Pollo Norteno

The food is good the problem is they do not pay the waitresses in fact there is a sign on the wall in spanish stating this. totally illegal and I will file a report with the government. The other thing that burns my ass is they charged me 1.75 for a glass of water, not a bottle but a glass also illegal I think and so dishonest I would never go here again because of this so my guess is we have a greedy fat mexican owner who thinks he is still in latin america taking advantage of the customers and his help, fuck you pollo norteno and I do hope that you burn to the ground

I don’t even know where to begin with this place. Every single thing about my experience here was awful. I’m no stranger to hole-​in-​the-​wall Buford Highway tacos, and have had enough tacos from Del Rey and Taco Veloz to feed half of Mexico, so my expectations were pretty high that this might be yet another diamond in the rough. No.
First of all, Unilocal says they deliver. A taco place that delivers?! I couldn’t contain my excitement, so I called, ordered, and then was told to come pick it up. Fine, whatever. I should have expected that anyways. I arrive at the place 20 minutes after placing my order (they told me it would take 15) and proceeded to wait another 20 minutes at the hot, stuffy restaurant for my food. During that time, they inform me that they are out of carnitas. At that point I had been there for 10 minutes already, but whatever. It’s Friday night, I get it, people run out of stuff. I’m still not pissed at this point. Of course I hit every light on Chamblee Tucker trying to get home and am starving and so excited to eat until… I open the boxes. Not only did they not give me what I ordered, everything was almost gray and inedible. It was all worse looking and tasting than freezer burritos. Oh, and did I mention their health score was 77? So not only was the food disgusting to look at, it was probably riddled with salmonella. I tried a bite of most of the items anyways because I hate wasting food, but most of it went in the garbage and then I drank a gin and cried into my pillow thinking of all the children in the world who would gladly eat my salmonella infested garbage.
Just…don’t go here. Just don’t. Everything about it was a disappointment. Except their orange salsa. That was alight, but the chips with it were so ridiculously stale I couldn’t enjoy it.

Absolutely love the steak fajitas — they are juicy and flavorful. Thank you!

We enjoyed the food from here and I’d probably give it 3.5 stars if I could. Got the family size grilled chicken with sides. The chicken was nice and smoky but unfortunately kind of dry. The sides were fine– fries and beans/​rice with tortillas. Fresh salsas from the bar were outstanding.
We’ll probably try this place again with the hopes that the grill just had an off night with the chicken.

L-​O-​V-​E this place. I always passed it and never thought to come in but my Mexican husband ordered food from here one day and I’ve been hooked ever since. We always order para llevar. The chicken is fresh grilled smoky and delicious. We usually get the whole chicken with rice beans and tortillas, its a lot of food for the price and we always have leftovers. My favorite salsa is the smoky orange salsa we usually get a big container of that to go. If you like rotisserie chicken, you will never go back after you have this.

Absolutely love the grilled chicken — it is juicy and flavorful. Like some of the other Unilocalers, we stumbled on this place by accident, but decided to grab a quick dinner before a movie at Regal 24. Boy, was I glad we decided to check this place out. Yes, the furniture is tacky, and yes, the menu is a hodge podge of Mexican favorites and other American foods, but everything is cheap and tasty and obviously, homemade. Everything seems to come with tortillas, beans, rice and «salad» (lettuce and tomatoes), but I love this place and definitely want to stop by. Muchas gracias!

Let me start by saying if I were rating Pollo Norteno on the chicken alone I would have given a much higher rating but since I’m not… the rating stands. The restaurant is tucked away in a small parking lot which gets pretty packed during the lunch rush. When I entered I was welcomed (I hope you can sense my sarcasm) by a group of employees leaning on the counter. I asked one of the employees if they had a takeout menu and she stared for a minute, grabbed a large menu and handed it to me.
I decided on the ¼ white meat grilled chicken combo. I placed my order and the cashier asked if I wanted a drink, I said no because I thought it was extra. She then proceeded to ring up the order, before doing so she asked if I wanted chips. I asked how much extra they were and she said they were free. I was a little confused as to why she waited to ring up my order and ask me if I wanted a drink and chips if they were included in the combo. When she finally told me the total I confirmed with her that she rang up white meat because the price differs. She shook her head yes, gave me my cup and bag for chips, and I waited for my meal.
The chips are located in a large vat type warmer. Next to it you’ll find a salsa bar reminiscent of many restaurants on Buford Highway. My meal didn’t take much time to come out. I grabbed a takeout menu and stuck it in my bag and headed out the door. Normally I check my meals before I leave but I was heading somewhere in a hurry and failed to do so. When I got around to opening my meal, long gone from the restaurant, what did i see? Ding ding, not a breast and a wing but a drumstick and thigh. It was surrounded by rice, some type of bean purée, lettuce and tomato, and a stack of corn tortillas. The chicken was moist and flavorful, the rice was bland, I didn’t attempt to eat the «salad» and the texture of the beans let’s just say I wasn’t a fan. The tortillas were decent if you’re a fan of corn tortillas. The chips and salsa were standard. For $ 6.41 it wasn’t a bad deal. Next time I will probably only get the chicken or try one of the other menu items.

In Short: The food is not bad. But, since you’re on Buford Hwy anyway, you should go somewhere else. Also, from what I can tell, chicken is the specialty.
Sadly, I stumbled upon this place after not being able to find the restaurant I was looking for. On the whole, I wasn’t impressed or disappointed.
The most glaring aspect of PN – which hits you as soon as you walk in – is the overly-​festive décor. It gives you the feeling of a cheap tex-​mex chain. Needless to say, I wasn’t a fan. However, I wasn’t willing to let that disqualify my meal before I even tried it; there were enough clues otherwise that I wasn’t going to get a big-​box, low-​quality meal.
My meal was mediocre. I got the vegetarian burrito. (As a side note, there weren’t as many veg-​friendly meals as I would have hoped, but there was enough.) It had most of the right ingredients (e.g., lettuce, tomato, beans, etc.) and they seemed fresh, but the main problem was that the beans were cold. There’s a salsa bar, but there’s no sign to indicate what you’re getting yourself into.
I’d recommend going elsewhere. Buford Hwy is filled with fantastic Mexican restaurants; this one is not in the top tier.

My go-​to place for less Americanized Mexican food. If you go for lunch, be prepared to «enjoy» Mexican soap-​operas blaring over the TV’s. The décor looks as though it could have come from the Mexico section of «It’s A Small World» in Disney World — extremely colorful, hand-​carved-​looking chairs and tables.
The grilled chicken meal hits the spot every time, however, varies with each time I’ve been. Sometimes dry, sometimes really greasy — but always tasty! Plentiful rice, beans, and tortillas just add to the meal.

Still trying to find mind-​blowing grilled or rotisserie chicken in Atlanta. The chicken was grilled well and flavorful but a bit dry, esp the white meat. Prices were good and comes with a lot of rice and beans. My order was to go so can’t comment on service. Search continues…

I gave this place two stars because the site doen’t allow half stars, otherwise I would give it a solid 1 ½.
I must agree with the the praise on the décor, but I was quite disappointed in the breakfast service we received. I really wanted to asked the cook when was the last time he read his own menu.
My wife ordered the Huevos A La Mexicana (Eggs Mexican Style), which the menu stated came with rice, beans and FLOUR tortillas. I ordered the Huevos Rancheros, which are supposed to be two eggs sunny side up and comes with the same. My wife requested corn tortillas, which the waitress concurred with. I told her I wanted it the way it comes (meaning with flour tortillas). She looked at me like I had to heads. I explained myself to her and it was like she still didn’t get it.
Well, we finished placing our order. When we were served, there wer french fries on our plates instead of the rice the menu states. When I asked wat’s up with that, the waitress again looked at me like I had two heads again, went back to the kitchen and asked the cook. He told her to tell us that the rice wasn’t ready and wouldn’t be for a while. NOT COOL.
Really, so you give us french fries without even asking? This is BREAKFAST TIME!
It’s 9 in the morning!
When I opened the neatly wrapped foil which should contain flour tortillas, I found corn. In order not to confuse our nice waitress again, I decided to just go for it and I’m glad I did. The corn tortillas I got by mistake turned out to be VERY GOOD. they seemed to be made on the premises. The waitress came back to our table with some flour tortillas when she realized she made another boo-​boo, which was not necessary at this point since I had already finished mine and most of my wife’s.
Then to top it off, the Huevos Rancheros were not. These were over-​medium. NOT COOL, AGAIN. Really, if we were’t hungry and pressed for time, we would have definitely went somewhere.
One thing I must say, even though my eggs weren’t cooked the right way, the sause they were dressed with made up for that mistake and we actually left there pretty satisfied even though we didn’t eat the fries.
The manager was nice enough to comp our coffees in order to make up for the lack of readiness on the cook’s part, but we would have been happier if they had deducted the menu price of the french fries instead.
My wife and I have both decided that we’re gona give their breakfast another chance and will try their lunch service just once, just out of curiosity because it does look good.

Great food good prices. One of my favorite spots

Wasn’t sure what to expect walking in and to my surprise it is open and festive. There are booths along the wall and in the center of the room are tables and brightly painted wooden chairs in different colors with peppers and sun flowers on them, cute. It reminded me of one of those places you go to on vacation.
After sitting down chips and a dish of green advacado salsa was brought to the table and this stuff is Gooood, has a kick to it and Will make your tongue dance. If spicy is not your thing there is a small salsa bar available, help yourself to the chips.
The restaurant advertises Charbroiled Chicken :
Never frozen, Farm Raised, No Hormones or Preservatives .
The menu is large and has a number of Items to choose from, after speaking to the waitresses we decided on the Charbroiled plate, it comes w/​beans, rice, (3) corn tortillas and a salad.
Bring your appetite .

When the chicken hit the table it smelled wonderful, had a beautiful
golden color and tasted rich and smokey only the way grilled meats can.
I will be returning again and the waitress was attentive.

This place not only changed addresses (moved from its longstanding original location [that was once a long time ago a Blimpie’s] to a couple of blocks up Chamblee-​Tucker before Chamblee-​Tucker crosses Shallowford Rd.) but also has changed names slightly.
It went from, «El Norteno» to «Pollo Norteno.» The reason I know this is the same business is because of a sign, posted at the old location, stating that they have moved to the aforementioned new address.
I also know that a long while ago the «new» location used to house Cleve’s, once one of the best neighborhood meat and three dives /​holes-​in-​the-​wall restaurants that was famous for its fried chicken. So I am liking the irony.
The food at Pollo Norteno is basically as good as ever. Now there is table service where before there was only counter service. I got a quarter chicken (breast and wing) and it came with rice, beans, and warm soft corn tortillas.
For those who have never been, this chicken has a unique flavor since it is both smoked and grilled. I usually pull the meat off the bone with a fork and put it in a tortilla with some fresh pico de gallo, some fresh salsa and a dallop of rice and beans. It is amazingly good.
One complaint is that the chips and salsa that came to the table before the chicken arrived were substandard if not outright disappointing. The chips were tough and stale; the salsa was watery and weak. The variety of fresh salsas at the salsa bar help mollify the problem somewhat; but hey, you are really here for the fantastic chicken anyway — so the bad chips were not a big problem.
Another complaint is that the prices are a little steeper than I like to spend in an area full of cheap eateries. But also keep in mind that the place was pretty crowded /​busy at lunchtime on a Saturday and is also quite popular with both the neighborhood Mexicanos as well as area gringos like myself. Perhaps this speaks volumes.