Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican — Restaurant in Maryland

It was my first time coming here. Before I got ready to order I was made aware they only had shredded chicken and beef barbacoa available out of the many other options they would have normally had to offer. That was disappointing because they still had hours left before closing and I was looking forward to the grilled chicken. It surprised me they were already out of meat. I proceeded to order a shredded chicken burrito with pinto beans and rice. They put the flour tortilla in a bowl, started filling it with what I wanted in the first section. The next person in the second section wasn't listening well. I had asked for cheese, sour cream lettuce, and cilantro. They accidentally put pico de gallo, I told them that's not what I wanted, he removed the pico de gallo off my burrito with some of the lettuce and put it back into the pico de gallo bin with some of the lettuce. (That was so wrong for me, should have just trashed that.) Then, added more lettuce and the rest I ordered into my burrito. The person at section 2 couldn't roll the burrito that was in the bowl, so he passed it to section person 1. They couldn't find a way to roll it either and started removing lettuce off my plate and putting it back into the lettuce tray. (Again, my toppings were already mixed up in there and they just shaking it off as best they could and putting it back for others!? What!?) So after the removal of "excess" lettuce they find a way to "roll" my burrito. I was going to proceed with caution at this point. They ran my burrito bowl through the conveyor belt to get heated up and I got my food. Ordered a drink with chips and queso small. My total with my husband's barbacoa bowl was about $45 total. I got the mint lemonade as a drink, and that was really good. I like their little station with the napkins and straws and stuff because they also provided lids there in case you didn't finish your meal, which I did not. The chips and queso were good, they were not stall and tasted flavorful. My burrito was falling apart because it wasn't probably rolled, I ended up eating it as a bowl and with some chips like nachos. The food was good, better than Chipotle but not better than Qdoba in my husband and I's opnion. However, I would give them another shot once they have the grilled chicken available and hopefully they don't put food back in trays from other customers, that did not sit well with me at all. Atmosphere was well, not too loud or quiet, tables were clean, the drink station was clean, etc. Not sure about restrooms because we didn't have to go, but the decorations were bright and cultural. That's all...

I am typically a huge fan of this chain and dine at the location in Manassas Virginia a couple of times per month. I have now moved to Frederick MD and I know the food can be good but the management at this location must be lazy! I ordered last week a single meal and it was wrong. I gave them the benefit of the doubt. However this week I ordered two meals to be picked up that meet my dietary requirements. They managed to screw up both orders so bad that we both had to pick through our meals and try and enjoy a little of it. The order was placed online so there should be no doubt what we ordered which was two salads. Here is what was wrong, I did not want rice, sour cream, or chips my salad had all of that on that, plus I did not get the dressing I ordered. My wife's order was missing cheese and had both pinto and black beans when we only choose black beans. In addition, while we were there picking up the order to bring home for lunch they were out of hand sanitizer, when I brought this to the cashiers attention she simply ignored my wife, until she raised her voice then the cashier stated that was all they had. My wife being the woman she is questioned this reply to which she got and eye roll then the young woman went to the trouble to go to the store room and replace the container. I might add the store was deserted while this was going on so no excuses about how busy they were. As an owner of multiple businesses, this lack of customer service and attention to detail is the fault of management and when these types of mistakes happen twice in a just a couple of weeks to the same customer well I would question what sort of job even the owner or district manager are doing.

I was posting yet another review for a different restaurant and saw this one. I had forgotten about my experience here and I have eaten here twice in the past couple of weeks and the service is much better as was the food. So I am changing my review from a 1 to a cautious 3. I appreciate the response to my post from their...

Let me first start off with I am a fan of cafe Rio. I work in Germantown md. I eat there at least once a week but more like 2 to 3 times a week. I live in Frederick. I have tried frederick cafe Rio twice. The first time the food was prepared poorly and lacking flavorand the food looked dry and a mess. I thought this was just a bad day and perhaps I had been a bit to hard. I gave it another go tonight (Oct 9 2015). I arrived at 8:10 pm with my daughter I tow. There were 4 employees. Three ladies and a man. When I walked up to the counter to place my order the first thin I noticed was the mess. The place looked like a bomb went off. The red head lady in the back proceeded to tell the other ladies " I don't care I will f'ing sue this place." I thought man I am sure she did not want me to hear that. Nope looked right at me and continued to talk crap about her employer. Then one of the other ladies started to walk towards me. Only to grab a tortilla for someone else. Keep in mind there is no one in line or paying. Then the two ladies begin to clean. (Throw stuff from the counter to the floor) I spoke up twice asking if someone could help. Both ignored me. I looked to the manager, he noticed me while leaning on the counter drink soda. He asked the ladies to help me. To which one lady pointed to the other who choose not to acknoladge and kept pouring the dressing into some cup. Neither made eye contact. I walked out having been there for 12-15 min without being even said hello to . this place is...