Pollos A La Brasa El Chalan

The food is delicious I order on the phone and it was delivered very fast I think the ladies are very friendly and nice they have flavor so is something to keep in mind

Pollos A La Brasa El Chalan is always a great dining experience. Best ceviche in town. Best Pisco in town. flavors brought from the Incas. amaaaaazzzzing.

I got the food delivered. The Pollo a la Brasa is ok, i gave them one star because of the Lomo Saltado dish which is a Peruvian dish made of sauteed french fries, onions, beef, tomatoes. It was sooooo salty that I could not swallow one spoonfull. Beef was like beef jerky. It is the worst Lomo I have ever had. Had to throw the whole thing away. Very dsappointed as this is my favorite dish.
If you want good pollo Peruano or Lomo I recommend Machu Pichu in Somerville.

Their chicken was so good!!! Damn! But stick with that. I also got anticuchos, which is supposed to be cow’s heart, but it was cow’s liver for sure. Everyone I was with thought it was liver and we couldn’t eat it. We told the waitress and she said we could call the manager is we wanted… obviously we didn’t. We just wanted to let them know that the cows heart wasn’t too great tasting. oh well. Get that chicken.

Want the best rotisserie chicken in the Boston area? Come here. For take out or eat in, this place is hard to beat. Once you try this chicken, all other rotisserie chickens seem lame in comparison!

This restaurant doesn’t even deserve a star. My husband called for pick up last year, when he showed up, they had to re-​take his order because the male working at the time had lost the order. Friday I was in the area visiting a friend, and she decided to order from here. First, the service was truly terrible. They were training a Colombian girl, and while she was taking my order, she had to ask some other lady about everything because she didn’t know. It literally took her 10 minutes to jot down my order. I asked for a whole chicken, a Lomo Saltado, and 3 inca colas. An hour and 10 minutes later, the food finally arrived. However, the inca colas didn’t. The man left too fast for me to catch up and ask about them. I called back and that same Colombian girl picked up and wasn’t able to tell me why the inca colas weren’t sent. I hung up because I was tired of dealing with them. Let me talk about the food, the only food that was edible was the white rice that came with the chicken. The chicken was extremely dry. My friend ate her lomo saltado, which by the way had huge pieces of onions on it, and ended up crying of pain afterwards because her stomach couldn’t take it. The lomo saltado made her stomach hurt, and the poor woman was cringing on her bed. I stayed with her overnight, and the next morning, her stomach was still hurting. Honestly anyone who would call this restaurant a hidden jewel clearly doesn’t know anything about food. I wonder if the cooks are Peruvian. I’ve been to authentic Peruvian restaurants, and the experience and food is much better. My husband has known the owner of this place, WILLIAM PUMA, for many years and it’s a shame that he isn’t taking care of his business very well. The workers are doing whatever they want with it. I’m done with the place, and you should be too.
Dry, burnt, tasteless chicken, and food that will make your stomach cringe, and bad service. Pretty much sums it up

Great Peruvian Chicken. So tasty you will be going back there for more.
The restaurant seems shady, but undoubtedly this is a hidden jewel of culinary proportions.
It’s best to order to go, as space is limited. But the food is worth it. Specially the chicken.
I would recommend to order half a chicken if it’s just for you. Get a whole if your with a friend. You’ll definitely want more.

Quick service
Authentic Peruvian chicken
One and a half whole chickens with sides fed 4 adults and 2 kids.
Paper plates
Very enjoyable and affordable

esta bllaco

Just a stone’s throw from Logan Airport for the hungry traveler, El Chalan honestly has the best rotisserie chicken I have ever tried in the Boston area. Their sauce served with side orders, called aji, is a creamy sauce that tastes great to dip use for salads or on top of potatoes or fries. The food is reasonably priced as well. If you’ve craving some amazing chicken, check this place out!
The fried yucca is to die for. I would honestly give my first born for a lifetime supply of their chicken, fries and fried yucca.

This is the place to go for take out and of course for chicken. Hands down this the best rotisserie chicken in Boston. The price is amazing its pretty cheap. I didn’t give it 5 stars because it is not a sit down place even though they do offer it.

Well seasoned chicken and warm yuca fries. It’s not pio pio, (nyc) but a distant cousin. Would have loved to try the ceviche but the little grey mouse in the corner that greeted us said stick to the fried food. tasty but not worth a second visit. If your looking for ambiance this ain’t the place. Food was average but our server was awesome.

Chicken was really good. No question about it. They charged us for water from tap. Not good.

I’m half Mexican and I love the roasted chicken in Mexico… i have never found roasted chicken in the US that compares. But El Chalan comes pretty damn close. I love the aji sauce that comes with it too– it really is amazing. They should sell it in a jar. I would buy it for sure lol!
The other reviews are correct, it’s not the most efficient service or the nicest place and it is actually pretty over-​priced, but the food is damn good. which i think makes this place worth it…
I would suggest getting take out or go there for a quick bite… don’t go there thinking it’s a nice fancy restaurant for a date or a night out with friends, because you will leave disappointed. This is a quick, small latin american style dinner spot with yummy home style food, that is not in a rush or trying to impress you with fancy décor!

Humble Eastie Peruvian joint specializing in exceptional charcoal-​roasted rotisserie chicken, though the whole menu is pretty solid.
Sometimes having a great restaurant next door to yours is a good thing, sometimes it’s not. I’m uncertain whether being located next to the superb Peruvian joint Rincón Limeño has helped Pollos a la Brasa El Chalan, another Peruvian place with a similarly broad menu but, as the name indicates, a distinct specialty in rotisserie chicken roasted over charcoal. Rincón is nice-​looking by the standards of Eastie Latino restaurants, and as I note in my Unilocal review of it, a sure thing. El Chalan, with its distinctly more modest, two-​level, 34-​seat dining room, has a smaller reputation, so I bypassed it for years. No more.
You could order nothing but the specialty here and be very, very happy. Pollo a la brasa ($ 7/​quarter, $ 9/​half, $ 16/​whole) is simply extraordinary: juicy throughout, even the breast, with beguiling flavor from a complex, tangy/​sweet, chili-​accented and herb-​rich wet rub. The skin is magnificently crisp and mahogany-​toned. This chicken is terrific by itself, better smeared with a little of the accompanying aji, a smooth sauce of yellow peppers with a hint of capsicum fire. Even the accompanying fries are rather good. There’s a reason they do a steady takeout business here into the wee hours of the morning. Rich offal flavor and texture informs anticuchos ($ 6), an appetizer of char-​grilled chunks of beef heart. Other Peruvian standbys are solid if less memorable than the neighbor’s: lomo saltado ($ 10), a salty, satisfying stir-​fry of steak tips, onions, tomatoes, and French fries served with rice; jalea de mariscos ($ 15), a mound of skillfully batter-​fried shrimp, squid, and fish (usually cod or grouper); and ceviche mixto ($ 14), raw shrimp and fish fillets denatured in a lemon-​juice marinade with onions.
Mexican and Central American dishes like tacos ($ 2) and pupusas ($ 2) are respectable concessions to local demographics. Drink options includes Inca Kola ($ 2), like bubble-​gum-​flavored cream soda, chicha morada ($ 2), an inky, sweet Peruvian purple-​corn punch, and excellent licuados ($ 3), fresh fruit/​milk/​ice smoothies in flavors like mango and papaya. The pleasant house-​made desserts include crema volteada ($ 3), a flan-​like caramel custard, and alfajores ($ 4), almond sandwich cookies filled with anise-​scented dulce de leche. The counter staff (which also delivers orders tableside) is super-​friendly and speaks excellent English; menus are also well-​translated. El Chalan offers yet another lesson in the value of keeping your eyes peeled, another Eastie venue serving tremendous food at great prices in humble digs. Note: open till 3am Fri-​Sat, 2am Sun!

This is the best ROASTED CHICKEN IN THE WORLD! Honestly I love Pollos a la Brasa Chalan would die to know the secret recipe of these seasonings that hit the spot every time.
This is a little whole in the whole in East Boston next to popular restaurant Rincon Limeño…but I choose this spot over any place in EAST Boston when I want a good tasty, flavorful, juicy, fresh piece of roasted chicken… the salsa verde on the side is as well delicious. Stop by it’s truly worth it!

BEST HOLE IN THE WALL PLACE EVER!
Dear El Chalan,
ME GUSTA TUS PECHOS! (jaja!)
Alright, I have no idea how you’d go about navigating this place not knowing Spanish, but I dare you because you will have the best breast of chicken in your lifetime– GUARANTEED!
Ok, so I exaggerated a bit. But seriously, this is one of those places that is able to more than adequately mimick the taste and flavors of Peru. Most notable is their specialty: Pollo A La Brasa. Ironic, right? Since this does happen to be their name… Anyhoo, Pollo a la Brasa is not only a Peruvian comfort dish, its also a national one. Again, what makes the dish (aside from the juiciness of the rotisserie breast) is the sauce! The meal is nothing without the creamy, green sauce called Aji. This meal comes together with a side salad and fries– mmm yummy!
Side note: I do think that Rincon Limeno (the Peruvian restaurant next door) makes better Aji. I think that El Chalan tends to use more of a mayo base. This would be my only improvement.
Honestly, I don’t care how shotty the service is, or how dirty the place feels… its worth it for the food. The décor is random (but all Peruvian), and sometimes your waitress will be waiting on you with their kid wrapped around her leg.
If you are adventurous, check this place out– its sure to impress!
oh oh, and if you are a student be sure to cash in on their «10% off if you show college ID» — which is currently highlighted on their website!

The food is what really counts for me at a restaurant. I can really overlook a lot in terms of atmosphere and service for outstanding food. So it makes me really sad that I’m only giving them two stars, because the food is genuinely outstanding. The pollo a la brasa (rotisserie chicken) is superb, as are the sides — the fried yuca for example is just perfect.
The service, however, is *SO* spectacularly bad that it is impossible to overlook. In our case I can’t write it off to language issues — there were none of those. It was simple lack of caring that there were customers in the restaurant. It wasn’t just us. It wasn’t crowded. It was stunning the number of times our waitress could walk right past a person who was obviously in need of a menu, or a check, or a drink, or something and manage to complete ignore all attempts at attention-​getting.
The brilliant cooks in the kitchen deserve so much better. Unless they sort it out, go to Machu Picchu Charcoal Chicken and Grill, where the food is very good if not quite as good, and you’ll enjoy the whole experience.

drove to east boston via GPS for the first time in quest of the best rotisserie chicken. el chalan was highly recommended by a Unilocaler and recently won a
roast chicken taste test.
it’s definitely cheap eats and have to say the half bird was indeed tasty (even if it wasn’t the best ever). only $ 8.75 with a salad + a heaping plate of rice & fried plantain (or fries, beans, yucca). the all-​purpose spicy, creamy sauce WAS good with all.
this same meal in the south end would set you back over 2x as much and probably not any better (except for hammersley’s). the menu choice is wide covering tastes of mexico, central & latin america. el chalan was doing brisk business sunday lunch with lots of pick-​ups, it’s a perfect no frills meal if you’re in the area or an inexpensive option for takeout if you’re feeding a small army

I AGREE, this is a great hidden gem. (Well aren’t most restaurants in Eastie?).
This is the greatest rotisserie chicken EVERR and in part to this creamy, slightly spicy sauce, green called aji. Request the rocoto, a red sauce, if you want more of a kick! Make sure you eat the skin of the chicken too because it is well seasoned! I can’t get enough of the chicken and the sauce, the quarter chicken comes with a little salad and a side or fries or rice if you request or maybe other sides but I’ve only gotten fries. Their fries are thick and crispy on the outside, but nice and soft throughout.
I love using the fries to sop up all the sauce, it’s better than ketchup, people!
Try not to get delivery. Everything gets soggy =T

Hidden gem. The greatest rotisserie chicken I’ve ever had in my entire life. I don’t know what they’re doing that makes it so amazing — the meat is creamy and perfect. It’s like chicken from heaven. Use the mysterious creamy hot sauce they give you. USE IT! Get yourself some beans and rice and maduros to fill out the meal, then pass out in a contented heap.
They hardly speak English at this place, but they will work to get you what you want. Nothing special to look at, but oh that chicken stole my heart.
PS check out — there’s another branch in Chelsea.