Pio Pio Ballantyne

Fantastic food! I love the arroz con pollo – chicken and rice plate with plantains and yucca appetizer. The chicken soup was fabulous – chunks of
Potato, basil, chicken, corn. Amazing on a cold day! They have a great service and friendly staff.

While the entrees have been good the deserts leave something to be desired. I have tried both the flan and tres leche and have to say they need to work on them. Several other Latin restaurants in the area are better. The service is ok but they also need to work on the customer service. Not as friendly as they could be and pay very little attention to the customers needs after serving the food. I will probably come back when the family wants to go but it would not be my first choice.

The best chicken and Jalea we have had! The spicy green sauce is to die for! The Tostones are huge and fried to perfection! The Queen City is fortunate to have so many different options! We loved it here! Pio Pio come to Raleigh!

Yum. Just yum. The Chaufa is great and the ½ chicken plate feeds two people. Great value, great service, tasty food. I love I found this place!

Just got back from having lunch at Pio Pio. I was excited to have some Lomo Saltado for lunch and I headed to Pio Pio for the first time since it got good reviews on Unilocal.I try to be fair with my reviews and I’ll do the same here… I was very disappointed with my experience at Pio Pio today.
Upon arriving a little before Noon, I noticed there was only one big party of at least 10 people seated. A waiter showed me to my seat and quickly got my drink and took my order. The place is clean and pretty nice. The waiter brought out two dipping sauces. One was pretty spicy and the other was a little milder. I liked them both, so it was cool. Shortly thereafter, my favorite Peruvian dish was brought out, Lomo Saltado! Man, I love this dish! At least the one I used to get at Misti’s in Port Chester, NY.
Simply put… The dish is made up of fries, rice (usually white, but they served it yellow) topped with beef strips sauteed in onions and tomato. The problem with the dish is that it was literally tasteless! I mean, I poured some salt and pepper on it and it simply tasted like… nothing. I poured some of the dipping sauces and this at least added some heat to the dish. I was very dissapointed to say the least. I don’t compare it to what I used to get in NY because I know every restaurant uses different seasoning, but c’mon man! :).
I will give this place another try though… I know Peruvian Pollo a la Brasa is very good, so I will eventually go back and try their chicken, but I don’t plan on ever getting the Lomo Saltado again.

This place is Amazing. The food is great. The rotisserie chicken was as near perfect as possible and all the side dishes were outstanding. This is a Peruvian restaurant but the menu does well explaining what all the dishes are in case you are not what to order. The waiter was very friendly and the price was not bad at all. For under $ 50, it would be easy to feed a hungry family of 4. So if you are in the mood to try something different, this place will not let you down.

Happened to be in the area for a swim class and thought we would give Pio Pio a try. Best chicken in Charlotte? I dare say pretty good… The sides, sauces, and service were all great as well.
They serve Lavazza coffee as well. Good all around.

I had high expectations but I was let down. The chicken was dry and could have used a bit more flavor. Price wasn’t bad though.

My wife graduated Nursing School so about 15 of us went to Pio Pio afterwards to celebrate. They put enough tables together to accommodate us and took the orders fairly quickly. The wait was a little long but the portions were great for $ 35. we fed 16 people for $ 230 The delivery of the orders was a little confusing, but we figured it easily. Each portion could feed 2 to 4 people. Three of us men got together and paid the bill and I gave the servers a 60 dollar tip The taste was good enough for me to want to come back. We will try the Dilworth location next time as it is closer to our home. My recommendation if you like chicken this is a nice place to get something tasty

New to Charlotte and am starting to explore the Ballantyne area a little since I work over here. Was looking for a little ethnic food and discovered this place.
Pio Pio is the bomb. I’ve already been there three times this week and I just discovered it on Tuesday. The Unilocal photos and reviews just don’t do it justice. The place is very clean, open with good ambiance and has outdoor seating. They also have a full bar and TVs. Seems like a good place to be if you’re looking for some good food and to possibly catch a buzz.
The food is fantastical. I love the chicken soup and arroz con pollo. The soup has a great broth and is always packed with veggies like corn and potatoes, plus plantains. The chicken is tender and moist and they sprinkle fresh cilantro on top. Mmmm. The arroz con pollo is what really rocks though. If you’ve never had peruvian, this is a great beginner’s dish. I just love it because it’s one of my comfort foods. They give you a good portion of rice, mixed with veggies and shredded chicken. It’s seriously so good. Even kids will probably like it. Drizzle some of the green sauce on top for a kick… but beware, that stuff is potent.
The service was also really good. The staff is very attentive and they even let me switch out fries for soup with my entrée.
If you’re in Ballantyne, try this place. You’ll love it.

Never tried latin before was very good! Friendly waitress helped describe menu. The ½ rotisserie chicken was tasty and not dry. The Polo Saltado had great flavor and loved how it was cooked in pieces.
Great place will visit again!

I wouldn’t say this is the best place but it is pretty close. If your looking for a solid meal that is actually somewhat healthy I would strongly recommend giving them a shot. Really good flavor, ok customer service, and cooked pretty fast for what your getting.

I enjoy this location, well because it’s location… I live across the street. I tend to order and go so my say on dining in is not accounted for. I used to go to the location in Dillworth and would dine in the location since it was a far drive.
I come from a long bloodline of Colombian rice and bean meals and I truly enjoy them here. I also like their soups. I would definitely say try this one or both locations out.

The food is good when they get your order right. But the service sucks. The staff members are rude and disrespectful. I will not be going again. Johnny served us and his tone was condescending and he had a bad attitude. He want very helpful or courteous. Service is key to me when eating out. My chicken was overcooked. It was a bad experience. Why pay money to be treated like crap and not valued as a customer. They wont make it in ballantyne area like that. Save your $ people! I used to frequent here but they have really gone down in quality. Thanks to johnny they lost one loyal customer. I will be putting that on my foodie blog to share with my members.

Stopped in for a lunch with a friend. She had suggested the restaurant and I was able to pick up a Groupon.
The waiter was very helpful with dish selection and he gave us each a taste of all the different sides. The food came quickly and was delicious and different.
I would definitely stop here again.

I was hesitant to come here after reading the awful reviews, but ended up being pleasantly surprised. Mainly, the food was solid — I had the chicken soup which was flavorful and quite good w yucca, chicken and a half corn on the cob. Accompanying rice, avocado and plantains were excellent. Companions had snapper (warning! Whole fish served fried!) which was a bit salty but still good. Sampler platter was heavy on meat — could’ve skipped this one.
The service was shaky, mainly because our young server was clearly not fluent in English and not experienced managing multiple tables in a busy restaurant. He was pleasant however, as was the host and any billing errors were sidestepped because a different person processed our check. I’d recommend anyone on the fence to at least give this place a shot.

Poor customer service… Staff members are rude. There was miscommunication with a voucher my guests and I had and what the server clarified at the beginning. It was a different story when my guests and I got the bill. The rude gestures came from a male also working at the restaurant (was at the front counter most of the time), when he started insulting my guests stating, «can you not read?» and other inappropriate remarks.
I enjoyed the food I had (#4) and I was looking for catering options for an event in Charlotte. I asked if an exception could be made since we were wanting to be returning customers, the male worker said he’d ask the manager… turns out the manager was only on the phone and was a very quick phone call.
Decided to go to this location since it was closer than the Dilworth chain. (rude gentleman worker said that both locations are owned by same person. is this true?)
I will definitely not be coming back or doing any business with this restaurant again. I do not recommend dining in at Pio Pio.

This place is my new favorite local joint, and go-​to place for a local, casual business lunch.
You have to start with the Tostones and guacamole. I am the kind of person that loves to try different things, but I have gone several times now and ordered the same thing: the ¼ chicken and salad. It is a home run. This location hasn’t had a ton of luck but I am really hoping Pio Pio makes it at this location because this has all the things I love: healthy options, great food, and good service. Definitely worth checking out.

I have been wanting to try this place out since it opened and finally got a chance today. When my co-​workers and I arrived at lunch time, they were not busy… only 2 other tables of diners. The décor is comfy and welcoming and the place smelled great.
I chose the ¼ roasted white meat chicken. This comes with yellow rice and red beans with a side for $ 9.50 at lunch. For $ 1 more, I substituted black beans for the red beans. I chose sweet plantains as my side dish.
The chicken was absolutely delish! It was juicy and flavorful. The yellow rice was a bit on the bland side, but tasted better when eaten with the black beans, which were seasoned nicely. The plantains were yummy. I didn’t try the garlic sauce, but the jalepeno sauce was tasty — not a lot of bite, but nice flavor.
Our service was ok… not outstanding but adequate. Overall, I was quite pleased with my meal and my co-​workers enjoyed theirs as well. I am looking forward to going back.

Had heard great things about the East Blvd location, so settled for the location a little closer to our side of town. Have plenty of friends who rave about the Latin fare so we expected good things. While I can say the food was interesting, flavorful, and unique, the service was a little lackluster.
We ordered a few apps: Corn cake, cheese empanadas, and the cold potato dish. The corn cake was rather bland and slightly burnt, but if you add either of their hot sauces it turns into magic. The empanadas are pretty standard and nothing groundbreaking. The potato dish is where our interest was focused. Such an interesting cheese and cream sauce that was slightly spicy, subtle and odd all at the same time. I think the temperature is what made it so interesting. Would recommend this to anyone.
My entrée was a little confusing. It was a rice dish… that literally was fried rice… I was a little curious since there is an Asian restaurant next door, but laughed it off. Just a bit odd to taste something like this from a Latin place.
The service was also really spotty. Not too attentive for a Saturday evening. Drinks were a bit low throughout most of the meal, but not a huge deal. All in all, I’d come back, but would most likely look to visit the other location on East.