, ,

SENOR POLLO, Scout Rallos, Quezon City: It’s All About the Latin Chicken #senorpolloph

SENOR POLLO, Scout Rallos, Quezon City: It’s All About the Latin Chicken #senorpolloph

Location: F7 Building, Scout Rallos, Tomas Morato, Quezon City; Makati Avenue (Opening end of October 2014)
Opening Hours: 11:30am – 12:00am
Facebook: Senor Pollo
Instagram: SenorPolloPH

SENOR POLLO MENU

senor pollo quezon city menu

SENOR POLLO, owned by El Chupacabra, is that humble rotisserie rookie along Scout Rallos scouring for attention amidst more well-known restaurant chains such as Kanin Club, Uncle Moe’s and Burger Project. But its certainly gaining ground as people come and go to get a taste of their famed roast chicken and fried chicken.

Senor Pollo Chicken quezon city

I was curious as most of my peers started recommending the place for me to try out, with its sides that won the hearts of these hungry fellows. I like sides. The thought of little trinkets of palatability to accompany my food and enhance my experience makes me thrilled.

Upon arriving at Senor Pollo, I was surprised how it looked like. What seemed like a small shack had no air-conditioning and yet a line was forming outside as the staff hurriedly took orders and gave us numbers. Outside, I noticed the roasting of Senor Pollo’s chicken. Again this struck me at how “hole-in-a-wall” this place could be, slowly gaining popularity to the masses.

The menu is very simple, albeit, reminded me of Brasas’ Latin American cuisine. Chicken, Sides, Quesadillas, Nachos, Beers and some sandwiches. It’s hard to think the cramp, hot kitchen could shoulder this much rotisserie action.

We went upstairs to secure a seat and I was even more surprised. It was packed. Be a little late and we would have sat at the bar area. The artistry ~ geckos, butterflies and Katrina Padilla’s artwork ~ was beautiful and creative. It matches the Latin Chicken concept, and will make you enjoy your food even more.

And one by one the nights between our separate cities are joined to the nights that unite us – Pablo Neruda

The serving time was a bit long, but admittedly the place was yet to be a well-oiled machine. A few minutes, a clinking of metal bowls and hurried staff, our orders were placed on the table. The table had hardly enough room anymore and it was too small because they had too many plates.

Nevertheless, Senor Pollo’s food told a different tale.

Senor Pollo Roast Chicken with Patatas Bravas, Fried Plantain and Chimichurri – P135

Senor Pollo Quezon City roast chicken

Senor Pollo’s roast chicken was nothing out of the ordinary. I will be honest with you. The quarter roast chicken was fair ~ moist, lightly salted, balanced in flavor ~ but a bit tough on the wings, a bit overroasted too. Alone, it was lonely.

Senor Pollo Quezon City roast chicken

Then we started adding power to it – Chimichurri, Spicy Salsa and White sauce and the magic started to happen. The chicken cannot live alone. The Chimichurri enhanced the flavor of the chicken and the chicken started providing contrast to the Chimichurri’s garlicky taste, letting you taste more and more without getting tired of finely chopped parsley

The sides told a different story. For me, the sides were the star to the whole tale, and it overpowered the chicken. The Patatas Bravas was superb and frankly a bit addicting. The fried plantain’s sweetness provided another dimension to it.

More Sides – Spicy Rice, Colombian Beans and Latin Coleslaw

Senor Pollo Quezon City roast chicken

The Spicy Rice (P36) was the best side for me. I love putting the Spicy salsa, white sauce and Chimichurri to it, occasionally adding Latin Coleslaw to it, where the sauce was varied and unlike the mayonnaise heavy veggies that we all know. The Colombian Beans had too much sauce and could pass as a soup. I feel that the Colombian Beans must be paired next time with Senor Pollo’s fried chicken and have it passed like a gravy.

Senor Pollo Quezon City roast chicken

IMG_3791

Quesadillas

senor pollo quezon city

Senor Pollo’s Cheese and Garlic Quesadillas are cheesy, delicious and goes well with their garlic and spicy sauce. It’s a great side that costs really cheap.

If there was anything but true, it’s the fact that Senor Pollo was way cheaper than the rest of the fast foods offering two piece fried chicken and its experience was completely sold out. For a price of P135, one can have quarter roast chicken with two sides. The sides had modest serving size, and two people could actually share one order. Even more, for a price of P99, you can get 1 piece fried chicken with 2 sides. A group of six can share one whole chicken for the price of P650, and it comes with three sides. (Senor Pollo doesn’t do delivery, by the way. Best if you can get the experience in the store.)

I can’t wait to have my P99 fried chicken meal.

Updated: My P99 Chicken Meal

senor pollo quezon city

Well, not entirely P99. It’s P104 plus VAT. And Senor Pollo’s fried chicken did not disappoint in my second visit. It tastes reminiscent of a fast food chicken joint and I think tastes way better than their roast chicken. This time around, I chose Latin Coleslaw and Fried Plantain for my sides. And also had the must-have Chimichurri on the side.

Updated July 10, 2014: Bad Senor Pollo Experience

Seems like I won’t be able to get my P99 meal anymore. The prices have increased at Senor Pollo and I was a bit disappointed. And they still haven’t corrected their bad customer service. There was a time we waited for more than 15 minutes in line for someone who had been ordering loads of chicken only for us to find out that we had to wait 30-40 minutes for roast chicken to be cooked. We would have understand that their supplies might be limited and they took special care in roasting their chicken, but they should have told us the time it would take to cook the chicken. We wasted 15 minutes of our time. No wonder some would report being served with raw chicken. It’s really a bad customer experience.

Our succeeding tries of dining at Senor Pollo were equally disappointing. We were denied from dining in their restaurant. I mean, who does that?! I’ve never seen Tim Ho Wan or Ramen Nagi keep their customers from lining up. And the way they treated their customers is equally disappointing, as if they didn’t need us to have their business keep on going.

If it weren’t for the sides I won’t come back. And for that, I’m lowering the rating here at Senor Pollo.

SENOR POLLO Rating

[usrlist “Taste and Originality: 2.5” “Customer Experience: 1” “Value for Money: 2” “Brick and Mortar: 2.5”]

0 responses to “SENOR POLLO, Scout Rallos, Quezon City: It’s All About the Latin Chicken #senorpolloph”

  1. Thanks for blogging about the service, this totally confirms my suspicion that this may be overhyped and the sucky service isn’t worth lining up for. I can make my own patatas bravas, chimichurri and fried plantains at home anyway. It also seems Tornado Peri-Peri chicken may have better roasted chicken.

    We went there once, while they were on soft opening. They just seemed totally disorganized behind the counter, it was a bit offputting when I tried ordering. I really wanted to try the roasted chicken but they said it would take 40 minutes to cook and they only had fried chicken on offer. This was like dinner hour too, so you really have to wonder why they didn’t prepare enough chicken for dinner service.

    1. Thanks Kei! I am also disappointed with Senor Pollo these past few months. We attempted to eat here for three times but didn’t get the chance to eat again because it’s either the chicken wasn’t cooked yet, or they were full house that day and get this – we were told they weren’t accepting customers for dine in. I know that popular restaurants nowadays tend to have long queues, but not single one of them has ever denied a customer from eating there. If people like to eat at this restaurant, people are really willing to wait, like how Ramen Nagi, Tim Ho Wan or Ippudo is today. Either way, we were treated as if they didn’t need us as customers and that attitude is a major turn off.

      And I agree with you, there was nothing special about their chicken. I made this very clear with my review. It wasn’t the chicken, unlike what other bloggers say that it’s the best chicken they’ve ever tasted.

      Good for you that you can make your own patatas bravas and chimichurri! But for the ordinary people, we get to experience a grueling period of time falling in line to end up with basically, nothing.

      We haven’t returned back to Senor Pollo since then.

      Cheers!

  2. Thanks Kei! I am also disappointed with Senor Pollo these past few months. We attempted to eat here for three times but didn’t get the chance to eat again because it’s either the chicken wasn’t cooked yet, or they were full house that day and get this – we were told they weren’t accepting customers for dine in. I know that popular restaurants nowadays tend to have long queues, but not single one of them has ever denied a customer from eating there. If people like to eat at this restaurant, people are really willing to wait, like how Ramen Nagi, Tim Ho Wan or Ippudo is today. Either way, we were treated as if they didn’t need us as customers and that attitude is a major turn off.

    And I agree with you, there was nothing special about their chicken. I made this very clear with my review. It wasn’t the chicken, unlike what other bloggers say that it’s the best chicken they’ve ever tasted.

    Good for you that you can make your own patatas bravas and chimichurri! But for the ordinary people, we get to experience a grueling period of time falling in line to end up with basically, nothing.

    We haven’t returned back to Senor Pollo since then.

    Cheers!