Bay Area/ San Francisco/ Food & Drinks
Published on June 29, 2022
Cha Cha Cha on Mission Street to close permanently Friday, Haight Street location staying openImage: Walter P. via Yelp

Sangria sadness is in store for fans of the San Francisco tapas bar Cha Cha Cha. While there are two Cha Cha Cha locations in San Francisco on Haight Street and Mission Street, the Mission Street Cha Cha Cha will be closing Friday, July 1, according to a Facebook post from the owners.

 

“We regret to inform you that the CHA CHA CHA restaurant on Mission Street will be CLOSING on July 1st, 2022, after 25 years of service,” the Facebook post explains. “We want to express our gratitude for all of your support over the years. The CHA CHA CHA restaurant on Haight Street will continue to be open, and we look forward to seeing all of you there!”

The Cha Cha Cha Mission website is still taking reservations for Thursday night and Friday night, with an opening time of 5 p.m. We’d highly encourage reservations, as the place will likely be packed, even though their enormous bar spans 120 feet (the longest bar in San Francisco!).

The Mission Street Cha Cha Cha opened in 1997 under the far less snappy name  “Cha Cha Cha at Original McCarthy's.” As Mission Local explained in 2013, Original McCarthy’s opened shortly after the end of Prohibition in 1933, and Philip Bellber and Leon Pak took over and renamed the place in 1997. The pair already owned the Haight Street Cha Cha Cha, which opened 1984. 

Veteran restaurateur Irfan Yalcin acquired the Mission Street Cha Cha Cha in 2016, and acquired the Haight Street location in June 2017.