El Pollo Sabroso

Good restaurant for this style. Sandwiches are far better Than the subway across the street. Chicken is great. Gyros not so much. (I guess that is to be expected). The green and white sauces are really good.

I’ve been here a few times now and overall have a positive experience each time. I agree with other Unilocalers below that the chicken is a bit on the dry side, particularly toward the center of the ¼ chicken platter. It isn’t bone dry, though – not enough to turn my smile upside down. And the yucca fries are perfect and delicious every time. The white sauce is AMAZING and I have to get a second container of it whenever I’m there. The green sauce has a strongly peppered sort of spice to it.
As far as ambience goes, El Pollo Sabroso keeps it simple. The first time I came, they didn’t clean off a single table the entire time I was there, and about a third of the tables were a mess. This didn’t happen the second time, so I’m going to look the other way. There’s always an unusually high number of flies buzzing around here – kind of weird, annoying, and makes you feel a little unclean.
I’m really giving it 3.5 stars. Don’t pass it up!

Ordered the whole chicken and it was great! It was conveniently divided into quarters which was nice since it was shared. The only reason I didn’t give 5 stars is because I wish they had given us a larger potion of their green sauce, which was super spicy and super good. Definitely a go to place.

Had the ½ chicken meal with rice and loved it, need to go back and try the rest of the menu

OMG!!! The chicken here is sooooooo gooooooood!!! I am seriously in love with the flavor and the accompanying spicy green and mild white sauces. The best quick meal in DC!!!

I tried to start a «Meatless Monday» habit today, and was good up until 9:00pm. I had eaten the chat pat truck earlier, with no meat, but my craving for meat was too strong, and I was craving pollo like mad. Back when I worked in Arlington, across from VA Square, my only good lunch option really was Pollo Rico, the best Pollo chicken spot in the area. The only other options was a greasy burger from Z burger, Korean delis, and the vastly overrated BBQ spot Rocklands, all fatty choices. So in a nutshell, I had peruvian chicken from Pollo Rico almost on a weekly basis, I became Duke there pretty fast. Despite eating that much Peruvian Chicken, I did not get sick of it like almost anything else. Once I left that job in Arlington, I haven’t had Pollo since then, which was about 2 months ago.
After trying to go a full day without meat, I all of a sudden craved chicken n rice badly, I just got so hungry and I knew more vegetables wasn’t going to keep me full. I have been wanting to try El Pollo Sabroso for some time, I live real near El Pollo Granjero (ultra salty) and La Granja de Oro ( Unilocalers said there’s a bunch of roaches there), so it was worth walking to Mt Pleasant to Sabroso, and I heard it had the best Peruvian Chicken in DC.
In short, I got the ¼ chicken w/​rice, and it comes with a salad. Too bad you can choose only one side, i would have liked to have gotten Yuca instead of the weak salad. The chicken itself had a nice char to it, and it was pretty juicy. What separates a good Pollo spot from the rest, is if their chicken is juicy and not overcooked, many overcook and leaves the chicken dry. You can also taste the charcoal taste, which is the mark of an authentic Pollo spot. It does not match Pollo Rico in terms of flavor and spices, however. So Pollo Rico gets the definite edge in this one. Also, the chicken was rather small, I came out of it still hungry and wish I got the ½ chicken. It could be because I only had veges that day, I cleaned that chicken straight to the bone, but the chicken was definitely smaller than Pollo Rico’s and less filling because you only get one side, as opposed to two sides like most Pollo chicken spots. A solid spot that I can go to for when I have a Pollo craving, but it doesn’t come close to Pollo Rico, or Super Pollo in Arlington.

My parents absolutely love this place and so do I. We always come by here to pick up some food when we are in the area.

Parking is a pain but worth the effort. Nice Peruvian chicken and sides — the black beans were wonderfully tender and the plantains sweet and delightful. The staff is pleasant and very helpful. Will definitely eat here again.

Chicken from the gods. Plantains are always too mushy for my liking but the chicken is consistently excellent.

I am adding a response based on the response from the business owner. I complained of the meat being tough and she indicated that I could ask for softer meat or also which dishes are less chewy and they would be happy to oblige. So I take some responsibility here.

Disclaimer up front: I didn’t get the chicken.
This review is simply for the rice & black beans (side order) that I got yesterday as a late lunch. This was my first time visiting El Pollo Sabroso, even though it’s right near where I live.
I got a large side of rice & 2 sides of black beans, to go. Wait time was about 5 – 7 minutes & total cost was $ 6.00.
The food was OK; nothing to write home about, but then, I admit I wasn’t expecting much. It was decent though — not bad. I would go back if I was starving & needed some place quick to visit in the neighborhood. I felt the price was just right.

Service is a little brusque and the menu format is sloppy (random pictures, fading dry-​erase list that’s half-​heartedly numbered) but the food is legit with reasonable wait times. The chicken is tender and flavorful, and their fried plantains are caramelized to the point of awesome. Skip the yucca, it’s cut too thick to cook all the way through. Green sauce is the better of the two sauces and offers a fair amount of heat. They’re actually very capable of handling non-​pollo meats as well– their execution on the tender sopa de res and tongue in taco form were very tasty, and the former includes enough mixed soup veg that it can easily be stretched across two meals.

The quarter chicken with extra sauce is amazing. I am perfectly happy getting it every time along with the yucca and Inca Cola.

So great. Get the grilled chicken sandwich and some yucca! Don’t forget their chipotle mayo very good

Tasty chicken tacos shouldn’t need toppings, and these don’t. They are delicious all on their own, and that green sauce is both tasty and be warned– hot! I’ve also gotten their whole chickens, and they are also well done. El Pollo Sabroso bills themselves as Peruvian, but Salvadorean options are also on the menu, per usual for Mt. Pleasant. With that said, you won’t go wrong with the pollo.

Solid chicken option that you can feel at least somewhat good about eating (it’s no bucket of Popeye’s artery clogger) that’s really tasty to boot.
For $ 15, we got a full chicken, 1 side, and 2 salads, which was enough for 3 – 4 meals total if you don’t pull a Cartman and just eat the skin.
Service was fast as well. Sabroso!

After signing our lease today, I wanted to check out our new neighborhood and decided to stop in for some lunch. The people behind the counter were very nice and hence the 3 stars. The food by itself would have rated 2.5 stars.
I got the quarter chicken which comes with a side and a side salad. I added an order of plantains coz I can never get enough of that. My total was $ 8.15 including a $.50 upcharge for yucca fries.
The chicken had good flavor, was not dry but was a little cold and exceedingly greasy. The side salad was just a bunch of lettuce with a little bit of dressing on it. The yucca fries were unevenly hot — some piping and others felt cold to the touch. In addition, they were 2 sizes — one gigantic underdone lump and a couple of regularly sized pieces.
The plantains were definitely hot (almost burned a hole through the container) but were not flavorful at all. They were definitely over-​ripe but did not taste sweet and tasted a little burnt.
Seemed like more of a takeout place since I saw at least 5 people get to-​go boxes in the 20 mins I was there.

I’ve heard a lot about this Pollo Sabroso and today tried it for the first time. We got takeout pupusas, a mix grill plate, and some friend plantains. Overall it was good, but with mixed results.
Pupusas — We had one pork and one cheese. They were both excellent.
Friend plantains — These were a bit greasy
Mix grill plate — The chicken was excellent, but everything else was mediocre. The pork was way overcooked and stringy. The steak was okay. The sausage was a bit on the salty side.
Overall for the price it was a satisfactory meal, but I’m not sure if it stands up to how good people rate this place.

EMERGENCY
I had an urgent need for a ¼ chicken after a long run one day. I could have waited until arriving home to prepare something, but nourishment was preferred immediately. I began stalking the street for something quick, inexpensive, and healthy. Something to take the edge off and begin rewarding my muscles.
Chicken muscles! I was in&out of El Pollo Sabroso in 10 minutes with a tasty, affordable ¼ bird. The skin was crisp all around – devoured whole. Bird came with two excellent dipping sauces: a mustard and some spicy thing.
Doubling up on the proteins and a minor carb, I added beans (plain, nondescript) and tortillas (very bland and boring, almost bitter). These items brought me down from the 4-​stars I wanted to give.
But $ 3 for a ¼ chicken, YES!

Good prices, they take credit card. Tasty Peruvian chicken. Solid pupusas.
The jury is still out on their tacos though. I got 2 chicken, 1 lengua, and 1 pastor and they all more less looked/​tasted he same which is really just creepy. Also I realized why tacos in DC, even at their best sort of suck compared to california, and it’s the tortillas. The tortillas are always sort of soggy. This has pretty much been universal at every place i’ve gotten tacos.
anyways get the chicken.