Pollos A La Brasa Mario

“I recommend the traditional "Bandeja Paisa/Tipica" which is what most people get when they go.”

“If you steak person you def have to try entraña, that is amazing!”

“Cutely decorated Colombian Food spot that's opened 24/7.”

Pollos A La Brasa Mario

Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes

Price range.

$$ Price range $11-30

8 reviews

  1. Been here a couple of times the past few years. I agree with some of the reviews. The quality of the food had gone down. Service is mediocre. They're just doing their job and not actually caring for their customers.

    Negatives:

    – the bandeja tipica was bland. There was a good amount of food for $13.75 but the chicaron was skimpy on the meat. Way too much fat on the pork meat.
    – the arepa that came with the dish was overly stale. It's dry to begin with but it was even harder and dry.
    –  I ordered a corn "stew" with milk but it was terrible!! I don't say much things are terrible but this really was. They didn't put any salt or sugar so it was COLD MILK WITH LITTLE BITS OF CORNMEAL…. I told the waiter that I didn't know the soup was cold and if I could switch it out for something like an arepa or another soup but they refused so I said "ok…. Well I can't eat this. It's cold." So they said they could heat it up. I thought it would make this better but it didn't…. The dish came back and it wasn't even cold. The bowl was warm but the liquid was not…. Aka they don't care about the food or the customers.. Because I didn't ask to take it out of the check. I just wanted the replace the item with something else…. But the waiter refused. Terrible service.

    Honestly the restaurant was better a few years back when it wasn't so crowded but now because there's just so many people going, the quality of the service and food have gone down.

    I am not coming back again. Would rather go to tierras in Astoria or another place in Astoria

  2. A nice Colombian spot that is open pretty late into the night (maybe all night?).  The skirt steak is my favorite dish here, and comes in a sizable portion.  Every order also comes with a healthy serving of rice and beans, which are also pretty tasty, which i personally never finish.  The rotisserie chicken dishes are also a solid choice ehre.  

    Personally, I'm not a big fan of the fried stuff here, such as the fish, and the seemingly very popular fried pork belly.  I find them too dry for my liking.  But if that's your thing, go for it.

  3. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what happened since the last time I was here. I frequent here when I was a college student. This place is open 24 hours, portions are huge, food is great, and price was fair. Well, that was about three years ago. I came back to Mario this past weekend to share one of my favorite college meals with my companion.

    We shared the Yellow Rice with Shrimp and Bandeja Tipica dish, and yes, the good news is that the portions are still huge that we had leftovers to go.

    Yellow Rice with Shrimp was okay. Yellow rice lacked a bit of flavor for there were little spots of white rice that had not fully absorbed the flavor. Shrimp was a tad overcooked. It came with a side salad.

    Bandeja Tipica was probably the most popular dish here. It came with white rice, red beans, avocado, fried egg, arepa, pork skin, and steak. I thought this was a mediocre and everything tasted one dimensional, not a lot of flavor. I guess the pork skin was probably the best thing – each piece's skin was crispy and the meat texture was good. Arepa was still cold and dry.

    I do see that they got a special breakfast menu, maybe we will come try but not right away.

  4. What's the start off if you can speak Spanish you'll be OK at this restaurant. They don't speak English but they understand when you point at something you want. The food here is phenomenal! I land up getting steak and pork with rice and beans. It was one of the best meals I've ever had in Colombian food. Service was amazing here. The gentleman made sure we always had drinks and cleared our place when we were done. I really love the music they were playing very Colombian style very relaxing and just a good vibe. I would recommend going with someone who does speak Spanish so you're not in situations like I've been where you're just pointing out an item and you know exactly what you're getting. I was lucky that my cousin's fiancé can speak Spanish so I got lucky on that part. I love authentic meals like this.

  5. Pretty good rotisserie chicken, however the price kinda stinks for this neighborhood. The price of a half chicken is the price of a full chicken at BJ's or Costco. I know that price is hard to beat but come on, we're in Jackson Heights, shouldn't everything here be dirt cheap? The chicken here taste very moist. It feels very wet sometimes which is weird. Also the green sauce is a bit bland. It doesn't have a nice zing to it that compliments the chicken, especially when you need it most for the white meat.

    Service is always the same. They're fast and perky but I would like to see them do a better job serving their chicken and improving on their green sauce. Another thing, they don't offer a lunch special that can compete with Gus across the street.Gus offers a really good lunch special along with a excellent green sauce.

  6. I was having one of my Queens nights, the love bug decided to bring me to this restaurant. Once walking into the restaurant I quickly learn that it is one of Queens most popular restaurants. two level floors and both were packed with people. Good thing was we were quickly seated on the lower floor which is a good and bad thing, a lot of customers don't like to eat on the lower floor during the winter time cause the door open way to many time and all the cold air enters and Two because it is so popular the people line up in front of you just to get a seat. over all very busy restaurant, but if you do go to the lower level floor you do get seated quickly.

    The waiters and waitress are very nice, very attentive and even go overs the menu with you, if you have a question. They served us very quickly and even say with such a enthusiastic voice "Disfrutar de su Cena", which means enjoy you dinner.

    Lets get to the food so freaking delicious, so good, so much to eat. I had a bread pork chop with rice and beans. My partner had a concoction of Chicharon, steak, sausage, egg, avocado, rice and pork beans. Let me tell you he ate the whole thing. We also ordered a pitcher of Sangria, wasn't as great as I thought it would be, but not bad, I'm just have a little bit of a different taste bud. Everything was cooked to perfection a wonderful family and friends atmosphere and even a good place for a little low key cute place to meet with that special person to just talk, laugh and eat good food. I would most likely come again.

  7. This restaurant is great!!! Great Colombian food in Queens. I have been coming to this location for years. Their breakfast is great and served until 11am. I recommend the calentado which is beans mixed with rice. They serve it with eggs and an arepa or you can order it with a piece of grilled steak. It is very delicious. As for lunch, you can always order from the menu. However they do have specials with soup, rice and an accompaniment. Yesterday I went and they had meatball soup with rice and a chick pea stew. Omg was it delish. We also ordered the special of the day, skirt steak with onions, rice and french fries. Once again delicious. Omg great. We didnt stop there. We ordered a side of fried plantains. Bummers that the french fries were a lil on the cold side. But they remedied that by bringing us a fresh order of french fries. The staff is always super friendly and the decor is very authentic. The music is amazing. A lot of cumbias and vallenatos, authentic Colombian music. Great place. They have several locations in Queens and I've been to almost all. Great food and ambiance all around. Enjoy.

  8. We come here when it's super late and have no other options. It's not that the food is terrible, it's just not good enough for it to come to mind during normal dining hours!

    The last time I was there I have the garlic shrimp. It was OK. I tasted some garlic, but it was no where near as good as it was the last time I had it.

    My husbands carne molida (ground beef) was also flavorless, and pretty mushy.

    I think the best plates to stick to are the Bandejas, they usually are decent for the price.

    The service is always good, the waiters are really courteous

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