“The Latin Chicken Loved Around the World” has finally conquered our part of it. Pollo Campero, a Guatemala-based transnational chicken chain, has a new outpost on St. Nicholas and Myrtle, making it New York’s sixth location.

The restaurant colors are yellow and orange and are strewn everywhere — on worker’s uniforms, on Grand Opening balloons, even in the kid’s play area. Soft salsa music wafts over the gleaming new space, which smells of fresh plastic and paint. On last visit, over a dozen employees milled around, waiting with legs and thighs under heat lamps, for the crowds to descend.

	Así como en el campo. Click to enlarge.

Campero’s business is chicken: fried or grilled, legs, thighs, and breasts in various combinations or on sandwiches. “Tropicalized” sides of beans, rice, plantains, and yuca as well as US-inspired mashed potatoes and coleslaw back up the birds. The fried chicken is aggressively mediocre; the grilled, slightly better. Both bland preparations benefit from the ample condiment bar, which offers minced cilantro and onion, pickled jalapeños, and actually spicy salsas.

Excluding dollar menus and promotional deals, fast food long ago left the budget realm. Campero’s prices are no different — sandwiches hover around 6 dollars while combos are 7 and up. The combo I tried, plus one petite leg, was almost 9 dollars, which is easy to justify when the food is good; wince-worthy, when it’s not.

Most combos come with tortillas, so you can fold up a couple of makeshift chicken tacos and load on the freebies. You will need a tart jamaica or cinnamony horchata to cut through the massive amounts of sodium dumped into every dish. The beans may be the best item on the board — a soupy, bacon-laden cup, similar to Mexican-style frijoles charros, and are quite tasty.

With plans to expand throughout the United States, Campero recently forged a relationship with the world’s largest publicly traded corporation, Wal-Mart. Shoppers will be able to get a salty chicken fix after picking some discount Martha Stewart towels and a bottle of Norvasc to counteract surging blood pressures.

Pollo Campero
357 St. Nicholas | 718-381-2917
Menu items and meals: $1.59-$32.99