Rating:
Eager to review a taqueria which I had not previously patronized, I went to yellowpages.com and typed in taqueria and Austin, tx. Interestingly enough I was unable to locate the establishment I originally chose, and found myself aimlessly meandering through north Austin until I stumbled upon El Pollo Feliz. The signs on the building clearly advertised something relatively foreign to the taqueria world, rotisserie chicken was proudly displayed alongside such words as tacos, tortas, and burritos. Bemused and perplexed, I entered the building.
The first troubling aspect that caught my attention was that the restaurant was completely empty at 12:30 on a weekday. VERY bad sign. Not easily dissuaded from my task, I confidently strode to the counter and diligently studied the menu. All of the standard taqueria choices were present, and to make my selection easier there were pictures to accompany all of the plate options. My choice was relatively simple as there was only one option labeled lunch special: 1 breast and thigh of chicken, with rice, potato salad, salsa, tortillas and a drink ($4.75). To make sure I tested all of the staples, I also ordered chips and substituted my potato salad for guacamole (fortunately I was charged for neither). For my drink I received a Lipton Raspberry Iced Tea as no real iced tea was offered.
I peered around the place and noticed that it was relatively big, open, and very clean. The decor was standard and the lighting was bright with many windows.
Most likely because the restaurant was empty and the chicken was already cooked, I received my food within two minutes of ordering. The chicken was predictably tasty, juicy, and golden brown. Next I moved to the rice—oddly enough my rice bowl was about half rice and half chicken, which would be fine except that I already had quite a bit of chicken in front of me. Salsa: as they offered both a mild and hot salsa I asked for both. Sadly and predictably, the mild was watery and bland, and the hot was the same thing with half of its mass being fresh jalapenos (way too hot). Brilliantly I mixed the two together and got something edible but far from impressive. Interestingly, with the chips I received a third type of salsa which was soupy, deep red, cilantro heavy, and spiced appropriately by habaneros. If it wasn’t so soupy it might have been decent, but as it was it was just kind of strange. The guacamole infuriatingly came from a bag which made me want to throw it at the nice girl behind the counter. The chips were below marginal. The tortillas were store bought (both corn and flour) and were poor even by that standard.
As I ate, an old episode of MASH played above me on a TV/DVD combo. As Hawkeye struggled with claustrophobia brought on by an emergency triage set up in a cave, I struggled to pinpoint exactly what it was about this place that sucked so hard. As I write this, the answer seems clear. Rotisserie chicken is very good, but it has never been enough to carry a restaurant by itself. Think of Boston Market and where they would be without the excellent sides and succulent cornbread: f’n nowhere. I mean what the hell kind of taqueria offers potato salad instead of beans!? It’s almost like a half assed concession to the fact that rotisserie chicken just isn’t f’n Mexican food! So in closing if you need to get three chickens for 20 bucks, this may be your place, but for tacos and anything Mexican do yourself a favor and go anywhere else.

my score:
Food Quality: 4 (the chicken brings it up to 4)
Salsa: 3
Service: 6 (of course it’s good if I’m the only one there)
Price: 6 (everything was very cheap)
Atmosphere: 5

Total 24/50: 48 %

Location : Guadalupe and Airport
map: MAP LINK