Chala's Wood Fire Grill — Restaurant in Mesilla

Rating this restaurant with one star is being too generous. I called yesterday afternoon to make sure it was alright to bring our puppy if we eat outside on the patio. I was told “sure! That’s fine.” So we show up this morning with another couple after driving 20 miles and were told, “no, you can’t have a dog here”, and that the person we had asked yesterday didn’t know what he was talking about. The woman we spoke with blamed it on “Covid rules”, but couldn’t explain why. “We don’t make the rules, we just follow them”, we were told. After leaving there, we were able to eat at the patio outside another local restaurant with the puppy with no problems, and were very welcome. When we got home, my husband called the restaurant and was treated rudely by the general manager. Just because he wanted to talk about what happened, she became irate and told him never to come back and that we aren’t welcome there, then hung up on him. That was just after she was complaining that they almost “went under” during the pandemic. My husband called back to try and get the owner’s name, and she finally gave it to him. But after asking twice if he could leave his name and number for the owner to call at his convenience, she hung up on him again! I understand the stress that everyone has been under and I understand how hard it is to find employees, but if you can’t run a business properly or if you can’t at least be civil to your customers, you need to close your business until...

I reached out well over a month ago in order to gain more information about their catering services for an engagement party but, it has been such a trial and tribulation from the beginning. The owner/catering manager (?) is very hard to get ahold of and once you do get a hold of him he takes forever to respond to your questions and will only answer about half of them forcing you to reach out again and proceed to wait over a week just to get the information you requested. I have asked on multiple occasions if there was a better way for me to contact him and he has ignored it each time. Hell, I even called the restaurant and asked the servers and they said I was better off taking my business else where!

I understand that things must be busy during this time but, I am still a customer that is requesting a service same as others. My fiance and I were really looking forward to having them cater our event but, we just can not over look the horrible service we are receiving now and confidently book with them in hopes they will pull through for our event.

I've heard nothing but great things about their food but, if you are requesting their catering services, be sure to request them very early on that way you're not scrambling...

Flies were a constant bother for our Sunday afternoon visit! Hope they mount a blower over their entrances to keep flies out. Definitely spoiled our dining. Their chalacas description sounded interesting, however it turned out to be two cupcake size cornmeal bowls filled essentially taco fillings, i.e. grilled chicken chunks, tomato, lettuce, cheese, and olives with obligatory refried beans and spanish rice. I ate 1 "boat" and gave the rest to my partner, then I mixed remaining "boat" contents with refried beans, rice, tortilla chips and salsa and ate it. To wit I had to do this get semblance of edible dish. My partner had their hefty cuban with a side salad both of which were quite good. Their menu is quite eclectic and since most Las Cruces restaurant must tilt toward mexican tastes, I was happy to see some sides like fideo and calabacitas, which I would have preferred as optional sides rather than beans and rice. Since the restaurant bills itself as being a wood-fired grill, perhaps trying a dish with grilled meat might be better choice. Given the scarcity of any innovative restaurants in Las Cruces, we'll likely give this place another try. Note, this restaurant is actually located in Mesilla, NM,...