PJ and B’s Rio Cafe — Restaurant in Carlsbad

The customer is always... WRONG in this little story of insubordination.

I Put off and put off making this post. Because I have a soft spot for small business....

I Tried and tried and tried, then I tried one more time again a year later.... Honestly, even changed my whole way of trying to communicate, with the people who have worked there, for the last 3 years... anything and everything! that can go wrong with your order! can and definitely! will here! Especially, if you have allergies and specifically request for something to not be added to your burrito, sandwich etc. ! Don't risk it!

They should have a NO SUBSTITUTIONS disclaimer on all of their menus, but they would still find a way to mess your order up! Even the Original menu items were messed up....

All while the older, lead cook, with the terrible attitude, shouts orders at his staff (who are all kids!), makes your food while he is not taking the servers, owners, and patrons seriously, then remaking your food because they can't read an ENTIRE ticket! NOW, you have to check it to make sure IT IS CORRECT, because NOW it's definitely smaller portion and poorly cooked since they rushed it.

So when you Leave angry and hungry while the owner is there the whole time... The staff doesn't take her seriously or respect her.... So there's no accountability and she doesn't care for business enough to fix ongoing problems!!.. you can think of this post.

0/4 wins for this place! MEANING I went there 4 times and they made my order wrong EVERY time and that hindered me from becoming a Regular patron there...

The view isn't even worth the terrible service!

It's amazing they make ANY money for how many burritos they give away for free.

If you have nothing better to do you can waste your time here!

Or SAVE YOUR FRUSTRATIONS and GO TO EL JIMADOR!!! I went right there and they had no problem reading tickets and creating exactly what you want, it's right down the street and you could drive to the beach and get a better experience with better food who have passion for...

Although I love the food and the people that work at this place, there are times when certain people seem to bring the environment down.

The last time I visited, I was greeted by what I was told was a relative of the owner. The relative was running the register and not once looked up to address us. If he did, he would have known my name because it's on my shirt but instead had to ask me for my name without ever looking up. Immediately after taking my order, he asked someone else to take the register and went outside, for what I would say was a break. He never gave the order to the kitchen.

About 30 minutes in, I realized our food had not yet come, so I went to the counter to ask about it. There were maybe 2-3 people at this time in the restaurant, and a wonderful waitress Monique immediately jumped to finding our order, getting it to the kitchen, and getting it to us. She went out of her way to reconcile the issue and ensure that it's not the normal operation of the restaurant, and hopefully, if we leave a review, it won't diminish the reputation of the restaurant.

With that, I realized that in the time span of about 20 minutes, our order had been taken, cooked, served, and an issue resolved by Monique and whoever was cooking the food. I could have left 3 or 4 stars because of how I felt and the 30 minutes I had to wait prior to Monique but it wouldn't have given justice to the true nature of the food, the environment, but most of all, employees like Monique.

The food is on point, the service is quick, the customer service is outstanding, and the people are friendly. I recommend eating at this...

To start out, the service was great! My fiancé and I walked in, not knowing what was on the menu, and we took well over 5 mins to look it over. She didn't mind waiting for us to order. That's about where the good stops, though.

I ordered The Cuban off the menu and was asked "if I would like fries or chips?" I replied "Fries please. Thanks!" As you can tell off the picture, the fries were not served, nor were the chips. The flavor of the Cuban didn't seem that it had much. I ended up putting ketchup on it to try and enjoy it, and it was dripping in grease.

My fiancé ordered - A make your own breakfast bowl. Unfortunately, the serving size of what was on her plate looked like something you would give to a pet rabbit. She did say that the flavor of the small meal was good, though. She just left dissatisfied & hungry afterwards.

I would be willing to try this place one more time in a few months to see if anything changes, but I would not recommend coming on a regular basis.

I'm not trying to be rude or mean, just our experience the 1st time trying the restaurant. Others may have or may have had a different experience just saying...