Chicken Festival Astoria — Restaurant in New York

So, I was craving a really good chicken noodle soup. I’ve done some scrubbing the inter webs about it and I’ve found out this Peruvian place that a bunch of people are raving about, especially for the soup. So went there and it looks old, dingy and desolate diner. I say great, usually these places are awesome for old school fares and Peruvian chicken is usually amazing. I ask the counter lady about the chicken soup and after looking at me like I’ve asked to buy her in exchange for a camel and a bag of rocks. She goes to the kitchen and ask the cook IF they had chicken soup, which after murmuring for a few second among themselves, she informs me they do. I order 2 large soups (26 bucks!!!!) and I wait. And wait. And wait a little more. After 15 minutes I ask if it would take much longer to heat up a couple of cups of soup and she proceed to explain that they were making the soup right now “a la minute”. Now, it’s e been a chef for only 30 years so I can’t really assume to know everything about chicken soups, but this is the very first time that I’ve ever heard that it should be prepared from scratch at every order. So I keep waiting patiently while the cook sends his/her help to the back to fetch a bunch of ingredients. Meanwhile there are other people coming in, ordering and leaving with their food. After 25 minutes I’ve been handled this couple of jugs of steaming soup. I take them home and can’t wait to dig in what surely must be the most delicious soup in the hood.

Suspense

It was the crappiest soup I had since I had as in the navy in italy. Haphazardly chopped semi cooked veggies swimming in a neon colored liquid, which if you ever made broth with the little bouillon cubes you would quickly recognize. Chicken? Nope. But a bunch of limp noodles.

Why? If you don’t have chicken soup it’s ok. If you have chicken soup it’s fine too. If you don’t but you sell it anyway, than you get run over by a truck….or something like that said mr Myagi.

No...

One of the worst places you can possibly eat in Astoria. I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s start with cleanliness. These people definitely don’t know how to properly clean down the place at night. Scrubbing down equipment must not be in their vocabulary. Next, let’s go with the food. The chicken is pathetically horrible. The wing of the rotisserie chicken is so over cooked, it’s not edible. The cook/s never got the message about how the thin part of an animal cooks faster than the rest. Hmmm I don’t know, maybe cover the wings up with aluminum foil maybe? And lastly the increase in price on the chicken. I go in there one day a couple of years ago and the girl tells that the price of the half a chicken with rice and beans has gone up. I said fine. I figured maybe it went up 25-50 cents so I didn’t even bother asking how much it was now. I used to pay around 8.65. When she rang me up, 13 and change. I was like wowwwww. Never went...

I'm very confused as to why there are good reviews, but then I realized it's mostly from the local yts. I've lived in the neighborhood for years and the chicken used to taste so good (rice wasn't the best), so I gave it a try after a couple of years. Twice I ordered for pickup this year so far, and the food isn't good. Every time I order from any Peruvian rotisserie restaurant/takeout, I always order the whole chicken and fried rice. The rotisserie chicken is extremely dry, small and it tastes nothing like Peruvian chicken, and the rice is fresh but ok (just rice with meat and a bunch of scallions and onions)-- which anyone can easily make at home. The ribs barely have any flavor, but the only thing I can definitely say was really good is the green sauce they have. Caravan Chicken over at Broadway and 35th street definitely wins...