Mr. Pollo

We went to Mr. Pollo for dinner on April 2, 2008 to officially celebrate our third anniversary.  I had read about it in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.  It served chicken that most reviewers felt was second only to Dino’s in SGV and that was a pretty good place to be.  It also described the food as purely Peruvian.

Mr. Pollo is located in a strip mall near the gym we go to most frequently.  It is small with fewer than 10 tables and very casual.  Costumers order at the counter.  They have some small take-home menus and a very large menu above the counter with some photos of the food.  Some of the things on the menu above the counter are not on the take-home menu.  There was a large rotisserie oven behind the counter with several chickens in to.  One of the employees put some wood in it to keep the fire going.  We could also see more of the kitchen behind the oven and once one of the cooks had a lot of flames in a pan he was using.  The salsa music of Celia Cruz and others played on the PA system and gave the place a festive atmosphere.  A large family sitting near us ordered a lot of food family style but they had no problem finishing it.  The clientele looked like locals and Spanish was the primary language of them and the staff.  The employee would answer the phone with, “Hola.  Mr. Pollo.”

They brought us our first entrée, the Tallarin de Pollo along with an extra plate so we could share it.  It was sautéed chicken, onions, and tomatoes mixed with spaghetti noodles.  It tasted like it had some soy sauce in it and it was very good.  Peruvian food has some Asian influence.  Our food didn’t come all at once and it was good that we planned to share it.  They brought us our Chicharron de Pollo next that came with fries and salad.  The chicarron were like chicken nuggets as my wife described them only much, much better.  Their coating was think and crispy, and not greasy.  The chicken on the inside was mostly dark meat with the flame-roasted flavor similar to the chicken in the rotisserie oven.  The fries weren’t greasy either and were similar to the ones from Royal Fish House, a place from which we sometimes order fish for work lunches.  The salad had a sweet Italian dressing.

We had thought we would order so much that we’d take some home but the food was so good that we kept eating until it was all gone.  My verdict is that Mr. Pollo’s chicken is equal to Dino’s, not second to it.  Mr. Pollo also has an advantage because it makes chicken in many different ways while Dino’s only serves it one way that’s famous.  In addition to chicken, Mr. Pollo serves some beef and seafood dishes such as Arroz Chafa, fried rice with seafood.  After we left my sweatshirt still smelled like the flame-roasted chicken.  Between Mr. Pollo and Babita the day before, it was a great 3-year anniversary.