Pollos A La Brasa Don Alex

Decided to give it a try again… unfortunately, they never picked up the phone no matter the time of day… I guess they got closed or something… well, maybe we can get some real restaurant instead

Amazed to see that no one has reviewed this spot yet. After having ordered Pio Pio and Pollos Mario La brasa a billion times I’m giving this spot a try (haven’t had it yet; I work down the street and just put in an order, Loma Saltado with Chicken, for delivery; should be here in 10 minutes). While I wait I’ll type this up.
Yes I love Pio Pio (I order out and eat out A LOT) but I’ll go crazy if I eat it for the third day in a row (Their biggest weakness, and strength from a business strandpoint, is their super limited menu). I had Pollos Mario last week for three days straight I don’t think I can ever eat there for another 6 months.
20 minutes later:
Having tasted the Lomo Saltado, the verdict is in: This Place is AMAZING! Delicious. The delivery came promptly and the food was still warm (It’s snowing outside right now).
The chicken is well seasoned and very flavorful (next time I’ll probably get it with out the french fries as I don’t really like fried potatoes and they seem to have added a bunch). The white rice isn’t too sticky or greasy and has just the right amount of firmness to it. For 12.00 this dish is well portioned (I love large dishes). I’m literally going to be ordering from this place for weeks to come.
My co-​workers have already attested that about 20 other dishes on the menu are awesome as well. Tomorrow I will be getting something else of Pollos A La Brasa Don Alex.
Seriously, I’m super happy about this place opening up around Sunnyside. Super affordable with massive portions and very tasty.
I doubt I’ll ever walk into the place to eat but there’s one thing to be said about placing an order for delivery and getting something that well exceeds my expectations (I’m super picky).
Note to Venues: Customer service is everything and at the forefront of that is knowing how to cater to and make those people who call in for deliveries Happy. If you can figure that out (and obviously your food has to be AMAZING as well) to the science your establishment will never fail.
UPDATE: I’ve brought it down to three stars: After having ordered some of the more exotic dishes (I don’t order here to get the chicken, I’m already sold on Pio Pio as the best Roasted Chicken in NYC and maybe earth) like the Lomo Saltado for about 4 weeks I’ve been pretty disappointed in the quality of chicken they use. The rice tastes fine but the chicken was sometimes very bubble gum like (some pieces were tender while some weren’t but to have a mix of that is unacceptable IMO). I would end up spitting most of it out.
Though they know how to flavor the dish nice the quality of chicken used was a big issue for me. I eventually stopped ordering from there all together because of this issue. And I LOVE Lomo Saltado. Don Alex has the right idea in coming up with more dishes other than roasted chicken, which is like the only thing Pio Pio sells, to take some of the market share from more established restaurants; but I’d say if they want to be around for the next two years, they must not skimp on quality no matter how much they think they are saving. Get better less processed chicken when making those family favorite dishes like Lomo Saltado.
I’m not a big sea food guy so I wouldn’t know how bad or good their sea food stuff is, but for all the sea food lovers I know, no one likes horrible quality in that as well.
Or you can always your food to people who don’t care and except eating terrible food because it’s «cheap» on their pockets. I’ll start cooking for myself at home and growing my own crops before I stoop to that level of needing «cheap» and «affordable.»