Carbon - Rockville, MD

My family friends and I try to meet up for dinner every other month. It's always someone else's turn to pick the place and this time it was to try the new Peruvian chicken restaurant - Carbon in Rockville Town Square. That night was freezing, so hot food sounded heavenly. There is metered parking, and garage parking for $1 using a parking machine. The closest metro station is Rockville on the red line.

Very casual on the inside but clean and simple. You order food up front, give your name and pick it up when they call it.

Here is the self-seating area, which has a good number of tables actually.

The display case of desserts and drinks at the register. The desserts were around $5.

Their menu includes a few items like their signature Peruvian rotisserie chicken, which is marinated in spices for 24 hours then charbroiled on site. They have items "Off the Grill" (like steak, beef, ribs, pork and tripe), sandwiches and sides.

For economical reasons, we ordered '1 Whole Chicken that comes with 2 sides' for $15.50. This was food for 3 people to share, which ended up being plenty. I had a dark piece of chicken, which was so juicy and flavorful, I loved it! My cousin had white meat and raved on how surprisingly juicy it was too. 3 kinds of dipping sauces (mayo-like, spicy green, and a mix of the two) accompany the chicken, which I believe are free unless you want extra for $.50 each.

Who doesn't love fried plantains? We ordered a side of these for $3.50 because if they are on a menu, we're getting them. They were sweet, firm yet soft with nice caramelization on the outside.

The 'rice and beans' were the two sides we ordered along with our chicken. Individually they would have been $2.50-3.00 each. They were really good together as the rice was fluffy and the beans were smooth and had a good amount of liquid. I was hoping they wouldn't be considered individual sides considering I don't know who would order them independent of one another.

I'm getting hungry while typing up this post!

This is a really a nice, quick and delicious place to grab a simple meal. The menu is very straight-forward and the staff was friendly. I will say the desserts were a bit over priced considering you could get a whole meal for a tiny bit more. We actually bought a 'tres leches' to eat at home, which we found to be ok.

100 F Gibbs St
Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 251-1944
www.carbonrockville.com