Cha! Cha! Cha!

Love Cha Cha Cha, but this one has consistently been disappointing. Been here about 6 times since it opened (it’s the closest one to my house and I was really trying to give them the benefit of the doubt). Slow service, got food served on a scary dirty plate once, received the wrong order twice, and just got charged $ 3 more than I usually do for the same thing I always get.

I came here with a colleague for lunch on a sunny Thursday. Given the low ratings, I didn’t have high expectations. They do have a lovely patio with outside seating. The downside of that is the service given that everyone was sitting outside. There was only one waiter that we saw and the whole ordeal took over an hour, which is quite unreasonable given the fast casual nature of the restaurant. I did enjoy the chips and salsa, which was more like a dip, and the veggie taco that I got. However, I would not return given the wait time.

Worst service ever!!! Food is bad too. The chicken in my burrito was smelling really bad! Wouldn’t recommend this place.

I was rather disappointed with their margaritas. I ordered one of their specials, La Cazuelita, and it was a smaller amount and almost double the price of the spicy one my husband ordered. It was quite bland as well. The pepper one my husband got (sorry, forgot the name) was much better but still wasn’t strong at all.
We had planned to have a couple of rounds, but decided to move on instead.
The outside area is pretty nice, especially when Kell’s across the street had bagpipers!

the food here is good, and i’ve lived next door to this place for 3 years. I really really want to like this place, but they often make it difficult. The constant menu changing and price increases are very frustrating (about 4x of them in 3 years). In their most recent one, they took fajita and chilie relleno burritos off of the menu (arguably their best burritos) and although they will still make them, they charge 10 $ for them now (before this they were 7 $). I find it odd that this is 2 $ more then their steak or chicken burritos. charging 2 $ more for a burrito that contains only vegetables compared to a burrito with steak or chicken doesn’t make sense to me. Furthermore, although the burritos on average taste good, about ¹⁄₃ of the time i get a burrito that is extremely soggy or is outright the wrong order.
After their new menu rework and price increase, i am still willing to get takeout here, but as a customer i expect better consistency. Honestly though, even if the consistency improves i am now, more then ever, likely to just bike over to peppinos on 23^rd. What a shame.

This place kind of sucks. I’ve been there twice and ordered from caviar twice. I’ve tried a lot of things they have.
Here are my complaints:
–Salsa is nothing more than unevenly chopped pico de gallo with no flavor
–tortilla chips taste like stale bagged chips
–jalapeños have literally have no flavor or heat
–both times I’ve ordered delivery via Caviar, they disregard requests such as extra slaw (gave me no slaw) and didn’t include napkins or forks
–In general, the food is bland and flavorless
–don’t know how they operate so many locations, people must have bad taste in Mexican food to like this place
–5.00 for a side of guacamole

This is by far my favorite Mexican restaurant in Portland. I live nearby, and every time I have been in, the experience has been great. The staff is beyond friendly and the food is never anything but delicious.

I was shocked to learn that Cha taqueria became Cha Cha Cha! Former Cha lovers, do not despair! They kept a small portion of the old menu, and the food is still really nice! We had the carne asada which is tender, flavorful and cooked to perfection, with very generous sides of Mexican rice, nopales (cactus) salad and black beans. Two thumbs up! The traditional quesadillas from the «old» menu (chorizo with potatoes, and squash with poblano pepper) made with blue corn tortillas are excellent too.
They can still make margaritas not displayed in the new menu, like La Pepina (with cucumber infused tequila), just ask! However, I ended up liking best the new Jamaica margarita.
The service from Don Eduardo continues to be friendly and efficient; I was very glad to see some continuity in the shop.
The new marker section is interesting; if you like Mexican sodas like Mundet and Barrilitos you can find them here, as well as organic nixtamal tortillas! Nixtamal is the traditional way to make tortillas from corn grain, instead of flour; usually they are more flexible and flavorful. Give them a try!

Unfortunately the other reviews I read about Cha’s was true, the service is slow!!! Tortoise slow! We came on a Sunday early afternoon for happy hour and sat on the patio. We had menus in hand for over 20 minutes before a waiter assisted us to order. We had a round of the jicama margaritas and ordered our food right away, thinking this would expedite delivery. Nope! Got our margaritas 10 minutes later and our food (some tacos and nachos) another 20 minutes after that! We asked for water, didn’t come until the 3^rd time we asked. No silverware, had to grab it from another table. By the time our food came we noticed the patio starting to fill up and service just plummeted after that. We had to wak to the counter to pay our bill and didn’t even bother asking for to go boxes! We will it be going back here unless they hire more staff.

I had a bad experience here. I ordered the vegetarian breakfast burrito and got served a wet meat burrito that I had started to eat, not realizing that it had meat in it. About 25% through eating it our server came and told me that he had served both of us the wrong entrees.
He then returned with the correct entrees but mixed mine up with my companion’s. After starting to eat hers, we realized that once again we were eating the wrong dish.
You would think that we would get comped the meal or at least get a discount but that did not happen. Disappointing.

There are so many delicious options that it is hard to complain about anything here! Whether you’re a meat lover or a vegan, there are tons of dishes that you can order. That is something that I find to be very unique about this restaurant and very pleasant for those with guests that have differing tastes or diets!
Basically the food is amazing, no matter what you get :)

I’ve only really ever come here for the margaritas. They have a daily one for $ 5 that is very boozy and comes in a large mason jar. The staff has always been friendly, and I really like there outdoor seating area. It’s relaxing to sit next to the fountain and enjoy a drink. They gave us chips and salsa this last visit and the salsa was a little odd, but we enjoyed the flavor.

The venue is great– patio dining right on 21^st and Everett– you couldn’t ask for a cuter spot. Service is decent– I was there on Saturday night so it was slow at time, particularly around getting the check. I wasn’t impressed with the food. First of all, none of what I ordered came out the way that I ordered it. What I wanted-​a steak fajita burrito in a wheat tortilla with extra cheese and no rice. What I got– what I think was carnitas, double rice, no cheese. Awesome. The service was already starting to slow and the idea of waiting for our waitress to appear didn’t appeal to me so I just ate a bite or two and took the rest home. Also not a fan of whatever they are calling salsa– looks like orange ketchup. Not sure what it tastes like… this was my second experience with a «Cha» restaurant and I was as unimpressed and disappointed with this one as I was with the one in the Pearl. Bummer too, because they are in great locations.

Go back to Cha Taqueria, please! This new «Cha Cha Cha» was very disappointing. We will not be returning unfortunately, nor recommending.
Everything has changed. Its as if the quality and authenticity has been sacrificed for cheaper ingredients to increase profit. Starting with the chips and salsa (tomato paste?) it was a early indication of the rest of the meal. Bland, no flavor. Had to ask and pay for pico de gallo, which was just ok.
They had a menu stating that there were «old menu faves» and said by the staff to be the same as before and brought over from the old menu (Cha Taqueria). So we bought the Ceviche for $ 14.99, it was not the same as before. It was dry shredded crab, 2 small (er) tostadas style vs. chip style scoop as before with large chunks of crab, scallops and octopus. Did not compare to Cha Taqueria at all, and to call it a classic when it was totally different was deceptive.
They took off the amazingly unique and creative taco styling they had previously. Gave them the benefit of the doubt and ordered the more basic style tacos now on the menu (same price as the gourmet tacos before). Keeping true to form, not good. Big disappointment.
Couple other side notes; had to ask for silverware and napkins. Asked for salt, never was delivered. Was also asked to share menus, I went to get another one from the stack available. El Jefe ($ 12 dollar drink) before at Cha was great. Now it tasted like straight tequila (supposed to be a margarita with agave nectar), I wanted that unique and creative flavor that I had before, for the price I was very disappointed again.
It’s really too bad, we came here for my birthday and was sad to see the change, nothing really redeemable or worth returning for. This was a place we’ve taken different family members from out of town as a favorite spot to go in the area.
The waitress was nice, and friendly. Nothing to take away from her, she was great. I wish I knew her name to recognize her. (She did mention a couple times that when we inquired about the old place is that «since the change we’ve been so much busier» as if maybe we (us and the other reviewed here) were wrong.

Before going here we were warned about the service being on the slow side, but assured that the food was good. I can’t speak for the food because when we arrived to meet up with some friends who were midway into their dinner they again said that the wait for the food to get to the table was lengthy. We decided instead to only stay for a round of tequila shots and continue with dinner at another place. I didn’t mind the wait for the shot because I was consumed in conversation, but it took a fancy minute to hail the server and wait for the shot to be poured. Perhaps they have been short in staff or maybe there was a jumble of stuff going on behind the scenes that slowed the roll of service that night.
On the flip side, the food looked and smelled delicious and the patio was lively and inviting. Despite the wait I plan to return to this place to get the full experience.

First time we went here everything went smoothly and we got our food in a timely manner. Second visit it took far too long to get our food. However, they ran out of the red sangria and so they brought white sangria back to the table and took it off the tab. Good waitress. Slow chefs… maybe? Or bad night. It was after a timbers game. Burrito del mar is pretty good (with prawns). Such slow service

I swear last time I was here it was so much better. I ordered the enchilada plate. My plate was cold and sent it back to just have them stuck it under the broiler with sourcream, guac, pico, rice, and beans. It was disgusting. 50 to leave very disappointed. I will never go back.

I swear last time I was here it was so much better. I ordered the enchilada plate. My plate was cold and sent it back to just have them stick it under the broiler with sourcream, guac, pico, rice, and beans. It was disgusting. 50 to leave very disappointed. I will never go back.

Went to Cha! Cha! Cha! tonight after being rebranded from the old «Cha Taqueria». The old one had fewer (but interesting) menu options whereas the new has tons of standards. The food is decent, I had the mole poblano burrito which was huge, and good mole. My dining partner had a beef street taco, and its tortilla was falling apart by the time it hit the table, couldn’t pick it up. Our appetizer of queso chorizo was good, but arrived the same time as our dinners. I should also say that our dinners arrived 45 minutes after we ordered. and it wasn’t that busy. We had to ask for chips after 20 minutes, and 50% were stale. The margaritas were below average for $ 11, the old place had better ones.
Pros: Decent food, good mole sauce, this is why it gets 3 instead of 2 stars.
Cons: Very slow and inconsistent service, average cocktails.
Overall: I’d go elsewhere.

I live a block away from this place. When it was Cha the food was ok. Since they have remodeled and became a Cha Cha Cha I live this place!!! The ambiance is relaxed and fun. The food is great at very reasonable prices. The patio is the best in the neighborhood and the staff is on top of it and friendly. I highly recommend this place to anyone. I go at least once a week now!

The waiter wouldn’t stop touching my gf’s shoulder. WHAT?!? NOT okay. The guy did it like every single time he came to the table. HUH?! Totally unsolicited. She’s with me, has her back to him, and never made eye contact. We were on a date. WTF?! She got completely creeped out and couldn’t wait to leave.
When it was Cha, it was good. Its realllllly gone downhill. The bartender poured a patron way too many drinks; that’s irresponsible.
Will never return.

This place has an awesome happy hour. We live a block away and we appreciate the newer, more affordable menu! The new look is so much better too! Great margaritas, too!

At the time of this review this place has recently reopened as Cha Cha Cha, had formerly been Cha Taqueria which I never went to so I can’t compare it to what it used to be like. But I am a huge fan of the way it is now! Excellent service, amazing food, great ambiance. I first went here a couple weeks ago and I’ve been back twice already, the outdoor covered patio is awesome and with its prime location it is great people watching. I had the chile rellano burrito twice b/​c it was so good, and yesterday I tried the camarones, they were delicious and served with excellent rice, beans, and avocado salad. I tried the bloody mary and the guava margarita, both heavenly. The kitchen made a couple minor errors and they were immediately rectified and the servers were very apologetic. Service this good is pretty hard to find in Portland, the land of sassy hipster servers. I noticed that there were only a couple of other reviews so far for this place, and 2 out of 3 were not very flattering. I think that will change very quickly – I predict this place will do very well and be a mainstay of the neighborhood for a long time.

Terrible terrible terrible food was bad and hard to believe service was worse. Happy hour was a joke. I have not tipped twice in my life, and I’m old. This was number 2… Good luck

My family and I were regulars of Cha Taqueria. As a transplant from Mexico City, I appreciated that Cha was one of the ONLY Mexican places for breakfast that tasted authentic… We are now sitting in the remodeled Cha (CHA CHA CHA)… Feeling sad and upset that the menu lost the real Mexican dishes and music and flavor it had. It is now a bar food and burrito restaurant. So sad…
Very little entrée dishes, just tacos, burritos and quesadillas… salsa in squeeze bottles… Buddha bar music…
It looks very pretty. Not Mexican any more, but pretty.