Mr Pio Pio

EDIT: I apologize the previous review was meant for another place.
This place was great. The portions were large and the sauce was plentiful. Although the there may be space for no more than 20. It has a lot of history and culture.

Mr. Pio Pio is the epitome of the perfect ethnic hole in the wall place. The food is crazy good, very reasonably priced (although no lunch specials), consistent, and covers a wide range from the familiar rotisserie chicken to the unfamiliar goat. It seems spot on ethnic (though what do I know about south american cuisine…).
My favorite here is the Pernil, kind of like a pork brisket, but I have tried over half the menu and have really liked everything. We usually do pickup so I can’t comment on delivery, though we eat in fairly often to, its never too busy at lunch and there is always a table open. The atmosphere is nothing special — clean and not too crowded with tables, but very brightly lit, TVs always on, and people coming and going for food pickups.
One of the true ethnic stars of the capital region.

Food was awesome!!! It reminded me of Da Bronx, i have zero conplaints and highly recommend. My husband got the steak with peppers, white rice and beans with fried banana YUMMM. My daughter got fried shrimp sooo delicious. I had the stew beef sooooo good

I’ve lamented the lack of true latin cuisine in the region, when a fellow Unilocaler, Diana C, contacted me, and suggested I try Mr. Pio Pio. Surprised that I had never heard of it, over the mast weeks, I’ve tried their grilled beef, chicharones, Colombian sausage, lengua, chicken, arroz con pollo, breaded tilapia, spare ribs, tostones, maduros, beans, salad, rice, and several of the sauces. While I’ve liked some things (lengua and Colombia sausage) more than others (Tilapia), all were quite good, and for the price, I’m yet to find a better place in the region. For under $ 100, you can feed 10 people to the point of food coma. They deliver to my office, take credit cards, and they use Mealeo, which makes ordering a breeze. The phone is always answered promptly, great customer service, and speedy, free, delivery. It’s amazing that this is in my top 5 restaurants, and I’ve only now found out about it.

I came here for dinner on a Sunday. The food is very good. Don’t come with high expectations for the service or the ambiance, but the food is worth it. Glad we came.

Great food. Tried the Guatita which was excellent.

Love the food, it reminds me of my friend Peggy’s home cooking. The food comes out and and I love the generous portions, well of the dishes that I’ve had there so far have all been large portions.
My favorite dish is the Aroz con Pollo with my favorite side of maduros. I love all the veggies in it red peppers, green peppers green peas, carrots, onions, olives, scallions wait I am forgetting the chicken.
Lunch time it’s not so crowded so I eat in, most all the lunch ordering seems to be for pickups and delivery. I prefer to get out of my office for lunch, get some air.
This a small establishment so dinner time it is usually packed, well of the times I did eat dinner here it was always packed. Getting back to the portions I can never finish my lunch so I’ll take the rest to go my family loves my doggie bags.
I’m gonna keep coming back for more.

Very good food and reasonable prices. I have the steak platter (typical Colombian food) and the chicken stew which is my favorite. This place is your best bet for decent Latin food in the Troy/​Albany/​Latham area.

I REALLY was craving some rotisserie chicken, and had heard nothing but good things about this place. So I drove in hungry and with a plan. Get a quarter dark meat rotisserie chicken with a sode of chicharon. I got in at 11:45 and place my order, amd much to my dissapointmemt I am told that the chicken will not be ready for another 30 minutes. I think it is weird that they have been open for almost an hour and their most popular item was not read even during peak lunch hours (though the room was not busy addmitedly). So i got the chicken stew but was still able to get the chicharon. And when it came out I was impressed. HUGE chuncks of fried pork meat with a lime wedge. The lime provided and nice bright counterpoint to the heavy richness of the pork. And it was GOOOOOOD. I think I am hooked. Then the stew came out loaded with rice, potatoes, two hufe plantains and the chicken. The chicken stew was ok, nothing special, but everything else was great. But what bothered me was while I was eating, i saw about 5 orders of what I originally wanted come out the kitchen… and I have not been sitting here for that long. So that bothers me alot. But the people that work here are nice and the food os great, cheap, and plentiful. I will have to return for the chicken though…

Just go go to Mr Pio Pio. Always good, always fresh, always delicious. If you’re looking for ambiance look elsewhere but if you want inexpensive tasty food go here. Don’t miss the fruit smoothies, banana and mango are favorites. Make sure and ask for green sauce and a side of beans with your arroz con pollo.

I’ve often felt that people rely on takeout from restaurants far too much.
Takeout is terrible, and it’s a terrible way to judge a restaurant. Food degrades in transit. It does. Some food degrades worse than others. And amazingly, the food that degrades the most seems to be the food that most people get delivered.
Pizza steams in boxes.
Fried foods turn soft with steam.
Noodles soak up liquid and get mushy.
You know what travels well? Latin grilled chicken.
And that’s the niche that Mr. Pio Pio serves for me and my family. We want to serve dinner, maybe to guests, and neither cook nor break the bank? It’s Mr. Pio Pio. The order is pretty much as many whole chickens as we need and as much of that green sauce as they’ll give us.
Some of the other things are fine. But it’s the chicken and greens sauce that are the stars. Some of my friends swear by the whole fried fish, but for that you’ve got to eat in the restaurant. And that’s fine. It will give you a chance to try some of the other fried dishes like the chicharon.
Even still, it would be hard to say no to getting a side order of a quarter chicken.

So my idiomatic Spanish isn’t all it could be, but the only time I’ve ever seen the word «pio» it referred to the chirp or cheep sound a little bird might make, as in «don’t say a cheep» meaning «don’t say anything at all». What to make of Mr Cheep Cheep? Well, I will say more than a pio pio or three.
First off: total hole in the wall, and that’s not a terrible thing. We literally had to step over a pile of somebody’s discarded possessions that had been strewn over the sidewalk in front in order to get in the restaurant the day we went for dinner. That did not deter us, nor the reprobates accosting us on the way in, but we figured we’d pass that along to you in case it was an issue for you.
They have a kids menu, btw, that’s paperclipped to the regular menu. Like most of the dishes, the portions are large — even our better-​than-​average-​sized-​appetite chilluns could not finish their portions.
Disappointments: they were out of both goat and tripe. Since this is the only place in the Capital Region /​CRUST we’ve seen that had either on the menu, I guess we’ll have to come back on a day when they’re not out.
Otherwise: awesome. It’s a sort of fusion Latin cuisine, the way Americanized Chinese restaurants around here aren’t really authentic anything but pull in elements from all sorts of different Asian traditions and then gussy it up. The best recommendation I can give you here is everybody else eating in the restaurant that day was speaking Spanish (and the staff indulged me and my gabacho accent) so on the autentico-​ometer, you have to give them some props.
We had an awesome caldo de bola — good old soup with cilantro and a hearty complex broth and a whole bunch of semi-​identifiable ingredients. One of us ordered the empanizado but actualy got the arroz con pollo, but didn’t bother to send it back because it looked so tasty. And it was. I got the meat plate, beans and rice, and the kids both got what was basically country fried steak in a pan-​latin style. The plantains were excellent, as was the Jarritos.
Muy saboroso, and prompt and friendly service. If you don’t mind stepping over the garbage and hobos, by all means please go.

Small and quaint place; It is a Latin american food restaurant (colombian I think). I had lunch there once and ordered one of the signature platters. Quantity and taste was pretty good. Worth the money. Also the waiters were friendly.

I found this place a while ago while looking for some good Latin American food in Albany, walking distance. Was a bit skeptical at first, since I never really heard much about it. But I ended up being very pleasantly surprised, and been coming back ever since!
The food is really good, the best Latin American food I tried in the capital region. My favorite dish by far is the Bandeja Tipica: steak and fried egg with some fried plantains and chicharon, and of course rice and beans on the side. It is pretty hefty meal, and unless I am dying of hunger, I can’t finish the thing in one sitting. I had some of the beef dishes and they are also very good. Prices are very reasonable. It’s good to get some fried yucca for the table. And they also have Inca Kola, another one of my favorites!
The atmosphere is not anything special, just a few tables. Looks kind of like a cafeteria. But I give 5 stars just cause of the food, as it is amazing!

I’ve been going here for a few years now. And they have consistently been delicious. Try the fried fish or the grand feast or the «typical breakfast» aka lots of meats and a fried egg. You will not be disappointed. Pro tip: get the red sauce and pour over everything

One of my favorite places to eat… period. Try the #6 with the green sauce with a manzana verde soda. If you are a fan of flan, they have a great homemade flan as well.

This is a great place for authentic Latin food. The restaurant is humble and cozy but a decent place for either take out or a sit down meal. My favorite dish is the bandeja tipica. The plantains were delicious, as were the beans and rice. The steak was also cooked perfectly and just the right texture.

Food is amaizing and fresh! Anybody that makes bad reviews about this place is because THEY DON’T HAVE ANY IDEA ABOUT REAL LATIN FOOD!!. Maybe a nasty pre-​cooked frozen plate from fridays is better for them.

Mr. Bueno Bueno. Just make sure you didn’t keep that I-​phone in the car with the door unlocked.

I threw away half the food.
I can only image the other Unilocal reviewers are bandwagoning this place with positive reviews because they’re afraid to be labeled as ignorant to the tastes the previous reviewers experienced? I don’t get it. You guys need to think independently regardless of previous reviews.
The food is very boring, extremely fatty, dry and of weak flavor. I truly believe I could have prepared better food at age 12 than the food being produced at this place.
I placed a delivery order for 5 items. Two entrees, dessert, drink, and one soup. (The drink and soup were OK). Everything was from the cheapest ingredients, poorly fried or with little to no flavor beyond the most simplest flavors that are dull and uninspired. I enjoy simple quality ingredient flavors as much as the next guy. You can eat local farm-​grown cauliflower raw with nothing on it and be blown away. This was just BORING flat-​out low-​quality ingredients prepared by a hack novice.
The woman who delivered the food reminded me of Rigoberta Menchú, so I’m guessing there’s an «authentic» aspect to the restaurant somewhere? But somehow it never made it to the food. Maybe there are a few other good items on the menu other than the drink and soup I had? But I’m suppose to wade through lousy orders to find those few gems hidden in the menu? I think not. Time to move on.
Yes, the food is inexpensive, but still not worth it in my humble opinion. Can I have my money back?
The other reviewers need to get their taste buds reset.

Arroz con pollo was delicious. The fried plantains were great too. Look forward to going back.