El Pollo Loco - Riverside

First thing I got to say is those chicken nachos went down good with beer the beans especially everything else is for the next day unlike burgers the rest will heat up well the next day Iknow from prior experience

The food was fresh and had good portions. We were happy with the salads, burritos, chicken and taqueria all yummy!

I absolutely loved him a tortilla soup and I am back for more tonight. Sure wish there was a way to get extra chips.

The food we got was awesome but they forgot our Chicken Taco al Carbon and Macaroni Cheese so even though our Double Chicken Tostada Salad apos;s were great we paid for more and didn apos;t get it.

So I read a ton of negative reviews and decided to debunk which where true and or if they fixed the issues. So here are the things most people complained about ?Bad smell, rude staff, cost more,old and run down, wrong order, loud vibrating noises from ventilation,very smoky, slow service, chicken tasted old and was burned, interior very hot, dirty disgusting,? For starters I decided to go to this location right at opening (10am) I arrived slightly early so investigated the outside, I smelled old grease almost immediately when turning into the parking lot, that was a bad sign, I wondered what I got myself Into. At exactly 10am I walked up and their was an older man and an employee waiting locked out, the manager on duty or the franchise owner opened the door for us about 5 minutes after 10. To start with the biggest problem most people had was the rude staff, I believe they fixed the issue, when the manager opened the door he welcomed me in, the employee that was waiting aswell , gestured for me to go in first. The lady at the counter was very friendly taking my order , and when I received my food atleast 3 people thanked me from the kitchen. The staff in my experience was great. Another mentioned problem was a horrible smell, like a sewer. I purposely set next to the bathroom and the inside did not smell bad at all, the only bad smell was old grease and you could only smell it outside. I even smelled the salsa bar and it smelled very fresh. As far as the cost , I?ve read enough reviews to believe that they do charge more, but I didn?t test this theory myself, I paid $11.53 for a 5/p tapatio wings and a drink. The build was a little older and could use some touch up, but I don?t hold that against the company, it?s very expensive in California, and restaurants naturally have a low profit margin, I?m not upset at the condition , it was more acceptable . That being said out of the two bathrooms , one was out of order, and the other was locked. As far as my order it was correct, there wasn?t a lot of room for mistake given I was 1 of two customers , but it was correct, when a restaurant is busy of course there is room for error, after all it?s just humans in the kitchen , I believe it?s the customers responsibility to ensure they got their order, you don?t buy a car with out inspecting it, inspect your meal! For the loud vibrating noise , yes there was a loud noise , and honestly I wouldn?t have noticed it if there wasn?t negative reviews on it, this is not a 5 star restaurant it?s a a fast food joint, I mean it?s called the crazy chicken not the delicate rooster . The service wasn?t fast , but it wasn?t slow by any means, it took me about 8 minutes to receive my order. The chicken was definitely fresh and cooked properly, it was decent , I liked it. The interior was not hot at all the temperature was nice , I felt comfortable, and I?m a hot natured person. The establishment wasn?t clean but it wasn?