Ola! Senor Pollo in Scout Rallos, Quezon City

Every time I look at my growing list of restaurants to try in Manila, I can't help but sigh. The list is just so long and mind you, this includes carefully chosen a.k.a. curated restaurants brought about by my daily blog hopping that I think I have to go home at least once a month to be able to have the time and appetite to try them all. This is why I'm thankful for friends who are always so game to try any of these restaurants with us. I swear, I just love the thrill of being able to cross something off my list. #OCDproblems

Take for example three of our favorite people in Manila -- Didi, Rowena and Peter. We've been friends from the early days of blogging and somehow, our friendship has slowly moved on from being mere "blog friends" and "eating buddies" to real, genuine friends whom Paul and I know will be there for us no matter what. After all, we've all had our fair share of being victimized by pseudo friends who were just there to take advantage of our friendship (yes folks, these people maggots do exists). That was indeed a terrible and heartbreaking episode but having moved on from that, I believe it has made us all stronger. Hooray! As for those pseudo friends, well... karma karma nalang. :)

Whenever we're in Manila, Paul and I would make it a point to catch up with them. So, during our recent visit home, we agreed to have lunch at Senor Pollo as per my request. I've been reading a lot about it from blogs and even C told us to check it out too. We love roast chicken and after indulging in all those pork dishes and deep-fried snacks, enjoying anything less oily, salty and fatty is definitely a welcome treat. Senor Pollo is part of a new commercial complex along Sct Rallos in Quezon City. It was my first time to visit this place so I was amazed to see Senor Pollo along with Purple Oven, Uncle Moe's Shawarma and more! The only problem I see here is the lack of parking slots and since the street is quite narrow, you really need to either have a driver with you or make sure to come extra early.



Senor Pollo occupies quite a small space but luckily it has a second floor. So, you queue up at the ground floor to place your order. Since they're roasting the chicken on the spot, expect this area to be quite warm and smoky. As soon as you have paid though, you get your number and quickly head up to the second floor where it is definitely more spacious and perfectly air-conditioned. Ahhh!

Paul and I came from a heavy breakfast meet-up with my best friend C so we weren't very hungry by the time lunch rolled in. We tried the Senor Pollo Roast - Half with two side dishes (Php. 309). I chose the Mac & Cheese and Latin Coleslaw as accompaniments. Every roast chicken dish comes with a small serving of chimichurri, this is the green sauce made out of parsley, olive oil, garlic, oregano and vinegar. The best way to have this is to dip every single slice of chicken before taking a bite. I love anything with parsley so I enjoyed the chimichurri a lot. In fact, I would probably enjoy it more had I ordered rice and I would have the chimichurri over my rice. Yum!

The chicken was okay but honestly, nothing spectacular. It's a regular roast chicken, a bit on the dry side but quite flavorful nonetheless. This is probably why they have bottles of the chili and garlic sauce to help perk up the taste of the chicken. I wish though they would add a more flavorful rub to bring out a different taste and not just rely on the sauces. As for the sides, I found the Mac and Cheese to be a tad too salty for my taste while the Latin Coleslaw was a-okay.

As for our friends, Peter made us try his All Lean Pork Sisig (Php. 185) which was delicious! You'd definitely want more rice after trying this. Great choice P!

Over-all the food at Senor Pollo was pretty much average. It was the company of our friends that made our lunch extra fun.

Check out Senor Pollo at F7 Building, Scout Rallos, Tomas Morato, Quezon City. Call them at +63-977-1429273.