Cha-Cha's Cocina Mexicana — Restaurant in Rocklin

It is always unfortunate to lay 2 stars on any business but in this case I can't convince myself not to and here is why. We were a party of 16 -- made a reservation the prior day, so they knew we were coming. When we arrived I was actually a little surprised at how empty the parking lot was given it was 6PM, I am guessing based on some of the other reviews, their reputation is not so bueno.

Now, our table of 16 and roughly 4 other tables of 4 at any given time were being waited on by ONE server. I think there were actually only 4 people working in total -- the cook, the server, the busser/server helper and the bartender. Given they knew they had a big party coming plus your regular flow you would have thought they would plan better. I must say that the server absolutely did her best to wait on our table and the others by herself -- she gets 5 stars for her effort but unfortunately between the lack of attention to the table, people getting missed for drink orders (and drinks taking ten minutes to get to the table) just made the experience not so great.

The cook, bless her heart, was trying to crank out the 16 meals for our table as well as the other table by herself! It took us well over an HOUR to get our food from ordering it which is far too long... then it came out in waves, so those of us who got our plates first ended up waiting for the others -- which took an additional 15-20 minutes. Then they had no room on the grill to warm the tortillas, so for those that ordered the Rock or Fajitas had to sit staring at their food an additional 15 minutes waiting on their tortillas. It was crazy, crazy bad.

The opinions on the food were mixed. Many people did not even finish due to taste, temperature. I had the taco salad with grilled chicken and it was very good. The rock looked wonderful (called a molcajete in some restaurants) as well.

I honestly was going to go with 1 star, BUT my taco salad was great and I felt like the people working there were totally trying their best -- so 2 stars it is. Whoever owns this place should never do that to their staff again. Knowing you had a large party, plus your regular customers, why not...

I friend referred me Cha-Cha's restaurant for a large party birthday dinner for my husband. I called and asked if they were able to accommodate a large party. I was told that they have a banquet room and it is not reserved right now. I said great I currently know of 10 people but know there may be more. When we arrived I was told the room was gone but they could still seat is at tables. When we were seated our party was separated by a large metal tree. We couldn't talk let alone see each other. Basically there was only one waitress, one cook and one "bartender" to accommodate my party. I even offered to help get things together for her and was turned down. When we ordered I was told my grandchildren 's plates would be put in first because she knew everything else ordered may take a little while longer. I received my food and refused it because it was not cooked properly (skin on the Rellenos was still on) Requested to have it taken off my bill at the same time I reminded her that my grandchildren have not received their food and everyone else have pretty much completed their plates. She apologized and put the order in. I requested the bill, she told me that she took off my plate as well as a taco plate that another guest refused. Then she turned to me and said that she will not credit another guests plate. I asked "why, he didn't eat it and was not happy with it" she didn't give an answer. It got worse from there. I come from a background of customer service and have never been so disappointed in a restaurant before. I very politely reminded her that accomodations does not just mean that they have the seating..... accommodating also means being able to provide the proper service to justify the 20% gratuity that will be added to our bill. The website states that you can make reservations but yet I kept being reminded that they will not. Until this restaurant is fully staffed and obtains a cook who can properly cook and season the food I do not recommend them. It was a good thing that the bartender over poured the drinks because it allowed me to tolerate the lack of service to a first...

WORST SERVICE EVER. My family decided to try out this restaurant for an early dinner on December 20th. The bartender sat us at a booth in his area because it was happy hour. Little did we know, that meant the service would be virtually nonexistent. He pretty much ignored us and only focused on the folks buying booze at the bar.

When our food finally arrived, my 4-year old daughter's chicken strips were cooked so well-done they were the texture of beef jerky. She couldn't bite into them. When we mentioned it to said bartender, there was no offer to replace or comp her meal (she only ate some of the French fries).

I ordered tortilla soup and a quesadilla, but the tortilla soup didn't arrive with our meal. When I asked about it, someone brought a bowl out from the kitchen... with no spoon. I had to wait 10 more minutes before my husband was able to flag someone down and ask for a spoon so that I could eat my soup (which was subpar at best).

We waited for 20 minutes after finishing our lame meal before finally having to ask for the check. We had provided a buy one get one half off coupon upon ordering, which was not applied to our check. When I brought it to the attention of the bartender, he couldn't figure out how to apply it in the computer system so he handwrote the discounted total in the check. When he finally took my credit card, he proceeded to charge the total amount and ignore the discount (which, duh, because he didn't apply it in the computer). So I left a note on the receipt that the charged amount included the tip, which he didn't even deserve. We just wanted to get out of there.

I check my credit card statement today, and lo and behold he added $5 to our total... So we never got our discount AND he got a nice tip that he didn't deserve.

Do yourself a favor, stay away from dining in the bar area if you choose to eat at this establishment. The tortilla chips and salsa are good, the food is okay, but the service...