Address:
Cha Cha Dee
1863 SE Whitworth Parkway
Elmdale, TX
The Dish:
Enchiladas Supreme (chicken)
Chorizo Beans with Mexican Rice
Diet Coke
Homemade Fried Ice Cream
$18.79 (tip and tax included)
Grade: 1 fork, 1 knife
When I was a kid, Mexican food for me was tacos and nachos. That was improved when I started to work and Taco Johns was readily available. Then there were the Americanized Mexican restaurants like Don Pablos, Carlos o’ Kelly’s or Chi Chi’s. Then authentic Mexican restaurants established themselves and quickly forced closures of national chains like Chi Chi’s because they could not compete with the real thing. So I saw Cha Cha Dee and figured that this would be good as I had never heard of them before.
Ambiance: Nice tropical feel of Cancun with out the overkill. I actually ate outside as it was a gorgeous day and the patio they had had actual palm tree’s and a few flowering cacti (there were multiple cactus plants). The waiters and waitress all had matching uniforms that were almost Hawaiian in nature but not enough that would make you think you need to say aloha. The tables and chairs were evidently hand crafted wicker and added a perfect feel for this “tropical paradise.” The menu’s were the most unique thing I have seen to date. They were some kind of hardened wood that was flexible enough to bend and the items were hand etched in with a solder gun. Each menu looked a little different, which made me want to revert to my old days of swiping menu’s as mementos. Along with that the kitchen is open, and you can see everything going on. No secrets here.
Menu/Price: As with most Mexican restaurants the menus are pretty static with a few different names for pretty much the same dish. However the prices were all very affordable. The most expensive thing on the menu was call the “El Grande Fiesta” at $15.99. It sounded enticing to sample basically everything but I really did not want to be wasteful. The weirdest thing on the menu was the “Diablo Churro” which was a cinnamon sugar fried roll with bits of habenero and jalapeño peppers in it. Who eats that kind of thing?
Meal: As I sampled the chips and salsa that were on the table, I noticed that they apparently made their own chips and salsa, which was a good thing. The chip basket even was made from the same wicker that the chairs and tables were made of. When my dish arrived I went for the main course and was pleasantly surprised with the Enchilada. While it was stuffed (more like overflowing) with chicken, cheese, peppers and onions it was also topped with lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream. One would have been plenty but they gave me two, needless to say some came with me in a to-go carrier. The chorizo beans were smoked then warmed as they had a very nice chipotle taste to them. The rice seemed a little dry for Mexican rice but it also had jalapeño peppers (diced) in it as well so it was spicy. The homemade fried ice cream was truly a treat as they actually used homemade ice cream (I know this because I saw them making it). Diet Coke, meh.
Service: Pretty good, food was prepared fast and correctly. I had to ask twice for a refill but they were pretty busy so I am not going to dock them for that. And since I am sort of comfortable speaking a little Spanish I attempted to and the waiter helped me along and seemed to appreciate the fact that I was trying to “go with the flow”
Overall: Everything was pretty good here; the issue that I had that I have not mentioned up until now was getting in. It took about an hour to wait for a table to open up. But it was well worth it. They are setup in such a way that they could easily expand but in doing so service may be compromised, which would then probably lower everything. Maybe another location in their near future, I sure hope so!