Aw man {sigh}. This was one of those specialty, kinda hidden places that you think you will be your secret little motherlode of delicious, out-of-the-ordinary food. After delaying dropping in for months, finally my expectations dropped down to reality too. For me Peruvian food leaves all other Latin cuisine in the dust in terms of both variety and richness of flavor. Even the classic rotisserie chicken, Pollo a la brasa, which is the basis for a restaurant empire or two in Lima, has a special marination and other seasoning that is distinctive and addictive when done well. Here? Not quite. It was good if a bit dry but a notch short of "Oh I'm definitely coming back for this bird." The bigger issue is the supporting cast of side dishes. Again, the classic side for Pollo a la brasa is french fries, featuring a spicy dipping sauce (ají), usually two. Both the fries and the sauce missed the mark significantly. The fried yucca was better in that it was actually crispy on the outside, almost fluffy inside but the sauce was the same so getting to "wow, this is so freakin' delicious!" didn't happen. And the plantains weren't really even in the passable category. The Crema Volteada, which for as many times as I've tried it in Peru and here in the States is identical to Spanish Flan, did at least end the experience on an tasty note. Sadly though, with other solid Peruvian restaurants sprinkled around the Bay Area, that dish and this bright and friendly place is likely going to become just a footnote in my personal restaurant guide. read more

My pregnancy cravings are always satisfied with the yuka and Mac and cheese!!! I love to get my friends Peruvian food from here if they've never had it. And the chicken ALWAYS taste fresh!! read more

Fast, and so delicious!!! Chicken was flavorful and juicy, yucca fries and plantains were yummy. We will be back for sure.

Food is overpriced here. I walked in saw the prices and decided to go to Peruvian Fusion that has a whole chicken special for $20 with lots of fries and a large salad and lots of Peruvian sauces. This restaurant will go out of business in no time with their competitors offering better deals and better food. read more

Peruvian??? Alfajores?? Lucuma ice cream? Anticuchos.. empanadas ? Hmmm sounds like Chilean food to me .. read more

Mainly compete with KFC and more precisely El Polo Loco: . Chicken, 2.5 stars, similar to El Polo Loco, first thought it was totally over cooked, but seem to be South American style of bbq, use of some type of wood. Is it free range? Don't know but taste a bit better than KFC as the latter is usually pretty fattening, flavorless like El Polo Loco but has more moisture. . Yucca fries and sweet potato fries, 4 stars. Smooth and freshly made, if they don't just sell chicken this deserves 3 stars. . Passionfruit drink, 1 star. Very sweet, except just artificial sweetener kind of sweet, thrown away, I was hoping for freshly made smoothie. . Parking, 1 star, back to back with Juffy Lube, almost got hit when backing out, you just have to pick the tiniest and worst spot for the shop. . Cleanliness, all 3 are bad, fit for a fast food chicken joint. . Price, did I mention it is a fast food chicken joint? Well, it is more expensive than the other fast food joints, I seriously have no idea why they want to price themselves out. So overall 2.5 stars, was contemplating a 3 but meh, I would go to KFC. read more

Good service. Good food, very organized, not a big of a place but everything is really measured to what it need to be offering, like the atmosphere in the place, definitely we are coming back read more

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My husband and I were deciding what restaurant to try next that we haven't tried yet , so we came here at around 12:30 we already knew what we wanted to order but we got a menu just to make sure . when we came in a guy in the back saw us there, he was putting something down , we looked at the menu for a minute and we were ready to order never in the 6 to 8 mins we were standing there did they come to greet us or take our order , they were talking between themselves but never came to talk to us so we left. If you guy's want costumers to come and enjoy your food maybe be a little more attentive and notice your costumers when they come in. read more

Ordered 2 pollos and 2 orders of Anticuchos, close to a $100 check, before leaving asked server for more salsa for the chicken and was told "Chicken come already with salsa (1 little tiny container per chicken) and She was going to be "generous" to give me 1(one) extra salsa free but if I wanted more it will be at a cost, REALLY???! 1 Little salsa per chicken? Dont you get one of the same containers per 1/4 chicken? LAME Well, I hope You guys can make a lot of business out of "selling your precious salsa" to make up for losing customers, like this. read more

Chicken is delicious! We've tried Limon in Burlingame and this chicken is better than theirs, not to mention the price is much more reasonable. You can get a whole chicken, two sides and a drink for about $30... more than enough food to feed a family of 4. They also have other authentic foods such as papa a la huancaina, delicious. There isn't much seating so we only go here for take out and parking is a pain since it's on a busy street. read more

The chicken is ok but so overpriced that compared to Limón which is just a couple of miles north it's not worth the cost

I ordered thru EAT24 it took almost an hour to deliver to San Carlos, CA but it was worth it every minute! The portions were big enough! Anticuchos delicious! I asked for extra Ají salsa and they didn't spare on their delicious Chimichurri & Ají salsa Keep on the good food and quantity! We recommend AL CARBON read more

Lets start, if you're really a pollo a la brasa lover this is not the place for you. The chicken looks like it was prepared yesterday, its dry and over season, same thing with the fries. You can see the kitchen and you see the fries just laying there. And prety much every dish that they have its already made and all they do is warm it up. But im sure if they made everything fresh i would be wrinting a different review. The only good thing i can say is that they have casino cookies for sale!! Amazing! Specially the lucuma flavor. read more

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This place was straight up fire. Walked over here from my pad and was like this place looks cool. I ordered the quarter chicken w/ plantain fries and beans. Alexis, the dude that works the front, gave me enough sauces for like 2 whole chickens. dude gave me 3 different sauces. Chill vibes. Definitely coming here again. read more

This is probably the worst take out food I've ever ordered. The Anticucho is disgusting, French fries are greasy and flemish, side salad has probably been sitting for hours if not days. Delivery packages are the cheapest cardboard you could find and grease is overflowing the cardboard. Chicken was dry and rice overcooked. So, for theses reasons, this restaurant deserves the lowest ranking in the entire peninsula area. I recommend you stay away from this one. read more

4 start food but the customer service need to be better. Also it seem the spicy cream that comes with pollo a la brasa is has really be water down to almost nothing that the flavor is gone. read more

Food was not ready even though it was ordered an hour in advance. French fries were limp, chicken was just okay. Disappointed! read more

Tasty chicken, and good prices! Alfajores are really good! There are not too many options but everything I try was good.

Love the juicy, flavorful chicken here and the generous portions for sides. We get take out and enjoy the yucca fries and plantains. We split a half chicken between the two of us and have plenty of food. read more

This was my first experience ordering food from this place and wow I have never had such a horrible customer service. The owner literally threw the food on me with the worst attitude ever. It's very upsetting to see how in times like this with the pandemic we are spending our money helping out your business and we get treated with disrespect and from the owner!! Lot's of work on how to treat your clients my friend! Peace out! read more

very disappointing service! Muy mal servicio al cliente! I ordered a pollo and everything seem fine until i saw my phone. I have two charge alerts from this restaurant at first i thought maybe it just was a mistake but i logged into my online banking and i was being charged twice. I called the restaurant and their answer was "it is normal, it just the receipt gets send twice alot", so i told him its not a duplicate receipt but a duplicate charge, it took them like 10 mins to figure out what a double charge meant! Then the guy say no its because i input the card incorrectly the first time and got denied. I told him i can do a screenshot and show him that i am getting charged twice so he put me on hold again and then said to go to the restaurant and show him so i can get my money back. I told him id be there today. A couple of minutes later a woman who didnt even identify herself was telling me she was calling from al carbon, and not to bother to go the restaurant because they would not give me the money back and that i needed to wait until their statement comes to see if i can get it back. I told her statements come when the cycle closes which its normally a month and that it was ridiculous that she wanted me to wait a month to get the money back. She said o well its a long weekend and i cannot do anything because everything is closed and she will not see anything until tuesday. I told her that is ridiculous, the only thing closed are thr actual bank branches but as a vendor she has customer service line that she can contact to verify the double charge. But her position the whole phone call was she couldnt do anything since its a holiday. I told her if her customer service did not work she can try going on her ONLINE BANKING WHICH IS AVAILABLE 24/7 and check, see if she can get online support. Yet she said no cause its a holiday weekend. Then said i guess i can try and will call you back. Well its a week later and still nothing, I HAD TO CALL MY BANK AND DO A STOP PAYMENT. I could not believe the response of this restaurant and how bad this service was. Either the workers dont know anything about technology for banking or they are just too lazy to even bother to correct their mistakes. Never again will i order from this restaurant. Awful experience, i would give it negative stars if possible read more

I don't understand how this place stays in business. We just received our order from a food delivery service. First of all our meal was supposed to come with two large sides. We got the large beans which was your good old baked beans from a can (beans that you usually get at a family BBQ) But our second large side was suppose to be a Large rice but it came with literally only two table spoons of rice. Next we open up our plantains and they were sooooo dry. It's almost like they forgot to season it or something. Tasted like cardboard. Lastly, the main dish. The chicken was undercooked!!! Every item we ordered was screwed up. And not to mention this place is pricey for what you get. read more

Al Carbon - Our 2 failed large sides. Bbq baked beans & small rice with two tablespoons of rice and which was supposed to be a large rice. - Peruvian Near Me - San Mateo, California

The staff is great, my chicken came quick after I order it and the portions are satisfying. The sauces really compliment the chicken or fries. A return customer fosho read more

Fast, casual, and inexpensive Peruvian food. Ordered the half chicken with yucca fries and the house salad. The chicken was tender, flavorful, and seasoned perfectly, and I had enough left over for lunch the next day! Service was fast and courteous. If you're looking for something quick but tasty, I definitely recommend this place! read more

Their chicken is juicy bomb! Yucca fries are delightful. Some other items are hit or miss. Purple corn dessert was weird.

Good place at a great price for the lunch special!! Pollo a la braza, can't go wrong.

Not the fanciest place to eat but the food is delish! Pollo a la brasa just like back home with french fries, salad and aji! Yummm they also have yuca and other side options. Drinks are a bit pricy but good options read more

My sister took me to that place!!!The chicken is delicious ,super fresh and tasty.!! The guy who works there is very friendly and the aji sauces are spectacular I can eat those sauces even with cardboard hahaha!!!! I definitely want to go there again!!!! That place is 100 times better than Limon restaurant!!!! read more

Decided to try this place one more time , ugh baaaaad mistake. The half chicken was like the size of a cooked pigeon. It tasted stale and old. The portions seemed to have gotten smaller and the prices went up. Definitely done, I can get a feast at Boston market with there prices... read more

Basically Peruvian fast food, but it was delicious! Got the chicken quarter, yucca fries, and the macaroni and cheese. Best green sauce I have ever had as well. The wife loved it, too. I'll be back. read more

Best Rotisserie chicken I have tasted on the peninsula. Hands down. Two of us were really hungry and ordered a full chicken and two sides. The plantains and mashed potatoes were excellent and generous. The green sauce on the potatoes was amazing. There was so much food we couldn't finish the meal and took home leftovers. It's not a fancy place, nor does it seat many people, but the food was fresh and delicious. Very tasty, but no burning hot spices. Service was friendly and polite. My only complaint was the plastic cutlery which kept melting on the hot chicken. read more

This restaurant lied to me. The app I ordered from (grub hub) sent the wrong time to the restaurant. The restaurant delivered my food 3 hours early and I was not home. I called them to try to get my food at the correct time, and they said they had refunded my money to grubhub. However, grubhub claims that is not the case and will not refund my money either. read more

ok general rotisserie chicken, not like some peruvian ones, i.e. el pollo rico (DC) or pollo a la brasa (LA) since needs to be fire pit roasted for the best flavors through and through. read more

Everything was bland, cold and just...blah. I expected more from a supposedly authentic Peruvian restaurant. The aji Amarillo tastes like it was made from a powdered cheese mix. Don't waste your time or money. read more

It's been open for 5 days, and it's great. It's peruvian style chicken, and the fried plantain and fried yucca were perfect. haven't had it this good since New York City. it's a small place and casual, with fabulous food. very inexpensive. read more

This place has the best Peruvian rotisserie chicken around, probably in the whole of bay area. Perfectly roasted with the right flavors and the sides (tried Yucca fries and Quinoa salad) are great as well. read more

So good! Their whole chicken, yucca fries, and garlic sauce are incredible. Kind of a weird place. The service is a little different and the menu is kinda funky but I'll take that for the amazing food. Would eat here everyday! read more

There is only a couple of places that sells pollo a la brasa but this is the only place that does it right. Great service the staff is really friendly and quick to get your food ready. I don't mind driving an 1 hour to get to this place since is really worth it. read more