656 North Virgil Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90004

Tonight we decreed that we’d rather starve than eat Asian food again. And, since we chose not to abstain from dinner, we chose Cha Cha Cha as our destination. How apropos that our destination was west of downtown, west of San Gabriel Valley and its myriad Chinese restaurants. West. Alas, it was a poor decision.

Valet service in the meager parking lot is $5. I braved the shadowy, sinister streets and parked a block away, across from a make-shift street vendor selling victuals of his own. We were promptly seated and found that the menu could best be described as being divided into tapas, entres, and paella. Since the place is obviously not a Spanish restaurant, we stayed away from the paella.

We chose a selection of “tapas” including the jerk chicken pizza, the jerk pork, the vegetarian empanaditas, sopes de pollo, and crispy shrimp cakes. One word to summarize the experience. Mediocre. Mediocre to the fifth power. Apparently jerk flavoring is synonymous with sweet teriyaki sauce. The vegetarian empanaditas were flavorless, even when bathed in its supplemental salsa. The crispy shrimp cakes were more breading than shrimp. Of all the plates, I thought that the sopes de pollo were, perhaps, the least mediocre. Yet, being the least mediocre selection in no ways absolves it of being mediocre.

If you’re desperate for a departure from the norm, perhaps this is the place for you. However, you’d be avoiding one type of monotony for another. Next time, I think we’ll just starve. Maybe, we will appreciate the next meal a little more if we’re faminished and $50 wealthier.