Cha Chas Wood Fire Bar and Grill

We went to Cha Cha’s Wood Fired Bar and Grill on March 11, 2016. We had a 6:00 reservation and were seated right away. It was a nice place, the décor was nice and the room we were in was large, but not too large. We didn’t sit in the front room, where I believe you can see them cook in the wood fire oven. We had a back corner table and it was nice.
My husband and I ordered the Buffalo Chicken Empanadas. They were fantastic. Great flavor, not over powering, and the pastry was nice and flaky.
My husband ordered the stuffed meatball from the appetizer menu as his main course. It was HUGE. It was supposed to be stuffed with angel hair and mozzarella, I didn’t notice a lot of mozzarella, just could identify the pasta. But, I took a taste of it and it was really good. He said it was awesome.
I ordered the 5 Cheese pesto pizza. I figured the place was famous for wood fired pizza, I needed to try one. It took a while to come out, I am not sure why. It was at least 5 – 6 minutes after everyone else’s meal. But it was really good, the crust was thin and crispy and the blend of cheese was good. I didn’t love the ricotta cheese drops, but that’s just me. I tend not to love «wet» cheese so much unless it’s spread out more.
The kids were not quite as thrilled. They ordered chocolate milk only to be told they don’t have any milk. Not a big deal since the «kids» are 14 and 16. (Picky 1 and Picky 2) My son (Picky 1) wanted a cheeseburger but they didn’t have American cheese and that’s the only kind he likes on burgers. His second choice was boneless wings, but was told they don’t have them. The waitress said they were coming soon, but not yet. His third choice was plain chicken wings. He was happy with them and said they were very good. Only in writing this, I noticed on the menu that the kids menu had boneless chicken bites. I sort of think they could have offered him some of those and just priced them higher.
My daughter (Picky 2) ordered the grilled cheese sandwich. The menu calls it the «Ultimate Grilled Cheese» She just ordered it as a grilled cheese. I clarified to the waitress to leave off the tomatoes. Dear daughter said she assumed since she didn’t call it the ultimate it would be just cheese and bread. I said you can’t just assume they will change the item for you if you don’t ask them to. When it came, it has prosciutto on it, (which I didn’t notice on the menu) but she pulled it off and ate it separately. She said it was ok. She didn’t love the sandwich but again to her a grilled cheese is a piece of fake plastic wrapped American cheese slapped between two pieces of bread. I tasted it and it was rich, but had a great flavor.
We ordered desserts. The kids had lava cakes which were really good. Perfect one person portion. My husband had the fried ice cream which he said was ok. I didn’t love it. I am not sure what the crust of it was, but it just didn’t mesh for me. I think it was some type of oatmeal blend? I am used to the crust of the ice cream to be a cinnamon sugar /​breadcrumb mixture quickly deep fried and served hot. You get the really hot on the outside and the cold on the inside sensation. I had the fried dough. Again, it came out a bit later than the others. The menu said it comes with half sprinkled with powdered sugar and half with cinnamon and dipping sauces. Mine came with no sugar sprinkled on them, and no dipping sauces, and just some caramel and chocolate sauce drizzled over it. It wasn’t very tasty. Fried dough isn’t that exciting to begin with, which is why they are usually doused with lots of sugar. These were only just ok.
Overall, I would go back for the meals, I would probably not order dessert unless I stick to the lava cake. I think that was the best of the three we got.
The service was good, the waitress was friendly. It sort of felt like it took a long time for the food to come, but it really didn’t. We were done by a little after 7.

Boyfriend and I went to Cha Chas for dinner a few weeks ago. We just moved to Penfield and were looking for a good spot within walking distances that could accommodate my vegan restrictions but also have non-​vegan items, and have a bar. Cha Chas seemed to fit all of those.
We came in during happy hour, which was buy one get one free beers, op you and sat at the bar. We bother ordered a pizza, mine they and to leave off the cheese and that was mostly it! watching them cook the pizza in front of us was awesome ! The crust was thin and crispy! The wood fire gave it a great flavor! The workers were all friendly and clean (which is one of my biggest pet peeves when you have a open kitchen)!
We will be back for more beer and pizza!
We hope that there will be live music or a comedy night, or something else too!

We went here for the first time tonight with a family of 6 and will definitely be back! All of our entrees were delicious, including the stuffed meatball and eggplant stacker appetizers. We ordered the chicken parm, pot roast sandwich (so tender and tasty with onion and horseradish sauce), fra diavolo (just spicy enough) carbonara pizza, steak pizza (too big for one sitting) and shrimp alexander. Pleasant wait staff. The only minor criticism is the food didn’t all come out together, same waitress went in and out of kitchen 3 times and they did not serve bread or salad prior to the meal. We all had plenty to eat so, in the end, it was not missed. You should give it a try!

We love NYC pizza from the famousLombardi’s on spring st, Cha Cha’s is the closest thing around to their pie!

The reason why I give this 2 stars is solely due to the way this place makes you feel when you’re a patron. Like you’re a number in the drive through. Literally, the owner sits at a high top table with a pile of bills or what-​not in front of her with a ‘puss’ on her face. I went with a friend of mine who had never been there before. I also hadn’t been there since they changed their name. We both walked in and NEITHER of us was greeted. Right there, that’s a negative. If it wasn’t for the bartender, Dianna, who made us feel at home and appreciated our business, we would have walked right out of there. It’s a shame because the food was good. It’s a small town, there is competition, and how do you stand out from the competition? Make your guests feel welcome. Take your horrible personality as an owner and/​or manager of a neighborhood restaurant and let someone else in who will appreciate the patronage.

Server was very nice but the food was not very tasty. The giant meatball appetizer was bland the only taste was in the sauce. The chili was at best average. We also had a mac and cheese pizza that was under done and very dry. (not enough sauce) Overall the place was clean and the staff was pleasant but the food was overpriced for the quality they put out. Too bad so close to home and we won’t go back.

I love the bar and the the bartender, Diana, is wonderful. The food is reasonably priced and I can’t complain about any of it. Highly suggested — calamari, stuffed meatball, clams casino pizza. The servers are very friendly. I would recommend ChaCha’s to anyone who likes wood fired pizza, an affordable and/​or causal dinner!

My Wife, my son and I went here for the first time tonight. We really enjoyed it and highly recommend. My wife and one year old spilt a mushroom pizza while I had the classic Cuban sandwich. The pulled pork was amazing.
Overall a really pleasant dinning experience. Definitely you should check it out and support non-​chain local restaurants like Cha Cha’s. Get the classic Cuban. You will not be disappointed.

We have been to Cha Chas two other times and have always enjoyed it until this time. We were seated but a server never came by. Several servers walked right by us including the hostess. After 15 minutes if waiting and not even a peep from anyone, we got up and left. As we exited the restaurant we told the hostess that we were never even approached by anyone and they just looked at us. Even though we have liked it before we will not be going back.

I’ve visited this restaurant twice now. The first time, I was there with a friend. I ordered the buffalo chicken empanadas and the chicken wings (habanero sauce). I wasn’t thrilled with the empandadas and the wings were too hot (my fault for ordering the habanero sauce — it was mixed with something sweet, so I thought I would try it). My friend liked her pizza but when I tried it, I didn’t care for the burnt flavor of the crust that the «wood fired» seemed to leave. It also didn’t seem like a pizza crust — must too thin (and I love NY style). We ordered the s’more pizza for dessert and it was odd. We didn’t like how it tasted on the pizza crust. The service was excellent but the food and prices were not great.
I decided to come back for a second visit since there had to be something else on the menu I could try. For my second visit, there was 12 of us. The service was excellent but it took over an hour to get our food (it was a busy Saturday night). They only have one (small) oven where they cook the pizzas and there may be other food they cook in there as well. I ordered the grilled cheese with a side of mac and cheese. The reason I ordered this is because I already know I don’t like their pizza and none of their burgers sounded appealing. The grilled cheese was decent but the bread had an odd flavor to it, almost like old towels. The mac and cheese was very good. Two people in my party ordered a soup (I believe it was lobster bisque) and it came out less than warm. Overall, I think most people enjoyed the food, but they also said they’ve definitely had better.

Great menu, the server was patient with us because it was hard to pick from that great variety they have. The four of us had salads, I had the Grilled Romaine which was super, and we also had three different pizzas that were all excellent. Can’t wait to try the Wood Fired wings and maybe a burger next time.

Best pizza I’ve had in a long time. Great location. Friendly staff, very attentive.
Kudos to Lorraine Staunch for the murals. Love her work!
Hostess showed us the party room upstairs. Nicely done. Will definitely be returning.

Good food, but service is terrible. Dinners came out at different times. 9 min. After I received mine. And my side was Alfredo and it came out nuked in the microwave too much, all turned into just butter, and pasta was stuck and dried out. Yes the server gave it to me that way…

Husband and I dined here a few days ago. He ordered a pizza. I ordered shrimp kabobs. We shared an order of wood fired wings. The wings were tasty but they needed to be cooked more. The celery was limp and could be bent in half without snapping. His pizza was good. My kabobs were cold. I had a salad instead of rice– and the lettuce was limp and inedible. He had Tito’s on the rocks– and they billed us $ 6 for the vodka and $ 2 for the ice! We will not be going back any time soon.

Three stars for the server trying to make things right, negative stars for the owner/​manager trying to remedy a horrific experience. It’s too bad because I would love to say I’m supporting another local business here in Penfield.

Amazing pizza and wings, and the owner (or manager maybe) was easily the nicest host I’ve ever had!

Went here for dinner tonight. Have to admit that we were very disappointed. It took 45 minutes to get our food, we ordered a grilled romaine salad which consisted of 2 cherry tomatoes cut in half, 3 pieces of red onion and some bacon. No flavor. We ordered the steak pizza, it was supposed to have Caramelized onions but they were still crunchy and hardly any steak (about 1 – 2 pieces per slice). We saw a s’more pizza on the menu and had to try it, what a waste. It was like eating a very dry pizza with Hershey syrup and burnt marshmallows. It was also very warm in there, the staff seemed to be running around like crazy and very frazzled. We won’t be back, so sad.

My wife and I are always trying to find new places so, yesterday we tried dinner at Cha Cha’s. As we walked in we were greeted by the door by a nice gentleman named Doug.
Let me preface this by saying that I hate going to a restaurant and the staff has no clue whatsup. You know what I mean, the usual waitress that says «Everything is good» when asked whats good on the menu. Where your just another tip on the table for a smile.
Well, let me tell you, Doug was the exact opposite of that. He was happy to talk about the restaurant, its history, its vision and of course the food. I liked Doug, he was chatty but not too much and you could tell he truly cared about this restaurant and the guest’s experience. He was not our server but more of a manager but was available to answer any questions as he floated around the dining room.
Our server was a young fellow whose name escapes me at this moment. He was definitely a little wet behind the ears but with a little time and polish will be great. He was prompt with our orders and quick to refill our water. What else could you want.
Lastly, the Big Feature here is the Giant Wood Fired Oven located right inside on the left when you walk in. It has a red mosaic design which matches the upscale décor. Nice Looking Place! (although parking is kind of strange and needs some ironing out.
Now onto the food:
1^st Course– Appetizer– Boursin Cheese Fries
Amazing, beautiful balance of creamy and spicy. This well thought-​out dish came in 5 minutes. Definitely enough for a table of 4 as an appetizer. The Siracha spice against the mellowness of the cheese sauce made it awesome. Definitely Recommend!
2^nd Course– Pizza– ChaCha’s Favorite
If you have had wood fired pizza before you understand that it cooks quick and must be eaten quick. That was not a problem! Our pizza came promptly about 10 minutes after our appetizer and was also amazing. I’ve noticed a theme with their custom recipe’s is balance. With the saltiness of the meat and spiciness of the Cherry Peppers and the sweetness of the balsamic glaze it had just the right amount of balance. I am sensitive to spicy peppers and got a little sweaty in the forehead from the cherry peppers but my wife loved them. Another great and recommended menu item!
3^rd Course– Wings, Garlic Parmesean, WOOD FIRED
I put the WOOD FIRED in big letters because if you can, you must, get them this way. Every Place in town has deep friers to cook wings. This much better, slightly healthier alternative is an absolute must. Slightly charred just enough these wings were amazingly savory and the unique blue cheese dressing that came with them was a perfect accompaniment.
After all the amazing food they had we were much too stuffed to try a dessert but will definitely be back to try one. I highly recommend this establishment for its looks, friendliness and quality of food.
One thing Doug imparted on me as we spoke about restaurants in general was if your gonna do something, do it well and be CONSISTENT. For us (with a toddler at home and 2^nd child on the way) going out to eat at an «Adult» restaurant is a treat that we don’t often get. Having a great experience is paramount. This was indeed a great experience and we hope to have more at Cha Cha’s!

Amazing tonight. Amazing dinner. Came with a large party and kids. They were very accommodating. We tried the meatball appetizer and wood fired wings. Both excellent. Loved the marinara sauce on the meatball. Their homemade blue cheese dressing made an excellent dip. The chicken French pizza was unique and yummy. Tried the burger special. It was huge and delicious. For dessert we tried the fried ice cream, fried dough and the smores pizza. Loved trying different takes on the dessert especially the dessert pizza.

We had a great meal at Cha Cha’s last night. They have the cool wood-​fired oven which makes a superior pizza — I had the «Favorite» which was excellent. My dining companions’ meals were also great, and the stuffed mushroom appetizer was tasty. It has a full bar also, which was not obvious from the website.