Pollo D’ Oro

Excellent service. I loved the toasted corn kernels with delicious sauce. The empanadas were good. The rotisserie chicken with beans and rice was amazing. The flan likewise.

Freshly made Peruvian food just off Flatbush Ave. this is my second time here and the food was great both times. The service is excellent. Try the half chicken with sweet plantains as a side. The chicken is flavorful & moist and the plantains, perfect. I also had an appetizer order of Empanadas –one chicken, one beef. Both were very good.

I’m writing this review because the beef empanadas from this restaurant are top notch. I came here with friends who were looking to enjoy a sangria or two with their meal. We were warned on Unilocal that liquor is not served here, but we were a little disappointed that it was not voiced at the restaurant when the sangrias were ordered. Other than that (since tons of people have already mentioned this) the service was great, the entrées were well portioned, and the empanadas left one hell of an impression. Be warned: Yucca will fill you up quickly. A plate of chicken and side of yucca may not seem like much initially, but it will leave you pretty satisfied.

Authentic Peruvian food as good as in Queens, but inevitably with Brooklyn prices. Went with my Peruvian sister in law and have been back 3 times. Gotta BYOB if you want alcohol. I’d kill all the fútbol on TV, but hey fits the atmosphere.

Came here for lunch yesterday. I had two empanadas. One beef and one chicken. Both were delicious, and they came with a green sauce that really kicked it up a bit. My friend had the roasted chicken, rice and beans and he also enjoyed his meal. The empanadas were $ 3.50 a pop, which I think is a bit pricey, but not too off from typical Manhattan/​Brooklyn fare.
The one weird thing I have to comment on is, my friend mentioned that he tried to eat there earlier in the week and they were out of chicken. Pollo means chicken, so if you’re gonna have chicken in your name, you shouldn’t run out of chicken. That’s like Kentucky Fried Chicken running out of chicken…
Overall, the place looks nice, I would definitely dine in. The food is tasty, and the staff seem attentive. Four Stars from me.

My girlfriend and I went here last night and we both loved it. I would have to say that the food was a solid 4 stars, but what made this place 5 was the awesome service we received. Will definitely be coming here again soon.

They do not sell alcohol.
This place is very interesting. They have a delicious menu and a bar but they do not serve alcohol. I am not sure if they love there liquor license or have not gotten one yet but it is definitely confusing to walk in expecting a pisco sour and being given juice.

Food is amazing. especially the chicken. My purpose of this update is to really push you guys to promote around the area more. Unfortunately your location is a hard find if not literally walking in front of it. I’ve heard people in my building, which is 1 block away btw, tell me they didn’t even know you existed. A lot missed business opportunities. We don’t want you to go anywhere. so spread the word about your delicious chicken!!! :)

I came here during lunch with a group of coworkers hoping for a quick and delicious meal. Although I did get a delicious meal, the service was horrendously slow. There was only 1 other table when we walked in yet it took forever to get our food and it came at different times.
Food: I ordered chicken empanadas for appetizer and a quarter chicken with a side of fried yuca. The empanadas were delicious with a juicy chicken filling. I loved the green sauce that was brought to the table. I literally smothered everything in it and it’s fantastic. My chicken was juicy and flavorful and the skin was outstanding. The fried yuca was also crispy and starchy. Also very delicious dunked in that green sauce.
Service: our food came in 2 waves. Everyone who ordered chicken basically finished eating by the time the people who ordered beef got their food. We asked for the check pretty fast too since we had to head back and that also took forever to come. The restaurant wasn’t even busy.
Overall food is pretty good but I’d recommend doing takeout for lunch if you’re in a hurry.

Bangin lomo salteado but the service (as noted by others) is not ideal. We went in for lunch and we were the first ones there. Our dishes arrived after other patrons (who had arrived later). The food is great… if they could bring the service up to par this place could go from good to great. If you want to make this your lunch hour spot, call your order in so they can start working while you arrive. Again the food is great, they just seem understaffed.

Review for Dine-​In at weekday lunch, only.
Pros: Good food, decent portions. Bright and clean décor, very well lit during the daytime.
Cons: Dine-​In lunch patrons are treated as second class citizens. Lousy lunch service.
I was looking for a nice place to have a good quick lunch with the GF, who was coming to see me at my office. We decided on Peruvian. The Peruvian choices in Downtown Brooklyn were Pollo D’Oro and the two Tio Pios. Neither of the Tio Pios had great reviews, while Pollo D’Oro seemed to have good reviews on Unilocal.So it seemed like a no-​brainer.
My GF was running late because parking is impossible to find in the area, so I decided to grab a table early. The restaurant space looks wonderful in person. Situated in the base of one of the new apartment buildings that have been shooting up all around Downtown Brooklyn in recent years, the restaurant is airy, spacious, and extremely clean, with massive windows providing tons of light. It seems like the ideal place to have a nice noontime lunch.
But the service. Oh, the service.
Red Flag #1
The hostess/​manager/​counter-​person barely looked at me even as I waited a couple of minutes near her. She was dressed very nicely and professionally, as if she were dressed to handle a dine-​in restaurant. But that impression is wrong. There were multiple patrons waiting for food in the area only for take-​out. She was pinging between giving the patrons their take-​out food, the cash register, and the phones to take down orders. I finally asked her if I could be seated, and she told me that I could take any seat I wanted.
Red Flag #2
There was only one waiter. He was dressed professionally, and was very polite and acceded to requests. He seemed to work quickly and diligently upon an initial glance. But after a while, it became immediately clear that he didn’t seem to have a good plan in his head of how to properly serve patrons, or he just wasn’t trained well. For example, he gave us our rice without giving us our beans, and didn’t think anything of it until we asked him where our beans were.
Red Flag #3
While I was waiting for my GF to arrive, I observed how the restaurant operated. In that 20 minutes, I noticed that one party was there for at least 10 minutes before I sat down. They finally got their food nearly 20 minutes later just as my GF arrived.
Red Flag#4
One party of two just got fed up with the service because they had been waiting 30 – 40 minutes for their food. As they left the restaurant, they told the hostess/​manager how bad their service was. She only blinked silently in confusion, possibly because she had no idea how to handle the situation.
As for our experience:
The food was good.
The Quinoa Salad is recommended — nice and hearty, with good greens and other ingredients.
The chicken is juicy and tasty.
The waiter was very kind and acceded to our requests, but seemed generally in over his head. It’s not necessarily his fault, as another waiter would have definitely made things smoother. But he still needs to learn how to work smarter and in a more prepared manner.
Overall, I love the big airy dining area of the restaurant. The food is very good. So theoretically, the two should mix well. But at least during lunchtime, the management couldn’t make it work at all.
In other words, all the restaurant really needs is better service and management.

Updated review.
Sadly the service and the food have both taken a dive.

Pollo D’Oro is a great place in Downtown Brooklyn. What you’ll find here in this chic yet casual restaurant is a wonderful menu filled with Peruvian cuisine. This place offers a variety of delicious & unique dishes so there is something for everyone.
After you are seated, a complimentary snack is brought to the table: Canchitas, roasted Peruvian Popcorn Kernels. They are lightly salted & can be dipped in the flavorful green sauce made with green chili, cilantro, & garlic.
Here is a list of appetizers, entrées, & dessert that I have explored:
1. Appetizers:
Baked Chicken & Beef Peruvian empanadas, which were delicious but wish they were stuffed with more meat. Add some of the green sauce to intense the existing flavors.
2. Entrée #1:
Pollo a la Brasa (Half Chicken Portion), is a Crispy Peruvian Spiced Rotisserie Chicken served with any two sides. This is Pollo D’Oro’s signature rotisserie chicken & it’s amazing. The meat is juicy & cooked to perfection.
3. Entrée #2:
Lomo Saltado, which is my favorite Peruvian dish, consists of marinated strips of steak, sautéed red onions, tomatoes, & fries. This dish was well seasoned with delicious Peruvian spices.
4. Dessert:
The Picarones, a fried dough made of sweet potato, was the perfect way to end a great meal. They were crispy & served with warm syrup, which had a unique blend of sweet spices like anise, cloves, cinnamon, & others.
The server was nice & informative but he seemed a little distracted when it got busy. But other than that, he did provide good service. See you again soon Pollo D’Oro.

The solterito had GRINGO corn. Yes, the most important ingredient in a solterito (rebranded as a plain «fava bean salad» in the sparse menu) does not exist in Peru. I sent it back and it was returned with the real thing. The chicken was flavorful, but The rest of our food was mediocre at best.

Over the course of five visits, my boyfriend and I have had the: chicken, empanadas, avocado salad, rice n beans, French fries, French fries with hot dogs, and buckets of that green sauce. And every single thing has been excellent regardless of take-​out or dining in.
Some reviewers aren’t thrilled with the décor, but whatever. There are enough Brooklyn-​looking places all over the world now. I’m coming for the food and it’s great!
So what’s not so great– one of the servers. The female server is sweet and attentive enough. We recognize each other and that’s cool. I cannot however stand the male server. He is snide and basically a jerk. He snapped at me once for asking for more green sauce with a whole chicken then refused to let me pay with a credit card because my total was under $ 10. While on the phone placing the take-​out order I asked the girl if CC payment was ok and she said no problem. Oy. And while waiting for said take-​out, he got an attitude with another take-​out customer about using American Express (which they do accept [or did at the time]). The reason being because the fee to swipe is higher. As the annoyed customer said ‘money is money.‘
My conclusion is: come for the chicken, try to get the female server, don’t say I didn’t tell you so if you end of with the guy who treats the green sauce like liquid gold.

3.5 stars might be right. You have to knock Pollo Oro one star out of the gate for the total lack of ambiance. And not just for there being no ambiance, but because they tried to create some sort of mood, and failed. It is like sitting in a terrarium. Like being a newt, on a tiny, wobbly log in a terrarium sums up the experience.
I went for the sweet spot, roasted chicken and beans and rice. I was warned not to stray from the sweet spot, or I would suffer. I obeyed. You should too! It was okay. Just okay.
I know there are plenty of much better restaurants in NY. And the prices are not reflective of the value received, but I give it 3 stars, not in comparison to restaurants in NYC (or Paris, or Tokyo for that matter), but relative to the population of restaurants I suffer patronizing across the USA.
In town from Peoria? You’ll love Pollo Oro!
Got your knickers in a knot reading this and ready to call me a NY restaurant snob? Eat at Pollo Oro and compare it to the average restaurant in your town … see what I mean?
Good luck!

I really wanted to like this place. We had ordered in once and, even though it took over an hour to arrive, the roast chicken was amazing with the extra delicious/​addicting green sauce on it. However, we were in for a rude awakening when we arrived at the restaurant…
First of all, the ambiance is that of a diner. It’s a strange little space arranged more for coffee and take out than a restaurant. The kitschy Peruvian music was too loud and there was girls high school lacrosse on the TV. While I had expected an authentic Peruvian waitress, instead we got an Eastern European import who was pleasant but not helpful.
As for the food, the ceviche was fresh and spicy and satisfying. A little overwhelming actually in that the portion and hunks of fish were so big. For entrees we shared the lomo saltado (steak) and half chicken. The steak tasted as if it were from a Chinese take out restaurant. It literally had that beef and broccoli flavor to it — not necessarily bad but also not what we expected. It came with barely cooked onions and undercooked French fries. The chicken was still very good — and is maybe the only thing worth ordering here — although there was something wrong with the usually incredible green sauce (it tasted strongly of mustard and lacked the perfect balance of old). The sides of rice beans and sweet plantains were solid but unspectacular.
On top of everything they jacked up the prices from the menu online. Instead of $ 24 for a whole chicken it’s now $ 28, etc. instead of a good deal it’s pretty much as expensive food-​wise as other better options in the area. The only advantage is the rare BYOB option since we brought a nice South American Syrah in with us. For a local BYOB night or ordering in the whole chicken, you can consider this spot — otherwise avoid!

I came here for a Friday lunch with three friends, one of whose family owns the restaurant, so I MIGHT be biased. But seriously, this place is an awesome Peruvian restaurant with even better service to match.
First of all, their corn kernel snack is like crack. It should be called kernelcrack or something.
For appetizers, we ordered yuca, green plantains, and antichucos (heart skewers??? awesomely badass).
I had the ceviche mixto. Totally satisfied my seafood craving. It has shrimp, calamari, and octopus, with a whole lotta lime. Delicious. My friends either had the tacu tacu special (steak and rice with eggs) or the lome saltado, which they enjoyed and took home.
I dug this place. The décor is cute and it’s unassumingly tucked away on a side street in downtown BK and it deserves to be packed (which it is during peak hours!). Our waitress was sweet and helpful too. Check outing Pollo D’Oro is worth it if you’re in the area.

Tucked in off of Flatbush Avenue, this little place deserves some attention. The ¼ chicken lunch special includes rice & beans and a drink for $ 8.50 and is filling by itself.
Being my first time, I had to try the chicken empanadas as well — nice presentation and sauces. The green side sauce is tasty and adds a hint of spice. Yummy.
The chicken was extremely moist and tasty and the skin was perfectly seasoned. Delicious & satisfying.
My only worry is this place seemed empty for lunch hour, so hoping they make it. A really nice lunch spot, especially convenient for anyone working in the MetroTech center.
My server was Alejandra; she was pleasant and attentive. She also made me smile ;)
OWNER: You should promote yourself at MetoTech, LOTS of hungry lunch goers right across Flatbush Avenue. Business lunch crowd would be huge for you… If I hadn’t looked on Unilocal,I would have never found your establishment.

Peruvian Chicken and green sauce rating (only): 4.5 stars
I ordered the ceviche to start and it was so sour, I had to drown it in pepper to make it somewhat edible. The sour taste also lingered. The french fries that my husband ordered were completely undercooked. The rice I liked, the beans that went with, not so much.
The service (despite being so new) was actually quite good and I don’t mind BYOB.
Honestly, my stomach was a disaster post-​dinner. My husband was even sicker than I was (and it’s rare that happens). I’ve seen loads of people eat there, and know many of my neighbors that love it, but after that first dinner, I find it hard to want to return.