Cha Cha Tea Spot – Salt & Pepper Pork Chops, Reader Recs

In the comment section of my post on Potato Powder Love Noodle (I do need to revisit), “FOY” Franklin mentioned wanting to try the place out, but it was strangely closed, so he got the salt and pepper pork chops from Cha Cha Tea Spot next door and thought it was pretty good and wanted my opinion of the place. Ok…..so today, guess where I was headed?

Now, this stand opens fairly early, at 10 am I think. I had passed by so many times, but never really looked at the menu….which is crazy!

Not only boba…but dim sum..Sichuan style dishes, Nian Gao, Cumin Lamb? The little sign says Cantonese specialties….but they’ll also slice meat for hot pot and clean seafood for you????

Anyway, the Salt & Pepper Pork Chops are $19.99! Seemed kinda pricy, but I placed my order with thhe really nice woman working. I went and did some shopping, then swooped in to pick up my order.

Which came with a large order of fragrant, nicely cooked Jasmine rice.

As for the pork chops…which were chopped….a rather thick lacquer type batter was used. Yes, it was crunchy, but very rich and eggy, also greasy. I felt like I needed to be hosed down after a couple of pieces.

It was by no means bland, but I thought it didn’t have enough pepper, garlic, or even chilies……though I did get the MS-heebie-geebies…

You can see how thick the batter is above.

The Missus took a bite and said, where’s the flavor, it seems too thickly battered?

Thanks for the recommendation Franklin, but it was just too much for me. Also of note is the 50 cent takeout container charge. No biggie, but I didn’t see it indicated anywhere.

I know that “FOY” ChrisR had some really mediocre Salt & Pepper Pork Chops recently and had hoped that this might be a nice option for him, but I don’t think so. It’s better than Panda Express, but that really doesn’t say much, right?

If anyone has gotten some “keeper” dishes here, please let me know!

Cha Cha Tea Spot
5950 Balboa Ave (In the 99 Ranch Market Food Court)
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 10am – 9pm