Chicken Rico Waldorf — Restaurant in Maryland

Chicken Rico is the best pollo spot. You know why! Because they have ribs. I don’t care if ribs aren’t pollo. Such INSOLENCE! I like how the dude wields the butcher knife with reckless abandon - it’s the only way to get me to pray anymore man I’m so desensitized. If you want precision, go to a fish-monger! This is Chicken Rico - you’re going to chew on pig knuckles and like it. The chicken itself is maybe not as flavorful as Sardi’s, but it beats places like Don Pollo or Pollo Campero. The fried rice is so much better than other places. I can’t comment on the sauces as I’m not a very saucy fellow but I’ve seen folk shed all principles and turn fiend about it. Here’s what you do: buy half a chicken, eat it in the dining room while getting stink-eyed for 20 minutes by a Salvadoran toddler who’s eating something that’s not on the menu, wash your hands in the eerily silent bathroom, then walk across the parking lot to the bookstore and complain that they don’t have enough non-romance short-story collections by contemporary female writers. Be like me. They will never serve you everything you ask for. Oh, they didn’t forget: they just don’t have it all. Today they don’t have fries, tomorrow they don’t have soda, it’s always something. Think of it as a microcosm of reality and be thankful for what you do get. Mindfulness is the key to gracious living, after all. Please eat at Chicken Rico. I don’t even care if you hate it! Just do it for the good of the children of America. It’s literally the only place in this capitalist suburban hellscape where you can buy food that isn’t fried - and that’s...

I had just spent a few hours reading and researching in Books-A-Million and since it was raining & I was hungry I decided to try Chicken Rico, which is located only a few feet away.

I've passed the spot many times driving down 301 and if memory serves me I'd also heard someone mention it a time or two in passing. On a Sunday evening there weren't many patrons inside....I'd say 3 or 4 customers. I waited a few minutes before it was my turn to order. Now I don't claim to speak or read fluent Español and as I was struggling a bit to pronounce the name of a dish I wanted (chicken with rice & mashed potatoes, minutes the French Fries) the attendant immediately garnered an attitude with me. Maybe I was frustrating her or taking too long, but her impatience in a nearly empty restaurant didn't sit too well with me.

Once I had ordered she gave me a number and told me to pay up front at the register. After I paid, I waited about 10 minutes before my food was ready. The sweet young man that works there was kind enough to bring it over to me.

When I arrived home I was disappointed with my choice. My chicken & rice were dry (even after pouring the delicious sauces on top) and the mashed potatoes were runny. I tossed over half of it in the trash. Waku Chicken, which is right up the road in Brandywine is better, by leaps and bounds.

Maybe I was there on an off day, but considering I know where to find better, consistent Peruvian food, this place has already...

let’s just make this very clear. if you are driving through waldorf on 301, you can thank chicken rico for making you get hungry on sheer drive-by aromas alone. i love everything about this spot. the food is amazing. the chicken is spiced perfectly and served up with the powerful popping chop of a butcher knife right in front of your face- a chicken thrill! but reader i confess, i recently became vegetarian and thought i would not frequent so often. but fear not- they will make you a vegetable platter, my vegetable loving people! the cilantro rice is amazing and you should get the black beans and let them live together with your rice and you will see what i’m going on about here. as if the crispy yuca and sweet maduros weren’t enough, literally every person working here is friendly and attentive and their hard work is apparent in this super clean and welcoming restaurant. the green sauce is spicy and the music is always on point. i caught j balvin and karol g on tonight’s playlist. honestly, this is the only restaurant that i walk up to, see a line to the door, and i don’t turn away. i know that they run this operation like a well-oiled machine. i rarely have to wait long for deliciousness and plus it makes me happy to see that so many others in our community know that chicken rico...