Chucherias Fine Dining — Restaurant in Holly Hill

With only one opportunity for an evening out in Daytona, we wanted a quality dining experience. I honestly did not realize it would be so hard to find. While in Daytona, my husband and I were trying to figure out a good place to have dinner. We stumbled upon Chucherias and it was the best decision ever. I had poured over reviews from other fine dining establishments and the minute I thought "ok, this is the one." I would then read reviews which described horrible owners etc. We all know to If you are interested in going make a reservation on Open Table and know that they do not want small children in the restaurant (and it clearly says this on the reservations page).

The restaurant is located in an odd location as other reviewers have mentioned, but so what? You walk in to a nice little courtyard and there is a path that leads up to the restaurant. I imagine sitting outside is wonderful in cooler weather. The old oak trees with moss hanging from them really compliment the setting. The inside is small but in a nice way. Tables are spaced where no one is on top of another table. The interior is all wood with high celings and glass windows. There is a small bar with seating for about 4. We were greeted when we walked in and then seated quickly. The person who was helping us was not dressed like the waiters (who were all dressed nicely in black dress shirts and bow ties) so perhaps he is the manager or owner? We asked his opinion on a bottle of wine. And he recommened a wonderful blend from Argentina that was priced at $45 for the bottle. It was nice to see that he wasn't trying to upsell us on a bottle that was more expensive (believe me - there are some pricey bottles on that list).

Appetizers

I had the Pupusas de queso which the menu desribes as a cheese corn cake. I enjoyed it. The corn cake provided a little texture and the cheese was creamy. It reminded me of an arepa but better done and more savory. It was served pickled cabbage and a cabbage salad.

My husband had the Pulpo al estilo Espanol. It is octopus. He said it was great. He didn't offer to share, so I have no clue how it tasted. He did help himself to some of my appetizer proclaiming that it was good as well.

Mains

I had the Catracho aka The Honduran. It was a nicely portioned beef tenderloin served with carmelized onions on top. And all of the fixings one might expect to accompany a meal: plaintains, avocado, refired black beans, and rice. The meat was tender, well cooked (I ordered medium and that is what I got), and well seasoned. I only ate a little bit of everything else because I was very full, but it all complimented one another.

My husband had the pan roasted/fried whole red snapper (it was one of the evening's specials). We were advised that it would take longer to prepare so that we weren't wondering where our meals were. And that was fine, we said we were in no rush and enjoyed our time chatting and drinking our wine. The presentation of the entire fish was great. My husband enjoyed every morsel of meat and also helped himself to some of the side items on my plate (do you recognize a trend here).

Dessert

For dessert my husband chose the sticky toffee pudding. I didn't get a chance to take a pic because he helped himself before I could tell him to stop, but it was pretty amazing. The cake is served warm, and they drizzle the caramel sauce all over the dessert tableside. Again, it was very enjoyable. I had a few bites and the eating machine polished off the rest.

Dinner for 2 excluding tip but including a bottle of wine was $198. I feel that is a fair price. I know some other reviewers have complained about the price. You have a choice, you don't have to eat here. You can go spend half as much at Red Lobster, and enjoy the chain restaurant experience. But for us, it was worth the extra money. The service was great and the food was...

If you’re traveling to Daytona, save your money and your time. There is absolutely nothing authentic about this place. And that is not even the worst part. The worst part of our experience was how we were treated. My boyfriend does not hear very well with a lot of background noise, like most veterans and while looking down at the menu did not hear the server greet him when we were first sat. From that moment on he displayed hostility and was incredibly impolite towards him the entire night we dined in. He would smile at me and lower his voice and give dirty looks to my bf.

We decided to brush it off as we were celebrating, but as it became more and more obvious and being this is not a large place we could see his attitude, eye rolls and body language everytime he left our table, we decided to skip dessert and ask for the check. After the server Jose returned with our card and check, he told my bf the card declined twice, and he said this incredibly loud, confused he apologized and went to hand him another card when the server told us he was joking…. This might had been funny if the guy had built some rapport with us during our time there, or if we were at an Olive Garden. This was not a fine dining experience this was a waste of money. This was an insult, disrespectful, and classless.

We dined in for a birthday dinner, reservation, dress code and all. (Which based on some of the negative reviews I’ve read now has been an issue for others) I can tell you that seated behind us sat a couple in dirty sneaks and graphic t-shirts. So apparently depending on how the staff is feeling that day the dress code just goes out the window.

The food tasted fine, nothing impressive. Congratulations to the chef for his position, but as far as our dinner tasted and was cooked- any Honduran grandmother would have done a far better job at making very basic dishes, that at a real Honduran restaurant would have costed about 10-15$ per entrée.

The pictures that make this place look so appealing are also attached to an entire space which has offices and a brewery attached. It looks big and lovely but it’s a very small space so if you’re still convinced on giving this place a shot then I guess good for you, and I hope your experience is...

I don’t usually write the review before leaving the restaurant but I cannot wait to say how wonderful this restaurant is. Let me start by saying that the staff is superb! I usually feel uncomfortable to dine out when on business travel: usually the single traveler gets relegated to the bar or a lonely table in the corner. Here I got wide smiles when I entered and was taken to a central table by the table.

A woman chef’s influence was visible from the very start.

Chaz was great in offering advice. The Caribbean salad was indeed, as she had said, one of the best salads I have had. By the time my first appetizers (pupas?!) came along, I was half full with the bread and the lovely guava butter…and of course, all of that salad, juxtaposing the fresh peppery arugula to the sweet guava, hearts of palm, and the unexpected cheese morsels. The cheesy flat breads (pardon my ignorance in remembering the correctly spelled name) were delicious but I tried to eat only half the portion, given that the octopus was forthcoming and I had made a mental commitment to the dessert based on that guava butter alone. “Unfortunately”, the octopus was the best I have ever had too: melt in your mouth, perfect bites that I could not resist finishing (plus the lovely fried potato cubes!). Woe be me that the dessert menu looks to die for! And the proof was indeed in the pudding… the sticky bread pudding with rum raisin icecream and warm caramel sauce. It was so mouthwatering good, I even forgot to take a photo to share with my family! As a side note, the lobster, and the tres leches looks fabulous too, with the closeby table ooh-ing and aah-ing their way through those dishes. How am I still alive after all this food? It’s a miracle!

And so, it’s fitting to call it a divine dining experience! Couldn’t be happier to have taken the chance on this totally wonderful little gem and you should too. (Word to the wide: reservations are a must! 10-12 tables at best, but call to see if they can accommodate you w/o using the...