About — Cha Cha Cha Cuban Cafe | Santana Family, Kenilworth NJ

Inside Cha Cha Cha — warm yellow walls, red chairs, framed photos of Cuban icons

Open Since 2015

The Beginning

Ralph Couldn't Find Good Cuban Food in Kenilworth. So He Opened a Cuban Café.

Ralph Santana is a lifelong Cuban foodie. When he settled his family in Kenilworth, he kept running into the same problem — the Cuban food he grew up with wasn't there. So in winter of 2015, he and his daughter Dariany opened Cha Cha Cha Cuban Cafe.

The recipes came from Ralph's mother. The congrí came from his aunt, Tia Fifi. The Cubano came from years of Ralph refining one sandwich until it was exactly the one he wanted to serve.

He picked Kenilworth on purpose — for the safe, family-oriented vibe. That's the kind of café he wanted to run: a place where neighbors feel like family the first time they sit down.

The Daughter

Dariany Runs the Brand. Ralph Runs the Kitchen.

Ralph's daughter Dariany co-owns the restaurant and handles the marketing from Los Angeles, where she works as a television personality and hosts Fuse's Struggle Gourmet.

The two of them are also the reason the café has been on Food Network's Family Food Showdown, Telemundo, Eater, and Yelp's Top 100 Places to Eat in America (2025).

But none of it has changed how Ralph runs the kitchen. Same recipes. Same slow cooking. Same Cubano, pressed the same way, every single time.

Featured On Cha Cha Cha Cuban Cafe interior with drum stools at the counter

What To Expect

A Small Room. A Big Welcome.

Cha Cha Cha is not a big place. Three tables. A counter with about ten stools — and the stools are Cuban drums. Light fixtures shaped like Cuban canotier hats. Framed black-and-white photos of old Havana on warm mustard walls. A ceiling fan going.

You'll smell the plátanos before you order. You'll hear Cuban music. You'll probably leave with a flan to go. And you'll come back.

Family Recipes

Every dish traces back to someone in Ralph's family. The ropa vieja. The congrí. The flan. Nothing is store-bought.

Cooked Slow

Pork roasted for hours. Beef braised until it shreds on its own. Empanadas folded by hand. We don't do shortcuts.

Served Warm

You'll feel at home from the first time you walk in. Bring a friend. Bring a bottle (we're BYOB). Stay a while.

Come See For Yourself

Best way to understand? Come taste it.

Pull up a drum. Order a Cubano and a mamey batido. See what Ralph's been doing for ten years.

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