First visit: Jun 2025 (Interquest)
HQ: Fort Collins, CO (founded: 1998 in Tempe, AZ)
---6/21/25 update
Time to get toasted man! Using no imagination whatsoever, I had the same thing I had last year. Only this time I devoured the sandwich at the location near our house here in Mega Chain Valley. The entire experience was replicated from below. Which is a good thing. Except they wisely were playing reggae this go round, much more to the theme of the restaurant. Until I was close to leaving. Then came on the rap. C'mon guys, will you stop that! Oh, and their beer tap selection remains lame. I only wanted a sandwich for lunch anyway...
Chain update: Same crappy website, but 3 locations remain here in Co Springs. Looks like about 7 in the Denver area and around another 9 in Colorado for a total of 19. There's now 6 in DFW (+2) and still nowhere near NE Tarrant. AI tells us they have 69 overall (as of Oct 2024) and are in 17 states (+2).
---original 5/26/24 (Barnes @ Powers)
Cheba Hut is all about the hipster weed culture. Though they don't use cannabis in their ingredients, everything else speaks to the stoner / Pothead Pixie crowd (for those that know the space rock psych collective Gong). This is where you get "toasted" subs (get it?). Munchies, higher experience, all these cultural elements are alive and well at Cheba Hut. I went to a decidedly non-stoner suburban location off of Powers, as I continue to mine my way through the area. A sandwich sounded really good, and I hadn't tried Cheba Hut though I'd seen them around town.
Walk in, and it looks almost like Illegal Pete's. Dark wood interior, everything green (of course), order up at the counter, full bar on the side. I went with the La Canna, which is their Italian, with meats, seasonings, and dressings. On their signature garlic bread. Even though they have a simple credit card machine, they have the audacity to flip an additional screen at you for an unearned tip. Again, I suggest you save that for the bartender if going that route. This is just a bad practice that needs to end soon. I suspect it will have to. I always punch in No Tip, but it puts me in a possible confrontational situation (not that I've ever experienced that). As for that bar, I took the time to analyze their taps. Relatively perfunctory with one standard local from Goat Patch. Wouldn't go here for the beer, I'll say that.
Grabbed a booth with my Public Enemy identifying stand (lol). Sandwich was out pretty quick. Wow - this is really great. It's like an elevated Quizno's (see what I did there?). Toasty and flavorful, the "shake" (seasonings) and dressing adding true value to the sandwich. The bread was delicious and perfectly crispy. Mrs. RJG would love it.
On the downside, if you're going to have a stoner place, you should play stoner music. Or at least something psychedelic. Nope - rap. Not the psych kind either. Boo!
Oh well, no matter, I came for the food not the bar scene. It's a bit pricey, but worth seeking out at least once a year. Into the RJG rotation goes Cheba Hut. Incidentally there's one here in Mega-Chain Valley near our house. That will probably be my next visit.
Locations: Their website is a bit tough to navigate, but it looks like they're in 15 states. There's 3 here in the Springs. Appears to be about 4 in the DFW area, though none near NE Tarrant.
5/26/24 (new entry); 6/21/25
Colorado Springs
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