Rio Grande Cafe — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

This was a favorite of ours years ago so we stopped in for dinner after the State Fair. We didn't want greasy food from the fair and wanted to go out to eat. It was honestly the most bland, tasteless, and even yucky Mexican food I've ever eaten. I got the Taco (carne asada) with a Chili Relleno, which is my very favorite to order at almost every Mexican food restaurant. My husband got the Tamale Combo, which according to the description in the menu, we were pretty sure it was supposed to be one tamale with one chili Verde burrito. Instead it was two tamales with chili verde on top. The tortilla for my taco tasted like it was straight out of a bargain bag that you buy at the grocery store. It was cold, raw and tasted like the plastic bag. The carne asada had no seasoning whatsoever. It did not taste like restaurant food at all. My husband's tamales were just as bland, cold, and also tasted like plastic wrap. The rice and beans, while extremely bland as well, were the best thing on either plate. But the real "star" was the chili relleno. It came out looking beautiful. It looked perfectly fried on a bed of red sauce. They even brought out a small bowl of the red sauce on the side so that the relleno stayed nice and crispy. I was so excited to see it! But my first bite opened a flood of cold oil...and I mean a flood. It soaked the bottom of my plate and it was deep enough to eventually leave the entire bottom of my plate clear with oil. My first impression was that it was very bland and that the pool of oil was just the juices and from the cheese but I was wrong. It was the cooking oil. The breading was all wrong. To me, it was more similar to like a pancake batter instead of beaten egg like a traditional relleno. It was slightly sweet, crunchy and thick. The red sauce tasted like canned tomatoes that were simply pureed with no seasoning at all. The cheese was greasy (but that grease was separate from the oil). It in no way tasted like any chili relleno I've ever tried anywhere. It was so bad that it was inedible and because of the oil spill, it destroyed whatever was left of my rice and beans. I like when restaurants get creative with traditional dishes and create their own recipes but there was almost no flavor in anything and any flavor that there was, was not good. I REALLY HATE leaving such a bad review but it was so disappointing. We should have just eaten at the fair. The servers were friendly and the outdoor eating area was beautiful but the food...

Great ambiance, so-so on flavor of food

I remember growing up coming to the Rio Grande Cafe with my family. My dad LOVES Mexican food and this is one of the few places I remember going with my family. I do not remember how the food tasted when I was younger, but on my most recent visit, it was so-so.

We went for my husband's graduation dinner, so our party had nearly 20 people in it. I normally pay close attention to the server since it's typically my husband and I eating out but this time since our party was so huge and I was very engrossed with talking to the people around me, I really didn't pay him much attention. However, one in our party was drinking diet coke and upon a refill, he mentioned that it was definitely coke. I never had an issue but the server was a little tricky to flag down for refills and whatever else. But overall, just fine and plus, our party was huge.

I ordered the carne asada street tacos and they were good! Not as flavorful as I think street tacos can be (and they were the very last things to come out), but the steak was super tender and had a decent flavor. But combined with the radish and pico de gallo, it just felt lacking. However, they were definitely tasty.

My husband also said the same for his entree, it was a tostada and a beef burrito I believe and he said it was good, just not super flavorful.

The ambiance is wonderful, it's a fun cafe in a historic building downtown, they were super willing to accommodate our large party on a Friday night when they said they typically won't take reservations at peak hours on the weekend. When I called to make the reservation, they asked if I wanted to have chips and salsa waiting for us when we got there and I said definitely! That is a huge plus to me as I knew lots of people would be antsy after sitting through convocation. The chips were delicious, I am a sucker for homemade, thin tortilla chips. The queso was also delicious, my husband loved the salsa, and we got a couple of virgin drinks (sorry I didn't order so I don't know what they were, I think pina colada and something pink) which were also delicious.

Overall, there were very tasty aspects of the food (chips and queso, the steak in the tacos, the virgin drinks), but I don't know that we'd go again just since the entrees weren't...

I've been in town visiting family for the past few weeks. I fondly remember going to the old train station location many times 30+ years ago and was happy to see Rio Grande was still around, so I went there by myself last week for a late, lazy lunch to relax. I arrived just after 1 and it was mostly empty - 1 table seated indoors and a handful outside on the patio. I asked for patio seating and waited about 15 minutes as a number of staff wandered around, in no apparent hurry to clear tables so I and another party also waiting for a patio table could be seated.

Once seated, my server was very attentive and friendly. The guacamole was delicious and the tacos were also very good. The Old Cadillac margarita was unfortunately the most sickeningly-sweet margarita I've had in over 30 years. At $10 and with 2 types of tequila listed as ingredients, I was very surprised. I finished it slowly anyway then inquired about the other ingredients used to make it in addition to the "Grand Marnier, Lime" also listed on the drink menu ingredients. Seems they use a sweet and sour mix which, given the other alcohols listed, was by far the dominant liquid in the drink. The server was trying her best to be helpful and offered to make my 2nd one with no mix, just extra lime. It was too tart (which I should've anticipated), but I didn't complain and paid the bill, leaving a nice tip regardless of my disappointment with the delay in seating or the drinks.

Perhaps the bartender was having an off day, so I might still return next time I'm in town, but I will ask for half or a third of the sweet/sour mix and pay for an extra shot of tequila in the margarita...if Utah's kooky liquor laws allow such dastardly indulgences.

Again, food was quite good for Tex-Mex and this price point. I really like the new location near my old university stomping grounds, and the building renovations/ambiance were quite pleasant. I also can appreciate that the restaurant industry has been reeling since last year, so slower service can be forgiven...except when it seems to be quite obviously from something other than being...