I work in downtown Berkeley and this place is just a short walk down the block from my office, so I've tried it a few times now. Inna & I called in to-go orders today and I followed her lead and tried the gyro. Pretty good and filling, but doesn't leave you stuffed. They have good fries too. When I Bart in to work, I walk past this place and they're always jam packed for breakfast. I've been meaning to try a breakfast item, but haven't the chance yet. During the beginning of cold season, I tried two different soups which didn't impress me much, so I probably won't be back for soup. Also, they only accept cash which isn't convenient, but at least Wells is just down the street. read more

I'm rating Pollo's 5 stars not because it's 5-star dining but because it's delicious diner food with a smile. Brothers/owners Mo and Mustafa make you feel right at home and the comfort food is fast and yummy. I recently moved out of Berkeley but miss this establishment. Enjoy! read more

Ok.. I DON'T know if their mushroom burger ($5 total) is the cause of this... but after eating it, i've felt like something is stuck in my throat (at the bottom, kind of in the stomach?) for 9 hours now. I feel horrible. I've drank lots of water, ate meals...everything to wash it down, but it just won't disappear. I feel like vomiting. The taste of the burger was OK, nothing special. I'd say you should go to the Subway right across the street to get more bang for your buck. read more

Honestly, this place isn't bad. It's not great but it's not bad. It's a nice little hole-in-the-wall burger/mexican place. It's clean and homey, it has some TVs for when you just need to sit and veg for a while, and the food was pretty good. Cash only -- or you can pay extra to use the ATM there. read more

Really standard breakfast fare, not particularly stellar in any area - so why so overpriced? Pollo's is probably the best stereotypical breakfast spot in downtown Berkeley, so I will go occasionally, but I wish the food was either a little better or a little cheaper. And the ceilings a little higher (watch out, tall people). That being said, they are fast, friendly, and consistently decent. Plus they have a gyros omelet, which is worth a try just for the notch on the breakfast-post, although I don't think I'll be traveling down that particular road again any time soon. Lunch is your standard greasy diner food and gyros - I find the breakfast to be more satisfying in general. Cheaper but slightly stranger breakfast can be had at Makri's Cafe a block away. read more

This place is great! Don't let the appearance of the restaurant bother you. The place has been here for a while and their food is good. The owners are also extremely nice and helpful. I have been coming here regularly for quite awhile now. I've tried multiple items on their menu. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner but I think their breakfast is definitely the best. My favorite dishes are the Breakfast Special and the Chicken and Cheese omelet. The breakfast special comes with two eggs any style, bacon or sausage, home fries,toast or muffin, and coffee or orange juice, definitely a lot of food. They cook the eggs and bacon/sausage very well. Their home fries are also very good as they include onions with the potatoes. Their english muffins are fantastic. I really like the way they toast them with butter. They taste great alone but even better with a bit of jam. For their omelets, all of them are really quite massive and also come with toast or muffin and home fries. I will definitely keep coming back! read more

TERRIBLE customer service. I asked what was on the breakfast sandwich. The man told me eggs and cheese. I asked if I could get anything else on the sandwich, he said that it would be $5. I asked him if it was $5 additional or if it was for the total price of the sandwich. He gave me attitude and treated me as if I was stupid. I left the restaurant because I felt so uncomfortable by his attitude. He seemed happy that I was leaving. Also, there was no one else in the restaurant while all of the restaurants I walked by had at least 10 people or more. If you do not mind rude people be their guest. read more

This last rainy Saturday morning, I'm looking for a breakfast sandwich before work. Walking down Shattuck, I'm just thinking egg mcmuffin will do, but that's three more blocks in the rain when I spot Pollo across the street. All lit up with a neon sign that reads "Breakfast". I figure this is much better. Stepping in out of the rain, I'm the only one in the place. I ask the guy behind the counter if they got something handheld that I can get to go. He says breakfast burrito, and I'm thinking that sounds good. I say I'll take one with sausage to go. He says that will be $8.07. Eight dollars?! I should have walked out and gone on to the dollar menu. But i figure it must be some great burrito for 8 bucks, so I wait... and wait... 10 minutes later he bags it up with some hot salsa to go and I finally get out of there. When I get to work and open the bag, the burrito is huge! It must weigh 2lbs.. I am encouraged at this point. Maybe 8 bucks will get you a great burrito... Wrong! First bite is all potato. I turn it and try from another angle. More potato, some cheese. Third bite more potato and I guess what is supposed to be my sausage: little burnt chopped up bits of what used to be sausage links? what the hell? I open the whole thing and there it is: Eight dollars, seven cents worth of mushy potato. The other ingredients are there, but very sparse. Not Acceptable. I will not go back. I ate most of the thing so 8 bucks wouldn't go into the trash, but I paid the price for that later and had to interrupt work 3 times with an upset stomach and diarrhea. :( read more

breakfast burrito with hot sauce yum potatoes egg and cheese cooked slowly and with love a tad pricey but utterly worthwhile big enough for two read more

Great atmosphere. Very unique feel in downtown Berkeley. Came in for breakfast and had the breakfast burrito and eggs, bacon, and hash browns. The burrito was potato heavy which i didn't mind at all, it was tasty and filling. The eggs, bacon, and hash browns were pretty standard fare but the place feels very family owned. The manager was kind and the whole place had a small operation feel. Will absolutely be back. Prices are good as well. read more

I think I've found my new lunchtime french fry spot! Why didn't I think to get fries from here sooner?! For $2.30 the portion is pretty good for one person to munch on. They're thicker cut fries - almost like a crinkle cut fry without the crinkle. Boy oh boy were they delicious. They weren't salted - which is fine, just add your own salt - but I was surprised that they weren't greasy AT ALL. It was almost like eating a baked fry but more delicious! Service was super friendly and I probably waited 5 minutes for my fries. The owner neatly packed my bag with napkins, a plastic fork, and lots of ketchup packets without me even asking. Hurray! I'll be back! read more

I'm from NY, where you can get an egg sandwich at a deli on pretty much every street corner. I love clogging up my arteries with a daily egg-n-cheese when I visit. I come here for one reason: I can get an egg, (processed) cheese (I'd never buy the fake stuff but I love it all melty on an egg sandwich now and then), and bacon on an english muffin. No nasty microwaved egg. No weird margarine or griddle oil flavors saturating my muffin (pet peeves). It's hot and fresh and is the closest I can come to my old favorite. Service is always friendly, and I think this is a solid choice for a quick diner-type breakfast. Definitely 4 stars for my egg sandwich. read more

I've been here twice. The staff was small and very friendly. I think that's the owner who takes the orders and if not, he sure cares about the place like he does. I ordered: 1/2 BBQ Chicken. It's ok, could have been better or maybe my expectations were too high. The BBQ sauce is really good, too bad the chicken was dry:( Side of corn was good, warm and sweet but wish it was on the cob. Their fries are fat and juicy. mmm The cheeseburger wasn't charbroiled or anything, tasted pretty average but probably wouldnt order it again. My friend's lamb Gyro was AMAZING. Definitely awarded the stars for this one. Best Gyro in Berkeley!! read more

I have been recently coming here since my office has moved around the corner. The food, service and atmosphere is spot on. Anything on the menu is always good and hits the spot. Mo has been there for ages and always greets you with a smile and warm friendliness. My comfort food go to place in downtown Berkeley. read more

This place is right next to a Downtown Berkeley BART entrance, so periodically before heading to the city I will treat myself and my companions to a breakfast burrito. Yup, the breakfast burrito here is serious business. It alone would get five stars, EASILY. Densely packed with eggs, cheese, potato, choices of meat and salsa...perfection! The spicy salsa actually packs a pretty decent punch, too! The only reason this review is four stars and not five is because of the somewhat disappointing experience I had with other items on the menu. Because we were so over the moon about the breakfast burrito, my boyfriend and I decided to try out a regular burrito. We split a beef super burrito and ordered an horchata. Granted, the bar was set quite high, but it was probably one of my least favorite burrito experiences. The meat was kind of like gyro meat, which threw off the whole flavor. And the horchata...oh the horchata. It was carton horchata, and the man added half and half to it. The result: like drinking sugared fatty cream. Eh. Made boyfriend a little queasy. But really, I don't want to dwell on that one not-so-great experience seeing as how I've always gotten good service and have enjoyed many a breakfast burrito at this establishment. I will definitely continue coming for the breakfast burritos, but I may be more wary straying from what is tried and true. read more

Such a gem - the owners are amazing with hospitality, and their menu has a great range. I enjoyed the falafel pita while my husband got a steak burrito, and we both had fresh made lemonade! It's a great place for a quality lunch and they're fast too. The decor is quaint, the staff is kind, and the food is good - can't say a single bad thing about this place! read more

I stopped by today and got the bean and cheese burrito. The burrito was loaded with beans, it had cheese and their house salsa. I thought that the burrito was pretty good! It was total comfort food for me being soft and warm and the house salsa was tart and delicious. The restaurant was super cute and had a lot of charm and character. The sunlight was streaming thru the windows and the tables were covered with red and white checkered tablecloths. Today I got take-out, but I think next time I'd like to eat there and enjoy myself. The older man working at the counter was nice and the man who made my burrito was friendly. I will come back here. read more

Wandering Berkeley and came up to this place by happenstance. Quick service. Affordable. And decent eats. I had the 2 egg special & it filled me up quite well :) read more

Got chicken platter. Dry chicken, pretty ok red rice, standard romaine lettuce salad. Very relaxed restaurant environment and looked like people were enjoying their burgers. I think I could have gotten a little better for the price. read more

Pollo is the epitome of average. There isn't anything wrong with that but I feel like once is probably enough of this place since there are so many of other places to explore in Berkeley. My burger was very average and the patty was so round and flat that I think it may have been some sort of frozen, pre-prepared meat. The bathroom is super scary. You have to go outside, around the corner and through the back door to get to it and there was neither soap nor paper towel. As they say on American Idol, nothing about this place "made me jump out of my seat." read more

An oasis of irony in the middle of movements deed. This little delight possesses trolls in the corner stone watching each other - nonchallant at the outside world with a Mona Lisa attention to the original ideal: digging a meal at peace. Complex with images and trivia details, the small-big room invites one to proceed and go about their day. The menu astounds a sense of the grand: half chicken, breakfast, various wraps, a funky velveta cheese burger, delux fries, etc. etc. etc. (Menu web reference: http://www.beyondmenu.com/34605/berkeley/original-pollos-berkeley-94704.aspx ). The hope of our dear Berkeley: a family business dignity (no loitering please), and humility with individual style. Addison & Shattuck Square, on Shattuck at "the hillside" at the top of the BART Addison stairs exit. Review the menu or just admire at passing. read more

Original Pollo - Original Pollo (Addison on Shattuck Square on hillside) - American Near Me - Berkeley, California

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Been coming here about 2-3x a month for over past a year and my thing is that I want to try something different each time I go because they have such a wide selection to choose from. I have not had anything that I haven't liked and keep changing my mind on what my favorite might be if I were to choose one thing to order. The most recent was the breakfast burrito, and I have to say that the people here are right. It is probably one of the best I've had because it's cooked fresh and wrapped just right. Wrapping a burrito is an art, it's not as easy as it seems. Anyway, you can't go wrong. Burgers are great, and the owners do an awesome job at making you feel welcomed. read more

Food: 3 Staff: 5 This is one of my reliable go-to places when I needed something reliable, filling, and comforting. I'd be there several times a month, getting my usual BBQ chicken order. I don't think I ever tried anything else. I don't know if the BBQ sauce was homemade; I just knew that it was good enough for me to get. A lot. I know their ranch dressing was homemade. The owner once mentioned that he used dill weed as his secret ingredient. I loved it so much that I always requested extra dressing to be included on top of the accompanying rice. The rice included tiny minced carrot, which I thought was a nice touch. Note: The rice is served cold; didn't matter to me in the least. I've personally never eaten in there; I always had take out. Mainly because this was BBQ chicken, and it's only in the privacy of my own apartment where I will dare eat BBQ anything with my bare hands. I could easily see myself eating in there had I had anything else but the BBQ chicken. I'm glad the recipe never changed. And on a recent trip out there, I was glad that the staff remembered me and my usual order. Since they've changed bus routes, I realized that I can go back to getting my favorite BBQ takeout during my occasional trips out to downtown. I've visited this place for nearly 10 years; I can easily see myself going for another 10. read more

Solid burger, mediocre fries and surprisingly good horchata. The food is a very standard 3 stars but they get a fourth one for the dining room being accommodating for someone my size, comfortably. read more

This review is based on burger. I was really happy when I first took a bite into the burger - it just had the right amount of smokiness, BBQ-y taste that you just cannot get from a fast food restaurant. However, upon chewing further I discovered that there are big white chunks (cartilage... etc.) - I spat it out, and commenced eating, since as a burger lover, it is to be expected occasionally. However, when this happened with every single bite until I was about halfway through, I just couldn't put that into myself anymore. If they'd just fix the meat issue, they'd be more like 4 stars for me, because the other ingredients were all good and fresh. Maybe my review would have been different had I ordered some different item off their menu (without ground beef), but if a food place has me grossed out by the food for a reason like this, they get slapped with 1 star. However, I do plan on trying them out again sometime in the far future, because I do see some promising qualities in the overall taste. And when I do, hopefully I can give a better rating than what they get today. BTW, nice location but kind of dingy and dark interior. read more

I've been here countless times. The owners are so kind, the atmosphere is perfect for a quiet brunch with a friend, and the food is reasonably priced and high quality. My favorite place in Berkeley for unpretentious diner food. I wish it was open on Sundays, but the owners are *always* there, I'd imagine it's their only day off. read more

I went to the Original Pollo's today in between classes at Berkeley City College looking for onion rings, and they were about 4 bucks. They were pre-frozen and just refried. So I wasn't too impressed. But the service was nice, and the coffee was alright. I'd eat there again I just wouldn't get the onion rings. read more

Excellent Chicken kabobs for me and fat juicy burgers for my friends. Everything cooked while we waited and fabulous.

If Evanescence's song "bring me to life" (in the best sense possible) could be a breakfast burrito, it would be the one at pollos. No hangover can withstand it's formidable onslaught of cheese, eggs, potatoes, and bacon. read more

One of my favorite places in Berkeley. 3 eggs over easy, sausagee and potatoes w/ wheat toast and coffee. Or (if I'm in a hurry if just call in a to go order of), a breakfast burrito spicy salsa and sausage or bacon. Mmm........They also have really good burgers. I been coming here about 6-7 years now. The brothers who run the place are really gracious and have a lot of integrity when it comes to the service and consistency of the food. Always satisfying. Don't worry about the weird decor and concentrate on the delicious food. read more

Love their burgers! I always ask for 1/4 lb burger, medium rare with grilled onions and guacamole. Everything is always the way I ask. Ingredients are consistently fresh, both at night or in the mornings. They also pack it well, so it survives my walk to class. The place is cozy and they also have seats outside. They're super friendly and always prompt. Love this place! read more

My one experience with Original Pollo's was when I ordered something for takeout, so based on that I would recommend it if you were looking for a bite to eat on the go. I ordered the tuna melt and it was ready within 10 minutes. Besides the fact that it tasted like any other regular tuna sandwich (note, not really a melt), I appreciated how thickly packed the tuna was, and the cheese that clung to the bread. It was really the only part that I would consider "melted." Decently priced too, around 6 dollars after tax. Choice of decor is unremarkable. It's not like you would go here for the ambiance. It's more quick, convenient food than anything else. The spelling on the menu is also entertaining if you're waiting for your food. I thought the older gentleman working the register looked unfriendly at first based on initial impressions, but he actually turned out to be quite friendly. And they take credit/debit cards, with no fee. A plus in my book. read more

Temporarily a 3 star, but there's a lot of potential here. They serve fresh carrot+orange juice here!!!! The gyro is a reasonable size and decent. But what I'm really interested in trying is their burritos. It felt like an epic fail when my gyro was next to another customer's burrito. The guy behind the counter was all cheery too, but that was in the morning so yeahhhhh. This place is feels kind of homey and I like it, but it's weird that I always walked by without noticing it. I need to check out the lunch fare and let you know. read more

Casual hole-in-the-wall on the corner of Shattuck and Addison st. The owner and cook are delightful people! Food is tasty (though usual) breakfast fare, and finally, I had found someone who makes waffles that aren't so heavy! Will be coming back again. read more

Terrific breakfast stop. Good food and good service at a good price. I will usually switch between the breakfast burrito and the breakfast sandwich, depending on my mood. The burrito is under six bucks and is hearty. It's got all the stuff you would expect: cheese, egg, potato, and salsa. Lately I've been getting the eggs over easy, and let me tell you, it's a treat. The breakfast sandwich is under three bucks without meat-maybe same price with meat. Nothing fancy, but it has what you need: english muffin, egg, and cheese. So the food is tasty, and the guys cooking and serving are always friendly. Five stars all the way. read more

This is my typical Monday morning breakfast spot. It's great for soaking up the weekend's regrets yet it doesn't make me feel disgusting. They have some pretty good coffee too! If you're in the area and looking for food you should most definitely check this place out! read more

Small homey place w breakfast and lunches that are mainly burgers and sandwiches. Breakfast potatoes were great!

Very nice owner. Great service. Everything cooked from scratch, only wish the portion was a little bigger... But I'm greedy read more

Original Pollo - Nice and quaint! - American Near Me - Berkeley, California

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I've only been here for breakfast, though I should really go for lunch as well. Food is great and very reasonably priced, owners are friendly, nice location and outdoor seating. Definitely worth going to, especially if eg you work in the area. read more

Delicious cheese vegetable omelette with potatoes, and great unlimited coffee. Prices are low for high quality. Nice corner view and well-positioned TV if you're interested in sport games. Everything is self serve, so I'm assuming tipping is optional. Very cozy old-time somewhat vintage place. Cons: chairs are very loud when moving them and my mug wasn't perfectly clean. Otherwise, great place. Highly recommended for a quick meal! read more