Rico Pollo & Steak

I have been to several other Peruvian establishments before this one, so I had certain standards set in-​mind.
I already had lomo saltado on my mind beore I decided to drive out to the restaurant. When I got there I was greeted by the nice staff. I asked for the menu and was disappointed to see they did not have as many dishes as the other restaurants I have been to… no lomo saltado. So I went to the counter and the gentleman gave me an overview of what they offered. I saw the steak, chicken, fish and pork. He told me I can pick an entrée or two and then two sides. It was so hard deciding because I wanted to get as close to a lomo saltado as possible, but I gave up and selected the steak, white rice, and corn. Without a drink, the food came up to a little over $ 11.
As far as the quality of food goes, it is good. Not GREAT, but good. I’ve had better steak at other Peruvian restaurants. I just wish I had my lomo saltado.
In summary, the employees were good, but they could do better on the menu selection and food quality. I do not see myself going back often; maybe if I just wanted the rotisserie chicken that any Peruvian restaurant would have. The reason I even picked this place is it was very close by and I did not feel like driving for more than 5 minutes. They are worth a try at least once.

I think cause I’m black they allowed all Hispanics to order b4 me if that’s not racist then what is? So I left and they could careless I left the store.

I’m not sure if this review should be a 3 or a 4. I wish I had the option to give 3.5 stars, that is my rating. First, let me lead by disclosing that this review is written under the ITIS (for those who don’t know, this is a term used to denote being full to capacity from eating).
The food was good. I don’t know how to better describe it. No one food item I ate was dry or not flavorful. The setup is reminiscent of a pizza/​sub shop, which is different. If your hungry or in the mood for some chicken with starchy sides, this is your place :) I am a vegetable lover, so not having many nutritionally rich veggies is the main reason restaurants don’t warrant a 4 or above in my book. But I divert. Overall cool place. Good food. They have fútbol playing and free newspapers. Oh, and the pricing is inexpensive. So this will be a place to return back to when in the area.
WAIT!!! This is the topper… They have ice cream and a good number of flavors. I had SuPeRmAn and it was something good. Yah!

i wanted some peruvian charcoal grilled chicken and a side of maduros (plantains). i needed it. it was calling to me. i was practically drooling with desire. BUT at 5:00 on a friday afternoon even the strongest yearning wouldn’t get me to drive through heinous traffic to my beloved don pollo’s in bethesda. as fate would have it, i took a wrong turn at 450 and what do i see?! rico pollo & steak. it must be a sign. i was meant to have pollo y maduros that day, gracias a dios! or… maybe not. maybe i’d sinned and was being punished. *sigh*
the chicken looked beautiful, crispy skin glistening and peppered with plenty of spices. the yucca fries were huge and crunchy but not too hard. the chunks of fried plantains were huge and the portion generous. i was swooning as i watched the kitchen guy assemble my orders. as i got ready to pay i saw it — the milk fo the gods — horchata! HORCHATA!!! i had to have some. i paid and almost skipped out of RP&S, giddy to get home and devour a tasty meal.
*cue violins*
devastation! the food was pitiful. disappointing would be a gross understatement. for all it’s salivation-​inducing scents and appearance, it tasted like nothing. NOTHING i tell you! the chicken was mostly dry with a few parts that were moist — but more greasy than juicy in those parts. the beautiful skin — oh that deceptive skin — was less crispy than it looked and not at all tasty. it didn’t taste bad; it just didn’t TASTE. i could’ve chewed paper and gotten more flavor. ditto for the yucca fries. they were as crunchy as they looked, but again, no taste. i tried to liven up the chicken with the aji sauces and boy was that a mistake. the aji amarillo tasted like straight mayonaise and the aji verde was way more tart than i’m used to. the spicy cilantro kick had me puckering after one taste. i was really beginning to worry when i reached for the maduros b/​c that is one of my most favorite foods on the planet. THANK GOD, the maduros were sweet. i’m not willing to give RP&S a lot of credit for that though, b/​c i seriously doubt they grow plantains behind the restaurant. and even though the maduros were sweet, it seemed like they were fried unevenly or something b/​c some were very crispy and others were quite mushy. shame, shame.
in my lust for a chicken treat, i’d ordered two orders of all this crap, thinking it’d be my food for the whole weekend. looking at the table i thought, what am i supposed to do with all this now? nearly despondent, i took the straw and pierced the top of my cup of horchata and took a long, strong slurp. SALVATION! horchata is so hard to get right and RP&S got it oh so right. it tasted exactly the way horchata is supposed to taste — like someone threw a snickerdoodle and a scoop of vanilla ice cream into a blender with some ice. *smacking lips* yum YUM. even better, as i slurped away at my horchata and started to re-​pack the food to put it away, manchild came home with one of his BFFs in tow. food you don’t want + hungry teen boys = problem solved! they dumped both aji sauces all over the chicken and hot sauce and ketchup all over the cassava fries (i kept the maduros for myself) and before i’d finished my horchata the food was GONE.
i guess it all worked out in the end, but RP&S will not be seeing me again unless i get a mean craving for horchata, and that only happens a few times a year. the 2 stars are solely based on the horchata and the fact that the staff was very friendly. whatever i did to upset the pollo gods, i’m sorry. *on my knees*: please don’t mess w/​don pollo. a girl needs a good chicken fix once in a while. thank you. amen.