Rico Pollo — Restaurant in Providence

I called to get a quote for catering for my son’s graduation party. I spoke with a very nice lady over the phone and she gave me ideas of what I could get and was a little pushy, but I told her I was really just looking for rice and rotisserie chickens. She quoted me $190 for 10 chickens and a large tray of arroz con gandules. I told her the day and time I needed it for and she confirmed. My wife heard the whole conversation. The day of the party my wife went to pick up the food because I was running behind. My wife called me to ask if I had added something else because the lady that was there that day tried to give her some perniles(pork shoulder) which we didn’t order and also told her that I didn’t give them a pick up time? When my wife told her that we didn’t order that and that we did give them a pick up time she gave her an attitude. The lady also gave my wife two trays of rice and charged her an extra $40. When my wife asked her why she said that I had ordered it, my wife asked to see the ticket and when the lady showed her the ticket it wasn’t even my name… the name on the ticket was Daisy. My wife then told her that my name was not Daisy and that the order she gave her wasn’t ours. The lady gave her an attitude and asked her who Daisy was because she had also ordered chickens and rice lol. My wife proceeded to tell her that she didn’t know, but that it wasn’t me and that she didn’t know who that person was. The lady told my wife that she wasn’t going to return the $40 extra dollars for the rice because she had given it to her already, mind you at no point during this whole time did my wife leave the restaurant. My wife left with the food because why argue with stupid? When we open the trays of food lord behold not only did we pay for extra rice, but they also gave us the wrong type of rice. I will NEVER order from there again or refer anyone. Not only were they wrong but on top of that the food wasn’t great and the service was horrible. I didn’t even take pictures of the dried rice or chicken because it was embarrassing enough that my guest had to eat that. I could have gotten the chickens from Market Basket and pay less and would have had a way...

As I'm writing this review I'm very disappointed and upset with Rico Pollo. I'm a local resident who used to eat here frequently because their food was good but not anymore. The customer service at this establishment was the worst I've ever encountered on two different occasions. The first time I booked Rico Pollo for catering I was not acknowledged at all when I came to pick up my order. I was waiting in line while people in front and behind me were being helped. I had to say something before I can be helped. This was totally unacceptable because I was picking up an order that was scheduled to be ready. I'm aware that all the employees here speak Spanish as their primary language so there is a language barrier but "hello or give me a moment, "was not communicated. When this happened the first time I let it go and gave this place another chance. The second time around the same thing happened. Not only did this happen my catering order was wrong because I ordered 35 beef empanadas and received 35 chicken empanadas. In addition to this mistake Rico Pollo over charged me for my catering order. I had to come in person and explain what they did and they resolved it. Lastly, when I called this place multiple times to speak to their manager I got the phone hung up on me. Each time I called the person on the line was extremely rude and they did not know when their manager was going to be in. How do you work somewhere and not know when your manager is going to be in? At that point I knew that I was being gaslighted and that is why I'm writing this detailed review. I strongly recommend that this establishment gets customer service training to their employees because their service was so bad that they lost a loyal customer. Though Rico Pollo's food is good I can easily get this food somewhere else and get treated...

I have ordered from this spot several times. Each time I try to order ham & cheese meat pies (pastelitos de jamon & queso) I never get a single one. I always end up getting half ass cheese pastelitos & occasionally a chicken & cheese pastelito. Don't order the tostones either. Real tostones are flat not half way smashed & soft. Real tostones are flat and crunchy. Not worth it at all. Y'all lucky I'm only snitching about the pastelitos/empanadillas & the tostones and the potato salad. I don't even expect great potato salad from ANY Latin restaurants unless it is Los Andes pero this was straight up nasty potato salad. I remember ordering it the day before my birthday & I was so disappointed, I had my mom make me her potato salad for my birthday. Won't ever order from here again....