How can you Haight on nectar from the Gods?

Get thee to Cha Cha Cha. Either location, Miss. or Haight will do -- although Haight is the original and one could make an argument on the basis of historic sincerity-- here's why:

It's true that there are better small plates restaurants sprinkled throughout the city. It's true that there are superior fried plantains available. And yet, when you are rolling with a group of nine rambunctious divas who just want to booze for no more than the price of two movie tickets, this is your watering hole.

Cha Cha Cha does not take reservations and Friend Host graciously informed us at our 8:45 arrival, that it would be a two hour wait. We were fairly well prepared for such a scenario, and thus, divided and conquered. Two of us set out on foot down the street to check for group status at Kan Zaman. Four of us hunkered down near the bar, pitcher of Sangria in hand, while we waited for the rest of our party to arrive.

Our friends soon showed up and much merriment ensued. Cha Cha Cha really shines in the affordable Sangria department. For $20 you get a sizable pitcher laden with much alcohol inspired fruit and enough of that sweet heavenly Carlo Rossi infused nectar to keep at least five of you busy for (if you are booze hounds like we might be) eight or nine minutes. The pitcher was the catalyst for many jovial toasts: "to surprise trips from New York" and "Mandy's first day of professional freedom!"

Friend Host approached us in the bar after possibly twenty minutes and gave us a "Liz party of 8?" nod. Interestingly, we had a Liz and we were a party of 9 (close enough), though we thought we were penned on the list as Jen party of 10. A bit of confusion ensued, frantic texts were sent to the squatters at Kan Zaman, who were also enjoying grape flavored beverages but were trapped behind a bevy of belly dancers. After realizing Friend Host really wasn't addressing our group, we decided to fess up and let the real Liz party of 8 enjoy the prime real estate that was the corner booth Friend Host was leading us to. So we loitered, Sangria glasses in hand, looking devilishly cute and congratulating ourselves for our honesty. Sure enough, Friend Host found us again a moment later and said "it seems there is no Liz party of 8. Jen party of 10, this is all yours." Ah Kharma, you are good looking.

In the time it took us to get seated, me to get up and wait in a two person line for the ladies room (is there not a law about how many women's restrooms are in a place that serves copious and delicious beverages? Perhaps it's a mechanism to keep you from drinking too much--- eh, I doubt it. But this is the one complaint I'll wager: Cha Cha Cha, get thee a second bathroom for chicks) and return, food had been ordered and had started arriving. I'm still confused as to how that happened so quickly. All of the sudden, our table was exploding with light and crispy fried calamari, roasted potatoes (a fine dish, but not a go-to), two chicken quesadillas (rumor has it that they were tasty, although I did not indulge), several plates of plantains with black bean sauce....mmmm.....mmmm.....plantains, I love you. Deliciously tangy seafood menagerie ceviche, beans and rice and three pitchers of sangria. We contemplated dessert, but in all honesty, we are a chocolate crowd and the short list was heavy to the fruity persuasions. Additionally, we'd had enough vitamin C in our drinks to maintain our scurvy-free reputations and thus opted out.

Unless we were too foggy-visioned to calculate the bill correctly, which I highly doubt because there were some very talented number crunchers at the table, splitting the alcohol seven ways and the food nine ways left us with a grand total of $23 per person for the drinkers, $13 for the prohibitionists, and nine full bellies. More self-congratulating ensued.

We challenge any 9 person, Jen party of 10 to have more fun than we do. Good luck with that. But if you'd like to try, Cha Cha Cha is probably a decent starting place.