If you are on your way out of the D.C. area and you need to catch an evening train or plane, then head out to Arlington, Virginia for some of the best Peruvian chicken you will ever have in your life. El Pollo Rico located at 932 N Kenmore Street is just a few stops on the Metro Orange Line from Washington D.C. 
Once you rise from the dark, waffle-like ceilings of the metro station, you're in a whole other world. It doesn't even look like downtown D.C. It's a neighborhood with actual homes!...and some apartments, so it's really different from downtown D.C.
The restaurant's location is in a neighborhood that is mainly comprised of residents from South America. As soon as you walk into the restaurant, it looks like a giant mess hall and everyone is speaking Spanish. Since their clientele is mainly Latin American, the employees speak very little English so it would be a good idea to brush up on your Spanish skills. If you walk in a little further and you will see 4 giant rotisseries with over 20 chickens spinning inside them. And the smell of those birds oh my god it's incredible! And the best part is... you get the best bang for your buck here. 
It's cheap and delicious! It is totally worth going out there for that chicken. You will definitely not be disappointed! But make sure you leave plenty of time to get there and back to the train or airport because it can take roughly 15 minutes to go to Union Station right after. When I went here, I wanted to pick up dinner for myself and I was rushing like crazy to get to the train station and I thought I was going to miss it! but it turned out that the train was running 40 minutes late! Thanks to Amtrak. But that did not surprise me. Amtrak is late pretty much all of the time... But that's besides the point. The point is that it's a great place to go when you're on a budget and it's delicious and I hope you check it out sometime.
Comments