, and another crew member sweeping the floors. EPL...you need to up your game in cleanliness. Will I be back...not sure! I'll be in SoCal next week I can just get a meal there.

A decade ago, I ate at a Hollywood location and it wasn't good. There was in issue in the men's room and the entire restaurant was covered in dirty water. I am going to assume that is because people had dirty shoes and the water just got cloudy, but it was a mess. I don't recall what I had, but I do recall not being impressed, but again, with the amount of dirty water flowing, it was hard to be comfortable. You were literally standing in a puddle to place your order. And I recall my feet and pant bottoms being very wet. Now, to address the experience at this grand opening, it's clear they have some kinks to work out. I'm always amazed at confusion at fast food restaurants. It's fast food, if everyone has a job and they do that job, it should be fast and efficient. A woman was announcing that any kind of family or chicken meal had a 3 hour wait, yes, 3 hours. There was also a disclaimer. Despite having a posted 10pm close, they close the lobby at 9 and if you come back after 9, they would not serve your order. You had to remain inside. I decided to keep it simple, 2 tacos. They advised a 30-minute wait and it took 40 minutes to get 2 tacos. There was conservatively 16 people behind the counter, but only 5 were working. Employees stood looking at a screen with orders, but did nothing. Some were in clusters, talking. This was poor training and management. They also don't take your order, they had 2 kiosks, which was at least 2 short of what was required. One woman just starred at the screen for about 2 minutes before someone in line, said, "Order or step aside". She stepped aside, complained to an employee about being rushed and left. Lady, after standing in line for 10 minutes, if you don't know what you want, let someone go ahead of you. I think her dilemma was the fact that she wanted a chicken dinner, but didn't want to wait 3 hours, but it is what it is. After 40 minutes, I approached the counter and they made my tacos on the spot. However, they made the wrong tacos. When I made them aware, they fixed it, but thankfully I had selected dine in had I left, I wouldn't have got what I ordered and since they closed at 8:30 instead of the posted 10pm, I would have been out of luck if I had to drive back across cities to get here. I was excited to try the Tortilla Soup, but it had corn in it. Why ruin a good soup with corn. You should have corn separate as a topper, so people can elect to omit it. Ironically, when I saw an employee changing the trash, the bag was full of corn, so clearly, I'm not alone in my distain for it. I found the grilled chicken. Bland and a bit dry, but the shredded chicken was delicious. The portions of chips in the combo was a joke. It was maybe 10 chips. They were also out of salsa, so I couldn't even enjoy the chips the way I intended. Hopefully this owner and management team are committed to providing better food and service over time, but right now there is room to improve, so I can only give them 2 stars and that is truly generous based on the underwhelming experience.

Jan 12, 2026 out to check out this new location. I was so excited to hear that we now have our own El Pollo Loco. This was my favorite spot whenever I'm in California. We ordered the chicken tostada, that was delicious and we ordered the 3 piece chicken dinner. Well, the chicken, did not taste the same as how it was in California. A little bit dried, tasted very bland. Everything else was ok. I loved the free chicken soup that got served while we wait. I don't mind ordering a whole bowl of that soup next time, it was really good, flavorful and delicious. The atmosphere was kind of chaotic, people shouting, people waiting for thier orders for a long time. There's a lot of waiting inside and out. Not enough parking space. Hopefully they'll improve on my next visit but not any time soon. In a few months.

Food is good. I do miss this flavor of chicken. Service needs to improve. It was chaos and then even more chaos. Literally, chickens with cut heads. People had to wait 1-2 hours for the chicken to cook! Ambiance, well if you want CHAOS, you've come to the right place! If you can wait then wait at least 3 more months! Hopefully it will calm down?! Or better yet come here when they open at 10AM everyday. Maybe you'll get your meal in 30-40 min or less! Better than that 1-2 hour mark!

I've been eating at El Pollo Loco on trips to California for over 30 years. Stopped in the new location. That opened in Kent. I ordered the 3 piece Thigh and leg combo with rice and coleslaw. Food was excellent and tasted great. Restaurant was very busy and the he employees did a great job.

This location is a disaster. I've made two attempts to buy food. The first time I came to this location, I waited in the drive through line for more than an hour from (7-8:15 pm) and just as I was coming up to order (one car from the intercom) starting with the car in front of me the line was informed via that the store was out of chicken and only burritos, bowls, salads, etc. This was two hours before close and not only very annoying and disappointing, but unacceptable for a place that literally specializes in chicken. I made another attempt today. The line stretched 1-2 cars onto road and there was an employee outside this time. He said chicken was not available via drive through (only burritos, salads, etc) and that if we wanted chicken we would have to order inside. He also said there would be a 2.5+ hour wait! Needless to say, I did not wait. Again very disappointing that they are so disorganized. Be forewarned.

What the hell is wrong with this place? An hour for "fast food"??? If you're not ready to open because you don't know how to cook chicken, then don't open. Doesn't matter how good it might taste, the wait is too much.

Sign says coming soon with no date. Parking lot full, but no indication it's friends and family. Why isn't everyone a friend? Then to turn away customers is bad business already and not even day 1. The El Pollo Loco website listed the location as open, making it worse. Lost today order and all future orders. ​ On top of this, the road is not a drive thru lane. Reposting because Yelp doesn't bother to check with reviewer before deleting reviews.

I was extremely disappointed with this experience, and I came on here to tell you all about it, kind of a "buyer beware" warning. We got there at about 6:25pm. It was extremely difficult to find parking, as cars were lined up around the block. The line starts from the KeyBank, so we just decided to go into the public parking by the Starbucks. When we came in, it was extremely busy, about 50-75 people in the store, with no seating available, and if there was one available, the seat would automatically be taken. Then, we decided to order the 16pc Family Meal for about $56 (w/tax). It was a usual and fair price for 16 pieces of chicken, so I'll give them that. The wait times are what really got me. I overheard some people saying that they have been waiting since 5:00pm (it was almost 7!), and that they already have been waiting for 3+ hours. Before we came, we already heard employees shouting out if consumers don't pick up orders, they will deliver it to someone else. But the reading system is TERRIBLE! First off, there's no speaker/mic, so people in the back can't hear with all the chatter, there is no pager so people would not know if their food came, and the employee reading always gets drowned out from the excessive amount of chatter inside the building. After all that, the employee came back to shout out that the chicken would be another 3 HOUR LONG wait! After that major announcement, I decided to just cancel my order. A lot of people also canceled their orders also, completely fed up with the 3 hour wait time. Now, I'm planning a trip to California so I can taste the official El Pollo Loco, the one I always knew and loved for so long. Overall, 2/5. I would come back here again, but when it is less busier, and make sure to plan ahead so you don't get stuck. (pasted from google review, sorry)

All I can say is some kid with a wet floor sign wouldn't let us into the parking lot. Not sure what the deal was because somebody right in front of us was able to go in. Just wanted to try the food.

It's not terrible. It's not great. It's overhyped and the wait time isn't worth it. The chicken is salty. The mac and cheese tastes just like KFC. The corn isn't anything special, they added peppers and spices to it, but that's it. The restaurant is small, so plan on taking it to go. Honestly, I think it's overrated because it's new and it's the only one in Kent. The employees that ring you up have zero customer service skills, or they just hate being there. If you are still interested in trying them out, I recommend parking in the Starbucks parking lot and walking next door to Pollo Loco. The drive thru is never ending, it takes up a whole street lane.

Stopped by this brand new El Pollo Loco in Kent during their "Hero Day" for Nurses/First Responders and had a great experience. The food was absolutely delicious--fresh, flavorful, and exactly what you remember if you've been to any of their out of state locations. The restaurant was brand new and fresh inside which we really appreciated. The employees were incredibly kind and welcoming, making the visit even better. Best of all, my wife and kids loved it too, which is always a win. We'll definitely be coming back! Don't forget to ask for extra Cilantro Lime Dressing!

my family lived in California for many years. we ate at Polo Loco several times a month. we absolutely loved their chicken and hoped they would open here. I live in Everett and hope they bring the restaurant to the North Sound. love it