Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican — Restaurant in Cedar City

Not since the earliest days of Cafe Rio in that Provo shopping center with the $1 theatre have I had an experience at Cafe Rio that brought a smile to my face. That is to say, until December 23, 2021 when I visited this location in Cedar City. The wind was howling and the air bit my skin as I jogged in with our little baby boy. My consistent returns to Cafe Rio is proof that humans will sacrifice their morals and values for good enough food. And as much as I prefer Costa Vida, they cannot perfect the Cafe Rio sweet pork or Jalapeno Ranch. But as we waited in line, something funny happened - it moved. And then it moved again. We hadn't been in line even 5 minutes before someone was taking our order. What is this place? Before another 5 had passed, we were at the register, and every person we had dealt with had been pleasant. Sadly, I couldn't see any of them to confirm since they were wearing masks. Not only were we helped quickly and pleasantly, we were asked how we were doing and someone commented on our baby. These are the interpersonal skills that Cafe Rio incinerated at a rally over 10 years ago. So how have they resurged? What place is this? One man stood out above the rest, who I pegged for a manager. I hope he was, because it seemed apparent that the store ran well because of his leadership. He actively instructed his people and was never condescending. We were so pleased with everything (basic interaction and minor concern constitute customers being pleased nowadays) that we returned to eat here again on our drive back home after the holidays. So why only 4 stars? Well, there were 3 sodas out and apparently no backup BIBs. Asking for refills got annoying especially when a new bro came in for his shift and acted like an idiot right in front of me. Also there is only 1 hi-chair with working straps, and our boy needs at least a working strap to stay put. So we had to just use a straight jacket on him, which is never ideal because of the judgment people give me when they don't process the sarcasm. Also the bathrooms were pretty dirty, but who's counting. Thank you, Cedar City Cafe Rio. You've restored my faith that someone in this world has a care about something. I will support a coup over your corporate leadership if...

4-22-21 TEN STARS for today’s visit I got a steak salad and a cheese quesadilla Everything was fresh and tasty, my steak was really good, juicy and delish. Decent size portion. Most importantly the staff was very friendly and professional. Fast service, no wait time. I guess I will have to skip them on weekends. 3-21-21 VERY DISAPPOINTED 👎🏻👎🏻 Skimpy on steak ! Out of guacamole and tortilla cheese! LOUSY service. It took me 20+ minutes to order even though there were just 3 people in front of me. VERY LOUD music, it’s already hard to communicate with the team members due to masks and those plastic screens they had installed. You have to over-scream the loud music on top that... Just one star cause the ingredients were fresh. 01-16-21 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ One of the best Cafe Rios ! 🤩🤩 I come here every other week and always leave satisfied. Tasty meals, fresh ingredients, fast and friendly service. Thank you guys for being awesome ! 10-28-20 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Dine in ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Got a great steak salad bowl 👍🏻👍🏻 Tasty, the steak just came from the grill, juicy and flavorful. All salad ingredients were fresh. Good job. The team members are really customer oriented. The portions are decent size. 10-03-20 * to go * ☆ ☆ ☆ Still fresh ingredients(lettuce and pico de gayo) but skimpy on meat, both grilled chicken and steak. The chicken was also over-grilled 9-25-20 * Dine in * ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ They are doing so much better now. Firm 5 stars. Decent size portions, fresh ingredients, quick and friendly service. Kudos to the team members and management. Recommending and will be...

Not gonna knock Cafe Rio in general...we always like it. The only frustrating thing about this location, being a first time we've been there -- the drive thru is odd. We pulled into the parking lot, went to the side of building that looked like drive thru, and there was nowhere to order. We waited 20 minutes, behind only 2 or 3 cars, at least one of which had pulled in ahead of us. When we got to the window, the employee asked if "this" was our order and we said, "We pulled in and there was no place to order?" We were told the place to order was on the other side of the building, though there was no sign, arrows or other clear indication. They would not take our order. I understand the inconvenience this might cause, and I don't know if the people in front of us were pushy about it cause they obviously ordered and held up the line, but we were directed to go back and order. Luckily the line went faster this time. The employee in drive thru was not at all at fault. I could tell she felt bad. Management needs to put up clear indications of where to order (at this location). We know for sure others had followed us into the line as well. Clearly this happens a lot and others were equally confused.

Also not their fault, but we had just backtracked to go there...we lost about an hour because of all the circumstances.

I just don't understand how managers sometimes don't take super simple steps to make an experience better, and then making employees deal with the situation. Do better!

Five for food. Five to employee. 2...