Pollo Don Pepe

After craving Mexican-​style mesquite-​grilled chicken for days, my Beloved and I finally ate lunch at the popular Pollo Don Pepe, ordering a whole bird, with sides of macaroni salad, rice, grilled onions and jalapenos, beans and tortilla.
All of the parts of the meal that we liked contained corn, which, as do butter and sugar, makes most things taste better.
The macaroni salad was slightly sweet, loaded with bits of tasty bites of cut corn, shredded carrot and lettuce, plus black pepper. Our rice was light, rich and flavorful, with amusing spicy notes and the occasional moist «pop» of boiled corn. And, of course, nothing is better than fresh-​made yellow corn tortillas, stacks of which were offered with our meal. [n.b. Their tortilla, according to PDP’s counterman, is purchased from neighboring Northgate Gonzalez Market]
Perhaps the rest of our meal ought to have included corn, or to have been cooked at Northgate.
Our grilled vegetables were slick with grease, literally slipping away from my fork as I chased them around my plate.
Our beans were bland, brown and flavorless mush, perhaps made so intentionally, in the way that some risottos are served as flat accompaniments to richer, more interesting foods. There being nothing of interest to pair them with, though, our beans were left uneaten.
But worst of all, most disappointing to the man who’d waited, schemed and strived to dine on highly reputed pollo, was this awful discovery: my chicken had been mummified.
Heavily salted, the bird was slowly desiccated over a smoky fire, then cooled. Preserved and perfectly resembling what it purported to be, it was the chicken equivalent of wax fruit; beautiful, dry, tough and seemingly real, you could leave it in a bowl in your foyer for all to admire, from now ’til a Christmas many years hence.
Salsa didn’t help. Dipping the chicken into beans didn’t help. Corn, butter or sugar might have helped, but those were unavailable. And so, we ate what we could and wrapped the rest to carry home, to see what sort of quesadillas the remains will make.
Often, I’ll postpone writing a negative review in the interest of giving the subject business the benefit of the doubt. Bad day? Change of staff? Technical difficulties? I’m nothing if not understanding.
But, while I doubt the food I tried at Pollo Don Pepe represented their best effort, the place is far from my home, and, in the search between here and there for Mexican-​style mesquite-​grilled chicken, there are many appealing alternatives, including El Pollo Grill in Lemon Grove; Jose’s Pollos Estilo Acapulco in Logan Heights, and the Northgate Market in PDP’s own parking lot.
So two stars it is, but at that, I never say «never,» and I’ll probably roll the dice with Pollo Don Pepe again. If the food improves, I’ll say so here. When will I revisit? When I’m flush, hungry and standing at their door, all at once.

We have eaten their chicken many times. We usually order the whole chicken with the sides which is the macaroni salad, tortillas and their greasy onions.
Everything is super greasy. They think that by greasing up everything, it makes the food more delicious… and not only here but I see this a lot in other mexican eateries. No wonder 80% of mexicans die from heart decease, cardio vascular diseases, diabetes and other related indispositions. Yes, I did study nutrition for a few years and I know about this topic.
Anyways, I don’t but chicken here anymore and not only because of the greasiness but I try to eat healthier. But it’s your life and you what you want.

Update: 4/​21/​16-​Still haven’t changed their online menu. Chicken still the best in town! Lucky enough to live in the area.

Hands down the BEST pollos asados in San Diego.
Their chicken has a unique, intoxicating taste to it.
I drive all the way down from Escondido just to buy them. It’s one of the things I miss the most from living in the South bay.
One night after work I stopped by. For my miss fortune they were getting ready to close. When I told them I had drove from a distant land. The guy, who I think might it be the owner asked me «from where was I driving?» Followed by, «how many orders would you like?» After that, he told the guy by the grill to give me some of the orders he had a side for himself. I was impressed. I had never had that kind of experience.

Chicken is so good love to add it to my salads. If you love some grilled chicken this is the best spot not to mention the grilled onions that come with it as well.

Love this place. Chicken is very tasty and their home made salsa makes the food tastier. Prices are reasonable and the service is great. Eat in or to go. I will com back soon.

Very good, drove out of the way to try this place.
Heard good things and it lived up to the hype.
Chicken is good…

I went here for dinner last Saturday and I was really pleasantly surprised. The place is small and you can barely find it. I guess it could classify as a hole in the wall (which I took as a very good sign). Right away, I saw the fresh chicken being grilled butterfly style over mesquite and the place smelled wonderful. They were really friendly and we ordered the full chicken dinner with sides. The price was very reasonable, very economical for what we received. When we got the chicken it was a fantastic flavor and very juicy. It was better than you could get next door at Northgate Market so if you are in the area this is a better choice. The sides were incredible. I highly recommend the Macaroni/​Cole Slaw Salad — it was a superb flavor and texture. This is a great pollo asado place in San Diego.

Tried this place because the line at Northgate was WAYYYYY too long. This was the closest place and mama was hungry.
I ordered the combo #2 which comes with a sh*t ton of chicken and rice. It also comes with neat chiles and onions.
Oh man, the chicken is SOOOOO JUICY and tasty! The rice is perfectly fluffy. The onions and chiles compliment the chicken so perfectly.
I’m definitely going to be coming here for my chicken fixins’.

we’ve never had their carne asada before and it was just killer, but two visits ago we ordered their chicken to go (travels well), and we also had their carne asada taco and, WOW. that charcoal grill flavor is so good that the taco doesn’t need much even when it comes to salsa, just a few onions and cilantro and let the charcoal flavor of the beef speak for itself. unlike salud in barrio logan (also charcoal) the asada doesn’t sit in a container after its been grilled where the meat gets soggy depending on when you get it. theirs is made to order and when done you can see and hear them hand chop the asada.
we came back for it again recently and after we shared their burrito, and its just as killer if not more so than the taco. the flour tortilla brings out the flavor of the charcoal grilled asada even more.
who would’ve thought that a pollo carbon place would make such killer carne asada.

Friday Night… not even9Pm and they are not open? Have tried to eat there twice… bummer that they are not open to public Fri pm for the working peeps…

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this chicken ;) So juice, tasty even when cold. I could compare to El Pollo Loco… NOT!!! because this chicken has more mead then that place.

This place is great and very affordable. We had the chicken meal and it fed all of my family. Definitely coming back.

Delicious and inexpensive! Lunch for 2 under $ 10! My son ate so quickly because it was good.

Place is real good. Chicken combo w rice an beans an the salsa is perfect better then El Pollo loco. Not a lot of people know about this place that’s what I like about it is fast service good people not expensive at all.

Worst customer service ever! There was only two guys working, and I had to wait almost 30 mins!.seriously!!! and to top it all off I paid 16.00 for 1 chicken rice n beans and tortillas. I will admit though, the chicken was good but for that price I could’ve gone to Mercado Internacional and paid 8.99 for the same thing. NEVER AGAIN, WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME.

Pollos al carbon
No conozco de ningun otro lugar que los vendan al carbon. Las cebollas asadas estan deliciosas.
Se recomienda este lugar. Son bastante rapidos en hacer las ordenes.

WARNING:
YOU ARE NOT WORTHY!
1.You are not worthy if you can’t finish 1 entire container of salsa + one charred green chile served to each customer.
2.You are not worthy if you find the salsa too hot/​spicy and wimp out from finishing the 1 container given to you.
4. You are not worthy if you pretend your mouth is not on fire or that it isn’t spicy! CHALE!
I love this place and it has become a way of life for me. I can’t always cook every day so when fast food is my only option and the selection in the South Bay of SanDiego is full of unappetizing food quality at unreasonable prices this place holds a special place.
Don’t forget that gave a fair warning that the the salsa is ¡MUY PICANTE!
These restrictions do not apply to 18 and younger for safety reasons.

UPDATE 8÷12− Bumping it up to 5 stars! Came back down again because the chicken was so damn delicious. I ordered the same thing as before but without tortillas… just chicken and onions. They threw in some grilled peppers too. Once again, the lady had problems at the register. I will cut her some slack though. She told me that they recently changed their menu and codes on the cash register so she was still getting used to it. Fair enough! Paid her my money, got what I ordered this time, 2 breasts, 2 wings and drove home. Good lord that is some good chicken! The pieces are huge, its perfectly seasoned/​grilled and that smoky flavor shines through. I’m going to go ahead and say that it’s the best Mexican charcoal grilled chicken in SD. From my house, its a 20 mile drive each way. Well worth it! I will continue to come back. That chicken is magical! I couldn’t stop oohing and aahing while eating it. My son was looking at me like I was a crazy person while eating. Once he gets teeth and can eat in a few years, I will introduce him to this fantastic chicken! It is the best!
First review below, updated review up top…
8÷8÷2014− 4 stars. I have been on a chicken kick lately. It’s fairly inexpensive, fits my low carb eating and most of the time its pretty delicious. My favorite kind of preparation is the Mexican grilled style. Surprisingly, there are not a ton of these places around. El Pollo Grill, Joses Pollo (Thanks Brad B.), El Pollo Loco and that is about it really. Sure, there are Greek chicken and rotisserie places around, but not many Mexican Charcoal grilled places. I looked this place up on Unilocal,packed up my son and we drove down. It is pretty deep… almost to the border. As you will see later, well worth it though!
We got in the parking lot at 10:40am. I saw the closed sign :-(. I got a closer look and saw that they open at 11:00am. Close enough… I did some shopping at Northgate Market. Came back at exactly 11am, walked in and placed my order.
The cashier, while nice, seemed a bit confused. I looked at the menu and placed my order for 4 pieces (breasts and wings) of chicken with tortillas. She was having trouble with the cash register trying to ring up my order. I pointed up and told her that it says $ 7.99. She finally rang me up and I took a seat. A few minutes later my food was done and I grabbed it to go.
I got home and opened the box. I noticed that it was really heavy. Reason being is that they gave me the full on combo which included rice and beans even though I didn’t order it. All good, I thought! I really only wanted the chicken. All the rest of the stuff was just filler. Here is how everything tasted…
Chicken– 5 stars! DAMN GINA! This stuff was great! They grill this over mesquite charcoal and you can definitely taste it. It had a bit of a garlic/​pepper/​citrus taste to it but the overwhelming flavor was the charcoal. It was damn delicious. The skin was crispy (even after a 30 minute drive in the car), the meat was tender and juicy and the flavor was out of this world. I ate my 2 wings first. I then got to the breast. This thing was massive! One of the bigger chicken breasts I have seen. After I was done with that, I went to move on to my 2^nd breast. Right off the bat, I noticed it was way smaller. Turns out it was a thigh. Kind of weak sauce but it was still tasty and I gobbled it down. The size of the one breast made up for any disappointment I was feeling. Just wish I would have gotten what I ordered. Regardless, this was some of the best chicken I have ever had!
Sides–
Tortillas…meh. Not homemade and just plain corn tortillas. Fresh but not great. Ate one bite and tossed them.
Rice and Beans– Didn’t even try them.
Onions– Fantastic! They give you a heaping mound of grilled onions. They pair with the chicken really well. You get the smoky charcoal taste of the chicken, then go in for a bite of sweet onion. It was a great combo. They also gave me a roasted chili pepper which was delicious too.
Overall, I was super impressed with the chicken. The cashiers confusion and the fact that they gave me a thigh instead of a breast is the only reason keeping this from 5 star worthiness. The chicken alone is worth the drive down from any part of SD. Yes, it was that good!

I love chicken and this place is the bomb. Nicely grilled chicken that you can see cooking on the grills in the kitchen. They use mesquite charcoal and you can taste the difference. No comparison to El Pollo Loco. This place is much better! Plus the people are really nice. You can get a two piece meal which includes, rice, beans and 3 corn tortillas for $ 4.99. Now that’s a pretty good deal!
Now on to my review of the food. The chicken is really moist, tender and very tasty. They have good sized pieces too. Not like that scrawny crap that they serve at KFC. It’s marinated in citrus juices and totally blows away that other chicken joint that I mentioned earlier. Makes me not want to eat there any more. The salsa that they serve with the chicken is really good too. I could practically drink that stuff. Gringos beware it may be a little spicy for you, but it’s very flavorful too. The meal also comes with pinto beans that are decent, but a little watered down and they also serve it with a few grilled onions (me likey) and a big old jalapeño. Ooo spicy! The rice is REALLY good. Most places the rice can be kind of bland. Not here hombre! I would come here just to eat the rice! It’s that dang bueno!
I will definitely be back here to eat the chicken and rice again. If this place were closer to where I lived I would go more often.
You won’t go wrong with the food here!
Also wanted to say that the service was really good too. I wanted some butter for the tortillas, but they don’t normally serve it, but I said that it was okay and I didn’t really need it, but one of the ladies broke out a tub of butter and served me some butter in a little cup.
If I could give them 10 stars I would!
Oh they also serve the real drinks with cane sugar and Jarritos!