Cha Cha Laca

We came starved and late.
Our table had a chicken fajita, steak fajita, sirloin steak dinner and burrito plate.
The grilled meats were fabulous. It superseded low expectations and was even met with a pretty surprise for the mean steak at a competitive value.
The fajitas were overly generous portions of carne sizzled with grilled veggies and sauciness. They came with endless tortillas accompanied with generous pots of guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream, cheese and beans. My gluttonous appetite knew no bounds with this delectable steak fajita feast. Paired with a delicious nutty Negra Modelo beer, this dinner had all the right trimmings. I was met with a fun surprise when my steak fajita came out as one huge slab of steak rather than sliced up. Not a problem, still a good meal with attentive friendly staff. Yes I’d be back when that mood for Mexican hits. but I’d stick to the meatier options with the sizzling plates ;)

OMG is this bad. The chips were completely stale. The food products were of the lowest (squeeze out of a tube) variety. The steak couldn’t have been more overcooked.

This place was right below our serviced apartment. Great location on Hanover, just off of Princes Street. The street seems to be full of party goers (or probably Fringe festival patrons). A pitcher of margarita set the tone for dinner. An order of the nachos with chili were great to start. The sharing portion was generous (£6.95) with lots of cheese and guacamole. The rellenos de queso with the butter chicken and cheese filling in jalapenos was to die for.
The chicken and beef enchiladas were both delicious and the sauce was well cooked. The burritos were great as well.
NOTE: I didn’t actually eat everything, just sampled along and made mental notes.
The waiters are efficient and friendly. They’re not super sweet, but they mean work and seemed to do all that they could to make our experience pleasant.
Overall, the dining experience was pretty good, so while my score is a high 3, it approximates to 4 stars.

Visited for the first time about a year ago, soon after it had opened (or I had been told), and might be my nostalgia of that night but I remember having a decent burrito.
Came back a few days ago for lunch, after craving some Mexican. Place was almost empty, which at that point surprised me considering it’s the festival! And it’s the New Town! Anyway. Our order was taken quite fast, and the singing waiter even took the opportunity to recommend some dishes to my companion. Although I do love getting tips from the waiters, I knew what I wanted and was very clear about NOT having lettuce in my burritos. Few minutes later, our food arrives and guess what… Lots of lettuce. Might be the pregnancy hormones but I was so upset I told the waiter I had clearly expressed I didn’t want it. He said he would check with the kitchen (!?) but I refused and resumed to eating it anyway, after all I was starving. And the food… Oh well. It was edible. I had ordered the green chilli sauce, and there wasn’t a hint of spice in it. My friend ordered hers with the mildest sauce and you guessed it, it was quite spicy. The guacamole we ordered as a side wasn’t was I was expecting either. There was really nothing to it.
So my whole experience, overall, meh. I don’t think I’ll be coming back.

Guacamole likely out of a commercial tub. Corn chips tasteless, hard and like Doritos out of a packet. Nachos… hardly nachos… mostly chips and cheese. Too much lime in camarones in oil. Portions small. Food bland and lifeless.
Not a long life for the restaurant I would guess!

I have been itching to visit a Mexican restaurant ever since I moved North of the border.
I think Blythe R nailed it in his review.
The Margaritas were lovely and reminded me of when I lived in the good ol’ US of A and would frequent a real Mexican Restaurant.
The food was lovely, but, not quite up to par. The Quesadillas were ok, but, not what I would call authentic and had the appearance of being pre made.
The Enchilada was nice, but, tasted like the chef dropped the salt cellar in and left it overnight (Triglycerides prepare for take off).
So, to end, as my tip says, «Close, but, no cigar».

No, no, no.
I used to grade Mexican restaurants in Europe on a curve, because it was clear that no one on this side of the pond had any clue what Mexican food was supposed to taste like. Luckily those days are behind us, because now boats and airplanes have been invented, and oh yeah the internet, so there’s plenty of access to information about this once-​mysterious cuisine. So I am not interested in your excuses, Cha Cha Laca. Want to know the difference between a burrito and an enchilada? Google it.
I will pause for a moment to say two nice things: the servers were friendly, and the black bean quesadilla was tasty.
Now where was I? We started with margaritas. Do you know what ingredients should go into a margarita? Tequila, triple sec, and lime juice. Now, it’s possible that these three items were present somewhere in the beverages we were brought, but I wouldn’t know, because all we could taste was sugar (wait, excuse me, I mean organic agave nectar).
As a starter I had a black bean quesadilla, which as I mentioned before, was pleasantly edible. It came with a spattering of salad-​like material, and a tiny little cup of vile homogenized faux guacamole. Why would you do this to your customers? If you’re going to serve such a tiny little dab of the stuff, surely the cost per customer to serve actual guacamole wouldn’t be prohibitive? How about this: take your organic agave nectar budget and spend it on fresh avocados instead. That, or just skip the green goo all together, because the stuff you are serving is worse than getting nothing.
We both ordered enchiladas for our mains. What we got were burritos (big flour tortillas stuffed with a bunch of food) served with what might be considered enchilada sauce. Luckily my black bean quesadilla had filled me up nicely, so I didn’t feel the need to eat very much of this disappointing crossbreed.
I could try to balance out this review by finding some other not-​negative things to say, but why bother? A Mexican restaurant that fails margaritas, guacamole, and enchiladas is simply not worth a visit.

I ended up here because my old favourite is now closed. I wanted a margarita. I wanted one bad because my old fave had the best in the city (IMO) so when a friend suggested here I was excited to try it. Unfortunately the Margaritas are definite NO GO. Waaaaaay too bitter to the point that that’s all you taste, no other levels of flavour. On a cocktail front given that it’s supposed to be a speciality of there’s (there’s tonnes of variants) I can’t recommend the place really.
Food isn’t too bad which is this places saving grace. Plenty of options and sauces to go with your meal which is quite tasty and a nod to the authentic. Good lunch time option.

Totally Meh.
It’s not fresh, it’s flavourless, bad quality tex mex style food,
What a let down because this is the first place I’ve seen in edinburgh with taquitos, so naturally I got excited. All for nothing. What a let down, the taquitos were so hard we could barely chew through them. I actually saw the chef cut a piece of cold compact meat into a thick rectangular shape to wrap in the corn tortilla. No wonder it was super hard! It wasn’t even seasoned. What a shame as it isn’t that hard to shred the meat, add some spices and make an awesome taquito. Instead we are stuck with a nasty hard taquito. They were nice enough not to charge us for this disgraceful dish.
We also had some nachos which only redeeming quality was that the tortilla chips were 3 different colors (my toddler was very excited about that), other than that nothing special or great. The fajitas were served with grated cheese, salsa (which was not fresh nor tasty), and sour cream. I could be forgetting something but it didn’t matter. It was all pretty bog standard. The tortillas were microwaved and wrapped in foil. Not great. It was a huge portion of not great food.
I will not be going back nor can I recommend this place to anyone. It fills the belly and the lunch deals aren’t very expensive… But I’d spend my money elsewhere knowing what I know now.

A classic three-​and-​a-​half star place, I’ll err on the side of three, as while I did enjoy both dishes I had a Cha Cha Laca, it’s treading a well worn road and I’m not convinced it will blow your mind. However, their lunch deal is good value and it’s a place to which I would return, so give it a try and see what you think.
Overall, we said: «I was pleasantly surprised by Chachalaca. Both dishes I had were better than good, the service was super friendly and the place is quite smart. I’d be happy to visit again.»