A few weeks back my roommate noticed a new eatery where Giorgio’s Pizzeria used to be in the strip mall on Collier, over by Howell Mill. The same strip mall that used to house Have A Nice Day Cafe, before they moved to Buckhead. Giorgio’s used to be a fun place to go, mostly because the owner was friendly and had no qualms about serving beer to underage students, it was a good group locale, and the pizza was ok.
The extremely unsubstantiated rumor was that Giorgio had mob ties. A couple of years ago I heard (who the hell did I hear all this from? I can’t even remember…) that Giorgio sold the pizzeria to someone else and moved back to Sicily to avoid the government. The new owner went under with a year or two. Maybe the new guy wouldn’t sell beer to minors. Or maybe he got whacked! Yeah, I like that better. You can tell people that. Mob stories rule!
Anways, Giorgio’s is now Pollo Brassa, a Peruvian rotisserie chicken spot. While in Peru, the only thing I ever saw on a rotisserie was NOT something I wanted. It was cuy – a guinea pig with a stick shoved up it’s ass. Not too pleasant. There were kids in Cusco begging me for money so they could afford to buy this delectable treat. I would have paid them to not walk around and eat them so I didn’t have to stare at the tiny little guinea pig faces, frozen in horror. Where is PETA in all of this?
But I was told that Polla Brassa was worth a try, and it’s close to home, so why not?
We tried to go there around 12:45PM on Saturday afternoon, only to be told by the people inside that they don’t open until 1:00PM, but that this day it would be more like 1:30PM due to oven difficulties. What? Why would you even be open for lunch and not open until 1PM? I would have just gone elsewhere but I had errands to run so I did them and went back.
The menu has some salads and sandwiches, but it’s really a meat and side kind of place. You choose your chicken, choose your sides, then apparently wait a long time for the food considering no one else is in there.
I ordered 1/4 chicken, all white meat (didn’t realize it cost so much more), black beans, and rice. The chicken was good, but not really so much of a step up from your grocery store offerings. The beans and rice were decent too, though the rice was kind of mushy. I liked the sauces they that were provided and it was plenty of food, but I won’t be rushing back. You’re better off buying a whole chicken, black bean, and rice from your local grocer and cooking yourself up 3-4 meals for much less cost.
I kind of feel bad dissing this place because I can’t really see how it will stay open very long. You ever walk in somewhere and say, “now how is this place making money?”. If a restaurant serves 20 people a day is that enough to stay afloat? It seems that plenty of entrepreneurs are eager to find out.
