Al Carbon

Aw man {sigh}. This was one of those specialty, kinda hidden places that you think you will be your secret little motherlode of delicious, out-​of-​the-​ordinary food. After delaying dropping in for months, finally my expectations dropped down to reality too.
For me Peruvian food leaves all other Latin cuisine in the dust in terms of both variety and richness of flavor. Even the classic rotisserie chicken, Pollo a la brasa, which is the basis for a restaurant empire or two in Lima, has a special marination and other seasoning that is distinctive and addictive when done well. Here? Not quite. It was good if a bit dry but a notch short of «Oh I’m definitely coming back for this bird.»
The bigger issue is the supporting cast of side dishes. Again, the classic side for Pollo a la brasa is french fries, featuring a spicy dipping sauce (ají), usually two. Both the fries and the sauce missed the mark significantly. The fried yucca was better in that it was actually crispy on the outside, almost fluffy inside but the sauce was the same so getting to «wow, this is so freakin’ delicious!» didn’t happen. And the plantains weren’t really even in the passable category. The Crema Volteada, which for as many times as I’ve tried it in Peru and here in the States is identical to Spanish Flan, did at least end the experience on an tasty note. Sadly though, with other solid Peruvian restaurants sprinkled around the Bay Area, that dish and this bright and friendly place is likely going to become just a footnote in my personal restaurant guide.

I don’t understand how this place stays in business. We just received our order from a food delivery service. First of all our meal was supposed to come with two large sides. We got the large beans which was your good old baked beans from a can (beans that you usually get at a family BBQ) But our second large side was suppose to be a Large rice but it came with literally only two table spoons of rice. Next we open up our plantains and they were sooooo dry. It’s almost like they forgot to season it or something. Tasted like cardboard. Lastly, the main dish. The chicken was undercooked!!! Every item we ordered was screwed up. And not to mention this place is pricey for what you get.

** 2.5 stars ***
We were driving around downtown on New Years Day and were surprised at how many places were closed :(We happened to pass by this establishment and it was open, so thought new year, try something new.
Very small place, has 3 – 4 tables. This is definitely a family run business as there were kids running around in the kitchen.
I ordered a quarter dark chicken with mac and cheese and plantain fries. Part of my meal was heated up in a microwave and the chicken came from the buffet pans up front. Let’s start with the chicken, it was juicy and had flavor. The plantain fries did not look like the picture, it was sliced as normal plantains would be and they were much drier than normal plantains; they really tasted like fries though, but really dry. The mac and cheese is a do NOT order item, really watery.
Service was friendly. It was a bit chilly in there waiting for food, so bring a jacket. Parking was pretty easy, but nothing was open downtown, so parking was really easy everywhere that night.

I was walking to Caltrain the other day and saw this place. Being a huge fan of rotisserie chicken and Peruvian chicken in particular I had to give it a try.
A few people mentioned the staff not being friendly or polite. I fortunately didn’t have that experience. They were nice when I ordered.
The chicken was very juicy and the skin was nice and crisp. Quite tasty really. The yucca fries are also good, but I wish I’d gotten something else instead of the plantain fries. There’s nothing wrong with them just I thought I was getting the fried sweet ones which these aren’t.
My only reason for 3 stars is it’s pretty expensive. My lunch of half chicken and a juice was $ 20. While I enjoyed it I’m not sure how often I could come to spend that much on lunch.
As a side note: a whole chicken meal is $ 29, while a half chicken meal is $ 15. You get two sides with both. If I were going for a whole chicken I would probably order two halves so I could get more sides but that’s just me Bc I’m a sides fiend.

Fast, casual, and inexpensive Peruvian food. Ordered the half chicken with yucca fries and the house salad. The chicken was tender, flavorful, and seasoned perfectly, and I had enough left over for lunch the next day! Service was fast and courteous. If you’re looking for something quick but tasty, I definitely recommend this place!

Not the fanciest place to eat but the food is delish! Pollo a la brasa just like back home with french fries, salad and aji! Yummm they also have yuca and other side options. Drinks are a bit pricy but good options

Their chicken is juicy bomb! Yucca fries are delightful. Some other items are hit or miss. Purple corn dessert was weird.

very disappointing service! Muy mal servicio al cliente!
I ordered a pollo and everything seem fine until i saw my phone. I have two charge alerts from this restaurant at first i thought maybe it just was a mistake but i logged into my online banking and i was being charged twice. I called the restaurant and their answer was «it is normal, it just the receipt gets send twice alot», so i told him its not a duplicate receipt but a duplicate charge, it took them like 10 mins to figure out what a double charge meant! Then the guy say no its because i input the card incorrectly the first time and got denied. I told him i can do a screenshot and show him that i am getting charged twice so he put me on hold again and then said to go to the restaurant and show him so i can get my money back. I told him id be there today. A couple of minutes later a woman who didnt even identify herself was telling me she was calling from al carbon, and not to bother to go the restaurant because they would not give me the money back and that i needed to wait until their statement comes to see if i can get it back. I told her statements come when the cycle closes which its normally a month and that it was ridiculous that she wanted me to wait a month to get the money back. She said o well its a long weekend and i cannot do anything because everything is closed and she will not see anything until tuesday. I told her that is ridiculous, the only thing closed are thr actual bank branches but as a vendor she has customer service line that she can contact to verify the double charge. But her position the whole phone call was she couldnt do anything since its a holiday. I told her if her customer service did not work she can try going on her ONLINE BANKING WHICH IS AVAILABLE ²⁴⁄₇ and check, see if she can get online support. Yet she said no cause its a holiday weekend. Then said i guess i can try and will call you back. Well its a week later and still nothing, I HAD TO CALL MY BANK AND DO A STOP PAYMENT. I could not believe the response of this restaurant and how bad this service was. Either the workers dont know anything about technology for banking or they are just too lazy to even bother to correct their mistakes. Never again will i order from this restaurant. Awful experience, i would give it negative stars if possible

man I am really loving the come up of Peruvian restaurants in the area lately.
This one is pretty good, more of a take out type place but I dig it.
They have a lot of sides and tons of desserts.
The fried calamari rings are really good.
I loved the empanada de carne and the purple corn pudding.
The workers were really nice.
Its one of those great meals that make you sleepy afterwards.
I am definitely feeling this place.
Everything tastes soo fresh here.
I love the sauces.

Lets start, if you’re really a pollo a la brasa lover this is not the place for you. The chicken looks like it was prepared yesterday, its dry and over season, same thing with the fries. You can see the kitchen and you see the fries just laying there. And prety much every dish that they have its already made and all they do is warm it up. But im sure if they made everything fresh i would be wrinting a different review. The only good thing i can say is that they have casino cookies for sale! Amazing! Specially the lucuma flavor.

Place opened two months ago and I just saw it for the first time. I love Peruvian rotisserie chicken and have had it everywhere so I had to try it. We ordered a half chicken and the causa .
Chicken was moist and had very good flavor. The yuca fries were creamy and delicious. Causa was fresh and just ok.
The aji sauce while good should be delicious because it by itself should bring in people. Most of the good Peruvian restaurants in the area have amazing sauces using aji Amarillo, rocoto and hucatay and I’d love to see them highlight it here too.
Overall we were happy and are definitely coming back.

It’s been open for 5 days, and it’s great. It’s peruvian style chicken, and the fried plantain and fried yucca were perfect. haven’t had it this good since New York City. it’s a small place and casual, with fabulous food. very inexpensive.