Cha Cha’s Cantina

Came here for dinner and happy hour last week. That bartenders were inattentive and the food was mediocre. It could use a good cleaning and a spruce up.
If you come at night for the ‘club’, the music sucks.

I second Erica G’s review below — I’m way too old for this place, but it was the only lively place in that part of town so we figured let’s give it a shot for a drink. There was beer pong and a DJ and a lot of bros. 4 ladies in their late 30s and early 40s must have looked super out of place in there!

I am officially too old for Cha Cha’s. Ventured into college kingdom for the sake of my friend’s birthday who wanted to bar crawl. The line was insane and the bouncer picked and chose who he wanted to cut the line. After waiting for about 15 minutes we were let into the bar. It was packed with Drunk VCU students. The DJ was good and we danced as best as we could in the crowded spaced but it was just uncomfortable. I thugged it out for my friends but my Cha Cha’s days are behind me. If you are over the age of 25 this is probably not your scene.

This place is a joke. Honestly if I could go to a different state I would. The ABC agency screws every bar in Virginia. They said my friend was too drunk after 3 drinks of Bud Light. And when I tried to talk to a manager they blacklisted my entire group. Absolutely unbelievable, there is no field sobriety tests done on anyone involved in the situation so how could an ABC agent tell that anyone in my group was intoxicated? Avoid this bar at all costs. And frankly, avoid the whole state of Virginia as well.

Time– My wife and I went on a Sunday (5pm ish). We and 1 other group were the only ones in the restaurant when we arrived.
Environment– Open spaces. Nice décor.
Service– Only ONE!!! service person was working for ENTIRE restaurant (Bar and Tables). I felt bad for this guy (to a point). He seemed younger and not experienced. As more and more people started to come in (Aprox 5 – 7 more small groups) he started to make excuses to how they were out of things and not going to be able to accommodate them. Two younger females came in and sat at the bar… when this happened nothing else in the world mattered to him. Service to the rest of the restaurant stopped. The poor people at the patio got menus from him and he never went back to them. After 30min they left.
Is this the servers fault or management?
Food– They were out of chips! What kind of Mexican restaurant runs out of chips? Ticket times on 2 burgers (When we were the ONLY ones in the restaurant that had a order in at the time) was 27mins! Terrible.
Experience– Bad experience would not go back and would not recommend.

First let’s address the fact that I have been on a Unilocal hiatus for various reasons. Unfortunately I have also failed to check Unilocal reviews before dining at restaurants. I can’t guarantee that I will become an Elite member again but I do want to share with the people my experience at Cha Cha’s Cantina in Richmond, VA. Let’s get right to the point! A ROACH WAS IN MY FOOD!
WHAT I ORDERED:
I ordered the shredded chicken enchiladas with black beans and rice. The black beans were served in a side dish with the other items served on the plate. I was actually on my second margarita when my food was served.
THE DISCOVERY:
I was able to eat approximately one of three enchiladas and a couple of bites of rice and beans before I noticed the ROACH. As weird as it sounds the food was actually pretty good until the unfortunate event happened. I noticed the ROACH when I decided to remove the beans from the side dish and mix them with the rice. As I started to mix the beans I noticed a bean (or what I thought was a bean) that looked a little different. As I poked around my food I determined that it was in fact not a bean but a ROACH!
MY RESPONSE:
As one could imagine I was visibly upset and demanded to speak with the manager. The manager or owner was not available. An employee (assistant manager??) looked at the plate and immediately apologized. We did not pay for our food or drinks and left the restaurant swiftly.
RESTAURANT RESPONSE:
The employee informed me and my co-​worker that we did not have to pay for the food (no brainer). However, what was more disturbing than the ROACH in my food was his response to the ROACH in my food. He informed me that construction was ongoing in the building located directly above CHA CHA’s and they thought they bug problem was under control and this has not happened in while. Me: So this has happened more than once? Employee: Yes, just not recently.
WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE:
I should have read the Unilocal reviews like I did in years past. If I would have read the reviews I would have noticed consistently poor reviews for service and food and I probably would have chosen another restaurant to dine at.
Attached are photos for the iron stomach readers. I hope this review helps you make an informed decision the next time you are in Richmond, VA trying to decide on a restaurant to dine at.

ive been here a few times with a group of girls (all white) which they all knew the guy at the door. i did not.
i tried to get in of friday night with black girls, i myself am black, and was my friend was told to stand on the side. i questioned why? we were told because she had on stretch pants.
a black girl behind us in line was not alloed to get either he told her it was because she was wearing a jean jacket.
about 4 people down the line a white girl was LET IN with stetch pants on!!! no questions asked…
when i asked about this… the guy at the door asked the police to come to escort me. i told the police to come on. i want the rva to see how racist this place is.
you people don realize when you escort people away. who youre dealing with

Unilocal summarizes it best: Meh. I’ve experienced better.
We were there at prime dinnertime hour on a weekday, but we practically owned the restaurant. Perhaps that’s a clue about their food. Albeit cheap due to the specials, the steak burrito I got was edible — that’s really the best thing I can say about it. The steak were tongue-​sized slices and as tough as jerky. Given the prevalence of Mexican food, you’ll be better off elsewhere. The happy hour is nice, though ($ 3 margaritas!).
Our waitress seemed upset or something. The service wasn’t terrible, but she wasn’t all that personable.

Four friends and myself decided to try Cha Cha’s after we had dinner at social 52.
One of my guy friends told me that I would never get into cha cha’s bc I’m black but I just laughed it off. It’s 2015, I’m a girl– I’ve never been turned down from anything ever.
We stand in line and even before I get a chance to fish for my ID the bouncer puts his hand out n says to me– «nope you can’t get in– you have on ripped jeans» (mind you, my jeans were slightly distressed– no solid holes at all. I also had on a kimono and high heels– I was technically overdressed).
I almost accepted that until I saw about 5 white girls spilling out of cha cha’s drunk with ripped shorts and jeans on.
Don’t waste your time with this establishment if you are a POC. Or you can try and then feel like your back in the Jim Crowe era– whatever floats ur boat.
(btw I was visiting from out of town so I had no idea about cha cha’s reputation– should have read these reviews first before wasting my time)

Airline crew looking for good food and hotel recommended this place. First sign on trouble was when the bartender was our waitress on the outside patio. Brought chips and we waited for 20 minutes to order. She would never come to our table but was taking care of three other tables in the same area. We decided that err would just pay for the chips and drink and go elsewhere. Meet the manager on the way out to pay, he wad very apologetic and comped our drink and promised to make everything right. … well HE DID! Took care of us personally and the food was good as well as the margaritas! I would come back here just because the manager knows how to take care of the customers snd the food was good.

How can this place get any worse? Well it did.
I was with a friend and the bouncer was pretty rude to her because she did not follow the dress code or something exactly. But she was dressed up and literally no other clubs (and we went to 4 others) made any comments about her clothes.
The vibe of this place is also off, like you are at a college party but it’s going horribly wrong and you feel judged by everyone there for vague reasons.
I would literally never step foot in here again.

Pretty fun for my first time. Small place but clean; amount of people was cool for a wed night. We arrived around 12. I took my friend here for her 21^st birthday. When we told the bartender we got free shots. That and the drinks we got were delicious and pretty potent; i was lit after a free shot and one $ 5 cranberry and vodka but then again i am quite small. The crowd could have been more fun (at one point there was a disappointing hole in the dance floor) and also its way too bright in there but I’m def coming back.
Oh! I loved the music too the dj was not bad at all.
It should be noted that we only came here because society was absolutely empty. It had to be closed because no one was there yet the doors were open and it had a big open sign outside?

Racism.
ZERO STARS.
I don’t understand it. Two times in one night we are told we cannot get into a place because we have sneakers on. In BOTH places, people are wearing running shoes inside.
When I point those people out all you get is something equivalent to «oh oh… I can’t let you in.»
Richmond, I’m disappointed.
This just happened tonight May 3, 2015, a few minutes after 1am ET.
You can see my other review about Society.

If I could give negative stars I would … I am in the industry myself so often when things aren’t going smoothly or a waitress forgets things I let it slide. Not only did I seat myself, after being told to, and wait five minutes to get a drink. I had one male server greet the table bring a drink then never come back to take my order like I specifically at 8:45 during dinner hours stated I wanted dinner service. I had to ask a female bartender to grab my order she delivered the food. Never checked on us again. I had to go up to get my own ketchup, and we specifically stated no tomatoes in the wrap and we received them. Worst dinning experience I’ve had. Being I blog about food this will not receive high views. The food itself was cold and being that she didn’t come back to check I was subject to eat it being in a rush to make a movie. Never again.

We went out to go dancing and ended up here. The bouncer noticed it was one of our friend’s birthdays and had the bartender give all 8 of us shots. We had the absolute best time dancing our butts off. The crowd didn’t really get going until well after 11. If you are looking for a fun girls night on a Saturday evening, Cha Chas is a great choice. We never had to wait too long to get a drink even when it was super busy! The management definitely has the music, bar, and wait staff down to a science! Awesome night!

Meh. Trashy place with shitty food. Like they literally make the food because they are legally required to. This is my least favorite club in Richmond. They even break the law and stop serving food early. This is the place you go to when you have a fake id.

Disclaimer — I went to Cha-​Chas for NYE so my review may be a little bias.
Atmosphere
–Very hip and lively.
–The space is pretty big with outdoor seating as well.
–The bartenders were all really nice and given that it was really crowded they made a point to serve everything really quickly.
Food
–I tried the fried shrimp and the southwest egg rolls — both were delicious
Drinks
— I made a point to look at their beers on tap and there was a solid selection. There was everything from local craft beers to the typical bud light/​coors options

Again, I’d sooner be shot in the face. We stopped in on a Thursday and I regret it.
The DJ was possibly the worst I’ve ever heard and could understand why by midnight it pretty much cleared out. We only went back because it was too hot over at Society. Maybe he’s related to someone because I can’t believe they’d pay someone to suck that much.
Drinks were good and super strong, bartender was easy on the eyes.
We just ended up leaving and heading back to our hotel. At least there was no cover because I would seriously have been pissed for paying for that.

First off, don’t even bother wasting ur time eating food here, the food just isn’t good at all. This is more of a place to go chill and have some drinks with friends. It is in a great location down in Shockoe, close to all the bars. The margaritas on the rocks are super tasty.
Food wise, I was highly disappointed. We ordered chicken fajitas that had absolutely no color or flavor, almost inedible. Shrimp fajitas were edible, but still looked a lot better than they tasted. The chips and salsa tasted like they were out of a bag from a grocery store. We were told the salsa was fresh, but it def tasted out of a bottle.
The ambiance when we were there was nonexistent. We were the only customers at 4pm. Wait staff was attentive, but surprisingly slow given the lack of customers.
The bottoms line… drink here only, don’t eat!

Ok, this is my very first two-​star review. I usually check restaurants out on Unilocal before stepping foot into them, but my three companions and I were very hungry and had already tried two other restaurants (both of which were closed), so we settled for Cha Cha’s which was nearby.
The biggest problem with Cha Cha’s is that cleanliness is an issue. Of the four small plates at our table, three of them were not thoroughly cleaned and had residue. There was also a hair stuck to the edge of a neighboring table that was billowing in the wind. Our table itself was also a bit sticky and not wiped down very well.
The complimentary chips and salsa were not bad. But aside from that, the food was VERY mediocre. I ordered the sampler appetizer plate, and the chicken tenders were severely over-​fried such that they were blackened. The batter was some strange crumbly material. The rest of the sampler items were OK, but I will admit that the entire dish kind of resembled reheated frozen food. My companions’ dishes were also unimpressive.
The food was edible, which is why I didn’t give this place a one. Also, our waitress wasn’t too bad. However, I can definitely say that I will never dine here again. I hear the drink specials are a good deal, but I don’t drink much alcohol.