Pollo Granjero

Mexican food is my favorite. I’m also a big fan of simplicity.
This place gives you just that! It has no frills or fancy waiters, and there’s only one guy who speaks real good English but that’s what I looove about it! Authentic Mexican food.
Fresh, fast and tasty! Perfect for a quick lunch or whenever you’re craving. Definitely not an elegant night out on the town type of spot, but it does the trick! The décor is a little grimy and can use some sprucing up, but hey what do you expect…

This place is just up the street from my house, and I was originally going to Colombia Heights for a quick casual eat, but it was sooo cold outside that I just popped in here after the smell of Peruvian chicken hit my nose. The chicken here is ok, the taste is not bad, but it’s suppppperrr salty like what most others have said here. Don’t eat this right before you go to sleep, because you’ll be waking up multiple times needing to drink water and going to the bathroom. Yes, it’s that salty, you won’t get a good nights sleep after eating this chicken.

Sad sides options, which were more sad after you ate them. The price is way too expensive for portions, and they don’t have chaufa — the perfect marriage btwn asian/​latin cuisine. will i ever find an amazing chicken peruvian place in dc? we may never know.

This place is really substandard Peruvian chicken. It was bad enough to motivate me to sign up for a Unilocal acct in order to leave a review.
The chicken is not well seasoned and was dry, although it’s possible the chicken I got had been cooked some time ago as the restaurant was dead. The yucka is dense and flavorless. Rather than choosing your two sides it’s mandated that you get a salad, which is iceberg lettuce with shredded carrots and some chick peas. Neither of the two sauces are as good as at other Peruvian hickey joints, both are too thin.
From a service perspective, also terrible. It took forever to get my food started even though I was the only customer. Although, a Spanish speaking customer showed up after me and recieved his order before me, so maybe it helps to speak Spanish.
Finally the restaurant smelled strongly of mop water.

Food was a little better than 3 stars, service closer to 2.
Lunch special was good, but one of the staff members didn’t speak much english, so it was very difficult communicating to her what I wanted. Another staff member then came to help, but when I asked if I could substitute something other than soup for the lunch special, she said no.
First of all, the soup wasn’t good at all. Second, who wants to have hot chicken or beef soup when it’s 90 degrees outside? And third, where is your sense of customer service? If the customer doesn’t want soup, offer something else instead, dammit!

I only had the pupusa, but overall I was not impressed by neither the quality of the food, nor the cleanliness of the establishment

Ever since I lived in Miami, I’ve developed a certain hankering for some chicken fresh off the flame. This is the place to go if you’re looking for a low frills, crispy skin, breaking bones and eating the marrow chicken experience. You give me a quarter chicken, thighs and legs, and I will HOUSE that thing, and we here at the Benjy Foundation appreciate Pollo Granjero for giving us the opportunity to pursue our passion.
I haven’t tried a lot of the menu because I usually just stick with the quarter or half rotisserie which comes with 2 sides. I usually get the rice and beans, but the yuca and garlic is the jump off too. You know, if you want to eat some tubers smothered in a butter concoction that’s sort of like a bougie movie theater’s popcorn butter (real butter).
Also, make sure you get the aji verde (relatively spicy green sauce) and the white sauce. I asked the dude behind the counter what the white sauce is and he said «salsa blanca» which is Spanish for «white sauce», so that clears THAT up.
But seriously, I don’t even really WANT to know what they put in that white sauce cause it’s delicious, dude. What if they use forbidden substances like DC tap water or something right? If you’re me, you will end up foregoing the plastic forks & knives and eating with your hands, dipping every piece in that luscious white sauce.
In terms of décor, I probably wouldn’t bring a date here unless it was a Salvadoran girl from the neighborhood. So I guess I would bring a date here ;] Heyyyy-​O. Fluorescent lighting and not heavy on ambiance, although you will be able to catch the latest escandalos on Telemundo.
My only complaints are that occasionally the skin is a little on the salty side and also (as some other reviewers mentioned) the menu posted up doesn’t have the «current» prices.
In conclusion, if you’re looking for somewhere in DC to strip some chicken bones clean for about $ 6.20 or so, Pollo Granjero is your spot.

I’ve only been to this place once but it was pretty meh. The interior is kind of grimy and has that slightly oily sheen to the tables, but then it definitely seems like more of a place for take-​out rather than dining in. The food was ready shockingly quickly, easily less than five minutes. Unfortunately, as I feared, it basically means that everything is cooked before you order it, and thus is really dry, even the chicken. It was relatively tasty, although clearly incredibly unhealthy. Considering the other chicken joints in the area, I don’t think I could really recommend this one.

Strangely, I have never had the chicken here, but based on my couple experiences, I don’t think I ever will. I got a new job across the street, so I decided to pop in one day and see what was up. Feeling adventurous, I ordered some fried pork thing that was good for the first two bites, but then I realized that my salt levels were spiking and my stomach was starting to hurt. The accompanying yucca fries were overly salted and and disappointingly dry, though I did enjoy dipping them in whatever mayonnaise and green spicy thing were available at the front.
Side note: While we were eating, we were proselytized to by a man with a hospital bracelet on who would not leave us alone (he told me his life story and showed me his passport to prove that he was an American citizen, then he talked about the ‘Holy Bible’ in a-​English and in a-​Spanish), and when I walked back by the restaurant about 3 hours later, he was getting arrested by four policemen. So that was fun.
I have also gotten their bean burrito, which was acceptable but nothing to write home about. I feel that the true star of this place are the pupusas, which are delightfully cheesy and fried. Hard to screw those up, though…
Anyway, it wasn’t, like, atrocious, but I’ve really got no reason to go back.

I agree with the last review. The rotisserie chicken was some of the best I’ve ever had, and it only cost $ 12 for a full chicken. It was much more spiced and flavorful than that of the Pollo Sabroso in Columbia Heights.
The reason it gets 4 instead of 5 stars, even though it’s the best rotisserie chicken I’ve had in DC, is the following:
1) We’ve ordered some of the Mexican/​Salvadoran food here and were underwhelmed. It suffers from the typical DC problem for this kind of cuisine, which is low quality ingredients in spite of high quality cooking. It’s a real shame.
2) As someone else noted, the ambiance here is really lacking. It has a fast-​food feel that detracts from the food’s authenticity. We grab our food to go, but if the ambiance were better I’d consider sticking around.
3) The chicken price was listed as $ 11, but then we were told that the price had gone up without the menu having reflected the increase. I find that to be lazy and irksome.
All in all, this is a solid place to grab a quick rotisserie chicken when you don’t feel like cooking.

Five stars for the rotisserie chicken! The ambiance is McDonalds-​ish so don’t confuse five stars and date place. Super nice people that work there. Their half-​chicken and plantains are my go-​to dinner in a pinch.

Yet another chicken hole-​in-​the-​wall.
The chicken tastes okay and is priced well. The yucca is tasteless starch. The coleslaw sucks. The desert case is a joke. Um, did I mention it is cheap?
The restaurant is ugly, dated, hot, and looks dirty. Take-​out only!
Tip for the owners: move to a smaller location and concentrate on things like profit and food quality.

Not really much to say about Pollo Granjero, it’s kind of dumpy looking, the service isn’t really that good, I mean they don’t treat you poorly but they aren’t exactly friendly either.
Bottom line is the chicken in my opinion is excellent, for about 9 dollars you can get a combo that includes, a small not so spectacular salad (basically a slice of tomato and some lettuce), some French fries that were okay not again nothing spectacular and two pieces of really good chicken.
They give you a piece of fried chicken that is nicely seasoned and oh so moist and tender on the inside and another piece of rotisserie Peruvian style chicken that is even better than the fried chicken. The seasoning is delicious, the chicken is cooked perfectly and is incredibly moist, I mean there is nothing to complain about when it comes to the actual chicken.
So while Pollo Granjero, isn’t particularly clean looking and I would never eat inside, just take my food and run, what’s most important is the Pollo, that oh so delicious Pollo.

Okay it seems like everyone who reviewed this as good has not had real Peruvian food. However, that said everyone seems to like the chicken.
I’m Hispanic and tried the beef tacos and my cousin had the burrito it was horrible no flavor what so ever. It needs some spices. The price was not right for the quality. The rice was boring. Not at all what I expected

This is based on delivery, but the food was surprisingly good for just another chicken place. The chicken was well-​cooked and spiced. And the fish tacos were shockingly good for 2.75 a pop. Definitely would consider this place again for delivery.

I’ve had both the fried chicken and the rotisserie chicken here… It’s definitely a great deal for the money. The green sauce they give out with the chicken is amazing. I could drink a pint of that stuff, it’s pefectly spicy but not too hot.
The fried chicken is a little greasy, but that’s too be expected and I like it that way. The Peruvian rotisserie chicken is also a little greasy but also very tasty.

I’ll give this place a rather unenthusiastic three stars.
I got three pieces of fried chicken, two sides, and a drink, which was closer to nine bucks than eight. Girlfriend got the chicken sandwich and fries, which was seven bucks before tax.
I was really excited to try fried chicken with Peruvian seasoning, but really all I could taste was burnt, old, oil. The pieces of chicken were relatively small and pretty dry. The chicken sandwich was alright, mostly tasted like mayo.
If you’re already in Adams Morgan you might give it a try but forget all these people saying it’s the best fried chicken in DC. If it was actually cheap, I’d forgive some of the mediocrity, but there are much better options in the neighborhood in this price range.

A lot like granja de oro down the street but seemingly with more options and more sauce. The options aren’t necc a good thing if they can’t make them well but their rotisserie chicken is pretty damn good, the sauces come in squeeze bottles to you can really go to town with them too.
Anyways, this review classifies it as mexican but i’m pretty sure it isn’t, or at least not exclusively so

Yummy, but a little yucky (especially when it rains because some of the front windows apparently leak).
I stumbled across this place after being stood up by a
today. I doubt I would have found it if I wasn’t wandering around looking for a parking space near Asylum. Regardless, I saw the sign for Peruvian chicken and stopped in. Everything is in Spanish, so I was a little intimidated at first. I eventually got up the courage to point to the picture and ordered with ease.
I got half a chicken with fries and beans. The fries were cooked fresh and the beans were deliciously seasoned. I’ve had better Peruvian chicken, but it was good and the perfect thing for lunch.
The music was a little strange… everything was in Spanish and seemed to have been mixed with different Michael Jackson songs. Seriously. I’ve never heard the bridge to «Billie Jean» used like that. Quite amusing (and appropriate).

Went here for lunch today to meet with fellow Unilocaler Michael H. and his friend, Danny. Although I’ve walked by the restaurant plenty of times, I don’t think I would have come here were it not for Michael’s influence. It doesn’t necessarily look amazing from the outside…
But it was! I had a fabulous time with great company and the food was quite good. Collectively we tried the fried chicken, cheese pupusas, and lomo saltado. Although I didn’t have the fried chicken myself, I was told it was very good. The lomo saltado was SO yummy. It’s way better than Las Canteras’ lomo saltado, yet it could probably be classified as fast food.
The workers were very friendly and I really enjoyed it here. Wonderful news, since I only live blocks away! We had a particularly funny moment near the end of the meal, when my boyfriend calmly asked if «there’s anything creepier than the man who’s been standing outside and staring at me through the window for the last 10 minutes?»
As we swiveled our heads to find a man blatantly face planted by the window, eying my boyfriend, the answer was clear: No. There’s not a lot that’s creepier! Haha!
The good news is that the man just wanted my boyfriend’s leftovers, not his money or his life. Once we finally understood that all he wanted was food, the situation was just hilarious.