El Pollo Rico

Wheaton, MD is a melting pot of ethnicities and cuisines, and thankfully one of the best Peruvian chicken places in DC. My previous favorite Peruvian chicken place — El Pollo Rico of Arlington, VA — is now closed. It’s not so much that it was better, but that it had rice and beans — a favorite of mine. However, on my most recent trip to El Pollo Rico in Wheaton they had rice and beans! After waiting in line among the bustling dining room, they take your order and quickly butcher your bird with a huge cleaver. Hot sauce, mild sauce, fries, and…
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Pollo Rico is delicious, clean and cheap (a whole meal for $ 2.99!?), plus the same really nice guy always works the grill every time I’ve been in there. If the interior wasn’t so depressing (weird paint selection and there aren’t ever many other customers), I’d give it five stars. It’s kinda like a barrio Feed.
I just hope this place doesn’t close any time soon. The food is awesome, but I don’t think many folks know about it. I know the location isn’t great, but the rent is probably right, so the only thing the owner needs to do is step up the marketing effort. I bet this place could become cool with a better atmosphere – softer lighting, some wall art, a little music, etc.
Anyway, if you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and order a chicken or two. I bet you’ll thank me.

Yo, yo, yiggity-​yo! Pollo Rico has the best meal deal I’ve ever seen. For the insanely low price of $ 2.99, you get a ¼ chicken and two sides. Yes! Seriously!
Alright, so it’s a little sketchy looking inside. Bare bones décor, one sad looking guy manning the grill and a cashier that barely speaks English do not make for a reassuring first impression, but hell, in these economic times? I’ll take a cheap meal where I can get it.
The food is surprisingly good. Well, the chicken is what’s really great. Roasted, insanely moist and well seasoned, I was digging it big time. So much in fact, that I practically picked my chicken breast clean off the bone. Classy, I know. My sides were just okay. I got the salad with vinaigrette and fries. Nothing too earth-​shattering there, but a nice accompaniment to the chicken.
I triple dog dare you to find a better bang for your buck!

This joint just opened up in my hood and I am glad. I am a fan of Latin roasted chicken and at these prices I am really a fan. I ordered a the whole chicken meal and had enough food for two me-​sized meals and probably four typical girl-​sized meals. The chicken was extremely tender and extremely flavorful. At $ 7.99 for a whole chicken and four sides, the value is unbeatable. But I don’t think they will be in business for long or as is typical in food service, corners will be cut to keep the doors open. I may be wrong and I hope that I am… but the chicken was delicious.

Hmmm, where to begin…
Pollo Rico is a newly opened restaurant in an uninteresting strip mall on North Avenue. The signage made me think it was going to be a chain-​type place, but the interior did away with that theory. Clean and fairly spacious inside, the relatively small menu is written on a chalk board. As indicated by the name, chicken is the focus so if you’re looking for anything else, go elsewhere.
This may possibly be one of the least expensive places to eat in the neighborhood. Grilled rotisserie-​style chicken seems to be the star with ¼, ½ and whole variations available. The whole chicken with 4 side options included was under $ 8. Crazy cheap! Other items available are chicken nachos, tacos, burritos, wings and burgers. All things chicken, you get the point.
As for my 1^st try today, I ordered 2 chicken tacos and a side of refried beans — total came to around $ 3.50. Unfortunately, my food was more of a 1 ½ star experience. The tacos weren’t typical of most taquerias in the area. Instead, the meat was grilled without any seasoning and then the tacos were dressed with lettuce, tomato, and cheddar cheese. Not what I was expecting at all. There is a small bar where red salsa, cilantro and onions are available. No verde sauce unfortunately, and the red sauce was heat-​free and pretty flavorless.
The portions were generous, but it wasn’t an interesting enough meal for me to even finish the second taco. Since this is only the 2^nd business day, I’ll give them 3 stars because the whole chickens looked and smelled incredibly good. I also found myself envying a kid who ordered the wings. At any rate, it’s cheap enough for me to not mind giving them a second chance.