Chela’s Latin Cuisine

Stumbled upon this place on a random date night with my husband and the snapper that I had was a winner for me, plus the spicy cucumber drink that I had, it was delicious. Definitely coming back here to explore other options !

I had dinner here a few days ago with a friend. We split two dishes: chile relleno ($15) and camarones culichi ($18). We also split four side dishes (you get two per entree): calabacitas, elote guisado, seasoned black beans, and pozole (the sides are included, but there's a $5 upcharge for the pozole). I liked the relleno. The culichi was OK but the green sauce was too salty and heavily spiced (though not spicy-hot at all). The pozole was delicious. The other sides were just OK and came in very small portions.Service was pretty good. The ambiance is hip and modern.

Hats off to Austin our server last night. He was kind and helpful with our service during our dining experience. The interior is clean and inviting, we especially liked the mural on the wall. We ordered two appetizers, elotes on a stick and the flautas. We enjoyed them very much. The flautas will be my meal the next time I visit. Crunchy exterior, the meat inside was delicious and the salsa verde on bottom of dish was bright and delightful. I didn't have a elote, but my friends said they were good with the Mexican cheese on the outside with a sprinkle of tajin. I will also mention their presentation of their dishes are lovely.On to the food...I had the shrimp tacos. I think they need to change their menu to give their guests notice that the tacos are street tacos size. We had a choice of two sides, and I chose refried beans and calabasitas. The shrimp tacos were good but had too much salt for my liking. The beans were good but needed just a tad more fat. The calabasitas were just okay, the veggies were cut too small to really get the zucchini taste. Problano over powered the side dish. My friend said his swordfish was cooked perfectly with tajin lightly sprinkled on the fish. My friend enjoyed her chicken tacos she said the chicken was delicious. My hubby had the Birria enchiladas. The Birria was good just needed more spices. Overall a pretty good first visit. FYI - at 10 the place changes to a nightclub.

Dog friendly with outdoor seating on Congress at lunchtime. Good Latin food. I had a chicken salad with pinto beans and my husband had the shrimp tacos. Good service. We recommend it.

Went here for Valentine's Day and finally crossed it off my list. They had a prefix me you but I found it to be limiting so, just ordered from the menu. The restaurant is small and cozy, right off of Congress so no parking lot, but they are t far from the parking garage by high-fi. We parked there and took a short walk to the restaurant. The tables I will say are VERY close together, so that felt a little uncomfortable, buut we still enjoyed our time. We ordered a chicken quesadilla and toritos for the appetizer. The toritos were good but the quesadilla came without the chicken. The server notes that when it came out it looked different and made sure we were okay with it. We decided not to mention the missing chicken and just ate it as is. It also was good. My horchata was also really yummy. When it came to the dishes, my husband seemed to like his enchiladas, and the chelachanga I ordered was a great size, but bland. It was stuffed with shredded unseasoned chicken Soo, even though I got it enchilada style with the green sauce on top, it really was t enough to distract from the heaps of bland chicken I was eating. After a few bites I really wanted to show what I was tasting so I tried my best to take a picture of the inside of it. I would not recommend this dish. The calabacita side also was not good. This is the first restaurant I haven't liked calabacitas at, but it literally tasted like the mixed frozen vegetables you buy at the grocery store with the corn and peas and carrots. Not good. Outside of my main dish, the super close seating, and the calabacitas, the experience was good. Would I go here again? Mm not sure.

Visited Chela's for a NYE dinner because we thought the atmosphere looked like a fun vibe, and it definitely was! I loved the colors, the lights, & the greenery. Food was better than okay but wasn't incredible. I thought the appetizer of empanadas were a little dry, as were the carne asada tacos. My date had the chile relleno had wished the portion was a bit bigger. But overall still tasted good. Some of the downsides were how high the AC was blasting, I was freezing cold at the table with long sleeves on. the bathroom situation is a bit disastrous - very tiny, people had to duck behind the door, there was a max of 5 of us crowded waiting for a stall, I can't fathom what it's like after 10pm when it turns into a nightclub. The staff also struggled with the toilet paper roll holder so we told them to just leave it and we could all work around it. Lastly, the server at the table next to us had zero spatial awareness. His butt was in our table more than once and when taking the neighboring table's order he was closer to my shoulder and ear than he was the people he was actually speaking to.

Stopped in for our first time and it happened to be our waiter Deons first day too. He did a great job - we ordered both the happy hour margarita and the Chelas Marg wit chamoy and tajin rims and they were super refreshing and made well. The happy gourmet menu options are great- we got the Elotitos which personally could have had even more tajin but they were such a great value!I ordered the quesabiria and it was tender and juicy - perfect with the onion and cheese pull was a 10. Husband got the Chelachonga with carne asada and the crunch on that thing was crazy! Packed full and like the biria came with two sides. Great meal- we left happy and full. The place has a great vibe with a beautiful mural and currently has a spooky feel for Halloween which is fun!

I went here for "time left" app and game. Loved it! Great service, great food, we didn't even have to ask to charge separate which was so nice of them. I got chile rellano with two sides Mexican squash and elote. All excellent. Highly recommend. Ambiance was confusing until I realized that the place becomes a night club later on.

Stopped in with the bros before the Roadrunners hockey game. The place is nicely decorated and very welcoming. Food is excellent. The specials of swordfish and chorizo stuffed chicken were very flavorful. The fajitas were served sizzling and the aroma from them were crazy. Just a fyi the place converts to a night club at 9:45 on the weekends. There is a brunch starting at 11 daily. That will he my next visit.

Austin & Kapri were terrific! Great spot with an amazing atmosphere! Food & drinks were great. AC works well for hot Arizona weather!