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Super Pollo, Local Pollo a la Brasa Chain in Several Northern Virginia Locations


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I went to the Super Pollo on Quincy by the Jimmy John's.  I had 1/4 chicken with steamed vegetables and french fries.  The steamed veggies were plain steamed veggies- no complaint I just wanted some veg and I like plain steamed vegetables with yellow and green sauce added.  The fries I would assume came from frozen, my complaint is sitting in the tray they weren't very crispy, but they weren't terrible.  The chicken was nice, very juicy.  I haven't been to El Pollo Rico in a while, but I will say Carribean Breeze doesn't need to worry about losing me as a frequent customer.  It wasn't bad at all and it is near our house, there just wasn't anything really special.  But maybe I need to try some other things on the menu.

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Super Pollo is one of the few places that Don recommends that doesn't yet have a thread here.  His review of the Arlington location is here.  Has anyone else been there or any of the other locations?  How consistent are they?

I'm surprised this didn't have a thread. There is talk, somewhere, of seeing the smoke roaring out of the roof from afar, perhaps in the Pupatella thread? (If anyone finds the discussion, ping me and I'll merge it.)

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Well they do have a new location (at least Quincy location) it's in the super new building.

Am I correct in saying they now have three locations: two in Arlington, and one in Alexandria?

So many pollo a la brasa places have such similar names - Chicken Loco, Wild Chicken, Crazy Chicken, Pollo Loco, etc. - and I'd also love to know if *any* of them make their own sauces (particularly the yellow and pink ones). La Caraqueí±a and La Canela have in the past, but I can't think of anywhere else in the area who does.

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Last night, I had a bunch of errands to do, involving mapping out an optimal driving route to get them all done. So I did them, and afterwards, it was growing late, and I was hungry - I had some options to exercise, but given that it was Monday night (Pupatella is closed on Mondays), I was driving down Wilson Blvd in Arlington, and Super Pollo was *right* *there*, I decided to take the cumin plunge.

"Knock, knock."

"Cumin."

Or, in *this* case, *Don't* cumin, because I got some of the meanest, surliest treatment I've had from a carryout restaurant in quite a long time. I'm sorry I interrupted your soccer game, guys (Real Madrid was playing on TV), but *come* *on* - it's a completely empty restaurant, you're standing around doing nothing, and a paying customer walks through the door, recognizing within five seconds that it was a mistake.

The scent of cumin knocks you over here - it's happened every time I've been to this location - and it almost draws customers to the chickens sitting out on the left. But I overcame my senses, and walked to the right, seeing what was in the steam bins.

A sign on the front door advertised Lamb Chops with 2 Sides ($14.99), and that's what I ordered. The "gentleman" looked right at me and said, "We don't have any lamb chops." Okay, fine. And even though I knew at this point I was unwanted, I took my sweet time and looked for awhile, and then decided on the tried-and-true: Super Pollo's chicken - I ordered a Half Chicken with 2 Sides ($9.99), and decided to get a double-order of yucca.

There were two bins full of yucca. One of them looked like it was cooked a week ago, and had been sitting out, festering; the other looked brand-spanking new. Guess which of the two I got? For both orders.

So was this a classic case of "clear out the older merchandise?" or was it "let's fuck this chump?"

It doesn't matter - I'm no mind-reader, and other than noticing visible, "get the hell out of here" scowls, I don't pretend to know what's going on inside someone's head, or if they're just having a bad day, their girlfriend broke up with them, etc. etc. So I'll only report on the product itself, and this was the *worst yucca I've ever had in my life*. Old, dry, unevenly cooked, hard, cold - it would be virtually impossible to make a fully cooked yucca dish *worse* than this was. It was horrible, and the majority of it was thrown out.

If I'd been there with a friend, I would have gotten into my car, turned towards my friend, and said, "That douche bag needs to pull the pole out from his ass," but I wasn't, and since this is a public, family-oriented website, I won't mention it; instead, I'll merely say that the service on this was evening was "surly," and I felt that my business was neither appreciated nor wanted. Incidentally, I threw a dollar into the empty tip jar. Why? Because I'm a spineless idiot, that's why.

I got two yellow sauces and a green sauce, and the chicken was as it always is here (this Super Pollo puts out a consistent Pollo a la Brasa - not great, rubbed with too much cumin, and always sitting out - but it is, nevertheless, a *very good* chicken, one which I've now had several times).

Super Pollo Arlington serves Halal meat only, and offers items such as Karahi, and in that sense (among others) it reminds me very much of Ravi Kabob, except that Ravi Kabob has food that's light years better. This is, in order, Peruvian, Pakistani, and American.

What a needlessly unpleasant experience this was. And that yucca should have been dumped out on the back patio for the crows to eat. It would have gotten rid of the crows.

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You've had quite a few negative experiences recently. Perhaps restaurants heard about your health pledge, and want you to be healthier by driving you out of restaurants. It's actually a public health initiative. A baller one, I might add. Restaurants of the DMV- keep serving Don badly. He may reduce his risk of DM, CAD, and ED... Here here !!

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Are their chicken particularly cumin-y?  I haven't really noticed, it seems to me more dominated by lemon-y notes.  But we love cumin so more the merrier.

In any case, must have been a big game because the staff there have always been pleasant to us and we only tip 50% of the time.  I wouldn't assign malice to the old yuca.  They should have dumped the pan out but since they didn't, most restaurants will practice FIFO unless you insist on getting the fresher stuff. 

If you don't particularly like the spicing there anyways and are okay with very limited sides options, El Pollo Rico is a better bet.  They have so much turnover that you're pretty much guaranteed to have fresh out of roaster/fryer food.  (Unless they're also onboard with the *Don Rockwell Diet*.)  Their chicken is less flavorful and skin is less good, but very juicy and always fresh out of the rotisserie.

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Are their chicken particularly cumin-y?  I haven't really noticed, it seems to me more dominated by lemon-y notes.  But we love cumin so more the merrier.

In any case, must have been a big game because the staff there have always been pleasant to us and we only tip 50% of the time.  I wouldn't assign malice to the old yuca.  They should have dumped the pan out but since they didn't, most restaurants will practice FIFO unless you insist on getting the fresher stuff. 

If you don't particularly like the spicing there anyways and are okay with very limited sides options, El Pollo Rico is a better bet.  They have so much turnover that you're pretty much guaranteed to have fresh out of roaster/fryer food.  (Unless they're also onboard with the *Don Rockwell Diet*.)  Their chicken is less flavorful and skin is less good, but very juicy and always fresh out of the rotisserie.

The cumin is more of a scent than a taste - it's overwhelming when you open the door, and I've noticed this several times. I kind of like the excessive cumin in its own quirky way, and yes, there is some citrus in the rub as well.

I originally typed Columbia Pike (there's one in Lake Barcroft), but I meant the one on Wilson Blvd (across from Pupatella). I don't ever recall having a problem with service at Super Pollo.

I agree with your assessment of El Pollo Rico, but I need yucca, and reject frozen fries.

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So sorry to hear that. It's my go-to and has not disapointed; yet.

My 5 yr old likes, in this order:
Pho

Super Pollo

Happy Meals.

I usually let him order at Super Pollo and the guys are generally nice and patient (note: I do this ONLY when it is empty and I tend to go early, when it's empty).

Now with regards to cumin, I"m a huge fan. Bean, meat cumin. Hi Cumin. (Don started it).

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We go to the Quincy location next to the Mike Isabella mini-empire. Just went tonight for takeouts and the staff were nice as can be. They were running low on fries so I asked to get my order filled from the fresh batch when it comes out, not a problem at all. I think this location is also somewhat less fragrant than the Wilson location Don mentioned, it has a light smell of rotisserie chicken but that's about it.

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We go to the Quincy location next to the Mike Isabella mini-empire. Just went tonight for takeouts and the staff were nice as can be. They were running low on fries so I asked to get my order filled from the fresh batch when it comes out, not a problem at all. I think this location is also somewhat less fragrant than the Wilson location Don mentioned, it has a light smell of rotisserie chicken but that's about it.

Well, hopefully it says something that I've been to this same location multiple times, and would go again - I've never experienced anything evenly remotely similar to this before, so I'm assuming the gentleman was having a bad day, and it wasn't the restaurant. That said, I've always detected a prominent scent of cumin that comes from the rub on their chicken here - which I find appealing.

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On 11/8/2016 at 0:57 PM, ktmoomau said:

The fries were still crisp, but we live very close by.  But they just have terrible choices- slaw, fries, white rice, that's it.

On 11/8/2016 at 1:12 PM, DonRocks said:

Yeah, and it's *nasty* slaw, too.

This is why we go to Super Pollo - maybe the chicken isn't as perfect but the sides are good.  I love the yucca and my son loves their beans.  And I think the slaw is good - but the fries are not.

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I tried out Super Pollo Charcoal Chicken in Ballston/Arlington this past Friday. It is a small local chain that seems to have 4 locations all in northern VA. It was solid, but not exceptional. Certainly better than the offerings where I live (in Laurel, MD), but did not approach the quality of Chicken on the Run in Bethesda from my perspective. They seem to offer not just pollo a la brasa (and related sides), but also kabobs, some very limited other Indian options too. The location I went to was the one on Wilson Blvd basically diagonally across the street from Pupatella. They have a decent amount of seating there, but I took mine to go and ate outside at a nearby park.

One of the things that seemed a little odd to me was that you walk up, the guy asks you what I want, I indicate a quarter chicken meal (asked for dark as there was no indication what you would get on the menu), and then he puts it in a to go container and puts it up on the counter near where there were other folks that would then ultimately ask you what you wanted for sides. The problem here is that some people did not order chicken (or even a protein) and this caused confusion for the staff to know what tray or container belonged to what person. It, to me, would make more sense to take the order, including sides, generate a print out for what was desired as sides, and tape that to the tray or to go box so the next person would know what to do. This would also generate a ticket number that they could call out and confirm that you were the right ticket number to give the food to and get money from. But that is just me. :)

I'll go back, but not before checking out the competition - these seem to be at least two other pollo places nearby.

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