Pollo Caliente

Update: Prices UP, quality way down.It's the old sad story. We were looking forward to a great meal at great price. But when I walked in, I was surprised to see the price on my favorite order was up--by 60%! So instead of a whole chicken with two sides for $10, I ordered a half for that price. When we opened it up at home, the pieces were much smaller than before. They still tasted good, though not as hot-off-the-grill fresh as before.My guy is not the chicken fiend that I am. He'd been dreaming of their fabulous Charro Beans. But he made a face and pushed his away half eaten. He said, "They need to rehire whoever's Abuela used to make the beans before." The deep rich flavor we'd loved was now a bit flat, and the chunks of bacon and jalapeño were absent.Pollo Caliente used to really stand out in the Mexican grilled chicken scene. Now, they're just like everyone else. I'm sad. I wanted to support this new apparently local business.

I am blown away by how damn good this place is. It's better than Pollo Regio that's down the street on Berkman. They're one of my favourite pollos asados al carbon in Austin (charcoal grilled chicken).We ordered the whole chicken meal to share with two people. They had a special going where the whole chicken meal was $10. The meal came with 6 white corn tortillas, two containers of a Jalapeño salsa (tastes like Doña from Taco Deli), charro beans, and rice. A whole chicken meal was enough food for the two of us with plenty of leftovers for the next day.The chicken was succulent, juicy, and flavourful. It was well seasoned and no part of it was dry. Make sure to squeeze the lime on it! The rice had good flavour and was moist.The real standout though were the charro beans. These are ABSOLUTELY NOT vegetarian. They're made with bacon and pieces of what looked like chicharron. There's a pleasant spicyness that comes the jalapeños that are stewed with the beans. I would go back for the charro beans alone.The restaurant is inside a convenience store and the staff are courteous. Our meal came out within about a minute of us ordering and paying.

Excellent pollo asado, very reasonably priced. Best in the area by far! The baked potatoes are A+ also.

The food was really good, it was fresh. Half a Chicken, Rice, beans, tortillas, for six bucks. This is cheaper than Taco Bell and it's better for you. I'll definitely go back. SI should've took a picture before I started scarfing it down.