El Rio Mexican & American Food

The chips and salsa are amazing! I always feel that really sets the tone on the food. It’s small inside but I think that adds character. The service is great, l and the food even better. The portions are big and the prices aren’t too bad either! Food is fresh as well. It’s nice to go to a restaurant and order a carne asada burrito and it not be full of only fatty meat. I didn’t have one piece of fat, just a perfectly cooked carne. I would recommend this place for sure!

The food was great to get this started off. All the food we ordered came out in a decent time and tasted great. The reason why I give this a 2 star rating is because of expiration dates. My nephew ordered a beer which expired on Dec 2014 and gave an older beer taste to it. I told the waitress and she didn’t seemed to upset about it, but gave us a new beer anyways. When we looked at the date on that, it said best if drank before April 2015. This gave us reason to look at the other beer that was ordered. That one expired on Oct 2015.
Is this business not looking at the products they’re receiving or looking at what is stocked in the back? If the beers are a year expired, what about the food and everything else they’re serving? For a business trying to make a name for themselves by asking us to give a review on here, apparently does not want to become a well known place.

First off the 4 stars is only due to price, comparing portions to other comparible mexican food places this is a little less size for more $. But the food makes up for it. The hot salsa is amazing and the Ala cart tacos are HUGE! The service is above par. Order the Carne Asada taco if you are starving get 2 but you probably won’t finish.

The food was delicious. It was freshly made and served quickly. The margaritas were especially yummy; they were made with fresh strawberries and mango. Lindy, or server was friendly and attentive. We will definitely go back here when we come back to Kern. Highly recommend this place!

The grilled chicken anything (tacos, burrito, pollo asado, grilled chicken salad etc) is the best you’ll ever have! My favorite!

After a terrible attempted visit to party s where they informed us they were too swamped to serve us, literally, we came here!
Huuge portions! All around! The waiter was sooo sweet. This place is clean, happy, and friendly.
Margaritas were awesome and although I preferred the mango the strawberry has a whole strawberry slice. Score!
Chicken burrito was great! Check out our pics!
Also they were very gracious refilling waters and chips!

The food is excellent. I had the steak fajitas and my friend had a wet chimichunga and he said it was also very good. The red sauce is very tasty. Food was served timely. The place looks like nothing much on the outside but definitely good food. We will be going back.

Get the pollo asada chimichanga «mojado» and a cold beer and you won’t be disappointed. Really cute and clean, we ate here twice and thought it was really good. The service was terrific and the atmosphere is really chill — great for a meal after some lake play!

I love the food at el rio, but on a Friday night at 830 at night we tried to call in a to go order and the said they were closed! It must be nice to be so rich you can turn down money! I will never eat there again and all I wanted was two tacos !

Over priced bad Mexican food, I had a Burrito, rice, beans and soda, 15 $ that’s crazy, and it was not very good… I used to like this place but not anymore

Very good Mexican food! Really nice wait staff. We arrived about 45 mins before closing and they welcomed us with open arms, not like we were a big inconvenience to them (which says a lot for this little town). The food was delicious and our waiter was perfect– to the point of even refilling our water glasses without having to ask! First and only place in Kernville where we were treated like a true customer. When stopping in this town, we’ll bypass all the other places and spend our money here– where it’s appreciated.

Sad to say this place has seen better days, after the remodel from the arson they really cranked the prices up, foods decent but waaaayyy over priced. Stingy about everything they have. Could probably get more business if the prices came back down.

I would love to give this place four stars or more. The service was great. It was super convenient right after rafting the Kern River, but the hair in the sour cream of my shrimp fajita plate pretty much killed the entire vibe.

The carnitas tacos are my go-​to favorite when I eat in the restaurant. When I take out I get their veggie burrito. All their burritos are ginormous and tasty. Great portions for the price. I also love their chocolate banana shake for a treat after playing on the river — el rio.

El Rio has the best real Mexican food anywhere ! Try the Carne Asdada tacos, the best I’ve had anywhere. All the food is great, burgers and fries are great ! Try the bacon guacamole cheese burger it’s my favorite.

I consider myself as a regular. This place serves Mexican food that beats any chain restaurant. El Rio is a family owned business serving Mexican and American food (hamburgers, shakes, and a very tasty pastrami). Tortillas are delivered straight from the factory, salsa made fresh in house, and dishes that can be made to order.
Located directly across the street from Riverside Park the walk-​up window is quick for take out to get back to the river. The dining room can accommodate some larger groups. Service can be slower when they are packed on summer weekend nights or when events are in town, but that is to be expected at any restaurant in the area.

We live in Kern County and come up to Kernville a few times a year. If the weather is nice, we stop here at El Rio for ice cream or shaved ice. We eat outside on the patio or at the park. We have eaten inside only one time and it was just ok. But the food was good, especially the burgers. Definitely one of our favorite places to stop, since it is across from the park.

These folks nailed it! In a small town, dependent on tourists, it is often difficult to maintain quality and consistency in your product. Knowing you are not walking into some big chain, this little family run restaurant does a great job! The salsa was fresh, the chips were warm, and the meals we each received were perfectly prepared. Nothing was too spicy (as one reviewer lamented) and the hard shell on my taco was made on the spot without oozing grease. Don’t walk in expecting organic, GMO free everything. Knowing what to expect, this far exceeded my expectations and we will be back!

For almost 3 years, every other month I was in Kernville for field work. Nothing beat warm tacos after being out in the cold all day or a root beer float on those scorching hot summer days ordered from the little side window. Don’t worry if you got too much ice cream (but let’s be honest, you can never get too much ice cream)! They let me come back for extra root beer! Each trip I looked forward to ending a hard day of work with 2 tacos (and beer from the kern brewco that’s another review for later) by the river or back at camp. The food is consistently good. The carnitas is amazing. You have to try it! Especially in taco form with lettuce tomato and cheese! My other go to tacos are the carne asada (equally delicious as the carnitas!!) and the chicken. And they are very generous with their fillings, so don’t worry about a skimpy taco, you won’t get that here! I always ordered «spicy» and that meant my tacos were accompanied by a little tub of red hot spicy sauce! Field work isn’t the same with out El Rio. 4.5 stars for being my Kernville staple!

Im 2 for 2 at this place. Good food, excellent service.