Ordered spicy chicken sandwich 2 piece meal with plantains and yuca fries very good!

(3/5) I recently tried Pollo Campero, a Central American/Salvadoran-style chicken spot. I went for the family pack (~$72), hoping for a feast, but it ended up being just okay. Chicken: The fried chicken had that signature Campero breading thin and crispy. My brother really liked it, but it wasn't my favorite. It's definitely a preference thing. Sides: I ordered fries, yucca fries, sweet plantains, and mac & cheese. Sadly, most of the sides arrived cold, which really took away from the experience. The fries were especially disappointing (I hate cold fries). The plantains were sweet and soft definitely a highlight. The yucca fries had great flavor, but again, cold. The mac & cheese was creamy but nothing special. It actually took me three days to finish everything there was a lot of food, but for $72, I honestly expected better. It felt a bit overpriced and maybe even overhyped. That said, it was still worth trying once. If you're curious about Pollo Campero, give it a shot but double check your food comes out hot read more

The Food is great. But why you have a Drive Thru if you cannot do services fast. Every time I pick a food in the night, always need to wait 20 to 30 min. The reason is not enough fried chicken or Fried Yuca. Please try to train better your employees and get better supervisors. read more

Pollo Campero - chicken wings in a box - Latin American Near Me - Gaithersburg, Maryland

If ya'll don't stop boiling that chicken and passing it off as grilled. The skin is way too soft to have been grilled. They cooked this ish in boiling water and than sprinkled some seasoning on top. And I keep forgetting about how small there drumsticks are. It's puzzling when every other restaurant and grocery store sells chicken drumsticks the size of my arm (lol!) This food is HORRIBLE. Waste of $10 Safeway has better chicken 100% read more

Pollo Campero - Boiled (not baked) chicken - Latin American Near Me - Gaithersburg, Maryland

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So..if you don't speak Spanish dont go there. I ordered food via drive thru - took a min to get that straight. Got to window to pay and pick up my food - they didn't know what I was talking about. I just drove away..not worth it! read more

The sides and the meals are so small for the money you pay look around before you come here because the other places give you more for your money. read more

Warning, coleslaw is not the slaw I love. It's bitter. They use reusable flatware and plates but the only gave me two napkins. It's fried chicken, stop being so stingy. read more

Pollo Campero - Served on real plates - Latin American Near Me - Gaithersburg, Maryland

We walked by this place many time over the years. We finally stopped in for the first time during COVID-19 because we were walking around the outside of the mall and was drawn to the delicious smell of fried chicken. They had just reopened the day before. The staff was so pleasant and made our first experience outstanding. Today, they didn't have the grilled chicken so we got a 20-piece fried chicken meal which came with 4 sides and 10 rolls or tortillas. The sides that we chose were corn salad, sweet plantains, yuca fries, and french fries. We decided on rolls. The yuca fries were outstanding and the other 3 sides were solid. We did not know what to expect for the fried chicken but I do have say that it totally exceeded our expectation. It was flavorful and crispy. The pieces are not enormous but we like them that way. We are so happy that we stopped by today. I am sure we will be back. Big thanks to the staff for making our first experience exceptional. read more

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This place NEVER has fried chicken breast! They haven't had it the last 2-3 times I went. It's a shame cause the food actually tastes good but they never have it smh. read more

Late night at work. Driving home, we decided to get some chicken and thought we would try something new. Pollo Campero replaced the old KFC that used to be here. So, we went through the drive thru. Jorge at the window was VERY nice and helpful. We were trying to navigate the menu and he directed us based on what we told him. He was very patient and we appreciated that. Also, the cardboard containers that the chicken was in were very good - they did not get soggy from grease and held the heat & smell in too. But they are a little stingy with the napkins. Ok - on to the food! Six piece nugget meal. French fries. Two fried chicken breasts. Four tortillas for some reason. Two large diet Pepsi's. My doctor would NOT be happy with me but, screw it, we were hungry! The nuggets were very good. Real chicken - moist and tasty. The crust was good; I wish it had been a little crispier though. But why are these nuggets so darn small??? We ordered 6 but got more like 12 because they were so darn small. Seriously one bite per nugget. French fries. Nice, not greasy or soggy at all. But they lacked flavor and especially salt (hey, if I'm gonna gorge on fatty food that is bad for me, I go all in). The fried chicken breasts were really good. Crispy skin - real crispy! Juicy and tasty like the nuggets only the breasts were a good size. Definitely among my favorite chicken pieces! Okay, so maybe next time, I will skip the French fries and maybe the nuggets; they are just too little to be worth it. But I will return for the breasts and for more good customer service from Jorge! But, really, is there a need for the tortillas??? read more

Take so long to wait ...its been to me 3time already if we eating there u need to wait for a long time then u order drive - through or order to go read more

La comida estaba súper buena la verdad y el servicio de la cajera mariam también ella fue súper amable y súper atenta y muy buena vendedora ala hora de elegir combos para la familia todo bien hasta ahí , hasta que llegó el manager con una arrogancia y con mal genio a decirlos que teníamos que pagar el size de plátanos que a ellos se les olvidó por error , por eso le doy 3 estrellas read more

If you are lucky enough to have a pollo campero nearby and still haven't tried it... you are missing out! It is one of my top favorites for fried chicken. My family and I personally prefer it over Popeyes and KFC. We agree that it is more tender, juicy and the breaded seasoning is absolutely distinct and delicious. They also have grilled chicken, but we don't prefer it over the fried chicken because it is more generic tasting. read more

Pollo Campero - Delicious Latin fried chicken - Latin American Near Me - Gaithersburg, Maryland

I looked up this location and it says it closes at 10:00 pm.I try to order my meal with fries and the guy taking my order tells me they dont have fries because they're "closing" .Mind you its 9:26...so you begin taking things off the menu 34 minutes to closing time ?Very disappointed ,I understand if it was 10 minutes to closing but how can you take fries (of all things) off the menu 30 minutes to closing time. read more

This place never has chicken breast. Every time I go I ask if they have breast they say no and I'll just leave or they'll say I have to wait 20 mins! Ever since they moved from the mall I've had only 1 meal from here because of the breast situation. I really crave it because the chicken is really good but I don't know why they never have it and then I go across the street to Popeyes and they always have breast like what's the deal? read more

Every time I go my order is wrong I have to stop and actually look at my order before leaving because there accuracy is really bad. Aside from there accuracy that have really slow turn over time so if your plan on eating here might as well do it online so that when you get there it's ready for you. The food freshness is very questionable I orders a side salad and the spring mix was going bad like my purple lettuce was black. For comparison I picked a good piece and a bad piece read more

Pollo Campero - Bad piece on the left good on the right - Latin American Near Me - Gaithersburg, Maryland

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I hate going into Lakeforest Mall. It's the closest mall near me, and as a mall-rat, I need to get my fix, but I try not to come here if I can ever help it. However, we had to run to JC Penny's for something - and the nearest Penny's was at Lakeforest, and thus, I found myself at the ghettoest mall in MoCo on a rainy Sunday afternoon. We finished running our errands and found ourselves hungry. Heading to the disgusting food court, I spied the Pollo Campero across the way. Thinking that it was another Peruvian grilled chicken joint, I dragged my husband into the line. Once in line, I find out that this isn't Peruvian chicken, but fried chicken - I became intrigued! I had always associated fried chicken with southern American food...it never occurred to me that another culture may have discovered the wonders of hot fatty oil with battered chicken! We get a half chicken with two sides to share. The chicken was surprisingly good! The skin wasn't so much battered as heavily seasoned then deep-fried until crisp. I found it a little overly salty, with the skin on the wing leaning towards hard, rather then crispy, however, the chicken meat under the skin was incredibly juicy and tasty! The yuca was surprisingly soft and fluffy, and the biscuit and salad were both good - but nothing stellar. At first I was excited and intrigued by the salsa sauce bar, however, upon inspection, I was horribly skeeved out. Although there were labels for 5 types of sauces, only 3 were available - and of the 3 sauces, they felt lukewarm rather then cold (which means it's a bacterial swimming pool), and both the verde and roja salsas looked brownish and crusty. Don't get me wrong - I still tried them...but I did it gingerly. The salsas were good, but not spectacular; both sauces could have stood for more spice and flavor. And perhaps a better cooling system to keep the sauces from getting skeevy. As this was fried chicken, we fell upon our food with our hands and fingers - only to realize that Pollo Campero hordes napkins like it's the water of life. After eating, our hands sticky, we had to go back up to the front counter, and wait for one of the cashiers to notice us, to ask for more napkins, where we then each received two napkins. There was also a lack of the handi-wipes, which should be a standard supply in any joint that requires you to eat with your hands. All in all, the chicken was delicious and worthy. However, the lukewarm salsa bar, the lack of napkins or handi-wipes, plus an overall sense of...griminess forces me to downgrade them to 3 stars. But even with the 3 stars, Pollo Campero is definitely one of the highlights of Lakeforest Mall...which I think says more about the horrificness of the mall, more then the tastiness of Pollo Campero's food. read more

I used to love this place as a kid. Now it's pretty unsatisfying. The bucket where they had the ranch containers was spilled and looked like it wasn't recently spilled. No smile, no greeting from the cashier. The line, felt like I was waiting forever. Save your stomach and DO NOT eat the French fries. I'm not sure what it is, but they stick to your teeth and have a strange taste to them. read more

Our company had an appreciation day and decided to have Pollo Campero cater the event. I called a week ahead of the event and set everything up. We paid the Wednesday before the Friday event. On Friday at 11:00am and 4:00PM, we were expecting food delivered for the event. For the 11:00am delivery, they arrived at 1:00pm. We received no bread with this order. The delivery man called me on my cell and told me he was there but the food was not ready. For the 4:00pm delivery, it did not arrive until after 5:00pm. The customer service number kept telling me, 10 minutes. If you are looking for someone to cater your event for a large number of people, I do not recommend this restaurant. They obviously could not handle the volume. On a positive note, the food was delicious once it showed up. We will not use them again for catering. read more

terrible service you order something and you have to wait more than 30 min, like wtf bro its a fast food restaurant

If I could give this restaurant zero stars I would. I ordered a large catering order a week in advance for my work's holiday party. On the day of my party my order was supposed to be delivered at 11:30, instead it never showed up. I called the restaurant multiple times they said the driver was lost and couldn't find the restaurant. I finally went to go pick up my ordered and they forget to put half of my order in the car. So I had to go back to the restaurant a second time. I finally demanded my money to be refunded back to me. They said they couldn't refund my money back because it wasn't there fault. After calling the customer service number they said they would refund me only to be called back an hour later to tell me they lied and couldn't refund my money back. I have never had such horrible customer service in my life. I will never go back nor catered with them again. read more

Twice I've ordered delivery from this place, and they got the order wrong both times. Even the receipt says "Grilled", but they gave me fried. read more

Pollo Campero - Says "Grill" on Receipt - Latin American Near Me - Gaithersburg, Maryland

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I tried the current special. 7-piece Camperitios with 2 sides (fries & coleslaw) and a drink for $6.99 . The line was a little long, but I waited anyways. There seemed to be one young man who was doing everything and doing it as fast as he could. He clearly knew the ins and outs of the business. There were two other women working with him that didn't seem to know everything as well as he did and seemed to slow the overall process down a bit. My food took about 10 minutes from waiting in line to order to in-hand. My initial reaction was that the portion seemed really small, but if you put their serving size into a smaller bucket/holder like some of their competitors I bet the portions would seem exactly the same. The Camperitios were all white meat (which is so rare these days) and very hot and delicious. I asked to try some sauces and they let me try all of them. The chili dipping sauce and another light red dipping sauce were my favorite. The side serving of fries was massive (definitely enough for 2-3 people to share) and they had just made my fries so they were hot and crispy. I also tried the coleslaw as a side. It was made with fresh ingredients, but definitely needed a little salt and pepper -- a little bland. Honestly, everything was really good. Overall, I got a decent size meal with fresh ingredients for $7.00. I would go back again if I was craving crispy all white meat chicken, which I'm betting is soon now that I wrote this review. read more

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They are normally out of grilled chicken, just like their other counterparts.

I like Mexican, southwestern, and Cuban foood, so I thought I might try "Latin style chicken" so I ate here. The place seems to cater to a mostly Latino clientele so I figured it was authentic enough. I wasn't sure at first what distinguished Latin style chicken from other kinds of chicken but I think I might have figured it out. I got the camperitos, which are "boneless wings" which are essentially chicken rib meat (white meat) marinated and deep fried. These were good, but there was one small camperito that was a little dry (probably too long in the fryer for its small size). Not to fear dryness: you can ask for dipping sauces. I got the Latin Buffalo sauce, which is chili sauce with cilantro, and the sweet adobo sauce, which is sweet and has cilantro. There is a creamy cilantro sauce, which I didn't try, as well as sweet chipotle mustard and some others. There is a salsa bar but it looks kind of sad, depleted and neglected. Baja Fresh does a much more appealing salsa bar. For my side, I got the street corn salad which was yummy--roasted corn, cherry tomatoes, pepitas (green pumpkin seeds), some kind of green, a nicely acidic dressing, and I also tasted parsley and cilantro in it. My dinner also came with a perfectly serviceable dinner roll. The woman who served me was perfectly polite and spoke unaccented English. I did find you have to ask for the dipping sauces; they don't ask you which you want. They do a bustling carryout business but the dining room often isn't very full. My overall impression: If you like fried chicken, the fried chicken here tastes perfectly fine and will satisfy your cravings. If you like cilantro, this restaurant is definitely for you. If you are one of those people who can't stand cilantro, you're probably better off at Popeyes. read more

I really hate going to Lakeforest Mall but hubby needed to eat (we were across the road from Mall) and we figured Pollo Campero is right at the entrance of the mall so we really weren't going into the mall. The place was clean and packed. Purchased two 3 piece meals, one with rice the other with yucca. $20 + change!!! Are you serious? I'm not cheapskate but this was way too much for the meals. Cashier had worse attitude I have ever encountered. You could barely hear the questions she was throwing at us drill Sargent style and was getting pissed at my husband because he had to keep asking her to repeat everything. She shoved two soda cups onto a tray and sighed for the next customer to order. You're pushing chicken dear, not curing cancer so leave the snarky belligerent attitude at home. We ordered in Spanish, husband is from Ecuador and I speak fluent Spanish also so there was no language barrier, she just had a rotten attitude. The only smiling nice employee was the manager who actually walked around the eatery asking everyone if everything was okay. Expensive, but tasty chicken, yucca was soft and good, salsa bar is sad, hot and gross. Will not go back because of bad service and too high price. read more

This place is a joke! Fall in line approximately 15 mins. Then when I got to the cashier they run of wings and breast chicken! Cashier is soo slow and won't even give a smile. If you're not enjoying your job, go somewhere else. Will not come... read more

I always seem to forget about this place when I'm thinking of fried chicken, but I absolutely love their food here. I know its considered fast-food, but there is just something about the uniqueness of their seasoning that makes their chicken so darn tasty. It's consistent & reasonably priced. I always get the dark meat combo's w/ fries (always thin & crispy like I like them), campero rice, and tortilla. Try this whole thing with their jalapeno's (on the side) for a kick. Yum! read more

The fried chicken is good but..... Food I got the 2 piece fried chicken here and the 5 piece camperitos. The way they fry the chicken is pretty good, the skin is very crispy. However, the food portions here are so tiny. I got a leg and thigh and the leg and thigh were definitely a lot smaller than what you would get at other fried chicken places (i.e. popeyes). The differences of their fried chicken is that they dont use a lot of flour tofry their chicken like popeyes & KFC. The chicken is moist. There is a sauce bar right next to the checkout, the sauces aren't good at all. They are so plain and look unappetizing (I regret not taking a picture of it when I was there). The sauces looked like they have been there for a while. The sauce that came with the camperitos is what I dipped my fried chicken in. It was a chipotle honey mustard which is good. The camperitos were decent, not your McDonalds chicken nuggets. It was real chicken and crispy. Ambience The restaurant was laid out nicely, no loud music and spacious. Service Food was quick the cashier just took out a plate and put on what I ordered onto the plate. No waiting time really. Fast food indeed. Cost Pretty pricey for a small thigh and leg, the camperitos cost $2.99 for 5 nugget sized and a chipotle honey mustard. It was alright, but I will not come back. read more

The food is good,but the portions are for a toddler. The place is way too expensive. I had to stop wasting my money because the containers are tiny and the chicken is like one quarter chopped into two pieces with a roll. I could have gone to the Dutch market which is bomb read more

You have to speak Spanish to be served here or else you don't get your food on time and you do not receive good customer service. Pretty racist..thought it was a business read more

I think this Spanish fried chicken place is my favorite out of the fast food fried chicken joints. It's not as heavily breaded as KFC or Popeyes and has a nice, different flavor that I wasn't used to with fried chicken. It's still greasy, but who doesn't want or expect the grease when eating fried chicken? They have a nice selection of sides like fries, fried yuca, beans, mashed potatoes and also different breads that come with meal combos such as biscuits, rolls or tortilla. They also have flan in a little plastic to go container like pudding, that is honestly a little scary to me because I loooooove flan and I don't like seeing it that way. I don't know. Could be good. They also have a few different sauces available. I got the chipotle sauce and dipped my chicken in with every bite. Yummy! My only complaint is that the chicken pieces are super piddly sized! Maybe I'm just used to the monster sized portions that are supposed to be bad for us, but I also don't want to have to eat 4-5 pieces to be full. Try it! read more

I have eaten here a few times, and the food was okay but seemed to get worse every time. My latest visit, and my last, well that was the straw that broke the camels back. I placed my order (Breast+wing meal), but didn't notice I received a breast+leg by mistake until I sat down in the large seating area in the food court. I took the plate back to get a wing, and I shit you not, the cashier grabs the leg right off my plate with her bare hands. She puts it right back with the chicken to eventually be served to someone else. I was stunned. read more

I went to this placce today excited about having latin style chicken- boy was I in for a surprise! I ordered the two piece (dark) fried chicken, with side of black beans and white rice, with an additional side of plantains. First of all the chicken pieces, thigh and leg were so small, I though it might be from a cornish game hen. Oh, and yes they do hoard napkins, for that amont of greasy food, they should provide more napkins. I set my food down and preparde with glee to eat, I walked over to the salsa bar and noticed they have 5 salsa labels but only 2 salsas that were warm and tasteless!! "Yuck" is the word folks! I get to the chicken and after one bite I thought I would have died from a salt attack.Iit's like they dipped it in SALT instead of batter. The rice and beans were also very salty. Well at least I have sweet plaintains left right... WRONG!Tthey wereextremely greasy and tasted like burnt oil, the sour cream( which i love usually) was awful. Can it be any worse! SALTY, SALTY, SALTY! Folks, I spent $8.99 on the meal including the cashew drink and ended up throwing it all away, thats how bad it was! WASTE OF MONEY & TIME. The women's bathroom smelled badly of everything you can imagine, I just walked out of itand waited untill I got home. I told a few of my friends who love latin chicken to just STAY AWAY!! I went home made a nice roast beef sandwich, used my clean bathroom and prentended I never set foot in that dump! read more

Let me start with The service. As i enter to the line there was only one cashier. she was very fast. she was taking orders & serving as most orders as she could, of course the was a manager helping but you could tell there's team work in the store. it only take me 5 mins before I place my order. Once i got the register the Cashier (Yolanda) as appeared on nametag, Welcomed me very nice & Politely. i told her i didnt know anything about Their food because i wasn't spanish. she said she was going to explain the menu. I said she didnt have to but she did. She explain me every order they had on the menu. Even though it was busy & The manager was helping another coustumer, after placing my order yolanda came along & Serve my food really fast i was amazed with such a wonderful service of her. She deserve 5 stars & More. Once I got to lobby, the place was very clean & Nice looking , the food was deliciuos & Juicy, I enjoy my experience here, Trust me service & food Worth your money here. read more

This was my first Time eating here. i'm not much of spanish food, but The smell was really good. unfortunately Two Starts Because Front line was amazing They Gave me such a nice service they help me through the whole process on getting my meal. This was yesterday 09/07/15 around 1:45 pm. Once i finish Ordering my food I headed to the lobby which i think is pretty Huge' but it was so dirty, The trash cans were over floting & There was no utensils. there was An associate next to the Soda machine Drinking soda, I asked her For help & she seem not understand what i was saying. apperantly she did not speak english or she just ignored me Either way i asked for a fork & She did a really bad expression on her face. I speak alittle bit of spanish & asked in spanish' then she was very rude & Say yes... She went back inside without saying if she was going to bring it or not. I went to my table & placed my food. since the associate did not say anything i Went to front line & ask for it, once again the frontline cashiers responded right away & gave it to me & they asked her to place the fork. & That's the reason why i'm giving out 2 stars. Finally The lobby associate Cameback with forks & Place them, but she did not offered me any. she just went back inside & left the lobby all dirty again. i spend 30 mins Eating my food & she did not come out to clean it . I only saw her drinking soda the whole time for about 30 mins .I felt so Misstreated. What ashamed on her. I loved the food , But i'm not coming back here. read more

I happened to be at the mall and needed to pick up lunch to bring home and figured I'd give this place a try. I ordered a 3 piece chicken as well as the trio empanadas meal and a medium horchada. I tried a little bit of everything when I got home and really wasn't impressed. The empanadas were tiny and it was my fault for not thinking they'd have cilantro in them (I hate cilantro). The chicken pieces were tiny. And the horchata lacked a rich flavor. Overall, I was underwhelmed and disappointed by my order. I will add that the staff is friendly. I was the only customer that didn't speak Spanish and they were friendly. The food did take awhile, but I was the only one who had ordered empanadas as well. read more

Terrible experience. I lament that I cannot leave zero stars. My dad and I just stopped by tonight and ordered a family meal. I politely asked for the Peruvian Aji - readily available at other locations. I was ignored. She proceeded to turn around and speak to her co-worker in Spanish. When I asked again, I was lied to and told that you do not carry any sauces and the only things available was the poorly stocked condiment bar. I pulled up the Pollo Campero website thinking that i did not clearly convey what I wanted and that the two servers did not understand what I was asking for. Again I was lied straight to my face that there was no such thing. All the meanwhile other Hispanic customers' orders were being fulfilled with a bag of condiments from under the front counter and from a small fridge. I could even claim racism as the two servers so rudely attended to the non-Hispanic customers. There were two black customers and an Asian mother and daughter who also received the same level of poor service and disrespect as my father and I received. As we were leaving I asked for the name of the girl who took my order. She lied, telling me her name was Brenda. Poor thinking on her part as (1) I had taken note of her name on her badge and (2) her name is on the receipt: Yolanda. Shame on you, Pollo Campero, and your ignorant servers. As a customer, there is a level of respect due. Not because I am entitled to it but because it is the right thing to do. read more

The credit card machine has been broken for weeks now. Come on. It doesn't take weeks to fix this. If you're now a cash only business just say so. read more

I love fried chicken. I have been wanting to go to Pollo Campero for years, on purely the concept. But I never ever go to Lakeforest Mall. This weekend- I went to take my daughter to see the Chinese New Year celebration (with a sub context of finally seeing what the fuss was about with latin fried chicken.). I ordered the four piece chicken, it cost me $9. BUT it might as well have been 2 pieces because the two drumsticks were about the size of a buffalo wing. I am not kidding you. There were 2 sides- mashed potatoes and french fries (for my daughter). The mashed potatos were ice cold. The fries were so bad that my 2 yr old refused to eat them. The chicken was good- but again- I was still hungry because there was very little meat to them. I will never spend another dime in this joint. What a shame because all over the walls were pro-latin america facts. PS: you can't get ketchup for your fries, nor additional napkins. read more