the Rio Cafe Reviews

I really like the pork salads with Extra Meat! And I leave off the beans, but everything is fresh and orderly. Don't be scared of a long line, it moves quickly, but sometimes we pre-order takeout just to have a night in. Cheers

Great food. They were very busy and hard a hard time meeting the demand. They were out of several items and got almost every part of my order wrong.

It was great. The service is excellent and the food is worth it. It was very busy.

Great food at an awesome price. Best fast service Mexican food around.

Not great service today. My son the steak burrito and received the bottom of the bucket and it was all small pieces. After reading the daily special I wanted to try the Fideo. It said fire roasted chicken or steak. I ordered the chicken and he said it would be $1 more no big deal but not what the sign said.

Consistency is the foundation for a restaurant chain and this location has suffered an 8.9 earthquake crumbling that foundation. The burrito tortillas were not rolled out sufficiently making them small in size and ridiculously thick and doughy. Consequently the burrito I ordered was lacking any fillings and was pathetically small. I commented that I would like more meat and rice and was told "sorry". There was a blond girl at the register and I said that I had a "kid sized" burrito and tortilla soup (with a pinch of cripy tortillas), she snipped and said "yeah that is a burrito", I repeated that it was severely lacking in size and fillings she came back with an attitude and said "so what". I asked for her name and her response was "I dont give my name to anyone". When dining on my tapas sized burrito an employee sat down across from us, dinning on a cup FILLED with steak and another cup FILLED with rice she obviously knows that if she wants to be satisfied ordering a burrito is not the way to go.

Good food, quick service, called the order in for pickup.

Waited in line for 45 minutes. Slow service. Good food though.

Huge portions for a big price but not good. Not authentic food and always packed to the gills.

If I could give this place zero stars I would. They were over 10 orders behind, none of the employees were wearing masks over their noses, some didn't even have them. The store was packed way beyond capacity for covid, the employees didn't seem to have a care in the world. Several were standing there not even attempting to get out the stacked up orders. NOT A SAFE RESTAURANT.

The food tasted great but they forgot to wash the lettuce it was like eating sand not the best chicken salad this was disappointing it will be awhile before I will try Cafe Rio again. By the way cook the tortillas longer was doughy.

Good food, the wait can be a little long but worth it for the sauce

Food was good, but hands down the slowest Cafe Rio line I ve ever been in.

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!! Service sucks. Online orders are never done on time. The last five online orders had to wait an extra 45 minutes in the pick up . What s the point of calling it in then? One person running both regular line and pick up line. Understaffed. Canceling my business account and never going back. Too many other way way better options in town. If I could give it a negative stars I would.

Original and still the number one restaurant for the freshest and best tasting Mexican style food in town. Huge salads and hand made in front of you tortillas are two of the reasons we love this place. Their number one item is their giant burrito served enchilada style with hot sauce. If you want something lighter, try the tacos. Also, try the chips and queso or tortilla soup!

I used to be a big fan of Cafe Rio. I went to get food there and ordered a chicken burrito. The person taking my order was lazy. There was hardly any rice in the bin and I maybe had a fork or two of rice in the entire burrito. I could have gotten a bigger burrito from Taco bell... Not to mention paying for a burrito, and finishing it and still feeling hungry. That's a terrible experience.

Just moved to St George. Been to countless Cafe Rios, and this is by far the most disgusting, dirty and terrible location I ve eaten at. Trash everywhere on floor, employees at front aren t friendly and seem like they don t want to be there, work stations are dirty, etc... We tried to order a flan but they don t have any flans today . Soda machines are empty. Tables aren t clean. The list goes on and on. Will not return and do NOT recommend anybody to eat there. Very disappointed. This place is a disgrace to St. George.

Rude staff. Messy dining area. Bathrooms needed paper towels and TP. Staff just standing around, except one lady looking like she does everything.

This place has gone downhill so fast. Cafe Rio used to be my favorite place to eat, and now I dread my friends or family suggesting to eat here. The service is so slow (expect to stand in line for 45 minutes at least). The customer service is awful and no one seems to care. The restaurant is a complete mess ALL THE TIME. Even their phone ordering is screwed. We called in an order tonight at 6pm, they said it would be ready at 7pm. We got here at 710, and it still wasn't ready. We waited until 8pm then we said to just forget it. I'm not coming back here ever again. Cafe Rio is losing more and more customers every day. I hope they can get it together.

Came in on a Saturday at 6pm, literally waited 45 minutes to get to the front of the line. Even the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland isn't this bad. Is this their first rodeo? Nope. Cafe Rio started in St. George!

Would give one star but the food is still good.

Good food. But don't order it to go and come pick it up at the to go counter. They tend to forget things or otherwise get it wrong. And it's never fast. My order was "ready" 16 minutes ago now. Still standing here, first in line, being ignored. It's a game now to see how long they'll abandon me.

Receipt printed 22 minutes after my "promised time". I'm an easy going guy, I understand when things get ahead of you. But just say something at least, don't abandon me and the other people doing pickup orders. Just tell us it will be a few minutes sorry. Maybe offer extra Pico or house dressing or something. Sigh... Durango's anyone?

Delicious Americanized Mexican food! Get the sweet pork salad or burrito and you'll definitely leave satisfied.

Called to put in order. Said next available pick up time was 715. Wife gets off work waits for order. At 730 they tell her 45 minutes. So only an hour late for 2 salads. FAIL.

This location is the worst I've been to. Slow staff, dirty restroom, some of the drinks were out at 4pm. Three stars because the food is consistent. Although no onions in the pico?

Ordered my food online so I could grab my food and go. Big mistake. I was waiting in line for 45 minutes with a lot of other very hungry people. By the time I got to the front of the line, my food still wasn t ready! Ended up cancelling my order and left. Never doing that again. Terrible experience.

Stood in line for 15 minutes, didn't move, so we left. :(

Eh it's okay, seems like quality had been slowly going downhill.

Food is still good but the restaurant is chronically understaffed so you will wait. Even if you order online.

I should give 1 star but the food was good so 2 stars.
I ordered to go and waited 45 minutes past my pick up time for my order. Only one item, not a big order.
The restaurant was packed and they were severely understaffed.
I was patient, but some couldn't wait and walked out on large orders.
I felt badly for the staff who were trying so hard.

I absolutely love Cafe Rio, but this location is awful. We went in and saw a line almost to the door, but we decided it was worth the wait and stayed. We were in line for over an hour, kind of what we expected. While in line we noticed the floor was totally flooded from the bathroom, which another customer said it was leaking from the toilet, yikes! My father in law went to the bathroom and sitting on the sink was a razor blade and knife! So scary for kids.
When we got to the front of the line and started to place our orders, every single employee was so incredibly rude. One of the girls literally rolled her eyes multiple times at my mother in law while she ordered and her ordered was nothing special! She said "I want black beans not pinto" and she rolled her eyes at that!
After sitting and eating my husband came across a solid piece of plastic in his burrito, which the cashier kindly replaced for us and frankly that was the nicest they were...
Absolutely outrageous!! Opt out of this location if you can!

The slowest place in st George. Staff is rude, and they rarely have everything. This place used to be the best. Now it s a zero star experience.

Love these place the food is amazing, fair enough to said the prices are outstanding and the service is super fast..I recommend this restaurant to all..

Service was good at this location. The food was delicious and the staff was quick and attentive. This was a good visit!

Online ordering update - my order has been ready by the designated pickup time!

Pro(s):
We got "food"

Cons:
Lady running pick up was rude.
Pick up time set for 6PM. Walked out at 6:30PM.
Enchilada was ordered with chicken. Came with pork.
Chips N Salsa had enough chips. Came with about 0.5 oz of salsa in a ramekin.
Pico was half water.
Chicken was hard,dry, and some parts crunchy.

Definitely not ordering from this location again.

They don't have a baby changing station and the bathroom floor was wet and gross. I do like the food, but I don't think I'll be back with my daughter.

Great food! The best thing on the menu is anything with the sweet pork barbacoa! Salads, burritos, and tacos are great! The horchata and other lemonades are good too!

Very under staffed, waited in line for 40 mins and it wasn't even that long of a line. Food didnt taste like typical Cafe Rio freshness, the guac had an off taste and the tortilla was really soggy.

The guy that keeps the dining room clean, "Aaron" is fabulous! He works hard, wiping things down and picking up trash from busy diners. He's friendly and even offered to refill our drinks. This guy is the best!

Last 3 orders I made didn t go through or were messed up.

I would come here more often if the service wasn t always so terrible and the people making your food actually listened to your order.

This is the worst staff in history. I bought three burritos for me and my two Kids and they mest up on two burritos. After both of my kids had bitten into their burrito they found out they had the wrong one. I went to the counter to talk to one of the girls that work there and I told her about it she just told me just to swap it out with the other kid after it was bitten. She said it's not a big deal. I told her no just remake them please and she started to argue with me about it in front of other customers. There was another girl telling her to remake it but she didn't want to she just kept going back and forth with me. The manager there at the time didn't even get involved she just didn't care.

Very good food. You just have to watch your order other wise they might mix it up with the person behind you. Then you get the surprise meal!

I ordered a beef taco salad to go, but when I arrived to pick up my order I had to wait 10 minutes because my order wasn't ready on time. When I finally got my order there was hardly any meat in the salad and they gave me beef instead of chicken, and then on top of that I found a fly in my salad as I was eating it.

The food is excellent! As with any Cafe Rio you will experience. But the wait is... less than worth it. (Honestly, go to the location in Santa Clara!! They are quick and efficiently handing COVID-19 changes.)
Yesterday I arrived in my car and had to park in a non-numbered stall 10 minutes after I was promised a pickup time in the app where I placed my order. I waited for a good 20-30 minutes before a manager finally came outside and started asking cars who their order was for. After another 20 minutes I finally got my food, but no it was not worth waiting in the 90 degree heat in my car for almost an hour.
They didn t even put plasticware in my bag.
I LOVE the food at CR, but unless this location gets new management I will not be returning to eat here.

Food is good but not great and is pricey for been mexican food. Next time I would rather go to Texas Road House for 8oz of great steak instead of getting a burrito with little meat, that also would be the same price (around $14) and I would be served and treated nicely. Cafe Rio has poor customer service and feels like an expensive fast food service.

Fantastic! I'm coming from NC and I'm usually a bit of a food snob. My great friends took me to Cafe Rio for dinner, and it is delicious! The food tastes amazing, the service is prompt, efficient, and clean, and the price is affordable. I would make the trip again just for Cafe Rio. Cannot recommend this place enough!

Food is good, but service was pretty bad. Seems disorganized

Saturday, May 9th, 7:30pm

Had a curbside to go order. There was a large rush or a large back order happening. I m not exactly sure. There were about 30 people waiting in line outside. Cafe Rios part of the parking lot was full and there was a line of cars trying to get in to park. Called in to check in for curbside pickup, was informed that an employee would come out and grab my name. Waited 30 min no employee came. Decided to go wait in the line outside the store. Waited another 30 min still no employee interaction.

I m not really upset about the long wait times, I m upset how the manager handled the whole situation. The only employees that were coming out of the restaurant were two teenage boys that were being put through the ringer of customer complaints. There was no real understanding of what customers were to do in order to pick up their orders. There was no update on wait time or why things were back ordered. Multiple lines were forming in different directions.

I called in and got their call center, where I was hoping to fill out a customer survey, to my surprise they forwarded me to the actual store where I was able to talk to the manager. He answered If you are calling to complain about the long wait there is nothing I can do about it. He then later told me that he was cooking the food and every time something came up he has to leave cooking the food. I took it as a stab towards me to not to call him to complain during a such a crazy time. Hey I was hoping to fill out a survey, not talk to the manager.

I get it. There are rushes. I worked as a cook in the restaurant business. I ve had the parties of people come in at closing time. I ve messed up on orders. Had equipment go down. I know things can get intense and frustrating when things are going south. I don t know what happened today at Cafe Rio. I don t know if someone decided to walk out and quit. I just know the whole entire situation could have been managed better than it was.

I'm not someone to complain when it comes to me getting food. But this is the SECOND time I've ordered online and asked for NO celentaro NO peco de Gaio and EXTRA dressing. Well didn't get the extra sauce got celentaro and pico de gaio. What if I was allergic to the stuff I requested not to have? Please READ the order the WHOLE order.

I love coming to Cafe Rio. They've got good food and you can make it however you want. It is super busy all of the time, which can make ordering in a timely manner hard, but it's good service and overall a good experience.

The food is fresh and not made up ahead of time. Plus it tastes so good.

AWFUL service. Went to the front of the line to ask if they had corn tortillas for my gluten-intolerant girlfriend while she saved our place in line. When I asked if they had corn tortillas, the girl had no idea and neither did the three or four people around her. After she took five minutes to find out a very BASIC question that everyone staffed here should know. She eventually came back with a very unsure response that I double checked twice, then she assured me that they did.

We waited in line for another 35 minutes before getting to the front when they informed us that they didn't have any. When we told them of our frustration, they just shrugged their shoulders and didn't even say sorry.

Worst service of any cafe rio, and honestly the food looked worst too. Dirtiest, worst staffed and managed Cafe Rio I've ever been too. Cafe rio doesn't have my business anymore and I'll be going to Costa Vida now.

Overall my experience with Cafe Rio would be summed up as just good. Food is GREAT (so far no problems with the main dish) however there have been times where the hot salsa had absolutely no flavor. Also when I bought chips they had given me barely any and I couldn't get a refund. The line wait time is approximately the same wait to go on a Disneyland ride. As for the curbside pickup, it's just as bad. We sat for a good 45 minutes waiting. It's sad to see that the beloved Cafe Rio taking a turn downhill. Nowadays waits are insane and sometimes they make the order wrong.

There's a lady who works in this location with terrible acne, we were there eating & my brother saw her pick at her face and then continue getting food ready. This location is literally the worst! Save your time, appetite & money and go to costa vida or Durangos. The restaurant is constantly dirty. There was a man who was picking up the trash and emptying the trash bins and then restocked the spoons/forks without washing his hands first. Seriously so gross!

Great for family's would have given it 5 stats but the ones I've been to in Arizona are better. But this is still one of the best Mexican restaurants here in STG.

The food is good but standing in line for 30+ minutes is ridiculous. The phone rang continuously while we were there & the workers moved so slowly. It wasn t even a super busy night & we were in the store for nearly an hour getting food to go.

The food is usually great, but the service at this location is absolutely terrible. We finally have decided the great food isn't worth the horrible service. The employees were moving so slow it was literally comical. It looked like they were moving in slow motion on purpose. I am not exaggerating that either. I almost wonder if it was some kind of bet. It took over an hour in a not very long line to get our food, and they got everyone's food mixed up. I don't know how that's even possible, but they managed. I was still nice even though they were so slow, but then they were rude to myself and the other customers when they were so slow and were messing up the orders. The tables were absolutely filthy, and it wasn't a regular busy time. The food in the bins they use to make your order with were all disgusting and mixed together. There was guac in the sour cream, and lettuce in everything. The counter was filthy and had sauce and everything else on it. Very unsanitary, and then add to it the attitude of the slow employees that was it for me. Costa Vida doesn't have quite the same sweet pork, but I have never experienced anything like this at their locations, so they have gained a new customer. I expect better of Cafe Rio. When I visit northern Utah the experience is entirely better, so I still visit when I go north, but I won't go to this location again.

I like Cafe Rio. It's got some good quick food. The staff could be a but more friendly. They can come across as annoyed at times, or rushed. I guess yelling free meal all day long would get pretty old.

Very efficient service. Good 4 star food. Moved a lot of people through quickly.

We love Cafe Rio's food. Kinda bummed out that the bathrooms didn't have a baby changing station.

My wife commented on this already, bathrooms suck, not enough staff, waited in line for an hour, they were out of the special for the day and didn't put up a sign to let is know.

This location is a disaster. There must be no caring manager on deck. It s dirty. Lines are impossible. We ordered via app and then had to wait in line 20 minutes to find out our order was backed up another 45. Cashier didn t care. Love the food but I m staying away from this one.

I love Cafe Rio!!!!! It's so yummy!! There was only one bad experience I had so that's why it isn't a five star but the food is amazing!!! If you went to their one bad night I say give it one more try!!!! It's my favorite restaurant! :)

I lived here when they very first opened. Boy have they gone way downhill since. They used to be known for service being super quick. Now they are incredibly slow, prices have gone up, the ingredients just fall into everything else lettuce in the dressing dressing in the lettuce etc. I went and wanted a burrito enchilada style but with the white cheese, she said she would go check and see if they had them or took off with my burrito came back with the mix on and put it through the oven. She's not even asked me if I was okay with the mixed Cheese's, which I at least they took the enchilada style price off when I ask them to, but still that's just bad service

Super slow service.
Messy food prep area

I remember when Cafe Rio was well managed, and actually hustled. Standing in a (medium sized) line for 40 minutes, realizing that the entire staff is different from last week...obvious issues with employee retention? Symptoms of a larger systemic issue with management?

The food, missing the mark. Not quite as good as it used to be. The ridiculous wait times, completely unnecessary. They ve really let this go.

Have absolutely nothing to do? Want to waste some time? Come get in line at Cafe Rio.

Customer service was great food is a little above average but over all, not bad! I would highly reccomed a pulled pork salad with some chips and queso.

Cafe Rio St GEORGE needs to fire everyone and start over. I have been coming here since it opened. The service has sucked for at least 2 years. I didn t want to say anything but you guys need to fix the problem. Slowest lines, customer service sucks every time. It seems like the people working there don t even like to be there. What happened to the awesome experience?

If you re thinking of ordering online might as well wait in line cause they don t start your online order until you show up . Lame-o s

It is slowly going downhill. Service, speed and food quality seem to get worse by the month

Awesome food, but poor service, dirty restaurant and usually an ungodly wait time.

Even though the food is always good the service has gone down hill this year. Waited in line for 25 to order. With only 35 people ahead of us. It was sooooo slow. This is the 3rd time. The workers are unhappy and their was only 2 working the front line on a busy saturday morning!!! Ugh. I'm over it. Not coming back anymore.

I would give this location 1 star except I really enjoy the food. I rarely go in line because the efficiency and urgency are minimal. We usually just place our order online with the app. They need their ordering system to coincide with the wait times, we usually give it at least 30 minutes after the time they tell us, and usually still end up waiting another 20 minutes.

The staff is usually quite rude. They only have one employee for the register and pick up orders which creates a major bottleneck. If you pay with points and a gift card, you have to use your points first. They only tell you that afterwards. I would say roughly 95% of the time our order is wrong. Then they act offended when you tell them something is wrong.

When we've had major problems we talk to the manager who acts like every other put out employee, and offers little to no help. The problem is from the top down. They need to get a manager who actually cares, and get employees who are bought in.

I submitted an order online and when I got there they didn t have it. They had me get in line and order it again. When I got to the front I told them what happened and I was just expecting a free drink or something, but Tyrell hooked it up and didnt charge me. I thought it was so nice! And I really appreciated it!!

I had taco soup that was luke warm. They didn't have whole wheat tortillas snd the place was filthy. plus the staff was slow and sloppy.

I was very unhappy with this location. We waited in line for almost 45 minutes just to have our order be wrong. When ordering we said multiple times we wanted 2 quesadillas not a nino but we still got 2 Ninos. We also found a hair in one of our salads. Definitely would not recommend.