La Chuperia Cantina - Alhambra

Great spot, Maria is a great host and the bartender Dario is on point with the drinks.

Short bartender finessing telling the DJ to say $5 shots and him charge $8-$10. Say something and they deaf all of a sudden. Other days vibes are good and so is the music.

We stopped by the location thinking, by the name, it would be a fun place to just hang out. It was around 6pm on a Sat and we were disappointed very quickly. No ambiance, no music (even though they had an area for a band) . The location wasn't even dressed up or ready... we didn't even go upstairs to the second floor my friend said she did, but was empty and no one was playing music... just unusual silence and empty bar. The staff was fine, and the bar downstairs was okay. After 2 to 3 hours more people came, but no music no light show...it was bland...We picked up and left at 9ish...Very lack luster. Decided to scout other locations.

I passed today like around 9-10pm with a friend and they basically denied us from entering. I been here before and came early around the same time with no problem so don't understand why they refuse any entrance , it's not like the bar was packed in fact it seemed half empty. 2 hours later I passed and it was open so yeaaa .. won't be coming here anymore

I came here on a Thursday night, 12/22/2022 as this spot was on my bucket list of places to check out for a while since COVID happened and the local La Chuperia on Medford Street went of business close by my workplace. There 's technically another La Chuperia on Mission Road in the Lincoln Heights area but that spot seems cramp and parking seemed lmited relative to this La Chuperia located in a poshier side of town with plenty of free street parking and free and/or low cost parking structures nearby. Unlike the La Chuperia that didn 't survive COVID on Medford Street that had a somewhat medium-sized outdoor patio seating area, this one is relatively speaking a bit smaller and as far as I know, didn 't have any outdoor patio or seating area on that particular Thursday night at about 7PM or so. The interior space itself is a long, narrow, rectangular room. To your right, from the entrance, are the booths hat run along the wall with some basic wooden tables and chairs. In the middle aisle area, there were the high-top tables and chairs. There 's also a very large screen projector-like screen in that middle aisle as well tuned into ESPN and other sports channels. These high-top chairs were at least cushioned but the high-top table was basically a barrel with a movable wooden square 'top ' so do be careful if you do sit there as the table top isn 't fixed and can slip and slide or be flipped over if you lean on them too hard on either side or corner. To the left of the enrance is the bar area. Nothing too fancy. You cannot sit at the bar area. There are no high top tables or chairs there, which seems a bit odd as that 's where all the TV 's are at. The food and drinks menu are at the bar area. You basically go up to the bartender to order your food and drinks. The food itself, they give you a 'number stand ' that gets placed at your table--where eventually one of the kitchen staff from the inside kitchen will bring out your food to your table. The drinks, you order and pick up at the bar area. Music is always playing in the background and that particular Thursday night, it was pretty much just Reggaeton and popular American pop music all night long. They take credit cards and can keep a tab open. Just give them a credit card and they 'll keep the order open until you 're ready to close out. bartender seems friendly enough. Enough said. The mixed drinks on the menu are strong but good and the mixed drinks price ranges betweeen $11 to $18 or so. I didn 't get around to ordering any of the Micheladas as the La Chuperia regional chain are most famous for but I 'm sure they were good as most of the patrons tended to order them here. I ordered the Mexican Old Fashioned for $11, the Chuper Mango Margarita, and the Chuper Yogi Bear for $11.50 each. The former was a strong drink, which helped get my buzz going while the latter two were really sweet but not overtly so. If you like your drinks to not taste like alcohol, you 'll probably like the latter two more as the flavoring really masks that strong alcohol taste very well. The Yogi Bear one tasted like a gummy bear while the Chuper Mango Margarita tasted like a margarita with mango flavoring. Both of the latter two drinks, the rim of the glass were coated with that salty, spicy Tajin flavoring with sugar that reminds me of those Tamarind candies. It 's good. I like these two drinks a lot. Restrooms are in the far back towards the 'exit sign ' and on your right hand side. No key needd. Just push the door and you 're in. There also appears to be a 2nd floor but not sure if that was accessible to the public or if it 's just an additional storage area for the kitchen and bar. Side note, I don 't typically talk about parking especially in an area like Alhambra (or the East Side in general) where street parking tends to be plentiful, free, and with little to no restrictions unlike the West Side or West LA or the South Bay in general, but some people did come in from the exit door in the back. There