El Rancho

My fiancée and I found this place using Unilocal.We were really excited to try it out, but when we pulled up it looked like the place closed down and was out of business! Wish we could have tried it, the pictures and reviews looked good!

I ordered several pupusas today, I was dissapointed because they were stale, burnt, soggy and literally fell apart. I ended up throwing them in the trash, I am never coming here again.

Perfectly cooked chicken. We were looking for a quick dinner for a group of four. The whole chicken with two sides (black beans & rice and tortillas) was great. The chicken feel off of the bone and the skin was crisp and wonderfully seasoned. Great place to feed visiting friends and family.

Randomly came in here last night after dropping off a comforter, I’m definitely happy I did! The chicken and empanadas were both the
…their yuca is literally the best yuca I’ve ever had before, hands down. I’m excited to try my tres leches cake when I get home. Further more their service was absolutely perfect, they were all very kind and you can tell they take pride in the service and food they provide. I will admit I wasn’t really a fan of their yellow sauce, it was a little to thick/​creamy for my liking but thats all up to preference. Will definitely return. :)

Came here to try a different Peruvian chicken restaurant besides El Pollo Rico. This really does not compare. The girl taking my order did not seem to understand what I wanted and when I ordered a ¼ chicken she gave me 1 ½ chicken. I told her I wanted the chicken breast only and she took the rest away without giving me a refund. At that point I didn’t care about the three extra dollars, I just wanted to eat.
The chicken breast tasted good, but was extremely dry, I had to swallow with water, not ok. The fries were oily and unappetizing, the rice and beans were bland and flavorless, the side salad was good. I looked over some of the other reviews and they definitely seem to have some good and bad days. So maybe I just came on a bad one, but I will be thinking twice before returning to eat here.

I ordered the ¼ chicken with plantains and yuca as my sides. The food was great. But if you plan on visiting during lunch make sure you have enough time or call your order in. It gets pretty busy! Their Horchata is pretty good also!

I visit el rancho for the best fried yucca I know of in NoVa, crispy outside and fully cooked inside, pieces actually narrow enough to fit inside the too-​small dipping cups, I don’t know why so much yucca out there is so big and undercooked. The chicharron is really good too. I take off a star because they don’t offer free water, you have to buy a bottle. JD

Three stars overall is about right for El Rancho, which, from its building, looks like a cousin of Pollo Campero (I like Campero better), but probably is not.
It’s not the best Peruvian chicken, but it’s fine. It lacks the addictive seasoning of El Pollo Rico and the tasty sides of Super Pollo. Yucca was bland and not crisp. Rice and black beans were not bad though, and that was the highlight of the meal. The chicken, while tender, was not as flavorful as it could be. Also missing was a mayo-​free green sauce, much to my dismay. Strawberry Fanta is appreciated though. My boyfriend’s burrito was a bit bland looking, but I didn’t try it. To quote him: «It’s good, but it’s no Pedro and Vinny’s.» His maduros were decent, though, and I did see someone with tostones.
If you need a quick bite, El Rancho is fine. But there’s definitely way better pollo la brasa places.

I really like the chicken at this place, my family eats a lot of this type of food and i like this one the best. The lomo saltado is good too, and my brother likes the steak and cheese. I like it cause its a mom and pop type of place where the owner is at the register and you can tell they take pride in their business.

CUSTOMERS BEWARE! The posted prices are NOT what you actually pay, you are overcharged without your knowledge. Eduardo is very rude & does not display customer service. Prices for dry meat & dry rice are not fair. ($ 12.20 for lomo salatado)

This place is great– surprisingly so. It’s better than Pollo Rico, which is resting on its laurels. El Rancho’s chicken breast is moist and the seasonings are just right, which I think is hard with white meat. I prefer dark meat because the breasts dry out so easily, but not El Rancho’s. Best of all, I swear their yucca fries are the best. Light crunch with creamy fluffy yucca inside, ugh, so good! The lomo saltado was also delicious, but I had never had it before so I have nothing to compare it to. It was very salty, so the fries and rice helped, but the beef was very good. It would have been even better if there was more beef in the dish. I’d say it was 3 oz. tops. The black beans and rice are also very good.
There are a ton of Peruvian chicken joints in the DC Metro area, but this is one of the best. My family goes here at least once a week.

This place is delicious. I come here at least once a month as it’s conveniently located near my home.
The service is always really good. They have chicha morada, inca kola and an array of jarritos; but, with chicha and inca you really don’t need anything else. The Lomo Saltado is really good, as is the pollo a la brasa. You may find though that the chicken is less peruvian style than it is roasted, but nonetheless tasty. (This is part of a larger DC-​NoVa problem with all roasted chicken being incorrectly labled «pollo a la brasa» — anyways, this conversation to be continued at another time).
The prices are reasonable and the wait time is not burdensome. Plus, parking is not an issue as is too often the problem at other local local establishments.

Not too impressed with the rotisserie chicken here. Light years behind Pollo Rico in Clarendon. Decently priced, but the quality of food is just not there. Seasoning is not even close to what it should be.
Fries were soggy – not hot and crispy. Service is mediocre and on the slow side.
Save your time and go to Super Pollo or Pollo Rico instead!

I’ve driven by this place several times and finally stopped in for lunch last week. I thought the chicken was flavorful and moist, and the yucca fries were great. I wish I had ordered more of the yucca fries. It was a very satisfying meal for less than $ 7.

I wanted to give this place a try since it was so close by. I should’ve stuck with my favorite place, Crisp N’ Juicy. Let’s start with the chicken — dry, oversalty… I could hardly detect any of that charbroiled flavor that makes Peruvian chicken so good. The birds were small. We ordered a whole chicken and the complete bird fit in a standard styrofoam to-​go container with room left over. At CNJ and Pollo Rico, the pieces are so thick, succulent and juicy that the top barely closes on the container when we order a whole bird.
The fried yuca was subpar. It was so overboiled that even though they fried it, it was mushy and limp. They probably could’ve remedied that if the pieces weren’t so thick. They were about 2-​finger width chunks.
The three sauces that come with the chickens were so runny that they had leaked out of the containers by the time we got the chicken home, less than 5 minutes away. I was surprised that the red and yellow lacked any real flavor, too. Like they left something out.
I didn’t think you could mess up a papusa, but the papusas revueltas we ordered were tough and dry, barely any filling, and with every bite, all you could taste was cornmeal. Stick with Dona Azucena for a good papusa. I will give them credit for their curtido. It was delicious. The accompanying tomato sauce, however, was just meh.
The only reason I am giving this place 2 stars is for the friendly staff and the clean restaurant. Plus service was quick and it was easy to order. I believe in giving a place more than one chance, so I will try it again — maybe the chef on staff was having a bad day or maybe the weekend fare is better. If it improves, I’ll update.

«When local ethnic cuisine meets corporate America»
Food: ⁴⁄₅
Service: ³⁄₅
Atmosphere: ²⁄₅
Parking: ⁵⁄₅
Cleanliness: ²⁄₅

El Rancho is a good example of what happens when a certain ethnic group populates a region in America and corporations dive in to take advantage of the (good) mom and pop places only to create a new, ethnic Mcdonald’s clone.
Northern Virginia has a thriving, strong presence of Peruvians and Bolivians and, as such, there are many great small businesses that cater to them via bakeries, grills, cafes, and the like. However, when larger companies try to move in on this territory, the result is a highly generic establishment with decorations obviously contracted out to private interior decorator firms, website design following the same pattern (TIP, never ever ever ever play music on your website, it’s universally hated), as well as menu design and layout — it screams corporatism.

Food here is ok, sometimes really good actually, though I imagine the recipes and ingredients also follow the assembly-​line style of service to be expected at such an establishment and therefore not handmade, fresh, and created from scratch ingredients and herbs.
Service is sketchy. They deliver… sometimes, depending on which delivery guy is working that day and if he wants to travel a distance beyond their «recommended» 5 mile radius… alrighty then. Otherwise service is done Panera-​style at the counter with someone who likely has little to no English language skills so come with your Spanish refined. The interior seems somewhat uncleaned regularly which is slightly frightening as the front-​of-​house customer area is really where they have to show off to guests so what’s the kitchen like?
Parking’s great with a private lot and menu item prices are quite competitive and fair. You can come in a try this place if in the area or in a rush but otherwise there are many far superior mom-​n-​pop establishments with much more authentic, fresh Latin cuisine.

Friendly service, but disappointingly dry chicken. Why bother with so many other Peruvian chicken places in the area?

I like this place because the food is inexpensive, their menu is simple and their food is consistently good. I have eaten here at least 3 times and it’s a good alternative compared to the other fast food places in the area. I usually keep it simply with a ¼ chicken meal, rice and black beans with plantain. Always good and the fact that you paid less than $ 7 makes you feel like a winner!

Solid place. They deliver… sometimes. You have to ask if the delivery guy is there that day. Pollo saltado is good. Sauces are good. I find that a spicy green or mayonnaise-​y yellow sauce makes everything taste better, so my judgement might be clouded by a sea of delicious sauce.
Chicken is cooked well and cheese empanadas are good.
Prices are fair. Oh and the rice pudding is yummy.

Ok — I’m a little upset that I haven’t tried this place sooner. We placed a pickup order — when we came to grab it all of our items were included along with side sauces (yum). We ordered:
2 beef empanadas — I wish I had ordered more. So delish.
side of yucca fries — perfectly crisp on the outside and fully cooked on the inside
trio of steak tacos — the flavor was good but the meat was slightly tough. This came with a side of black beans and rice.
lomo saltado — very good and a generous portion
best part? It was all $ 27.