El Pollo Loco
3938 FREDSBG RD, San Antonio, 78201
Area: Near Northwest
· Metro Health licence 1646418
Mixed record · rank 43 of 112
Who publishes this, and what they sell. This guide is published by Viking Net, which sells technology services to restaurants — websites, apps, point-of-sale systems and card processing — including to businesses rated on this site. Every rating here is computed by a formula published in full from public records: health inspections, city 311 complaints, published awards, and the state sales-tax permit date. No business can pay to change its score, raise its rank, or have a low score removed, and none has ever been asked to. If that ever changes, this paragraph comes down first.
Latest health inspection
98/100 on Mar 20, 2026 (139 days ago)
Inspections start at 100 and lose points for each violation found. 69 or below is a failing inspection. A score describes one visit on one day — Metro Health says so itself — not the condition of the business today.
Inspection history — 7 on record
Open any inspection to see what the inspector actually found, in plain English, with the Food Code section it was cited under.
Mar 20, 2026 98 1 finding
No Certified Food Manager on duty
Texas requires a certified manager. The certificate is the baseline evidence that someone in the building has been trained.
“AT TIME OF INSPECTION NO FOOD MANAGER. A FOOD MANAGER MUST BE PRESENT AND AVAILABLE DURING OPERATIONS.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 2-102.12(A) — Certified Food Protection Manager · inspection item 21
Sep 4, 2025 100 No violations recorded
✓ Metro Health recorded no violations at this inspection.
Feb 10, 2025 98 1 finding
No Certified Food Manager on duty
Texas requires a certified manager. The certificate is the baseline evidence that someone in the building has been trained.
Food Code 2-102.12(A) — Certified Food Protection Manager
Jun 24, 2024 100 No violations recorded
✓ Metro Health recorded no violations at this inspection.
Jan 12, 2024 99 1 finding · 1 illness risk factor
Unlabelled containers of food or ingredients
Working containers of flour, sugar, salt and seasoning that look alike get mixed up — and an unlabelled white powder next to the chemicals is a serious problem.
“food containers unlabeled. Ensure all food containers are labeled with the common name of food”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 3-302.12 — Food Storage Containers, Identified with Common Name of Food · inspection item 41
Jul 13, 2023 99 2 findings
Equipment or utensils were not clean
Split into two standards: anything that touches food must be clean to sight and touch, and everything else must be free of built-up grease, dust and debris. This is the most cited line in the whole code.
Food Code 4-601.11(C) — Equipment, Food-Contact Surfaces, Nonfood-Contact Surfaces, and Utensils
Non-food surfaces had built-up grease or debris
Shelving, equipment exteriors, fryer sides and floor-level equipment. Build-up feeds pests and eventually falls into food.
“Nonfood-contact surfaces of equipment shall be kept free of an accumulation of dust, dirt, food residue, and other debris.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 4-602.13 — Nonfood-Contact Surfaces
Nov 8, 2022 93 6 findings · 1 illness risk factor
Ready-to-eat food was not date-marked
Once opened or made in house, refrigerated ready-to-eat food gets a maximum of seven days. With no date on the container, nobody in the kitchen knows which day that is.
“outdated pico de gallo and cooked chicken in walk in cooler. Use by date for pico de gallo 11/7/22. Use by date for cooked chicken 10/31/22. Ensure all outdated food is discarded accordingly. Ensure cooked/ready-to-eat food does not exceed 6 days in storage from date of preparation.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 3-501.17(C) — Ready-to-Eat, Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food, Date Marking · inspection item 28
Equipment or utensils were not clean
Split into two standards: anything that touches food must be clean to sight and touch, and everything else must be free of built-up grease, dust and debris. This is the most cited line in the whole code.
Food Code 4-601.11(C) — Equipment, Food-Contact Surfaces, Nonfood-Contact Surfaces, and Utensils
Non-food surfaces had built-up grease or debris
Shelving, equipment exteriors, fryer sides and floor-level equipment. Build-up feeds pests and eventually falls into food.
“Nonfood-contact surfaces of equipment shall be kept free of an accumulation of dust, dirt, food residue, and other debris.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 4-602.13 — Nonfood-Contact Surfaces
Unused equipment, litter or clutter was left on the premises
Dead equipment and stacked clutter is where pests nest, and it makes real cleaning impossible.
“Date marking combined ingredients for RTE/ TCS food. 45”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 6-501.114 — Maintaining Premises, Unnecessary Items and Litter
A floor, wall or ceiling surface was not smooth and cleanable
Porous or rough surfaces in a wet kitchen hold moisture and grow mould. They must be sealable and washable.
“hole in wall behind shelf in middle pantry room. Manager states hole is from a pipe that burst behind wall and will be replaced. Ensure:”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 6-101.11(A)(1) — Surface Characteristics · inspection item 45
A permit-holder responsibility was not met
Covers the obligations that come with holding the permit — posting it, allowing access, reporting changes, correcting findings.
“Most recent report not posted. Permit not posted. Ensure most recent report posted at all times. Ensure current permit is posted.”Inspector’s note · SA Metro Health
Food Code 8-304.11(K) — Responsibilities of the Permit Holder · inspection item 47
What these numbers do and do not mean
An inspection score describes one visit on one day. It is what one inspector recorded on one date at one address — Metro Health says so itself. It is not a standing condition, not a grade for the food, and not a prediction about your lunch. A kitchen that scored 88 in March may be spotless today, and one that scored 100 may not be.
A 311 complaint is a phone call, not a finding. The city records that a member of the public called. It is not a citation, not an investigation result, and not evidence that anything was wrong. The city files it against an address, so where two food businesses share one, neither the record nor we can tell them apart. We publish the count with its denominator and let you weigh it.
Awards are reported, not endorsed. Every recognition on this site carries its publisher, its year and a link to the page we read it on. We did not judge those contests and we do not vouch for them; where a publisher named a business rather than an address, the page says so.
Absence of data is never rendered as a finding. No inspection on record means no Bird Score — never a zero, never quietly ranked last. No award found means we searched 172 recognitions from 13 publishers and found none, which is a statement about press coverage and not about cooking.
If something here is wrong, we will fix it. Every figure links to the record it came from. Email us with the correction and we will check it against the source and correct it within 48 hours, whether or not you are a customer. How to request a correction.