Cafe Rio

Disappointed. Yes the tortillas were fresh and good but there was not enough Mexican in this food! I lived in Mexico for 8 years. The medium spicey salsa was sweet and bland. The rice was under cooked. No heat in the Pico either. Bla

Who doesn’t love Chipotle? Well, my girlfriend, much to my disappointment. One day, we were out in Short Pump and I saw Café Rio and wanted to try it, being the burritophile that I am. Lauren begrudgingly agreed to try Café Rio with me. I got an enchilada style steak burrito. She got a chicken quesadilla. To my surprise, she really enjoyed it! My burrito was delicious and the horchata I got to drink was delightful. We’ve been back since that visit and tried other menu items, which were also quite tasty. Café Rio is certainly a place I will frequent, especially because I know my lady will be happy there as well. Thank you Café Rio, for being so awesome, even my girlfriend will eat there.

Food was tasteless. Employees aren’t helpful. And I’ve been running to the bathroom for the past 12 hours… Wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re into that kind of thing. But if you like service that reminds you of your highscool cafeteria and crowded seating and have a comfy toilet. Go for it.

Met my husband at Café Rio for lunch after my eye exam at Virginia Eye Institute. It was the first time we tried the restaurant so we spent a little time checking out the menu. All entrees are $ 7.99. Choices range from tacos, burrito, salad, enchiladas and nachos. It’s similar to a Moe’s where you select your ingredients, although the selection of ingredients is smaller. They do tout that all their tortillas are homemade. They also have an extensive drink selection – not the alcoholic type, but unique beverage like hibiscus tea, limeade, etc.
For our meals I got the enchiladas with chicken and my husband got tacos with beef. The enchiladas were good but the corn tortillas were thick. My husband loved the tacos. It was great overall and definitely worth a stop for lunch.

Good food. Very enjoyable change of pace from the usual Mexican chains.
My few experiences with the service have been rough. 40 minutes wait during the holiday shopping season before I entered until I sat to eat.
Tried again last night for dinner. Not as long a line but still took 22 minutes. Brand new employee (trainee) working the toppings line. Didn’t even know what the cilantro Lime dressing was. I felt bad for the guy but it’s really horrible to put a new guy in the middle of the line during the busiest hour.
Completely out of Pico DE Gallo. Seriously. At 645 on a Tuesday, at a Mexico fast casual place. Not tomatoes/​Pico on anything. Not good.
The staff has been hit or miss. Certain ones come off as really miserable. 2 staff members had a nice small argument in front of me last month. The female was accosting the male making my salad for not informing me that 2 scoops of sour cream would be a double up charge. (also, really up charging for sour cream? Kind of ridiculous. At a fast casual Mexican place, I’d say it’s equivalent to charging extra for ketchup on your burger at 5 Guys).
Definitrly needed someone w some management or pride of ownership in the place over looking things during a few dinner rushes to see how disjointed the service and line can be.

I decided to try Café Rio today. When I walked in and saw the menu & the process it reminded me of Pie Five pizza with every entrée being a set price ($ 7.99) & the food being put into an oven and ready in minutes while you wait.
I got the chicken enchiladas with rice & beans. I wanted sour cream, that was $.49 extra. There was nothing special or flavorful about the food even though it seemed to look like it had spices or something in the sauce. I got the medium sauce on my enchiladas and it was bland at best. The food was edible though and the staff was courteous but I doubt I will ever be going back there to eat. But if you want something quick & cheap, relatively speaking, and don’t care about taste then try it.

Is this place worth a shot? The answer is yes!
So…I was hesitant to try Café Rio due to the reviews but I would still recommend it because the food was super tasty. I do agree with others that the staff was not the friendliest nor were they that helpful when I had questions about the menu… but I brushed it off because I don’t see Café Rio as not a proper restaurant and more in the «fast food» category.
I loved the variety of drinks and portion sizes were very generous. A little pricier than Chipotle, but you get more variety. I enjoyed my meal because it was filling but I did not feel super heavy, as I often do with Mexican food. Overall, i enjoyed my experience and would recommend it.

Delicious, fast, authentic Mexican food with a unique and relaxed atmosphere! This place is great for lunch, there’s plenty of tables and even outside seating for when it’s warm! The staff is friendly and you can earn free meals with their app!

This is a great place to bring the family to sit down and have lunch or dinner. The service is quick.
The quesadilla has more cheese on it than I would put but otherwise they’re good.
The chips, salsa and guacamole are my favorite.
The taco shells and quesadilla shells are made from scratch daily.
Try the mango limeade! It’s delicious!

I came to this restaurant on a opportunity to try something new when looking from the outside and I thought that it would look like a great chance to try an outdoor feel marketplace although it is indoors. One thing that I noticed that distracted me was that there was a lot of signs on the windows and doors which made it a little bit difficult to figure out what they were actually serving being that at the time thehey were pretty scattered all over the place.
When entering inside it reminded me of the small cafeteria, I kind of got a vibe of an overpriced burrito bar. A lot of the prices of the food seems to be a little bit more expensive than I thought it was going to be. The server who was behind the counter was very knowledgeable about the food product when I asked him about the descriptions of the sword. I was thrown off by some of the food being talked into the silver tray where is I wasn’t sure what sauces or toppings were available to me.
I was more so distracted by the debate between the two employees behind the register one of the cashiers in to be disgruntled while they were training and the newer employees who seem to be frustrated send it was their first time that was bad I felt really bad for him where as a coworker was just upset and told the new employee just a figure it out. It was a little bit distracted while I was trying to pay for my food and seem to be a bit unprofessional.
One thing that definitely told me was the variety of the drink options I really enjoyed them in lemonade and also the horchata drink. I did like that there was also a variety of different sauces as well. The seating was a little bit awkward and look like a kid designed it. So I was a little bit thrown off by the general of aesthetic of the inside of the restaurant.
The food tasted OK and the sauce to put over the burrito was pretty good but it wasn’t anything to be that excited about. The only things that I did not get to try was the desert which seemed a little interesting.

The Olive Garden had a long wait next door.
I looked over to see this place and I thought I’d try it. Lessons learned, when one place is packed and the other place next door is empty with only a few people in it, there’s a reason why it’s empty.
This place should be renamed «A hospital cafeteria decided to experiment with Mexican Food and this is it!»
We walk in, it’s empty and so we’re just thinking that it’s because it’s pretty new and some people haven’t found it yet. Nope.
The line is a bit puzzling, they have menus posted EVERYWHERE throughout the restaurant and not in just one centralized location. To me, it seemed like different variations of the same item. There was a family in line in front of us however the employees looked so irritated to see us there. The employees were walking around like they were bored and only a few of them helped with our order. The tortilla lady was so jaded, she was slamming down tortillas on to the griddle. She was talking to one of the other coworkers about it while we were waiting in line. The other coworker she was talking to didn’t like working there either, apparently.
The one guy who helped us seemed sort of with it? He was able to give a brief description of certain items. At this point, I was a bit hesitant to eat there so I ordered one taco with an order of beans and rice. (I didn’t want to order too much considering all I had witnessed, and this was just the beginning!)
When I arrived at the checkout counter, the cashier looked at me with a deer in headlights look. We sat there for about two minutes before he said anything to me, I just assumed he was waiting for something? Apparently, he was in training and was waiting for directions from the trainer. After about 2 minutes of awkward waiting, the two finally engaged in an argument. He was frustrated that the trainer wouldn’t help him and she seemed to be taunting him. This was so uncomfortable. I knew this was going to be a bad experience.
I ordered a fountain drink and saw that they had natural beverages like Horchata, Strawberry Lemonade, Mint Limeade, and Blueberry Lemonade. This was my favorite part of the whole experience. I tried all of them and they were very good. Sadly, the food wasn’t good at all.
Imagine if you bought a frozen Banquet Taco with beans and rice from the grocery store. It was worse than that.
My prediction: this place will not survive in Short Pump. Let’s give it a few more months and see what opens in its place! I sure hope they’ll remodel once the new place opens!

Went here because I’m a sucker for fresh pressed tortillas (like a favorite –now closed– pancheros that existed in vb) but i was disappointed to find they weren’t pressed in front of you ensuring their freshness, instead they were pre-​pressed and left out (for how long no one knows) to be used with orders. If this was the only issue, I would’ve still been happy with this place. But the 2 stars tell you it wasn’t
First, let me back up. I walked into café rio pleasantly surprised. It didn’t have a fast food atmosphere, instead it was a little classier with cool but kitschy themes. The place was saturated with color and had unique chairs + tables. I thought to myself «this is my kind of place». Everyone greeted us, employees were nice, not overwhelmingly so but enough not to notice anything wrong. The prices are more expensive than a chipotle or {insert similar fast food mex resteraunt here}. and I’d say the portions are about the same (big). Everyhting was seperate. It cost $ 5 for chips + queso on the side. It came out and the queso was a crap ton (they had nothing smaller) .
i htought the drink bar idea (non alcoholic) was cool. i was very excited to try their creations. One was a «mojito» flavored oned, another strawberry something and the others i forget. But i tried them all and each one tasted like pure sugar. So i finally threw the last taste tested one out and opted for tea but they didn;t have any made. I then saw they didn’t offer any without sugar (sigh).
The food was probably the most disastisfying part. It took me a couple bites to realize what was wrong with it. Everything tasted like salt. When you add the lettuce + tomatoes it sort of helped but I could not punish my self by eating more of it. I am the first to say I heavily salt my french fries, but this was overwhelming. Other than salt there was no flavor. The chicken tasted like salt, the beans tasted like salt. Everything was salty. I moved on to the chips and queso. To my surprise they weren’t salty. But the queso seemed like it had a tomatoey base and the texture was thick (like too much flour/​thickener was added). It was gross. I can honestly say I liked nothing here. Even my husband disliked his part of the meal (and he’s nowhere near a picky eater)
While sitting down I realized the majority of people here were with kids. And i thought to myself that makes sense because in order to like the food here you must be ok with plenty of sugar+ salt.

Stopped by today for 1.95 tacos. Oh where to start. They do make their own tortillas, and from what I can see a lot of other stuff they make on premises. However a word of advise if you’re going to be set up like qudoba and chipotle. GIVE ME WHAT I ASK FOR! I asked for extra cheese on my taco. The lady making it said «there’s cheese on the bottom» that’s fine I said I want extra. She replied with the same «there’s cheese on the bottom» I understand, I said but I want extra. She acted like she didn’t hear me and slid my container down the assembly line. Seeing I wasn’t getting extra cheese with her I asked the next employee. To which she replied «There’s cheese on the bottom» WTF! You’ve seriously NEVER had anyone ask for EXTRA CHEESE??? Does it come outta their pay checks? I don’t understand. Somebody fill me in. I succumbed to the fact that my tacos would not be graced with anymore cheesy goodness so I gave up. When I finally got to eat my tacos they were pretty bland, and soggy as hell! They don’t drain the meat or salsa before putting it on your taco, so you end up with a soggy dripping mess. DRAIN YOUR MEAT RIO! Geez!
This was my second time and I think the last. Good try Rio, but I’ll keep going to Chipotle. Where they don’t argue about cheese!

As a long time fan of Café Rio I’m pretty pumped they built one in Richmond. It’s a decent fast casual chain of the Mexican food variety. Prices aren’t too bad and the food is great. Since this is a newer location they’re still getting the hang of the menu, but otherwise they’re spot on.
Do yourself a favor and order the pork, whether that be a salad, burrito, or some tacos, it’s delicious.

The pork barbacoa is my go-​to favorite (with fire grilled chicken as a close second). usually I have those as a burrito or salad (which is basically just an open-​faced burrito with more lettuce and pico). recently I’ve discovered the quesadilla with barbacoa as another fine option. Extremely filling and very flavorful since there isn’t much to get in the way between me and the sweet pork except for some cheese and fresh-​made tortilla. It’s a thing of beauty, really.
Oh, and horchata to wash it down. Excellent.

This little restaurant has a good variety of TexMex food. The fast fresh category already had the Chipotle and Qdoba, and this spot gives them a run for their money.
I’ll be back. :)

I will start with the service, or lack of. The employees reminded me of school lunch ladies. Zero customer service skills and a smile would not hurt. They just plonked the food into the container with no grace, like they were spooning slop. The girl on the register however was friendly and courteous.
The food itself was pretty good. I wanted the grilled chicken burrito, but they told me they had none available and there was no estimated time of when it would be ready. So I had the beef burrito which was tasty. So too was the blood orange ginger lemonade.
3.5 stars
If the service improves I would upgrade it to 4 stars.

I went to Café Rio for dinner on a Friday night. The restaurant was very busy. Café Rio concept is like Chipotle & Qdoba but it’s different in my opinion. They offer typical Mexican entrees but some meats are different. The homemade tortillas are different as well. I had a sweet pork burrito enchilada style (sauce and cheese on top). I thought the burrito was delicious. Café Rio burritos come with a small sour cream side salad. Café Rio has specialty fountain drinks like strawberry lemonade, southwest limeade, and horchata. Prices are higher than average but the portions are very filling. The employees were polite. I enjoyed my meal at Café Rio. Parking is hit or miss during prime dinner hours (weekend). Café Rio is a good choice for quick Mexican style food. I give Café Rio a 3.5 rating.

Love love love Café Rio!!! The food is amazing! The prices are a little high, but the portions are ginormous. Honestly, I think it is better than Chipotle.
I love the salad and the burrito. I get the burrito enchilada style, which means they put salsa and cheese on top of the burrito.
The difference between Café Rio burritos and Chipotle burritos is that Café Rio only puts rice, beans, cheese and salsa in the burritos while Chipotle puts everything you want in it. Café Rio had lettuce and pico de gallo on the side, and that is good.
The salad is a bunch of lettuce, cheese, rice, beans, tortilla chip strips, pico de gallo, guac on top of a homemade tortilla with cheese melted on it.
You order your food in an assembly style line. The workers are a little bit rude sometimes, but the food makes up for it. I really dislike when they yell down the line at you, because you can’t really hear what they are saying and they are pretty rude about it. Only the workers in the line are rude, though. Workers on the floor and cash register are super polite!
The tortillas are made fresh in front of you. Honestly, they are the best tortillas I have ever had!!! They are so much better than Chipotle or Moes or anywhere else where they get their tortillas from a bag.
Finally, they have sodas with flavor shots and they have specialty drinks. The horchata is amazing.
Tl;dr, the food is amazing, the people who work the line are obnoxious, and the food is overpriced. However, the food is so good that despite the high prices and rude burrito makers, I still give them 5 stars.

This restaurant is a lot like Chipotle. You walk through a line to pick what you want and the toppings then pay and sit wherever. The chips, guacamole, and even the rice are no competition to Chipotle’s. I was not impressed.
I got the sweet pork barbacoa taco which was actually delicious. I liked the tortilla because they warmed it up on the grill as opposed to the steamer that Chipotle uses. It gives it a lot better flavor. The pork was very juicy and sweet and I would recommend it with the lettuce and pico toppings.