Cha Cha Cha: Mission

Our Story. How Original McCarthy’s Became Cha Cha Cha. Ding, dong, prohibition was dead on December 5, 1933. Shortly after, Denis McCarthy, an Irish immigrant from County Cork living in San Francisco, was one of the first businessmen to begin legally serving alcohol — at his Mission District restaurant, Original McCarthy’s. Original McCarthy’s has changed hands over the years, purchased by Philip Bellber and Leon Pak in 1997 to become the Cuban and Puerto Rican-inspired restaurant Cha Cha Cha. Yet the bar has retained its Irish heritage.