Spotted on Williams Boulevard in Kenner: POLLO CAMPERO!! The banner out front says “Opening Soon”, so get your tastebuds ready. Squeezed between the Contempra Inn (home to an ever-changing holiday inflatable decor display) and a gigantic gas station, this is the Guatemalan fried chicken chain’s first Louisiana location.
Unfamiliar with Pollo Campero? Founded in 1971, it now has more more than 300 locations from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras to Bahrain to Indonesia. Think of it as the Popeye’s Chicken of Central America, only filtered through a Latin lens: fried and grilled chicken, yuca fries, sweet plantains, beans, rice, two different kinds of horchata…..the food inspires fanatical devotion and endless longing in those unfortunate enough to move far from home or one of its many worldwide outlets. Pollo Campero chicken is stashed in the carryon bags of many returning from Central America—so many that some airlines forbid it unless it is stored in airtight packaging.
According to the Pollo Campero Facebook page, the Kenner location will open in mid-January. Past Pollo Campero openings have drawn huge crowds across the U.S. I’ll bet this one is no different.
Bouillie 
That sounds really YUMMY!
Long overdue in the metro area. I have been waiting for a local Pollo Campero for so long that I had given up. My family in Miami introduced me to Pollo and I have been hooked since. Tasty, ethnically correct, long lines, worth it! This is indeed a welcome addition…Sabroso!
Speaking of Miami and chicken chains, I REALLY would like to see a Pollo Tropicale open up somewhere in the metro area. Awesome black beans, and the grilled chicken is good, too…
Jamie checked the website, and found that there is one in Phoenix, on our side of the city. We had not been aware of this chain, but we will be heading over for lunch on Saturday. Thanks!
Let me know how it goes….
We liked the grilled chicken — it was moist with great tasty skin. Yuca fries and sweet plantains were good at least on a fast food scale; not quite up to those that are freshly made at a Cuban restaurant, but hey, not bad. The black beans and rice were a little soupy, but again the flavor was nice. Local Yelp and Google reviewers claim that the fried chicken is awesome, but we were going for the more healthful version so we can’t testify. We will put this place on our Saturday lunch rotation.
Opens next week. Address is 2810 Williams Blvd, Right off the I10 freeway.
Thanks for the tip. Entering & exiting the parking lot looks dicey unless you’re on Williams heading north (lakebound), and it looks like you’ll have to exit only to the north as well. I’ll bet it causes a traffic pileup for the first few weeks.
desde hace tiempo esperabamos pollo campero aqui en new orleans que bueno porque ya no tenemos que ir a texas para comer ese delicioso pollo
Agreed—you’d have thought that Pollo Campero would have made it to the New Orleans area long ago!
everyone i personally think its awesome i try it in van nuys california n i loved it….it ist million times better de popeyes… i would also love to seee EL POLLO LOCO…. are ya wit dat companny chains? I would love one down here on da northshore……….