Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican — Restaurant in Queen Creek

I'll just structure the review based on the three categories provided by Google: Food, Service, and Atmosphere.

For convenience, I'll start with service. No issues at all. The place is pretty loud so I think I asked the people working there to repeat their sentence about 3 times every other sentence. The employees were patient, and kept up with the dinner time pace. All in all, service gets a 5 star.

Atmosphere. Not much to say. It is the typical modern eatery interior; half the place is furnished with random brushed steel paneling, red is a prominent accent color, I don't know, you've seen one you've seen them all. All in all, in offensive atmosphere, at worst it was nothing unique but still clean and comfy. 4 stars.

The food. Take it as you will but I do own a traeger. I know Cafe Rio is meant to be one of those fresh food places, that puts it above regular fast food; however, I find that to be more harm than good a majority of the time. I guess I found the food a little bland for my liking, but when compared to its contemporaries, it has flavor. The only issue is that when I eat outside of the house, I want something that I can't make at home. Something like Taco Bell is a great example. The ground beef is almost entirely flavorless and has an unnatural texture due to essentially being rehydrated meat. Then the cheese is waxier than cheese you get anywhere else, somehow the taco shell can get supersaturated and turn into this weird leather texture, all I'm saying is Taco Bell, while not top shelf is something I can't make at home. Cafe Rio is something I can make at home, and when it doesn't have bold flavor, it falls short. Not my cup of tea. All that said, if you are not capable of grilling your own marinated meats at home, this is a good substitute. 3 stars does not mean it is bad, just average.

Overall Cafe Rio is a 4/5, for some I could see this being a 5, I sadly, am not one of...

I have always had great service, food, and experiences at many of the Cafe Rio’s across the Phoenix area. However, today was much different at this location. It wasn’t very busy and service seemed to be somewhat slow in comparison to my previous experiences at other locations. I ordered a typical salad with nothing special and to my surprise, it seemed like there is about half the amount of lettuce that I am accustomed to. Fast forward a little bit, I get to the cashier and make mention of the decreased serving size of the lettuce. The cashier, Carina, asked me if I would like a little bit more lettuce. I politely declined. Already being annoyed, she asked me if I had double the amount of grilled chicken that I had requested. After I had told her that it was just the normal portion, she asked me three more times if I had double chicken. After going back-and-forth I was almost to the point of just walking away and going to another location. Finally she decided that she was not going to charge me double for the extra meat that I did not get, she completed the transaction. As she was bagging my order to go, the employee who made my salad came over and she had asked the employee if she had given me double meat. She too said no. Unfortunately, I did not get a apology or even egg knowledge meant in the fact of her accusing me of trying to take something that I wasn’t paying for. For now, I will not be returning to this location unless I’m in a jam and can’t find...

Ordered through the app at 630 for a 700 pickup. Arrived at the restaurant to see 15 people waiting for call ahead orders. I asked if my order was ready and they apologized for the delay but that there were 10 orders ahead of mine.

I checked in with the counter a few times and over the course of the next hour and they had not started on my order. During this time, patrons entering the store were flowing through the line and getting their order before anyone in the call ahead pickup got theirs.

Finally around 815 they started my order and advised me that they were out of my meat of choice and that I needed to pick another. I selected another meat and waited another 20 minutes. I went to the counter to check in again and discovered that my food was ready, had been ready for about 15 minutes and was sitting on the counter getting cold. On top of that, it had been prepared incorrectly.

I cancelled my order and got a full refund. During the hour and a half that I was in the store, the manager was out assisting for a total of 10 minutes. The other hour and twenty minutes, she was hiding in the back and spent a considerable amount of time in the bathroom.

I would suggest that anyone ordering online or through the app should reconsider. Also, those who order through door dash or a similar food delivery service should also reconsider. Absolute worst experience I have ever had at a Cafe Rio location. Sorry, you have lost my future business at...