Rivas Mexican Grill #13 — Restaurant in Sparks

I was super excited this location opened right down the street in Sparks. Plus, it's open 24 hours & late night options are limited on this side of town. I tried to visit on opening night, but the line was long & my stomach was empty, so I went elsewhere. Tonight, I finally got to try Rivas @11:30pm, after ending a busy restaurant shift. I ordered the steak fries & my boyfriend ordered the carne asada plate w/ corn tortillas. It cost $24 & some change, which seemed somewhat pricey considering we didn't even get drinks. But, we hoped the carne asada was worth it & also a good indicator of the quality of the food. We got our heavy bags, went home & were extremely disappointed once we opened the containers. I will lead with the postive: the portions are HUGE...I guess that's the only positive, honestly. I had very few bites of my steak fries. Immediately, the flavor of the meat bothered me. It tasted like it had been cooked on the same dirty griddle from the old philly cheesesteak restaurant that used to be in the same location. It smelled and tasted of old grease, which is really odd because they have completely transformed the building & it should be like new. The guacamole was obviously pre-packaged; it had the bright color and flavor of store bought guac, which was a little disappointing. I was hoping there would be fresh avocados at a Mexican restaurant, but maybe I expect too much. I would have gladly paid as much for 2 pounds less of the steak fries & real guacamole instead. Also, there really wasn't much to the actual fries. Yeah, there was like 10 pounds (ok maybe 3) but it was fries, gross meat, a bit of cheese & gross guac. On to my BF's food....it was not at all the carne asada plate that he ordered & we paid for, but actually what looked to be steak fajitas. He didn't try his. He doesn't eat bell peppers & I think the disappointment of the incorrect order ruined his appetite. I tried it and couldn't get past the flavor of this same gross meat. Didn't try the rice or beans. Didn't care at that point. I feel like my 2 star rating is generous because I will most likely never go back. I wish they gave people reasonable portions, with fresher ingredients and took the time to make sure everything they handed us was correct & something they would actually want to eat themselves. There was so much wrong with such simple food. I will stick to the taco trucks. Edit I have looked at review photos of other Rivas locations & couldn't believe my eyes: fresh pico de gallo, fresh guacamole, actual recognizable carne asada...what went soooo wrong across the board at the...

Can a person write an accurate review after one visit? Possibly. That’s like assuming you know a person after a first date. With that being said, I have made numerous visits here. I have never had a bad experience or meal. My order has always been fresh, hot, and accurate. What I appreciate is the chicken is grilled, not shredded. Also, the chips are made in-house and are always warm with a perfect crunch, which makes the nachos a fantastic choice. The staff is exceptional. On my last visit, a lady came in and was visibly upset because she placed an online order, and it wasn’t ready. After looking at her confirmation email, the employee pointed out that she had placed the order for the Carson City restaurant. The employee then called Carson City, canceled the order, and fulfilled her order there. This lady came in hot and to see how the staff was patient and still helped her, showed how amazing they are. There is a Rivas app available to download and place your order; make sure when you place your order, it is the correct location. Rivas is also available on DoorDash and other...

So I placed an online order for the rolled taco combo & realized a couple minutes later that I forgot to ask for no sour cream. It's seriously 2-3 minutes later that I'm calling & asking (politely) if it's possible to change that. He says the order is already done, so I ask if they could possibly just remove the sour cream part & add back on new guac & cheese. He sighs & says okay & we hang up. But THEN for an order that apparently was done within a couple minutes, it then proceeds to take 40 minutes now to be ready. It's 2am too. So I finally get my order & not only is the sour cream not removed, but it's smothered all over the rice & beans too. I ended up just wiping all the sour cream off with napkins & eating them dry & bland. I get that it was my mistake to not ask for it in the first place but I was super quick to try to fix it, super polite about it, & in return they do that to spite me....