06/04/09

Skip this one.

by frednwilma

My servers was RUDE and unhelpful. Many restaurants in this area are more than happy to please their guests and next time I will find myself at one of them. Pasta was consistently overcooked and entire place looked filthy.

• Pros: None
• Cons: Dirty, rude service, underwhelming food

11/17/08

NEW AND IMPROVED CHA CHA'S

by Princess50

The holiday season is the most fun in NYC, especially on Mulberry St, Little Italy. The sights, shopping are great, but the food is better.

The one thing you will first notice at Cha Cha's is there is no one out in front begging you to come in & eat, like all the other restaurants. The second is Cha Cha, who is usually sitting out in front talking with some guys who look like they are right out of The Soprano's, one of many shows this owner has been in. He greets you warmly & you are on your way to a simple, but good dining experience.

I had not been there for a year & thought I would give it one more chance The restaurant has a new menu & a new attitude toward the customers. The house salad was more than the usual iceberg lettuce, good dark greens & fresh tomatoes, ask for olive & vinegar on the side. The meatballs were heaven! Cha Cha said they were is mother's receipe. We had a second order to go. Mini pizzas say they are for 1 or 2, but to me sharing is not caring. Try the "Alla Cha Cha". The sausage & peppers are to die for either as a paltter or hero. The desserts are too wonderful, but they are know for the Cannoli & holy moley, the Tiramisu is killer.

Cha Cha's has a full bar, but now they are making & importing their own wine. Cha Cha's grandfather's receipe. 14% alcohol contend! It was quite a surprise, I was expecting dull, sour tasting table wine. What I got was something all together different, a wine much like I had gotten in little farmhouse restaurants in Italy. Not what I would expect from a simple little joint like this! Trust me try a bottle, or two.

The restaurant is what I would call reasonably priced & oh yes, there is a pretty, sweet patio with heaters in the back where you can dine & wait for it, SMOKE! Take that mayor Bloomberg.

Yes, the waitstaff could be a little quicker, but all in all a great experience & quite a change from a year ago.

.

• Pros: Simple good food, amazing desserts, homemade wine, heated patio for dining & smoking.
• Cons: Service a tad slow

08/10/07

What a jewel of a place on Mulberry Street

by wendywinn

Yesterday we took a trip to NYC to do a little shopping and stopped at this quant little place on Mulberry Street near Canal. This interior had that "old world charm" (which definitely added to the experience) and the meal was a pleasure. Apparently Cha Cha has his own line of sausage and it was the best I have had in a long time. Don't skip dessert, the cannoli was out of this world! We ate in the outdoor garden and even with the heat, the temperature was confortable. We're planning on coming down for the San Gennaro Feast, and I now where our home base will be!

03/19/07

Don't go there

by edbx

We went there for lunch. There was a big difference between what we ordered and what we actually got. We ordered full lunch dishes, yet we got some snacks. The quantity of food was so small that even a child might still have been hungry afterwards. Quality - bad. Nothing like Italian food. The only kind of spaghetti they had was Marinara, which was extremely over baked(felt like it was 1-2 days old) and the sauce was beyond average.

Water served in plastic glasses.

• Cons: Food, quality and quantity

03/13/07

Little Italy-Big Disappointments

by foodieknowsbest

I don't know why I even bother with Little Italy.

Its like the Italian portion of the "Its A Small World After All" ride at Disney mixed with losers who have watched one too many episodes of The Sopranos.

There is NOTHING Italian about this neighborhood!

I went to Cha Cha's and that's the straw that broke this camel's back!

I took a few tastes of my gelato and pushed it aside. It was that lousy.

It tasted like some cheap generic brand of ice cream.

And for me, a desert junkie, to push away a sweet is saying a lot.

Ciao Little Italy...forever!!!

01/05/06

This place sucks

by maggie427

Took them forever to clean the table and get me the check!

05/10/05

User review by thelethalkitten

by thelethalkitten

Must agree with other reviewers. Been here a few times. I was drawn to the fact that it seemed like a quiet, out of the way place my boyfriend and I could make a sentimental favorite. Unfortunately, no. Regardless of the amount of customers, the wait for food is insanely long. Once we were THE only table in the place and waited TWENTY FIVE minutes. Servers are disinterested, bra-less girls. Food is alright, but *way* too expensive for the portions and for the quality of the service/atmosphere. It's like paying forty bucks for a mediocre meal in a run-down place...and you might starve to death before it gets to you.

Tried really hard to like this place, but it's hard to ignore all the low points.

• Pros: Quiet
• Cons: Service, Wait, Value

06/23/03

Cha Cha away from here

by karenkmb

Don't bother with this place. It has bad service and overpriced/mediocre food. It took 15 minutes before anyone took our order and that's after I had to flag a busboy down to get our waiter/waitress. There were only 8 customers in the whole place. If the waiter/waitresses weren't too busy BSing with each other, there wouldn't be us unhappy customers. Another customer left yelling how bad the service and food was as well. It's no wonder they have their host standing outside on the street trying to get customers in.

• Cons: Service, Food

02/18/03

Your Gelato's Melting

by contempler

Who goes to Cha Cha's for dinner or even a pizza? You go for the homemade gelato...the chocolate cake...a cannoli. BUT the place is starting to look unkeep, dirty..and the help is helpless. Five years ago you entered Cha Cha's and you felt like you were in Little Italy, now the waitress has a russian accent and it doesn't seem special anymore.

• Pros: Homemade Gelato
• Cons: Just feels unkept, crowded tables, poor service