Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

This is an aging Mexican chain that I believe started in Utah. The food is definently not authentic California style Mexican, but it is good in it's own way.

The tortillas and green ranch are the stars of the show, which is the only reason we return. The tostada is the go to and you must try the barbacoa pork unless you dont like sweet meat. They have at least 6 types of protein and be specific if you want lean proteins because other wise you will get the sloppy Joe editions of their beef and chicken which taste like the inside of a rusted tin can on a hot, swampy day. I can also recommend the salmon tacos especially when it's on special! Their drink selection looks very unique with many options however I do abstain as they are all sugar rivers from what I can tell.

Now here's the main reason for 3 stars SERVICE.

The service at all of their locations is absolutely garbage. I cannot begin to detail how terrible it is and its consistent every time which is admirable in a sadistic way. If there are 3 people or more in line you will wait 30 minutes. Do not come here in a time crunch.

Additionally, you think you could out smart them with phone orders. Well think again, they fail at every turn, you will be lucky if they even recorded your order when you arrive. The few times I have tried I end up replacing my order and waiting for the line to clear out so they can make it, arent I lucky!!! And this isnt just my luck unfortunately, every time I go there is someone at the phone order counter chewing out the cashier for some type of mistake or delay...

Trust me when I tell you the employees here do truly hate working there and no matter how nice we are to them they will make your food with pure hatred. It makes the food less enjoyable to be honest.

Finally, the franchise management has tried, from what I can see to develop their staff, introduce floor managers, and rotate fresh employees but nothing works. I can only place the blame on their food line setup, and the lack of kmowledgable staff. Not to put people down, but the restaurant business is not for all people. Multi tasking and speed are literally main requisites in a line style restauarnt.

Either way it's worth a try, just try to enjoy the misery they put you through.

Last tip, their guacamole is fresh, however they dishonorably put their pico de gallo into the guacamole... making it water down and washed out flavor wise. Not sure if this is a thing in there local spot, but round here I'm gonna take that...

This evening ‘s dining experience was disappointing. We came in a short while before closing to get food to go. The staff was already taking away the food supply bins and swabbing the counter around the food with a cleaning solution. Not appetizing. Also one staff member was hunched over the counter while the other employee tried to serve four customers. I asked if she would mind preparing the chips and guacamole but she just hunched back down on the counter to rest. I hope they do better next time. As least the food was good!

Updated review around Jan 2020

We just visited the Costa Mesa Cafe Rio again after several months. We are pleasantly surprised if they’ve improved a lot since the last time I wrote the comment. The crew was much much friendlier, the food was very good and generous, and the place was neat and tidy. Good job Cafe Rio!

Previous review from around Aug 2019:

We have been coming to this restaurant for a while now, until they opened up a store near to us in Huntington Beach. We were quite surprised how the service, staff and cleanliness has declined in the last few months. There is one table in front of us that was full of trash from the previous customer that was left unattended for over an hour while we were here. Who knows how long it was there before we got here. The food still tastes great and it’s a great value, but the friendliness of the staff here is far less than that of their other location in...

This place is a hit or miss when ordering online and with customer service. Some days you can expect to receive your online order by the pick up time provided and other days you will be waiting for a good 10-15min longer. Some days the food is prepared correctly and other days it isn't. Some days you will get your complete order and other days you'll be missing something and have to drive back. The reason I gave this 2 stars is because the food is decent and they will get your order correct if you do it in person. Unfortunately, after my last visit, I will not be returning to this location. After picking up my online order, I noticed that I was missing chips that I purchased. I went back inside and the woman who gave me my order told me to wait while she finished with a guest, so I politely waited a couple minutes (meanwhile, my food is getting colder). After she was done, she grabbed the chips and put it on the counter and didn't say anything. No sorry, no polite handoff, and no have a good night. She just looked annoyed. It surprises me of the amount of people who work there and yet they are still a...