Better remembered

When my husband and I were still dating, he took me to El Pollo Loco at the SM Megamall in one of my visits to Manila. He wanted me to experience one of his favorite eating places.

Although I never took to the yellowish chicken, I appreciated the gusto and enjoyment he always displayed at eating there so we always included it in any of our Megamall visits.


When we got married, our visits to SM Megamall waned since we moved to a place quite far from Mandaluyong City. So when a branch opened at the SM Mall of Asia (MOA),  my husband was thrilled - not that we visited that mall a lot. But when we did, it was El Pollo Loco yet again.

Then we moved to the province.  Last Sunday, we found ourselves at the SM MOA and as expected, hubby got quite excited at the prospect of eating at his beloved El Pollo Loco. So, after buying our daughter her noodles, off we went. 

In anticipation of a thoroughly enjoyable meal, hubby ordered extra tortillas and extra spicy salsa. But even I was astonished when his order arrived.  Maybe we'd left El Pollo Loco alone for far too long because when it arrived, his two-piece order looked like a one-piece meal.  The pieces were very small.  He checked the two pieces, placed close to each other, just to make sure there were two and not one.

To say that he was very disappointed was an understatement. I think it even affected the taste because he said it no longer tasted the same.  I offered to buy more chicken for him, but the damage had been done.  His childlike excitement had dissipated and Pollo Loco had just become another fastfood for him.

Sometimes, there are things better remembered. I remembered how my mom had been so excited at the advent of the betamax because it would give her a chance to watch old films again.  She viewed an old favorite with an adult's eyes and of course, saw all its flaws. I remember her saying that maybe it would have been better to just retain the wonderment and fascination she had as a child watching it than to be disillusioned by how imperfect it really was.

I am not grieving over the prospect of not eating at Pollo Loco again. But I do hope that business owners are able to maintain that delicate balance between economic realities and consumer expectations so that they do not lose any more customers, especially die-hard ones like my husband.