Cafe Rio

What is there to say about Café Rio?! It’s amazing. For me personally, I always get something with their sweet pork whether it’s their nachos, salad, tostada, or burrito. The house dressing really makes anything taste good. I have taken it home and used it on my own salads, tacos, and sandwiches and it just takes everything to the next level. Free refills on their horchata is also something I am loving lately. I have always had a good experience at their 400 S location and of course I love their meal stamp card. If you’re in Utah you simply must go to Café Rio. It’s a must!

Live and learn. This was, as I recall, the worst Mexican food I have ever eaten. My sensibilities will take a week to recover.
I needed quick take out, for culinary and medicinal reasons, while watching the 7^th game of the NBA Finals between Golden State and Cleveland. My choices were Mezquite Mexican Grill next door and Café Rio across the street. Wanting to try something new, I opted for Rio.
Wrong choice baby! What emerged in front of me was a watery blend of poorly cooked rice and tasteless beans wrapped around some flour thing. The dish was supposed to be a burrito and enchiladas. Yech and a half! Sadly, I was so stressed out watching the game, I ate both. It was disgusting, illustrating how often I eat without shame or conscience. My eating habits may never change, but I know better then to return to Café Rio.
How this place maintains several restaurants and was allowed to open at the airport is beyond me? Café Rio is an embarrassment to Mexican cooking, and all their restaurants should be closed by the United Nations as a humanitarian effort.

First time going to café rio while visiting SLC and have to say this was the best Mexican restaurant in all of our travels. Huge portions, and the flavored were amazing. Good quality food. Sorta pricey but each item could feed two so it equals out. Will for sure going back before we leave. Highly recommend it. Side note their vinaigrette you could drink.

Friendly staff, great tasting food & HUGE portions! My first visit & if I lived here, I’d eat here a lot!

Totally unacceptable. Ordered three items online. None of the three items were accurately made (which I did not discover until getting home). Soup completely cold. This has happened before. I will not be returning.

It’s really hard to even give this place one star, solely based on my interaction with one manager there. On numerous occasions this woman would treat me like complete crap and intentional screw up my order and try and charge me for something I didn’t get. My boyfriend went in to fix the order and she told him she doesn’t want to see me in there because she doesn’t like me. Let me follow this by saying I go out of my way to be nice to this woman and she insists in treating me like utter crap. I’ve now started driving down the the 33 location even though it’s further way because those people understand the value of customer service.

Usually I like to pick up café rio on the way home from work or if I’m busy studying for a test because I can order it online and just pick it up. I can choose exactly what I want inside and then I’d have leftovers for the next day. I usually get the salad and I’ve had the burrito enchilada style once or twice.
Never get the burrito without the enchilada sauce. I did that my first time and it was just too plain and not super good.
But the last time I picked up my online order after studying all day and I was just not impressed. I will have to say I will probably not be visiting this location again. I ordered the pork salad with extra pico. The order was just not made correctly. First I got the sweet bbq pork, but for some reason there was also shredded chicken mixed in there. Secondly my rice was stuck onto the tortilla, so I couldn’t eat most of it. There was definitely half the amount of lettuce I usually got. I got more pico than lettuce. And the entire meal was half the size of what the salad usually is. It was like they were running low on everything and I got the last few bits of it. It definitely put a giant dent on the trust I had with them when ordering my food online. I was truly disappointed.

For better quality food, dine in and enjoy your food. If you order takeout, always check your order as they will always forget at least one item you ordered (especially if you order online!). Finally if you have takeout remember that certain items may make your meal soggy (beans, extra pork, lettuce, etc). Nachos are very time sensitive in regards to sogginess; get them in your belly fast!

The 3^rd time in a row that I have showed up for a pickup order and told it would be 10 mins for them to have it ready, this time despite arriving 15 mns after the expected pickup time. Not sure what the point of the online ordering system is if this is how it works in practice…
Chris
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Best Mexican fast food I’ve had! Fresh ingredients and wowsers that sweet barbacoa is way better than chipotle! They could add more to the food though! The salad was so big we were able to split it and the sauces are great, too. The service was swift and we actually ate at location inside the airport… but Idk what address that one is… but I figured most of them probably have consistent food quality. It was yum and the best food to get on your layover.

I swear the service at this location is the worst. The employees really don’t care how you want your food they will make it the way they want to make it– especially if you’re calling in an order to pick up. BUT when your order is actually correct– the food is delicious!

The food looked pretty good but the taste was bland. It felt more like like I was going to the trough then going to a restaurant. I’m surprised I didn’t hear snorting pigs rather than people as they eagerly awaited there slop of Mexican food.

After our first experience at the Spanish Fork Café Rio last year, we had low expectations for this location especially after reading the reviews.
The staff was pleasant and everything tasted delicious. My boyfriends favorite is the horchata, and to his delight, it was delicious.
I ordered the pork burrito enchilada style and the portion size was gigantic.
Note: the line grew very long between 12 – 12:30. Try to get an early lunch go avoid the crowd!

They switched to ice berg lettuce on their tostadas… If I would have know I wouldn’t have come. Super disappointed. The lettuce is disgusting.

Found a caterpillar in my salad. Quality has gone down for sure. Been a fan of café rio until recently, it’s gotten so dirty and I’m not the first to find bugs in my salad. We also called to get reimbursed and they said they would only credit us, however, why would we go back to a dirty restaurant? Doesn’t make sense… After a fight they finally said they would reimburse. Very disappointed and will not be return that’s FOR SURE.

Some people have a restaurant they always fall back on when they’re hungry. For me, that’s café rio. As a college student looking for meals that are high in value, a sweet pork barbacoa salad is my choice on almost any given day. I always get extra everything (minus extra guac and sauce because they’ll charge you a $ 1 more each) and the salad is always piled to the brim.
For just under $ 10, you get a meal comprised of almost all your essential macros that could feed you for lunch and dinner. Not only that, but it’s hard for me to get sick of eating a café rio salad. The combination of all the unique flavors from the lettuce, the sweet pork, the pico de gallo, the tortilla strips, the beans (even though I don’t like beans), and the tortilla itself is nothing short of fantastic. I’ve been a regular my whole life and will continue to have my loyalty card stamped.
If you have leftovers, try rolling the rest of your salad into a burrito. It tastes just as good.

Consistently perfect every time. Great food, fast service, always reliable flavors.
And now the drinks they’ve been adding to the line up are the perfect pairing with their entrees.

The food is decent but it’s no Red Iguana. Based on the line for it each day you’d think otherwise.
Whatever you do, DON’T try ordering online! We’ve done it three times now and it’s never accurate.
Not that you should attempt to stand in that line either. Seriously, it gives me Disney World flashbacks.

Food ordering and checkout system is painful. From the start to the end of your order there will be three or four people involved with your food, all of whom are rushed and aggressive, trying to push you through the line as fast as possible. I only ordered for two, yet I failed to keep track of the food as it zipped here and there behind the counter and through various stations like a frenzied ball through a Rube Goldberg contraption. They will slop things on your dish AS they ask you if you want it, then you have to shout «no no please!» and then they will get an attitude because you’re slowing down the machine. Ordering food should not be this stressful, I felt like a raw recruit at boot camp being hazed at the mess hall.
This loud, hectic, confused ordering system led to a couple serious errors beyond a mild case of PTSD. First, though I had to shout to stop the man from piling rice on my salad, a different salad ended up being bagged for me so I got the stupid rice after all. It is impossible to track your food from one end to the other when it’s busy. Second, I ordered a steak burrito, but the steak was clearly running on empty. Instead of apologizing and offering me something else, the employee just dug around the bottom of the pan and served me up a half portion of charred, oily steak leavings like the shake at the bottom of a jerky bag. I had to pipe up again and call foul, «just throw some chicken in there for me please.» Finally, the beans were plainly a watery mess, yet they ladled it up anyway, maybe ¹⁄₅ beans to ⁴⁄₅ soupy runoff.
In the end, I was just happy to get out alive. The food is good, really, so that’s why I gave 2 stars instead of the 1 they would get based on their insane ordering line.
My advice, go when it’s not busy or you’re going to come out feeling like a wad of dough flattened and mashed, pulled in a million directions at once by an uncaring machine.

Too fast and too generous. Wow! I applaud the workers behind the counter who handle the long hungry lines of the dinner rush like it is no one else’s business.
Their Sweet Pork is so sweet, sour, and tasty. I would get it alone wrapped in a plain tortilla and cilantro. It’s way too tangy to mix with all the other flavors of the salsas, sauces, etc etc.
The Fire Grilled Chicken Burrito enchilada style is amazing! Try it. So good!
Portions are HUGE here — unlimited garnishes and fixings (cilantro, salsa, lettuce, sauces) and GUACAMOLE is included! Yes, guacamole comes with your meal, but Café Rio meals come out to be $ 9 – 10, whereas Chipotle is $ 7 (+$ 2.50 for guac) so it all balances out.
Chipotle is probably the cleaner, healthier version of Café Rio. The menu choices are different too, so whatever floats your boat. I prefer Chipotle’s grilled chicken and fixings more but Café Rio’s Sweet Pork is definitely on point!