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Mon-Sun. 5:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.
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It's kinda like Dia de Los Muertos meets a Tijuana dive bar meets hipster silverlake coffeeshop meets divey echo park joint. Fun, Fun, Fun.
Great decorations, diverse crown and strong drinks, even if they are a little pricey. Gets busy on the weekends, so expect a line. I usually go on the weekdays and always have a great time.
Cha Cha Lounge is more like a 3.5, but alas, I can't give half stars. Like the other reviewers, I have some mixed feelings about this place.
Pros: Super cheap drinks. $11.50 for a huge margarita on the rocks and a good sized cranberry vodka. There was ample seating and no cover. There was also a really random vending machine that sold pens, pocky, cigarettes and other miscellaneous stuff.
Cons: I definitely wasn't digging the music and there was only one bathroom for the ladies, causing the lines get ridiculously long.
Overall, it's not a bad bar, but the crowd is too hipster for this pop loving weho girl. Though the lure of cheap drinks might bring me back.
People thought this was:
This really is a dive. A couple friends and I met up here on a Tuesday night, it looked cool online with the red lighting and everything, kitschy fun...Too bad the bartender basically ignored me when I went up to order our drinks and took orders from other people even though I was obviously waiting there at the bar. Annoying! They also don't serve food so you're out of luck if you're looking to grab a bite and drink too. The Red Lion is across the street, but smelled like gross sausage, so we left to get pizza at Nicky Ds and come back to Cha Cha.
The people watching is amusing, a mix of hipsters in ponchos and skinny jeans and a drunk girl from NJ. The drinks are cheap.
Would I go back? Not anytime soon, since it's not really a destination place and there aren't too many other places to walk to nearby.
Finally made it INSIDE the infamous Cha Cha Lounge on Friday night.
For places like Disneyland, or for free drinks, I will wait in line with a good amount of patience. To wait in line for a bar -- especially a dive bar -- my patience dwindles considerably.
That said, it was worth the wait for the Cha Cha.
When my friend and I around 11 or 11:30 pm, there was a line. My friend encouraged me that we should stick it out. We had nowhere else to go, right? OK, fine. Good excuse for people (ahem, hipster) watching, and to strike up a convo with the artsy guys in skinny pants and weird glasses in front of us.
After only 20 minutes, we entered the tropical-themed hipster world. Had a blast. Played foosball, got our asses kicked, but made friends with our opponents. Not trendy, but definitely a scene -- the crowd skews a bit younger (early/mid 20s) and certainly hipster-y. Everyone was lowkey and friendly, thankfully we only ran into one drunk douchebag. Drinks were cheap. Had an awesome time.
NOTE: the ladies bathroom is just a single. Ladies, if you need to go to the bathroom, get in line BEFORE you need to go. Because if you already need to go and have to wait in line, it can become unpleasant.
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This must be the ultimate ... let's everyone from the office get something to eat place. Interesting decor. Genuinely nice waiters and management. Not knocking them at all. Glad they are in the neighborhood.
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I'm a dive bar connoisseur and this place offers some of the fine qualities one would need in order to call it a "dive" But you must understand one thing first... I use the term "dive" romantically, as I find bars of such quality to be warm, welcoming and full of fun chaos with like minded people.
My recent visit to Cha Chas proved to be just as wonderful as expected. I met up with some delightful friends for a night guided by PBR that was sassied up with a squeeze of lime (a recommendation given to me by another girl waiting her turn in line at the bar... good team work). One thing that really sucked was the womens room was simply one room with one toilet... then mens bathroom offered more stalls for quicker in/out, as I'm told ;)
If your in the Silverlake area wanting a rad place to have a beer or two with some friends, then swing by. But if you are looking to kick it with sports on many TV's hanging around the room, then continue onward my friends.
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Although my friend complains that the floor is sticky at this place, an therefore he doesn't like it, I can't say I've ever noticed it to be particularly bad. This place is definitely a hipster bar, so if you don't like that scene you shouldn't come here.
I like this place mostly as a compliment to the Red Lion. It's a good evening to have a drink or two at the Red Lion and then make your way over to Cha Cha to finish off the night. The problem is that both places can get a line and neither are really worth waiting in line since both can get really crowded.
Other than that, this is a standard hipster dive bar with some wacky stuff on the walls, an eerie red glow throughout and cheap PBR. I usually have fun here but it's not worth a long wait.
Checked this out on 10/2/09.
Had to wait in line on a Friday night, for a bar. It's RED inside and full of hipsters.
Left after 10 minutes.
Over time, I've come to trust reviews from my fellow Yelpers in the hopes of discovering new places for my dining and drunken experiences. Most of the time I'm never let down, but alas.. Yelp failed me for the first time..
Coming here, I expected to run into the typical hipster crowd and their hipster music with their hipster sass.. That's ok really, to everyone their own right? But what I didn't expect was a bar that registered about 90 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale with about 50% humidity..
Seriously, this place was hotter than a mother fucker.
You'd think a bar could afford a simple air conditioner, or even a goddamn fan! But no, all that hipster money disappears into thick, sweltering air I guess.
The decor is pretty cool though and I'm always down for $2.50 PBR on tap, but it was really just too difficult to be comfortable in there.
Jesus, I'm still sweating from last night.
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I don't even know why I come here.
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Why is everyone shitting their pants over this place? It looks like a tiki torch warehouse blew up… Read more »
Two words, Hip ster. Good, bad? Depends on what you're into. Personally I prefer the hipster scene over the el douche man blouse/tube skirt hollywood scene any day so for me this place is pretty awesome.
Good music, decent pricing on drinks, red everywhere, the lines can suck on a nightly basis but that's what happens when a spot's good. Some nights there's dancing, others just a walking/standing space. Definitely a must see for yourself kinda spot.
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They should change the name of Cha Cha Lounge to the Red Light Special for two reasons: 1) their mood lighting that suffuses the room in red and 2) the vast amount of both male and female eye candy, if you can't break the dry spell here I don't know where you can.
We came here on a Saturday night at 11:30PM and no line, no cover, and parking was fairly easy to find. With so many reviews for Cha Cha Lounge, you already know the basics (cheap drinks -$5 for 2 beers, weird decor, eclectic mix of music, games/vending machine/photobooth) so my 2 cents are that this place is the shiznit for a casual, dive bar night with an absence of brotasticness and ho-baggery
SO. MUCH. FUN.
With the exception of the ridiculous one stall in the ladies room, no complaints. Cha Cha Lounge I will be back!!
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Since when did they take off the "Cha Cha Lounge" from the photo booth pictures? Now I can't change my default pic to it so every one knows I'm super hip!!!
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Red light bulb lighting, dia de los meurtos decor, kitsch accents and pics line the walls. Booths and bar seating in this smallish neighborhood bar across from the Red Lion. A better place to visit in addition to going to the Lion across the street rather than the main focus of your evening.
Serious faced DJ spinning classics and nuevo classics - eager looking girls and guys excitedly drinking and talking under the red lights which are both annoying and charming. Water is provided at the end of the bar to save you from yourself.
CCB is a nice hang and good place for a short respite but nothing more.
If you've got a flannel shirt, skinny jeans, and some chucks, then this is the place for you.
Weak drinks. Dark environment. Fooseball. Photobooth. Parking sucks. Go to Shortstop. You can dance, if the music is played right.
I will always remember this as the place where my 5 year relationship was ending. Didn't help that she was there also. He said he didn't want to say anything to me because he was 'drunk' or whatever. Buzzed. or out of it. Drinks aren't that strong! And you had to drive, stupid.
Great break-up place.
People thought this was:
This place is hipster heaven for a number of reasons. The drinks are cheap, which is always a selling point for indie/american apparel kids, wanna be's and groupies. It has a substantial musician vibe - the owners are from Seattle, and there used to be a cha cha up there that i frequented more than I'd like to admit back in my drunken 20's. The look of the place is Mexican restaurant meets hipster lounge. It's dimly lit, with velvet paintings, sombreros and weird trinkets all over the walls. There's a photo booth to preserve the evening's events, and a couple of foosball tables to spill cheap beer on (Pabst Blue Ribbon is the poor man's beer of choice). Hipster music reigns supreme here, with occasional karaoke and guest DJs spinning.
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Cha Ching! I found a neat, crazy place where everyone looks good under warm lighting. Cha Cha lounge is like a giant mexican tiki darkroom!! haha
So here's the story, I came extremely early, and found parking in the bar's parking lot in the back. (6-8 spots) Wow, other reviewers didn't mention the bar had a whole wall of booths. There were so many heads to look at. I looked around and starred at a few people before sitting at one of the tables.
They didn't have a cover charge and they didn't search my bags. Since they didn't search my goods I was luckily enough to bring a whole bag of chocolate candy inside. hahaha. They had music playing from a jukebox. People requested old hip hop songs from the 90s to Mary J Blige to Green Day to Missy Elliot. Good stuff!
Drinks were cheap. I ordered 2 cranberry juice which came to a total of $4. Juice? Try a cranberry spritzer. It was so delicious I had a couple of glasses that night. Yummy even with a slice of lime. Cheap thrills are the best ;)
So why is this awesome place 4 stars? Because the line for the womens restroom was so long, 1 stall? Are you kidding me?
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Maybe if I wore skinny jeans...I would fit in
Maybe if I had trendy tattoos...I would fit in
Maybe if I wore a straw trilby...I would fit in
awwwwe shit...I totally just described myself. FAIL. Still a cool bar if you want a change from the pretentious LA-need-to-be-seen-and-OMFG-I-didn't-get-into-the- Playboy-mansion-party...scene.
However, I love the Seattle Cha Cha better. Sorry bros, no offense
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This place is great!
Weird red lighting that makes everyone look awesome, a lot of big booth seats, festive mexican decorations, $1.50 pints of PBR, photobooths, and fooseball tables. I like how the bar looks like a tiki hut too. The only bad thing about Cha Cha's is that there is only 1 bathroom stall, and it's located right at the back, so it bottlenecks pretty bad once a lineup forms.
P.S. It's also seriously a babe-city in there. I think i fell in love like 16 times last night!
People thought this was:
You know, I like giving good ratings to places, but it's hard for me to give this place higher than two. This is simply because of the line that you have to wait in to get inside. Who waits in line to get into a bar (can you really call it a lounge)? You get inside, it's not even that crowded! When it is crowded - it really is crowded! It's hot, it's stuffy, and you feel awkward if you're just standing in the middle with your drink. Where are the lounge chairs? Taken.
The place itself is OK. If it weren't for the line and the overly hip crowd, I'd like it a lot. The decor is campy but fun - and I must say I love the vending machine. It has fun goodies inside - even if you don't have cash/change for it. Just stick your hand in and grab a book of matches or two.
True story: My friend goes to the bar to get a Shirley Temple for our other friend. The bartender gives her a strange look (as if to say, you wussy!) and my friend replies, "It's not for me!" "Sure it isn't" the bartender makes the drink, slides it over and says it's on the house.
This place has a really cool dive-y eccelectic atmostphere. My friend was DJing here so we went to go cheer him on. Got a photo in one of their cute little photobooth things, and sat and had a couple drinks
Not too much to say other than the environment is pretty cool, a little trendy and hipster-ish, but nonetheless a good time.
You know, LA is a very funny place. Having been born and raised here, over the course of the past three decades I've seen a lot of people enter and leave my hometown. The locals who have their long-standing cliques, and who know where to go and where not to go (and who stay as far away from the Hollywood crowd as possible). The people from small towns (that includes Orange County) who come out thinking they're going to end up in Hollywood, but end up doing a couple of gigs as extras and then spending the rest of their time making lattes at Starbucks. And then there are the people who somehow crack their ways into Hollywood, usually as low-level assistants, and who end up purchasing said lattes on their boss' behalf.
The funny thing about the whole Hollywood crowd is that there are two parts to that distinction: those who accept that they are a part of Hollywood, and those who rebel against it. And, in this rebellion, they become even more obsessive with maintaining that image of being the non-conformist Hollywood rebel and eventually become even more Hollywood than those who just accept their miserly existences and move on with their lives... or at least on down the Strip... with a name-badge that reads "Hi, my name is Hollywood Joe, and I will grovel and suck-up to get a production or voice-over job, and I know persons X Y and Z so I think that we have a lot in common so can I come work for you please please please?"
The rebels, I've found, are called "hipsters." And where do hipsters hang? Silver Lake. Why? Because it isn't Hollywood, but it's pretty darn close. And what is one of the bars that truly epitomizes the non-Hollywood Hollywood hipster ideal? Cha Cha Lounge.
Unless occasion calls, I'm not the one who's going to dress in costume to go out. Tshirt, jeans and flip-flops... pretty standard fare for the Ryman. And isn't the idea of the rebel... er, hipster... that they don't confine themselves to the status quo? Well, whenever I walk into Cha Cha (or any other Silver Lake bar), I get funny looks... for not refusing to conform to the hipster ideal. Why, because I value comfort and I already have a girlfriend so it's not like I'm going out looking to impress? Is it that I don't shop at Hot Topic like all of them?
It's funny, but the more these hipsters try to disavow themselves from all things Hollywood, the deeper in they sink to Hollywood's tar pits of conformity.
Other than that, I do like the bar itself. It's relatively dark, and it's usually easy to find a table where you and your group can chill and peoplewatch. The drinks are the going rate of any other bar in LA. They usually play some pretty good music. And they have foosball tables and a photobooth. A photobooth? That's right, a photobooth. Oh, one word of advice though... stay away from the stalls in the bathroom, because you never know what you're going to walk in on... last time it was a trio of girls... oh wait, no, one of those actually isn't a girl, adam's apple is too big.
So I'm giving 3 stars. 1 star for the crowd, 2 stars for the bar itself, 4 stars for the foosball and photobooth. There's no cover, which is a bonus (I refuse to pay a cover), and there are always streetdog carts just down the street (score!).
People thought this was:
I love this place. I felt like I had walked onto the set of Gilligan's Island when I entered.
Great happy hour menu, overall cheap beer and drink selection, bright lights, eccentric decor, foosball table, comfortable booths and chairs, no cover, parking is around the area and cool music.
You will not be bored at this bar.
I used to come here often back in 2007-2008.
People thought this was:
I'm a fan of this place, but it is a "hipster" place. Sometimes on the weekend you'll get a mixture of all different types of people, which is when I enjoy it most (I don't discriminate!). The people are always pretty laid back there though. This place is pretty consistent. Cheaper prices drinks are a definite plus, no cover, no dress code. The place is decorated like a Mexican restaurant, gets pretty full more times than not. Not alot of sitting space and they have a photo booth and a foosball ball table, which I love watching guys ask girls to play foosball to try to pick them up, classic! Only downfall is that the men's bathroom is disgusting.
I love:
Getting mildly inebriated for a mere 5 dollars
People watching (no shortage of boys here!)
Peculiar decor
Competitive foosball (I'm really good.)
Discovering a strip of awkward photos in my purse the next day
Cha Cha
The only downside is the one-stall ladies room. Oy.
EW. the overly ironic hipster vending machine is the WORST. shave your fucking faces and take juno out of your dvd player. LAME.
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Yes, the rumors are true. This place is crawling with hipsters. Yes you will see guys with v-necks, Jesus hair, and pants tighter than mine. Not a problem though because the drinks and cheap and the entertainment is priceless. And who can forget the foosball tables (at which I have kicked ass on numerous occasions)?
Sundays are preferable because you don't have to wait in any lines; it's (usually) less crowded [that means no waiting for the little gals room].
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A pretty cool little place. Good crowd, decent music, drinks were reasonable.
They have a photo booth in the back and a vending machine that sells condoms, t shirts, candy, mouth wash, male performance enhancement pills, american spirits yellow (more alt than american spirit blue) and a home pregnancy test for later.
Outside there's a roach coach that sells the best $2 tacos ever.
Definitely doing the cha cha for the Cha Cha Lounge. This place is loads of fun. There are foosball tables with latched dispensers so your drink can be held while you attempt to score. Ahem, speaking of scoring, there's condoms in the vending machine! This is quite the vending machine, filled with lots of funky junk and goodies, from pregnancy tests to packets of...spam?! Hey, if you got a craving for that stuff it's there. Cigarettes, Cyndi Lauper trading cards, etc. There's also a good ol' fashioned photobooth. $2 for a photographic souvenir, why not?
The drinks are great, not too stiff nor too fruity/mixer-heavy. And cheap! A highball glass for $7 is pretty good in my book. No pretentious vibe at all, no staredowns, no nothing. Just genuine good fun.
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The nice thing about the Cha Cha Lounge is that it doubles as a darkroom. You know, for the next time you want to develop some 35mm film.
You won't have to worry about any harsh, white, film-ruining light til the end of the evening, as the entire place is lit in dark red lighting. I agree, it does give the impression that everyone looks better. I think I even got a few second looks, which are hard to come by!
Didn't even notice the vending machine. How could I miss it? Did notice the foosball tables, as a bunch of smashed hipsters kept knocking drinks off them and shattering glasses all around my poor sandal-ed feet. dangerous! and i think i saw more african-american kids with mohawks in the 90 minutes i was here then i ever had in my life. welcome to L.A., I guess.
oh, right. The drinks. yeah, i guess they were good. I was neither impressed by the place nor disappointed. Good hangout spot, not too crowded on a Thursday night. I had two drinks, plus a tequila shot, and went home thinking about how the Cha Cha probably used to be some sort of Mexican restaurant back in the day, and the new owner decided to trash up the theme a little bit. But the Beach Boys had it right from the start...after spending just a little time here, I wish they all could be California girls.
pretty girls, foosball, photo booth, red lighting, mexican theme.
Lots of hipsters though on some nights. Cool pace , i like it.
I need to go there more often.
Enough about the hipsters, this bar is a great. I love the design, and the crowd. It's always fun times. Extra points for cheap drinks, a photobooth, fooseball, portraits of trannies on the table, and being owned by one of my favorite artists, Kevin Willis.
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This is basically what I imagined LA like before I came here. Hot women parading around, hammered drunk. Wannabe PUAs struttin' their stuff. Reasonably priced drinks, and redness. Yes, you read right, redness. It was so red in this place, I thought I was in a Jamie Foxx video.
The vending machine in the back is pure awesome. I shan't tell you what's in their, because that just ruins the suprise.
I loooove this place!
It has been quite some time since I've been here due to my move to the westside (i know.. i know...), but I only have fond memories of this place! The drinks are cheap and the atmosphere is great in a very cool red-light special kinda way! I loved coming here during the week when it's not so crowded. You could get your drink on, take some pics at the photo booth and chat up the regulars. The weekends get really packed, but the vibe is still great. I also love that it's across the street from Red Lion, which is also an awesome spot.
*sigh* memories.... I shall be back... bringin' da good times back.
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this place sucks i dont care how cheap the pbr is on whatever night. sometimes you have to even stand in a line outside so you can get inside and stand in more lines trying to get a drink and stand around waiting to find someplace to sit cause theres assholes everywhere and peoples foozeballs flying everywhere. i wish the photobooth shot bullets into peoples heads
its too hot in there theres no circulation of air which is no good considreing
this bar smells like a mixture of shit and vomit
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I have mixed feelings about this place even though I'm giving it 4 stars. I loved the decor and the bartenders were amazing. My vodka/redbull was $6.50 and it was strong as hell. The DJ was amazing and he spun some of the best music ever. The only thing I really don't like about this place is that it was hipster hell or heaven depending on how you look at it. I have never seen so many hipsters in one place in my life. I felt like I was overdressed and way undercool. I felt like I had majorly failed some mandatory hipster test. I will say I liked the place a lot and will definitley go back. I will just dress down.
It was different. The decor was cool and I like the dim red light effect.
The bartender made the drinks strong. As far as cheap, it cost $20 for a margarita and another drink. Hmm, not really cheap but average.
I went Wednesday and it wasn't crowded at all. Maybe about 10 people in the whole place. Which is a total plus for me.
Bummers:
No food at all at this joint. Unless you want to go to the vending machine for chips.
We parked a block away but it wasn't that bad of a walk.
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Everytime I come here, I have FUN. Fooseball, Strong Drinks, Photobooth, Art in vending machine, Eye Candy, Yes !, Great music, interesting people, friendly staff, interesting decor. Name dropping, people I met while drinking here, Cedric from Mars Volta, Mia Tyler, and others! Good Times!
People thought this was:
I like the Mexican whore house decor
I like the music- Good variety
I like the Crowd- hipsters, latinos, and a everything in between
I like that on the saturday that I was there it wasnt over crowded- Nor Empty
I like the vending machine- But who dosn't
I guess I just like this place
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It's an alright bar, drinks are cheap....but my PBR was kind of hot. What?!
However, one of my friends was pleasantly surprised when a bar tender came up and asked him if he needed a drink. What?! Usually you have to fight for a drink at a bar. That was cool.
The vending machine is a cool idea for people with drunken munchies.
But what's with there only being ONE women's toilet. Seriously? In a bar? Waiting in line to pee for several minutes and then having to listen to all the other girls in line bitch about how they have to pee while you're in the bathroom.......not cool
All in all, this place is aiite. I live in the west side so it's a bit far for me. I'd probably go here more often if I lived in the area. Honestly....I like Beauty Bar more.
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Essex now has Happy Hour…
Neighborhood: Hollywood
Late Night Happy Hour
Neighborhood: Hollywood
Neighborhood: Silver Lake
Category: Nightlife
Neighborhood: Silver Lake
Category: Bars
Neighborhood: Silver Lake
Category: Pubs
Neighborhood: Wilshire Center
Category: Diners
Neighborhood: Silver Lake
Category: Lounges
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