Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican — Restaurant in Cedar Hills

We love Cafe Rio, and it is always one of our first stops when we fly to Utah to visit family. We stopped at this Cafe Rio restaurant in Highland, Utah on 6/11/25 at 2:38 pm. It was a bit disappointing because it was an order by computer restaurant instead of the type of restaurant where you stand in line and you select the toppings you want as you move through the line. However, we were just excited to be there.

I have to say that it was a disappointing experience. We were surprised that the tables were dirty and the garbage cans were completely full despite there being only a few customers. The restaurant was quiet and only a few customers were there. I went to use the restroom and had to wait for an employee to finish cleaning the restroom. I was surprised that the toilet paper rolls were empty and a small toilet paper roll was sitting on top of the dispenser...even after the employee was finished cleaning. I couldn't understand that with such few customers, that the restaurant was so filthy, garbages full and bathroom not attended to properly.

We had ordered our food on the computer touch screens. I ordered a tostata with shredded chicken and my husband ordered a salad with shredded chicken. We received our food and were sitting down to eat. About 5 minutes into eating, my husband realized that his salad did not have any chicken in it. He had just assumed it was all settled at the bottom which is why it took him awhile to realize it actually wasn't there. He took his salad to the counter and showed them that the chicken was missing. They confirmed on the receipt that he had ordered shredded chicken and they gave him some in a separate bowl.

I was very disappointed in this experience. But most disturbing was how filthy the restaurant was, when clearly the restaurant was in a less busy time.

We ate at this restaurant a 2nd time on our trip on 6/16/25 because my husband's parents are living nearby and we needed to grab lunch quickly. Our order was correct this time, but I did use the bathroom again, and was surprised to see that the toilet paper rolls were still empty.

the photos below show only one full garbage can, even though there were two. The empty toilet paper rolls in the women's bathroom. The final photo is just to show how empty the restaurant was on 6/11/25. I didn't not take photos of our...

As a loyal CR customer, I was so excited for this store to open because it is very close to my house. Sadly, I have had nothing but trouble from this store, which I attribute to the Digital Cafe model. I have stopped using the Digital ordering stations, because they are slow & ALWAYS get my order wrong somehow and it is a HUGE waste of time. Then I started ordering through the drive thru. My order would come lightning fast...sounds good, but when your food comes in under 1 minute of ordering, that might not be a good thing. Today I ordered a Quesadilla and got it in less than 2 minutes. It was warm but not hot like when I see it prepared in front of me and I know it takes longer to prepare a Quesadilla and get it curbside. It also looked old, like it was prepared before I even placed my order. They forgot my sour cream, guacamole & utensils I specifically asked for and this is the 2nd time they forgot my receipt. When I returned to the store to correct the order, the lettuce was wilted and guacamole was partly brown. I'm seeing a serious decline in quality with such pressure on staff to complete orders so fast. I feel like this is coming from upper management, as I see that the employees are working very hard & trying their best. I feel like Digital Cafe model is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. I used to love CR because they used to be much higher quality, I didn't mind waiting an extra minute or 2 and had peace of mind seeing my order prepared in front of me. It seems they are sacrificing quality for speed and making ordering complicated. I will be avoiding this location and driving to the American Fork location so I can get high quality food. I also have a competitor that is even closer to my house, which is now tempting since food quality is not a differentiating factor and they are slightly cheaper. I can also see my food prepared in front of me, which is important. I might go to them if I'm pressed for time. So sad to see this...

Friday, 8/25/2023 We went in the last hour before closing, so things might have just been different from the normal. We waited a surprising amount of time considering how dead it was. They probably just don't keep things ready when they are that close to closing time. We ordered on the kiosk because the staff were clearly busy and not available to take orders, but that turned out to be a mistake. My husband ordered steak (which cost extra) on his nachos, but they told him they were out (after our order was submitted and paid for). My husband got to pick what meat they swapped it for but we still paid extra for what we didn't get. I also ordered a "craft mango lemonade", but was never given one. It might have been something I was supposed to serve myself from that empty (and left open as if someone was in the middle of cleaning it) machine next to the fountain drinks, but then they would have had to give me a fountain drink cup and been available to answer questions. Oh, and have had mango lemonade in that container instead of air. It was just really rough to order and not get a good chunk of it right and pay more money than for what we were given. (I was actually given a fountain drink as an apology for the meat swap, but the fountain drink would have cost the same as that lemonade I ordered and didn't get, so it still didn't really help.)

It all tasted delicious, but my queso was also really grainy looking like it needed to be mixed more. And just a heads up: they put a layer of salsa on their guac. I'm used to a layer of garnish, which they had, but the salsa on top of the garnish was a weird surprise that I've never...