Chicken Rico

This is my favorite place chicken place in Herndon. Not only does it beat Guapo and Waku in portion size of the side dishes, the number of side options, quality of the chicken, and comparable in price if not better. Too boot they just opened a new franchise in Leesburg.
One recommendation I would make is on the family meal packs, the side dishes are way too small for a family of four, double it at least please. The chicken is more than enough, but not the sides portions are woefully small for a family.
One side I recommend is the lentils, the cook at the Herndon site really knows how to spice them just right to remind about old style Peruvian cooking, delicious.

This place is killer. I eat here a couple times a week. Usually get ¼ chic dark, with fried rice (which is awesome) and some kind of beans. The staff is really nice. They just recently remodeled.

Best Peruvian chicken in the area. You have to get the plantains when they cook it till it burnt also yucca and fried rice. The best! The lady that is a cashier is really nice but the short bigger one is rude.

Let me start out with saying I LOVE Peruvian food! I’ve lived in Herndon for little over two years now, so of course I’ve tried pretty much every Peruvian chicken place in the area. Chicken Rico is the best. The chicken is tender, never dry, and literally pulls right off the bone. I dream about the yellow sauce, and the green one is just the right amount of spicy. I usually pick the salad and yucca as my sides. Yucca as quickly been added to my top 10 favorite foods, of course because of Chicken Rico. I like how its not all mushed up then deep fried like some places. I know it’s just lemon juice they put on the salad, but something about it is just soooo freaking yummy. Lastly, the alfajores (Peruvian cookies) are deliciouso!!! If you’re craving Peruvian chicken, this is the spot for you… trust me!

Chicken Rico is always my first choice to stop and get a meal when I’m in Herdon. Their chicken is perfectly crispy on the outside and juicy inside plus they have a nice assortment of sides, including healthy options (salad with the choice of 2 dressings).
I recommend asking for extra yellow and green (the spicy one, if you like spice) sauce because they Come in tiny containers/​goes very fast… that stuff is great dipping sauce for everything; I dip yucca, chicken, plaintain, rice, my finger lol, etc).

Saturday early evening dinner out… nothing special.
I decided to give Chicken Rico a try having tried many of the other Peruvian chicken restaurants in the area. Standard set up… order up at the counter… tray style… no table service.
The place was clean and basic. Service was polite and up front. I decided to go for my standard option of a quarter chicken and two sides.
The chicken was cooked well, tasty and moist. The mixed rice option was decent but the side of black beans needed some seasoning… bland. The green sauce was not spicy enough for my taste. I requested additional sauces to round things out.
What can I say… I enjoyed reading many of the reviews but my experience was pretty standard.
I am giving my review a three star rating on my first visit and I will make a point to visit again and try other options.

This is me and my boyfriend’s favorite restaurant. We always get the half chicken with plantains and fried rice. My boyfriend loves the potato salad! The service is always good and one of the guys there always jokes with us. They seem to just love what they do. Service is great and food is amazing!

The food is awesome, even better then waku. The guys are a lot of fun and the place tends to get jam packed around noon.
They have many temptations on the menu but the roasted chicken is just simply outstanding so that I have never tried anything else there. People I had lunch with ordered the carne asada repeatedly and said they loved that too.

We had the whole chicken — which they quartered for us, and 2 sides — fried rice and chick peas.
Everything was delicious! Chicken was moist. Sides had excellent flavor.
The green sauce is delicious!
We will be back.

Living in Arlington for years, we came to preach the religion of El Pollo Rico. It was heaven on earth. Then we moved to Reston.
With a gaping hole in our lives, we then discovered Chicken Rico.
It’s as good — if not better — than El Pollo Rico, and that’s saying something. Yes, Chicken Rico was amazing.
Chicken was fantastic — crispy and seasoned on the outside, juicy on the inside. They have two different sauces, a mild and a hot. One factor where I think Chicken Rico handily beats El Pollo Rico is that Chicken Rico offers numerous side options, including the delicious plaintains and fried yucca that I had.

My favorite place when ever I’m the mood for chicken
staff is friendly always happy and attentive
Food is always hot at any time of day you go
Clean place too

Went here for lunch and the place was packed which is usually a good indicator. Ordering process was fast and simple. Prices are super fair, ¼ chicken with 2 sides (and they dont skimp on the portions) for $ 6.49. Nowhere to sit which was fine since we live so close. Got home and after the first bite it was like heaven in my mouth. Best Peruvian chicken place in town and I will be going back frequently!

This is probably the best Peruvian chicken in the Herndon area. Some things that make the place better than other Peruvian chicken places is that there don’t charge extra for white meat and have a larger selection of sides (about 10 I think).
I normally get the quarter chicken combo, which is a quarter chicken, 2 sides, and a can of soda for 7.99. The chicken are sides are always great.

This place serves some of the best chicken that i have ever eaten. Add a couple of there amazing side like Yucca and Plantains and you will be in haven!

I’ve been coming here for few years now. I was surprised how SO FREAKING popular and busy this place had gotten.
They are super friendly, accurate (checking orders) and QUICK.
Awesome chicken and TOO many choices/​selections for side dishes (over 10)… they gave you two sides and they give you ALOT. I can never finish any of their sides at once. They are SUPER fresh too.
I am not saying it’s the best Peruvian chicken ever I’ve had but it is THE BEST in this area. Please do not go to Wagu or Guapo (?) omg those places are overpriced! You will know what I mean after trying out this place.

Yummy! I had the ¼ dark chicken combo with rice, plantains and added steamed veggies. The chicken was moist and well seasoned, not just salty, but actually seasoned perfectly.
There are a lot of good/​decent food options in the area but if you can’t decide then Chicken Rico won’t disappoint.

Chicken Rico exemplifies the adage «Don’t Judge a Book By It’s Cover!»
I have driven past Chiken Rico for months and never even thought to go in. The exterior looks just as you would expect a bad roast chicken place to look like, nondescript, a little smokey inside, bad signage, etc. After reading a few Unilocal reviews I finally decided to give it a try, and damn this chicken is tasty!
When you go in, just do as the Romans do an get in line to order. You’ll see some large commercial scale ovens full of hot charcoal roasting all that delicious chicken. While I was there the guy was moving around the coals to make sure the heat was roasting the chicken evenly.
When it was my turn I ordered the ¼ chicken (you can choose between white, dark, or mixed). They then pass your plate down the line and you can choose two different sides. It seemed one of the most popular was the chicken fried rice, so I ordered that and a side of lentil soup. For $ 6.49 including a can of soda, this was a tremendous value.
The chicken itself was superb. The rub that they used was a bit on the salty side, but was peppery, smokey, and flavorful. The meat was tender, juicy, and not oily at all. If you’ve ever bought roasted chicken at a grocery store or Costco you know the chicken is incredibly oily. This chicken was quite the opposite, and the skin was crispy and mouthwatering. Overall the chicken was excellent!
If you are in the Herndon area looking for a great lunch spot, I would highly recommend Chicken Rico. It was fast, cheap, and simply delicious. My favorite hole-​in-​the-​wall Peruvian chicken restaurant in the area so far.

Hmmmm, thought I had written a review for Chicken Rico and was headed to update what I thought was a 3.5−4 star previous review to a 5. Now after several visits I find their pollo consistent and always with a crispy skin, juicy and spot on flavor with emphasis on cumin (that’s how I know traditional Peruvian Pollo)! I can honestly say without repercussion that this western burbs Pollo spot will hold its own against EPR, Super Chicken, La Granja Oro, Sardis, Edy’s, The Chicken Place and any other spot in the greater metro area… Yup, I said it!
The side portions are HUGE and if you come in for pollo just get a ¼ as you won’t eat much more. You could easily get a ½ and have it for 3 meals and save some Dinero.
I’d be cheating you if I didn’t mention their Lomo Saltado… AMAZING y BUENISIMO!!! In my mind it is as good, of not better than any other in DC area, yeah, I’ve had one or two others ;). The beef strips tender, fries fresh and the ceboya y tomate cooked perfectly on a bed of rice. $ 9.99 makes it a steal and a few dollars less than other restaurantes peruanos.
Finally, the service is friendly Mo matter who you are and they don’t discriminate… They’re glad you’re a customer.
I’m thrilled to have one of the best pollo a la brasa spots extremely close!

Its just like its other peruvian cousins. The ambiance is OK.
The roasted chicken was nice .the sides of fried rice and beans was good with the roasted chicken.
Good for the price.

After reading all the good reviews, we knew that we had to give this place a try. So we went on a Friday around 5 p.m. At that time there was only one large party ahead of us in line. However, as our meal progressed the place started to get really busy.
We looked at the menu and once we decided what we wanted, we went to the counter to order. The man taking the orders also plated the food. He was friendly and helpful.
I ordered ¼ chicken with white meat while my husband decided to get ¼ chicken with dark meat. For my sides I chose platanos (as did my husband). Apparently there is an extra charge for platanos. I was going to get plain rice that had a few veggies in it but the man at the counter told me that they also had chicken fried rice which is what I ended up getting. My husband got some beans.
When it comes to the side dishes available, we noticed that what they had didn’t fully correspond to what the menu said they had so it was somewhat confusing.
There are sodas, waters and juices available which come in either cans or bottles. We both chose a can of Coke. The cost of our meals and sodas was just under $ 17, which is quite good as the meal was very filling.
As for the chicken — the spices are generously applied both on top of the skin as well as underneath it. They gave good flavor to the meat if a bit on the salty side. I found my white meat to be inconsistent since some bites were moist and tender while others were on the dry side. My husband thought the dark meat was consistently moist, which is to be expected as dark meat in general comes out more moist.
As for the sides — I really liked the chicken fried rice. It had good flavoring as well as plenty of veggies. The platanos were cooked until they were brown which often leaves them on the dry side. Still the flavor was good. My husband enjoyed his beans.
The place is kept clean and there are plenty of places to sit if you dine in. If you are driving past the shopping center that it is in, you won’t see it from Elden Street as there is a bank in front of it. For those who have been in the area a while, it is in the spot where Jerry’s used to be.
We most definitely return the next time we want pollo a la brasa as the food is good.