Amazing! I just loved the vibe and the food in this place. It's so cute and has a great energy. Also good food that tasted delicious.

Chicken was good, not great. Guacamole tasted and has the texture of a canned grocery store product.

Best chicken EVER, tried it for the first time last night and will definitely be back! Customer service is the best, they are super friendly and attentive. Will recommend to my friends and family:) read more

Super fresh, moist chicken that's made to order on a grill right in front of you. It's very reasonable prices and the food also came out very fast. I would definitely come back here again!! read more

This spot is a hole in a wall restaurant, I think hands down best chicken in town. The server and crew are nice. Their chicken doesn't disappoint and it so juicy! For me was better than Juan pollo or El pollo. read more

Surfin' Chicken Grill - Grill - Mexican Near Me - San Clemente, California

My favorite place for chicken, salsa, fish and sloppy beans. This is a hidden secret and has been a main stop for surfers for the past 30+ years. The red snapper is amazing! read more

Surfin' Chicken Grill - Red snapper! Yum!! - Mexican Near Me - San Clemente, California

Excellent chicken,lots of flavor, tortillas are the bomb,salsa and guacamole is fresh .And customer service is great

I'm a regular at surfing chicken and every time I go it's always fresh and delicious it never disappoints, karen is always welcoming with a big smile and is so sweet. read more

Chicken here is very good, excellent job with the flavor and sauce they use for it as well. Friendly staff as well, definitely coming back.

First time going here. Food is fast and hot. Food is fresh and perfect quantity. If your going to eat there it is hot inside due to the grill and the food takes a while to cook down. So don't be in a rush to go anywhere. read more

I have been coming here for over 15 years and it is still amazing. The new owners are nice and have stuck to the old menu that we all love as well as added a few new wonderful items. I encourage anyone in the San Clemente area to not pass up this hidden gem. The food is always fresh and authentic and the prices are more than reasonable. One of my beach favorites. read more

Amazing food, Excellence service, and conveniently located right next to a local record shop. Highly recommended!

We were looking for a laid back place to eat after the beach that was healthy and fresh and this did not disappoint. If we lived locally this spot would be in our rotation. read more

We decided to give this place another shot but... it was only twice as good as last time. We really love supporting local spots but unfortunately this place keeps missing the mark. We got the whole chicken with the rice, beans, potato salad and guacamole. The chicken has good flavor but still overcooked and dry. The rice was flavorless, the beans were alright, the potato salad was disgusting (again), the guacamole was definitely watered down. Ewww, just hoping we don't get sick. read more

Not sure how an $11 snapper plate comes to $12.32 total but it did. The suggested tip amounts on the point of sale are $3 $5 or $7. No option to change it to something else. Caution: the beans come in a plastic container and the plastic lid was melted and mangled from the boiling beans so I couldn't eat those. Utterly flavorless rice, grade school "salad" consisted of a few dry pieces of iceberg lettuce. Tortillas dense as a brick. I've never seen tortillas this thick in my life. Must've weighed a pound. read more

Delicious and affordable. I got the whole chicken with lemon and garlic and is was very good. They give you whole pieces of chicken with tortillas and sauces so you can make your own tacos. My whole family ate all with no leftovers. We had asada burritos, chicken burritos and bowls and the asada plate. The food was ready quickly/service was perfect. I don't live near San Clemente but I definitely want to come back here again. read more

New owners took over about three years ago. Young couple that are enthusiastic and kind. The marinade on the chicken is amazing, this chicken is garlicky and lemony. Highly recommend for a quick, delicious, well-priced dinner. read more

Ordered two shredded chicken tacos. Usually I do not order chicken tacos because I feel they're usually bland and I'd much rather have something like beef or pork. As soon as I walked in the wonderful aroma of the grilled chicken hit me. You can see where they are filling the whole chicken and it just looks so great I had to have it. The tacos are delicious, so many flavors hit at once and, their spicy salsa is perfect. Got to briefly speak to the owners and they are very nice and sociable. Took a few minutes to speak to me which I found very cool. I'm definitely coming back to eat the fish tacos. 10/10 would recommend to anyone looking for tacos. read more

This place is awesome!!! The red snapper here is better than any five star fancy restaurant you can think of. The owners are very engaged with their clients and do a fantastic job. The food is always fresh and clean. Check this place out read more

Awesome service, called in an order for the red snapper plate to go. Great value for the serving size of the whole plate. I will definitely be back to try more of their plates. Thank you! read more

Born and raised in SC I would go to surfin chicken a lot when we lived in Sc. Moved to Oceanside 9 years ago and only go to SC for Sunday service. We were driving on FWY when my husband said "omg Surfin Chicken is open on a Sunday" got off the FWY and drove straight there. Definitely hit the spot!! Our son missed it so much he almost ate a whole chicken himself! Best hole in the wall, hidden gem ever! Food was amazing our girls had shrimp bowl and asada nachos that they raved about while my husband, our son and I all enjoyed our favorite chicken!! Can't wait for Sunday to be back!! read more

Grilled chicken can't go wrong great location for service and very friendly and a good place to watch the baseball games

Delicious fresh chicken and a great price! My husband also really enjoyed the Mahi Mahi burrito! Just go give it a try!

Just walked out of there with my family. Had a delicious dinner. Karen and all her staff were very professional and kind. The chicken and ribs we ordered were really good. Place was clean and not too full when we ate there. Definitely would love to come back. Highly recommended! Great job girls read more

We had a delicious Carne Asada Quesadilla, and Pozole. The salsas or hot sauces were bomb!! Service and atmosphere were really great. Thanks for bringing us back to life after a night of drinks. Everything hit the spot and we can't wait to come back again!! read more

We went for lunch. Four of us shared the whole chicken with garlic butter. It was AMAZING. It came with guacamole, salsa and tortillas. VERY highly recommend Surfin Chicken!!! read more

Rude service and mediocre chicken. Not sure when it was cooked, it was comparable to jerky.

Randomly saw this place on DoorDash... This place is bomb! So stoked I ordered food from here. Best chicken I have had in awhile.. inexpensive and knew that I ate a quality meal! Highly recommend it and I can't wait to eat here again! read more

after read the review from the yelp ordered chicken and snapper plate, the food is not fresh probably leftover from the lunch. Instead of getting rid of leftover, you could make a fresh one in this way will not lose potential clients. read more

My friends and I were hungry from walking around the flower fields and starting looking around the area for something to eat. The Surfin Chicken Grill Caught our attention! Don't be fooled by the location. Being in a plaza with many shops around it this location really should be right along the main streets in San Clemente! The flavors and hospitality are great, and the owner is very kind and personable. Don't sleep on this spot you're missing out if you do! PRO Tip: Get the Mahi Mahi tacos and put the green salsa right on top of there! read more

It was delicious! the chicken was perfectly cooked, as well as the rice. the portion was a great size for a dinner. The hospitality was so kind ! definitely coming back! read more

Amazing food! Green salsa is fresh and vibrant. New owners are a really nice family who took over during the pandemic. Give it a try!

Amazing spot! Great food and the owners are soooo kind! Definitely coming back for the food and the service. Don't forget to ask for the spicy green sauce one of the best sauces I've ever had! read more

One of my favorite place , more than just chiken they have fish and Rips great food good service love surfin chiken grill , José the owner it's a great guy , read more

I always enjoyed stopping at surfin chicken when I was in town. The guy is usually not very friendly but because the food was worth it. That never mattered. I stopped today to get some food to go. I order a side of garlic butter to go. Got home and saw that he gave me burnt chicken that was super dry!! I mean really burned. To make matters worse he never added the garlic butter. What a disappointment and waste of money. I won't go back again. What is this guy thinking the business was empty when I stopped by. No wonder it was empty. read more

Surfin' Chicken Grill - Burnt chicken that I received in my order to go today. It was so dry and too burnt to eat. - Mexican Near Me - San Clemente, California

Delicious chicken with healthy options. Great for those days when you don't want to cook.

We were on our way to LA and wanted to beat the traffic. We stopped by and found a nice little restaurant off the freeway. Smelled great from the moment we walked in to the store. Great service, very nice with our kids, and food tasted great. Stop by! read more

My goodness, this place really hits the spot after a surfing sesh. Their chicken is soo juicy and delicious. I got the chicken taco with chips and pico de gallo on the side. It was the freshest pico I've ever tasted. The staff are really sweet too! There's outdoor seating available and masks are required when ordering due to COVID. Two thumbs up! read more

such a hidden gem! Get the fish quesadilla. friendly staff and delicious food at a good price you won't regret going here

This is an awesome hidden gem! The chicken is flavorful & delicious. I can't wait to try their red snapper next. The salsas are yummy and food is high quality. The staff is super friendly and helpful. read more