We had long decided to spend NYE at Indochine at Holland V counting down with champagne and good friends. We also made a last min decision to have dinenr at Cha Cha Cha before heading over to Indochine. First thing I noticed, none of the wait staff smiled..NONE! They all either had a 'Im new please dont hurt me' look or a 'Its NYE and Im forced to work' look. Either way my happiness radar dipped a lil. The menu was certainly extensive, but since I tried and LOVED El Patio's (their friendlier neighbour-competitor) chicken fajitas, I decided to go with that. The bf got a smoked chicken dish and our friends got a chicken chimichanga and chicken enchilada each. We also got the deep friend cheese stuff jalapenos coz we were damn greedy! Drinks wise, we ordered strawberry and mango margaritas and beers for the boys.

Ice water and the complimentary warm chips and salsa arrrived promptle, followed by our drinks. Then the boys' beer arrived. I forget the name but it comes in these adorable bottles which needed to be twisted up to be opened (Like the IKEA water bottles). However our waiter was one of those 'Im new please dont hurt me' guys, so he just stared helplessly at the bottles before a lady manager came over with an exasperated look and opened the bottles up. Oh well, all in the learning process. The margaritas werent terribly fantastic and kept overflowing coz it was melting too fast and the glass was too small. I prefer El Patio's jars!

The cheese stuffed jalapenos arrived to much anticipation. HUGE jalapenos deep fried and stuffed with cheese..Whats not to like??? My friend took the first bite and oil squirted out! Im serious. The stuff was REALLY REALLY oily. But oh so sinful and yummy.

Everyone's food started arriving soon..Well except mine..Well half of mine arrived. See they served me a container with my flat bread and a plate with the vegetables, sour cream and guacamole. Wait a minute..Where's the meat!!! It was a really weird presentation especially since everyone else's dishes had arrived and they were waiting for mine before they started. My bf had to ask the waiter twice where my meat was. And finally after like 15 mins of staring at my vegetables, the meat arrived sizzling on the hot plate. Appearance wise, El Patio's fajitas wins hands down. The meat at CCC didnt look appetising at all but it tasted okie. Wasnt half bad. But I still prefer El Patio's coz of better taste, presentation and portion size.

In all..It was an okie dining experience. But I wouldn come back here if I had a Tex Mex craving anytime soon. You would probably see me sipping a margarita from a jar next door at El Patio's.

We were deciding where to have dinner last night and we'd discussed previously that we'd try every single restaurant down the stretch of Lorong Mambong. Since I was in the mood for something different, we got a table for 2 at Cha Cha Cha.

We got our table al fresco, nice cool weather with a view of people walking past the restaurant and 2 glasses of ice water and a plate of corn chips with salsa was served.

As always, I'm looking at the beer menu before I even decide what to eat. I'd asked the waitress whether the beers come in pints and obviously not proficient in English, she began rambling on with what sounded like gibberish to me, about the Heineken being on the tap and the rest were in bottles. So I asked again, "Besides the Heineken, do the rest of the beers come in a pint?" The reply I got was entirely the same gibberish I'd heard just a few seconds earlier ending "...the rest are bottles." Pint or no pint, she didn't get it. And neither did I. So I totally dropped the idea of a beer and I told her, "It's okay. No drinks for me." And with that, her face turned black like the evening sky!! When she took our orders, you'd really feel like slapping her cos the way she spoke, it was as if we owed her money or something!! I continued observing her and saw her taking orders from another table. No surprise that the customer there had the same frustrated look on his face when ordering!! My goodness. After clearing and wiping some tables, I even saw her throwing the table cloth back on the counter without a care for the other customers sitting around her. What an attitude she had!!

I'd made observations at the other waiting staff and realized that most of them spoke inaudible, incomprehensible English. Except for the only male waiter in the house, who greeted us and showed us our table. And another of the female waitresses who was obviously not local as well, but was uber-polite and had a very sweet smile. Other than that, the rest either didn't speak, or didn't know how to speak in a language that customers could understand. What's up with that? And they are in a service industry??

Anyways, come the food, she had a Chicken Enchilada which was pretty awesome. It came with chicken shreds, LOTS of it in a soft taco which was nice and filling. I had a Chimichanga with grounded beef. The burrito was deep-fried and I must say that it tasted great!!! The flavour from the flour was nice and not too dry, the ground beef was wrapped in cheese melted beneath the deep-fried burrito. My mouth is just watering typing these details out now. We also ordered some potato skin appetizer which was totally not worth it cos it was $9 for 3 pieces of half potatoes covered in chili con carne.

My overall experience echoes most of the reviews already left here. Food is different and it's good. Service doesn't appear in their vocabulary. Total disappointment. Why oh why, are they they worlds apart from their cousin, Tango's?? Has anyone shown the owners HungryGoWhere.com?? They should read this stuff!!

I have to echo the sentiments of the lousy service. The last time I went to Cha Cha was probably 3 years ago and swore I'll never go back. The service was absolutely appalling and atrocious!

The evening was going perfect with my group of peeps and enjoying our dinner up till payment time. We spotted what we thought was a genuine mistake on the bill and pointed it out to the staff. It had got something to do with an extra order of sides which we thought came with part of the meal so we wanted to clarify if we were being charged extra.

The next thing we know, we heard a commotion behind the bar where the staff was checking with another staff.."If don't want to pay then just say lah!!"

We were stunned and saw a rather unpleasant scowling lady chiding the wait staff. We looked at them expectedly and the wait staff, obviously arkward came back to us and murmured that it wasn't part of the set.

We would have only been happy to foot the bill if not for the appalling attitude of who we thought was the supervisor/manager. We asked to speak with her. She was shockingly rude! My friend asked why she made that remark earlier and she just ignored our question and proceed to brush us off and said "I'll just take that charge off lah".
We insisted she explain herself and that we will be happy to pay for it but what she said was absolutely uncalled for. We asked if she was the owner and she first said no. When we then asked to speak with the owner...she then claims to be the owner!

I was just completely stunned and shocked beyond belief!

In the end, we really couldn't care to waste our time with her anymore and paid our bill...in full. She spoilt what was to be a completely wonderful evening and I'll never ever, over my dead body go back again.

Now when I want some mexican fix, its next door to El Patio. MUCH better service, great food and the best part is the free flow of tortilla chips!

I used to visit this place in the past when I had my urges for Texan-Mexican food but my urges for the cuisine has long been gone. However, on Panerai's insistence, I agreed to try something that he has raved about in his previous review - the Prawn Fajita.

The setting is a very simple dimly-lited Mexican styled (with lots of contrasting and bring colouring tiles)outlet that constantly plays Ben and Jerry on a TV screen. When the fajitas came, I must admit that I was a little taken aback when we had to prepare it ourselves. However, the advantage of that is that it allowed me to balance the guacamole and the sour cream to my liking for each fajita. But given that art and craft was never my forte, I totally made a mess of my meal, but it does not make a difference since it all gets mashed up in the stomach anyways. The prawns were very fresh and I liked how it was served on a hotplate which keep the ingredients warm while I took my time to finish the meal.

Despite not being very hungry, I slurpped the whole thing down. Add a margarita to that and it makes a relaxing dinner after a long day at work. Service was very friendly and efficient.

Living in a city like Chicago where fresh, authentic Mexican is everywhere, from hole-in-the-wall taco stands and gringo-ized chain restaurants to family joints just like they make 'em in the homeland to fancy nuevo Latino offerings, my expectations for this cuisine are pretty high. I know a good burrito when I meet one.

After a 10km run on an extremely hot day, my thoughts naturally turned to Mexican for lunch to re-fuel as well as for a Corona cool-down. As I sat down, I was initially blown away by the glass of iced water and complimentary chips and salsa served. Sure, there are places who deliver a glass of iced water before you even ask for it, but to not charge for chips and salsa? That's downright excellent, and what a way to encourage a fiesta. (However, although the chips and salsa at Margarita's aren't for free, they're better. But I'm not one to bite the hand that feeds me.) Happily, I ordered my Corona and a mushroom burrito (I'm currently on a vegetarian diet).

It was a tough choice, because I was extremely seduced by the spinach and potato enchiladas, but when you're starving, there's nothing like a burrito bigger than your head stuffed with rice, beans and salsa to make a dent in your gut. The cold Corona arrived quickly (thank god) with my burrito not too far behind (as burritos should). But... what was that? A tortilla elegantly folded to resemble a crepe, with mushrooms and cheese, Mexican rice, sour cream and beans on the side.

Huh?

A demure burrito is as much of an oxymoron as a warm Corona or a margarita with less than two shots of tequila. It was tasty enough, but I was disappointed that I could eat with with a fork and knife and fit everything into my mouth. That's part of the burrito experience.

I didn't order dessert as I was due to head for my haircut, although the selection of Mexican sweets was generous. I thought the service was decent -- my glass of water was always re-filled and most importantly, I was asked if I wanted another bottle of Corona. I also did leave my wallet on the table when I left, and had it returned to me fully intact when I went back an hour later to retrieve it. There weren't quite as many smiles as you would typically find in a real Mexican place, but we're about 10,000 miles away where restaurant service means zero expectations. I would go back to try something else and see how they deliver it, and I'll also take up their offer of another Corona.