Great service. Nice decor. Good size outside dining area. The Hefty Cuban was excellent, the pulled pork portion was a little dry but great smoky flavor. The Chicken Tacos have a fantastic citrus marinade. The complimentary chips and salsa have a kick and we loved the salsa. Very reasonably priced drinks. A much better dining option that any restaurants on the square in Mesilla. Will return.
This place is absolutely great. I highly recommend supporting this wonderful local restaurant. Top quality food, as well as excellent service. Not a single complaint to think of at all! My home away from home place, really. Looking at some sparse other mediocre nitpicks a few reviewers pointed out, I can safely say are entirely unwarranted at the quality of food and service you receive here, especially at the very good prices they offer. Deserves a solid 4.9-5.0.
Great meals and service. Going to be my favorite restaurant now. They don't have a microwave or freezer in the restaurant, everything is made fresh when you order it, that is why it takes longer to get your food, but boy is it worth it. Their prices are not bad also. The green and red Chile with carnitas was so good, just like my mom used to make, loved them. I highly recommend this restaurant.
This review is a couple of weeks late. My husband and I were in Las Cruces for 5 days and we had the pleasure of eating at Chala’s Wood Fired Grill. My husband had a burger (which he loved) and I got the bone in pork chop. Pork chops are often dry and difficult to cook properly. I was pleasantly surprised to get one of the best pork chops I have ever had! Highly recommend!
As we drove through the area, we wanted to experience authentic Southwest food. This place is exactly what we were looking for!Absolutely on point in every detail!The menu choices were great! Service was amazing! Food was prepared to perfection! Portion size was on target. Atmosphere is pleasant - No loud music!I had the “Hefty Cuban” sandwich and my wife had the “New York Strip Fajitas”.In no detail could they have improved our experience!
Homemade chorizo with scrambled eggs, potatoes and beans with corn tortillas $10 Coffee $2 The homemade chorizo was delicious! Jordon, my waitress was attentive and friendly. Excellent customer service! Lovely outdoor seating area. In the morning it was a peaceful spot to sit and relax. I enjoyed my breakfast at Chala’s Wood Fire Grill very much.
The food was ok. Typical southwestern cuisine. The service however was average. It was extremely busy and the waitress was stressed. Feeling kind of sorry for her, we gave a good tip anyway. There wasn’t even a thank you.
After an absence of 2-3 years and an OK experience then, we decided today to pay another visit for an early dinner. Our order included a Cubano sandwich and tacos al pastor, along with guacamole and a couple beverages. The food was borderline inedible: the main (and significant) problem being that the pork in both the sandwich and tacos was so dry and unfresh-tasting along with most of the other ingredients that tasted like yesterday's leftovers. The guacamole serving was miniscule and overpriced. Should have come with a warning that not one whole avocado was killed in this preparation. Two out of three beverages served were bizarre tasting. Never again was our joint decision.
We ate at Chalas several times on our trip to Las Cruces which is unusual for us, we love to try different places to eat. But our first meal was so amazing, we decided to go back so this is a multipart review. The first night, dinner had us hooked. This restaurant hit all the right notes: outdoor patio that is dog friendly, great food, great service, and super affordable. Dinner started off with chips and salsa and we had a good idea the rest would be superb. Chips are homemade and very tasty; ditto for the incredible salsa. Hard not to fill up on them they are so good, but warning, leave some room because the rest of the dinner that awaited us was incredible. We read reviews here on TA so I had a good idea what to try first, two of our favorite meals: Carnitas (tacos) and a Cuban sandwich. There are other stellar reviews of the Carnitas and I concur; outstanding. I’m very picky and find most versions are not up to par, here they are both crispy plus moist at Chala's and the subtle smoke flavor used makes this version of Carnitas is of the best I’ve eaten anywhere. My wife had the Cuban sandwich which was easily one of the best I’ve ever had anywhere as well. The bread is made at Chalas I'm told and superb. And the homemade bacon was an unexpected twist and blew us away. My wife had a lovely side salad, I had a small order of Calabacitas to go with my tacos rather than rice and beans. Some of the best calabacitas ever! So perfect, delicious. No room for dessert sadly but they sounded great. The service was excellent (thanks Brianna). Oh, and the homemade sweet tea is worth trying if you like iced tea. Not at all too sweet, just a tad with a touch of cinnamon. Free refills. Wow. Breakfast/Brunch the next day again with the dogs. Had the Chala’s Benedict and Madame Mesilla. Both were superb, unusual, and tasty. The Benedict was amazing meaning, if you like an unusual delicious take on a Benedict, try this. The base was a Masa (corn) cake, carne, and a red (chile?) hollandaise sauce. Pretty mind-blowing. We had the Chala’s tea again, really lovely. Our server was Faith and we sat out with the three dogs on the patio once again. Easy to get a seat around 10 AM on a Saturday, by the time we left, the place was filling up. This seems to be a local, somewhat hidden gem which is good as getting in (as opposed to “The Shed”) is quick and easy. We love(ed) The Shed but this place is better wide wise, dog friendly, even parking. 3rd meal, brunch again with the pups outside in the nice patio, and wow once again. I had the Steak and Eggs with potatoes (super yummy) and beans (also great) and my wife had the Carnitas Hash which I ate a third of and which is now top of my list for a breakfast item here. Insanely great food and service. We will come often whenever we visit Mesilla.
The restaurant states vegan options but when we went for breakfast they said they could do oatmeal. No plant based creamer so while my husbands enjoyed coffee I had water. They agreed to make a vegetable burrito, which turned out to be okay until I found ground beef in the last bite. When I asked them about it they told me they are better at vegan meals for lunch and dinner. Vegans beware.