Pio Pio

If this place was merely meh, I wouldn’t review it. I’m a big fan of the American Dream, and its great to see immigrants start businesses. But sadly, it is pretty bad. The chicken was dry, and I ordered dark meat. The sides were bland.
I have no idea why you would open a lousy chicken joint in the shadow of El Polllo Rico. I live close and really wanted to like this place but didn’t

I ordered ¼ chicken with two sides for $ 5.99 like the menu says. They had spicy cabbage, white and fried rice, fries, yuca, some peas/​carrot mix, plantains, salad. The salad was brown and the entire selection was looking astrocious except for the cabbage and plantains. So thats what I chose as my sides. I go to pay and the lady says 7.41 total. I say its $ 5.99, so $ 1.42 in tax. She looks over to her coworker and he says price change 6.99. I reply just now? WTF. I pay and leave for good! bye thanks for the memories

Great chicken and fries, not sure why this place is so empty when the other pollo place is so busy??? Yummy!

Five stars for a few reasons.
First, Pio Pio is one of the only drive thru’s left in north Arlington. That wins points with me since it seems every place with a take out window in this area is either under attack or has succumbed to their inevitable end.
Second, I have a sneaking suspicion that Pio Pio is in reality owned and operated by the exact same people as El Pollo Rico. I get that they are both Peruvian chicken and there shouldn’t be much variation there in the first place but they taste the exact same down to the sides. Pio Pio acts almost like an auxiliary shop if El Pollo Rico’s parking lot is overcrowded and street parking is gone.
Remember to ask for extra yellow sauce as they do not give you more than one even if you order a ½ chicken!

Wow. How did I not eat this chicken sooner? Yes, the outside of the building looks super sketchy but the chicken is absolutely delicious. The skin was perfectly seasoned, the chicken was moist and flavorful and the portion size was rather large. We drove right up to the window and ordered and the chicken was ready very quickly. It was steaming hot and they gave us so many sauces. The staff was very friendly. The chicken was priced very reasonably as well. We will definitely be back.

It’s funny (but probably not for the owners) how Pio Pio is a stone’s throw away from El Pollo Rico yet I’ve never seen it nearly as busy. There could be a line out the door for Rico and hardly a wait at Pio when the chicken, I think, is very nearly just as good.
Pio does make some great rotisserie chicken. They have yucca fries, vegetables, actual cole slaw (unlike Rico’s atrocious cole slaw), beans, and more choices as side options. If you want a sandwich: BAM! They have sandwiches. Although I haven’t tried them. They look average.
The atmosphere is what you’d expect, but it’s comfortable, and the staff are friendly. I’m a big proponent of Pio Pio. Definitely give it a try.

About a 2.5: Pio Pio has two locations — one in Arlington and one out in Wheaton. A family-​run restaurant, they have been around for more than 10 years. The menu offers Peruvian Charcoal Chicken (¼, ½, and a whole), platters (lomo saltado, pollo guisado, carne asada, etc.), salads, taquitos, pupusas, empanadas, and sides (spiced cabbage, rice, coleslaw, fries, beans, yucca, fried plantains, etc.). My husband and I stopped by to grab a quick dinner. We shared a ¼ Peruvian chicken that came with 2 sides (we opted for french fries and fried rice). The chicken itself was pretty okay — juicy enough, and the skin was well-​seasoned. The aji sauce was thicker in consistency and more on the mustardy/​tangy side, but it complemented the meat well. The fries were freshly-​cooked, but the oil seemed to be not changed recently, so you can taste sort of the griminess; I wasn’t a fan of the fried rice at all, but the hubsters thought it was ‘fine’ — it was more of a ‘buttered’ rice, rather than fried rice. The place doesn’t have the best ambiance, but there is plenty of seating and free parking around the side — they even have a drive-​thru! There was only one employee on shift when we were there, who was friendly enough! I think Pio Pio offers a solid Peruvian chicken; I would probably go there a little earlier in the day so that you can get the freshest parts as well as fresher sides.
+pretty okay Peruvian chicken with a thicker, mustard-​y aji sauce: D
+free parking adjacent to the restaurant
+go earlier for fresher sides
+has a drive-​thru!

Came after big lunch rush (1300) and was the third dine in customer. Was out of rice as a side which there really is no excuse for, but maybe they have a hot or not policy.
¼ chicken with two sides for $ 7 is a bit of a high price point but chicken seasoning, flavor, and quality was very solid. Fries were crispy and fresh. Plantains had that nice glaze on it but were a bit cold. Quality of green and yellow sauce were comparable to competitors.
A clean establishment with friendly staff. Not a destination chicken joint but would return if convenient. Drive thru window is nice feature!

We ordered a whole chicken to go, while we wait I saw FLIES over empanadas, have to be careful with the food

Let’s start off with the «first impression» = DIRTY. Parking lot is dirty, pavement cracked, and «drive thru»? Nothing different from inside. This place is dirty, discussing. No wonder why 12:30pm (lunch time) there’s only me and another customer. The seats are covered with a clothe that looks like a 8 year old did it. The food is not the best, I’ve had better at other competitors. If u can drive the extra mile, don’t come here for chicken. Z burger is across the street and much better place! Don’t waist your money here. NO CUSTOMER SERVICE AT ALL!!! Rude people!!! I WILL NEVER NEVER RECOMMEND THIS PLACE.

This is my third time here and never disappointed. I took my friends to Pio-​Pio in Arlington VA and everybody agreed to come back soon! The chicken is amazing! OMG Fresh, juicy Delicious! Anytime in Virginia we will go to Pio Pio.
My recommendations include the ½ chicken with fried yuca and plantain. They also have fries, rice, beans, vegetables, salad, spicy cabbage and other side options to choose. You must try the famous Lomo Saltado!
Very important, if you are in a hurry! You can use the drive thru is very convenient.

I was in the area and craving Peruvian chicken-​was about to walk to El Pollo Rico but decided against it because I still get mad that they don’t have yucca fries. As I was walking towards Clarendon, I saw a sign in Spanish for chicken at Pio Pio and quickly Unilocaled to see if it’s Peruvian.
This place has yucca fries! I got a whole chicken w/​two sides for about $ 15 so it’s a little cheaper than EPR. I can’t do a comparison of the chicken though since I really have to have it side by side to have a good memory. But I thought Pio Pio’s chicken was nice, flavorful, and tender, so works for me.
Yucca fries and the plaintains were good. Their yellow sauce is like other places but the green sauce was a little different (I think they use a different pepper perhaps, still good though). When the guy gave me my chicken, I asked for some extra sauces, which he gave me w/​o charging extra (some places do that)

Was great. Greatly seasoned chicken, sweet plantains, superb cabbage. Green sauce was thin and tasty. Good job.

El Pollo Rico was packed and I just so happened to have the peruvian chicken craving while getting gas at the Hess station across the street. Pio Pio was just staring me in the face and I figured I’d take a shot plus they have a drive through.
Looking in, Pio Pio was not as crowded like maybe 2 people were in the restaurant. I drove up to the drive-​thru window and ordered a ¼ chicken and two sides (yucca and rice and beans), paid the nice lady and drove off on my merry way. Chicken was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. The yucca was a bit hard like it was lying out for a while and rice and beans were eh so I poured alot of that green sauce on it.
Pio Pio was an A-​OK stop given the circumstances, it was cold and I was on the go so No complaints. If I had a choice, however, I’d go the extra block to El Pollo Rico…

This place was awfully dead for 6:30pm on Wednesday. I pulled into the small parking lot with only one other car there. As I walked up to the door, it looked as though the place was closed because at a glance there was no one inside.
I placed my take-​out order of a whole chicken and 4 sides using a $ 20 DoubleTake voucher that I had bought a long time ago and was about to expire. The cashier looked it over very carefully, almost like she had never seen one before. I was a bit nervous she wouldn’t honor it, but alas she did. I paid the difference of the bill in cash and for some reason she seemed confused as to how much she owed me back. It was just a weird feeling I guess also because it was so quiet. Come to think of it, I don’t think there was any music in the restaurant either so it was really quiet.
The whole experience made me nervous about what the food would taste like, but I was happy to find out once I got home, the chicken was delicious. The sides on the other hand, not so much. The french fries were okay, the fried yuca on the other hand was different from other places. Most of the pieces we had, had some strange fibrous strands which didn’t affect the taste, but did affect the texture a little. The fried rice was really salty.
All in all, not a bad experience. Worth giving another try.

I really wanted to like this place. I read a lot of the other negative Unilocal reviews but decided to try it anyway… First of all, it’s a drive thru, but I waited over 10 minutes for my order when I was the only customer there besides one person inside?
My chicken and yucca had a strange taste, like they had been cooked in dirty water. Dry and tasteless.
Not worth it at all.

The owner was friendly and upon informing me that they didnt have empanadas today, he was glad to take my suggestions for a vegan empanada (black beans/​peppers/​onions) and a dessert empanada (apple/​cinnamon). I ended up having a vegetarian burrito with a side of fries. The burrito was fresh and delicious and the fries were perfectly seasoned. I will call ahead for the empanadas next time.
Regarding the towing scam apparently the landlord that the restaurant rents from has the lot rented out at night after the restaurant closes. No fault of the restaurants!

You’ll see two extremes as themes when you browse through the reviews of Pio Pio: one is, why does this place even bother trying when the far superior, Anthony Bourdain-​blessed El Pollo Rico is one block away? The other theme is… well, suspicious from glowing praise, to be honest. That’s Unilocal for you.
I’m all for small businesses succeeding under the threat of chain take-​out joints, but sometimes small businesses also need to know when to call it quits. I have never had to wait in line, even once for one person, over the ten years I checked in every once in a while to see if things improved. They never did. And since there is almost zero traffic at Pio Pio, everything is stale. Nothing is fresh from the rotisserie oven. And the cashier will process any credit card transaction while adding a surcharge for that (which has always violated contracts until very recently), without warning. Not so at El Pollo Rico (and no surcharge there).
Are you sensing a theme here? El Pollo Rico. One block away.

Not sure I get why there are so many poor reviews for this place – just went with my co-​workers and was VERY pleasantly surprised. In fact, I went to El Pollo Rico last Saturday for the first time and can honestly say that it wasn’t better than Pio Pio (it wasn’t necessarily worse either – they were both very good).
I got ¼ chicken, fries, and rice. No complaints.
In short: delicious chicken, solid sides, great price. I’ll be returning shortly.

Wasn’t exactly my original destination but had to when I saw the lines to EPR was about 2 miles long to order and another 10 miles out the door to pick up your food. That is just ridiculous!
So I ended up having lunch here not wanting to waste my time in line for the same peruvian pollo!
Most of the customers here are the constructions folks taking a break for lunch. SERVICE was well order and pay and we will bring your food out.
PARKING was NOT a problem since the lot was half empty compared to EPR where it is always full.
Overall, a good alternative if you are in a hurry to get your chow down.