Cafe Rio

I was put on hold automatically when I called and they did not get to me until 3 minutes later. Then they put me on hold for another 7.5 minutes before they got to me. There was zero customer service. The person on the phone seemed in a rush and was rude. I ordered one item to go and then she told me I would have to wait 30 more minutes! I was severely disappointed… would NOT recommend

Great food but they really need to adopt a better system to keep the line going — especially on taco Tuesday. Apparently, there is always a huge backup at the cash register where they only had one cashier to ring up the orders of people who are ordering there. The other cash register was for to-​go orders and the other cashier lady was not helping the other one who was just overwhelmed! Poor girl-​she just seemed stressed but she still kept her nice attitude and was trying to accommodate the customers by fixing all the screw ups that her coworkers caused for not getting the orders correct in the first place. While she was trying to correct my order, I seriously wanted to go behind the counter and help her out and smack her unskilled/​rude coworkers up side the head! It was complete chaos!

I love Café Rio. The food is really fresh. I’m writing this review because they need to do something about the ordering situation. Maybe I always pick the busiest time to come but the line is out the door and the staff, who are always friendly, seem understaffed.

Don’t order online if you’re trying out new food. Looks nothing like the menu photos. And didn’t get the «extra» things I ordered in my bag either.
I tried the enchilada and got the salad for my co-​worker.
The salad looked good. Full and similar to picture.
Can’t say the same about my enchilada…
Last time I got the nachos and they were a disappointment. Not enough toppings and cheese were like the cheap cheese and hardened. They were stuck and couldn’t even scoop anything into the chips. Rather get the nachos from Caliente, so much better.

I work in the same parking lot of café Rio.
These employees are incredibly rude.
The girl serving the food was absolutely rude and looked incredibly angry she didn’t even greet me once she asked me if I want what I wanted in my bowl she had the most unpleasant face.
She also said «what the hell» under her breathe which was pretty loud and gave all the customers before and after me attitudes.
Where are they hiring these people? I don’t know if they are trying to help the community or starter jobs for these people to get their life together but their attitudes are unacceptable.
You don’t have to be rude, if you don’t like your job get a new one.
I’m all for bettering people and helping out but be pleasant and at the very least smile.
An older Hispanic lady was nice and helped with the line. Younger girl/​woman threw food on plates and slammed sauce containers on the counter tops.

Went in today, barbacoa did not taste the same. No flavor. New crew there having a shift meeting. Supervisor raising her voice for all of us to hear. Cover your tats, don’t keep the phone customers waiting, etc. Few customers seated, tables dirty, and they had only been open 20 minutes! What?
Meantime, no one serving customers, servers are standing around in the meeting! I’m not sure what’s going on here, but service and food is bad. Corp needs to come in and clean house!

What’s going on here? Place is going down hill fast. No napkins, no change in the register, horrible customer service, no passion fruit ice tea or horchata, piss poor attitude by the short haired girl making the food, no paper towels in the mens restrooms (hopefully the cooks are washing their hands), dirty tables, no manager… Fire everyone. Except the cooks. Food is always good and consistent.

First of all… Some of the best food around!
Unfortunately, the service has gone south over the past months and today it was so poor that I had to inform you the Unilocaler about it.
I walked into a line of approximately 20 people. I was in a group of 6 and wanted to make sure I got a seat for all of us. All the tables were extremely dirty. I asked a team member if he could get me a towel and I would clean our table myself. He looked at me and said, «I am on a break!» Then he walked off. So I go to the front counter and wait patiently to ask for a towel. Finally, after I had to interrupt a team members from telling each other that they don’t have any change for the customers, I got my towel to clean our table.
After I cleaned the table myself I decided it would be a good idea to go wash my hands. Thankfully, they had soap, but guess what no paper towels or toilet paper.
5 minutes goes by.
I sit down and I watch an employee walk into the the bathroom. He comes out… Obviously, he has dried his hands off and he proceeds to go to the kitchen. Maybe he wiped his hands off on his dirty clothes?
15 minutes goes by.
We finally get food. I get a sorry from the group. They ran out of queso fresca and guacamole. Also, they made your order wrong. But, that is ok because they have the amazing Barbacoa.
I got up to get napkins and I couldn’t find any. So I go to the counter and ask. «We don’t have any!» But, I think that is ok because we will just get paper towels from the bathroom. Oh wait they don’t have any!
Ok I am thirsty and I want my passion fruit ice tea with the awesome crushed ice. Unfortunately, no passion fruit ice tea. So, I will get ice tea. There isn’t any sweetener out. I go back to the counter and ask for some sweetener. «Sorry, we are all out.»
Now I keep my composer, because I hear a little kid say, «Dad lets go somewhere else it is taking to long. The father agreed and they got out of line.
I go and sit down and I see another customer ask for napkins and he is told they don’t have any. He asks for the manager and they say there is no manager on duty.
We all decide as a group that Café Rio food is amazing, but the service at the Costa Mesa location is extremely subpar.
We will be taking the longer trip to the Tustin location from here on out.

I don’t give 1 star lightly. This place has great food, albeit the portions are a bit inconsistent. It’s usually pretty packed, so we call in our orders ahead usually to avoid a line. Tonight ⁵⁄₆ we arrived 20 minutes later, the line was not bad, but our food was not even started. The cashier rang up 3 people before helping us and then realized that our order hadn’t been started. Several employees were on break and the prep stations were completely in unacceptable condition.
THIS PLACE NEEDS SOME DECENT MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEES.
the line has completely cleared and my burrito is not quite ready… ironic that they have promos for their App all over the place. Can’t even process a phone order… let’s integrate an app.
I doubt they read these, since they would have to pay someone to read them, but Unilocaler be warned.

Food seems to be getting better recently. They had a bad spell of bad employees for a while that were so slow but have picked it up recently. I especially like ordering online and picking it up to avoid the line altogether.

Since moving back to oc part time the staff seems to be friendlier than I remember & the pork barbacoa salad never fails!

Okay I am sad to say that this Café Rio brings a bad name to all the rest. I have eaten at many Café Rios all over the country. Even a couple in different airports. None I repeat NONE have ever offered me an experience as bad as this one.
Me and my family waited in line for 30mins with only 15 people in front of us. This is way too long when other Café Rios get through a line that’s out the door in ten to fifteen minutes. We watched while phone order after phone order was prepared before us. Meanwhile he kitchen line only had 2 staff making orders. They did not seem to know what to do. Many of the prepped items were out. The staff is not friendly likely because they are understaffed and just trying to get through the shift. Not sure why they are moving so slow and seem to care more about wiping down trays than building burritos. The one thing is clear the management of this place is terrible. It gives he Café Rio franchise a bad name.
The food was cold cause it sat on the counter for 5 minutes while the cashier rang up and packaged 3 – 4 phone orders which were not even ready. I’ve given this establishment 2 years of chances to improve. IM DONE. I’ll drive further to go to a better location or just not eat Café Rio at all.
Let me know when you guys fix your customer service.

What the BLEEP happen to this place? I haven’t been to Café Rio since the remodel. It looks that I’m eating at the food court at Ikea. I was amazed how bad the décor is now. Just awful. Tonight after work, I felt like having a salad with pork. I never get anything else. It was 5:00 and I was kinda shock that the place was empty. Maybe a bad night, or maybe everyone else went to a different taco joint? Whatever the reason, it sucked, almost painful to write.
So, my staff and I got our meal and waiting to pay. The guy behind the register must been new or terrible at counting bills and coins because it took him so long to give change to customers ahead of us. Another customer was picking up their order to go, instead of getting us first, the Café Rio guy took care of the other customer. That is fine, I understand, no problem, but the customer meals wasn’t ready at all.
I ended up asking my staff where was his burrito when we were waiting to pay. The Rio guy accidentally put my staff’s meal in the other guy’s bag. He needed to ask the other customer if he can check his bag to dig out our meal. I should had told them to make me another burrito, but by this time, I was over it and just wanted out. If it wasn’t for a gift card, I would had just left without food.
This place is horrible now. Wow, they use to be so good. I won’t be back at that store.

Well. First off. 1^st impressions are the most important being the first time here. While I was waiting in line for like 15 minutes i noticed the service wasn’t great in the team organisation skills were poor. After we got our food it was cold. We also got guacamole and chips.
My girlfriend bit into it stem of a avocado. Inside the dip. I won’t be going back to this place ever. Especially for the amount of the bill. So not worth it.

USED TO BE GOOD, but I have to say it’s gone WAY DOWNHILL, although they have undergone a bit of a remodel, new tables and chairs to accommodate more people. But, sadly the people are not coming.
We came a few nights ago for a quick bite and had to wait in line at the cashier (while our food got cold) while he rang up anyone and everyone that walked in the door who had called in and placed a To-​Go order.
When we finally got seated I couldn’t wait to taste the Tortilla Soup and I had to GAG. It looked and tasted more like «Flint Water Soup» and I honestly could not eat it. My taco was okay, but as I said it was cold by the time we were seated.
Café Rio in Costa Mesa needs to UP THEIR GAME!

There’s a bunch to love about this location. I was greeted right when I walked in, the lobby was clean and organized, staff was ready to take my order, and everyone was smiling. I like the new lobby layout. It’s far less chaotic! :) they even extended the renovations to the outdoor seating. There’s long benches perfect for large groups on Tuesday nights and the weekend. The drink bar is on point. They’re stocked with Torani, horchata, and 3 limeades. It looks like they plan to still have what I consider to be a staple for café rio and that is the vegetable boxes with fresh produce spelling out their name. If you haven’t ventured to Cage Rio ever or if it’s been a while… come on down. The flavors are worth the trip!
With all the excitement over the new look I forgot to pic my food. I had 3 tacos: steak, chopped chicken, and pork. D-​Lish!

Wow wow wow and WOW. This place is delicious. Chipotle on steroids. I come here and get the sweet pork salad. It’s a huge portion and full of a ton of flavor. The salad (and most of their other dishes) come with a homemade tortilla that they make right in front of you. They’re the best tortillas I’ve ever had (and I used to work in a Mexican restaurant!!!)
The restaurant is usually pretty clean, lots of tables to choose from, and the staff is all very kind and work quickly.
Make sure to follow them on social media because they have a lot of promotions (BOGO burritos etc)

The worst service ever!!! I hardly ever write bad reviews for any restaurant, but I had to share my experience. The workers were so scatter brain. The women in front of me complained to the manager, so I know I wasn’t the only one receiving poor service. They got our order wrong, which seems like it should be impossible for that to happen since you are telling them verbatim what you want.
One guy worker there was helpful and it seemed like he was having to pick up all the slAck from the other workers
To top it off the food was really bad. My stomach hurt after eating there. Such a let down. Maybe it’s under new ownership?

The service is getting better, but definitely is still bad. The girl at the register was stamping everyone’s frequent customer cards 8 times for one meal and then guilting/​bribing everyone to go on their website and write to customer service how wonderful she was. She’d say «ok since I just hooked you up, I want you to hook me up with a great review» to every customer in line.
The food prep area also really needs to be cleaned constantly. I found pico de gallo and cheese floating in my salad dressing.

Although it’s under construction, the food is delicious!
Came here for dinner with my gal pals for some catching up. It’s set up like Chipotle, form a line, pick and choose, pay, the eat! The restaurant smells so delicious with their home cooked tortillas baking in the stove. YUM! I got the chicken quesadilla with veggies & it was superb! I felt that I was eating a home cooked meal. I’ve had their salads before they are just as good & super healthy, well maybe not if your dousing it in their salad dressing! I can’t help it, it’s good salad dressing! Anyway, the place is under instruction right now so seating is a bit tight. The customer service is a bit slow but that’s cause they are cooking your meal right in front of you. If your looking for spicy sauces, they’ve got it all! This place is family friendly and love that the food is fresh! Oh, and the servings are huge, so sharing is caring, but hey, if you’re able to finish it, way to go!