Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican — Restaurant in Spokane Valley

I absolutely love Cafe Rio!! Best food ever. Every experience I've ever had here was amazing! But this time, a worker named Racheal made this the worst experience I've ever had here. The rest of the staff was absolutely wonderful. My burritos were made and she was the one putting the lettuce and pico on my burritos. I asked her to put ranch on my burritos but she stood there looking at me like I was stupid. She then rudely told her coworker to get me a cup of the ranch on the side. I told her no please I would like it on my food. She again proceeded to rudely say where? I ask her to put it on my burritos and the lettuce. I then started to talk louder to match her tone. She then snapped at her coworker again and told him to put ranch on both my burritos and yelled at the caisher to charge me for a 4oz ranch. Which is fine. I asked for another ranch because they didn't put that much on my food. I don't mind paying for what I'm buying but I don't appreciate her short and rude tone. Then I moved forward to let my husband and my son get their items finished off. My son likes the black beans and chips. She said she can't do that because there's no way to charge for beans and chips. I then matched her tone again, and said fine charge me for chips and just a side of beans. That's fine with me. But I have never been treated so rudely by staff at Cafe Rio like Rachel treated me and my family. If she does not like taking orders with customers, then she should be put in back doing dishes or cleaning. This was the worst experience I've ever had here which makes me sad. I only get to eat here on our annual trip to Montana. So I get to enjoy the delicious food on this trip. Rachel ruined the whole experience. I always enjoy talking with the staff at Cafe Rio because usually everyone is so friendly and wonderful. I understand having a bad day, I've had bad days at work too. But she took it too far with her rude attitude. Next year when we come, I'm still coming to Cafe Rio because I love this place!!! But if I see Rachel there, I'm turning around and missing out on my favorite food. As you can tell from my post from 2022, I love eating here and usually the staff go above and beyond!

This was my post from 2022-- My family and I are passing through Spokane back to Vancouver, WA. We were tired of eating fast food so we found Cafe Rio. The atmosphere of this particular establishment is amazing! All the staff working tonight exceeded our expectations on services. We came in and the service was quick and the staff were ridiculously wonderful! Thank you Cafe Rio for hiring amazing employees and having fresh tasty food. I wish I could of gotten the names of the employees that served us because they kicked butt. Any person that was working on 8/18/22 around 9pm should get recognized. Best service I've had in a long time!!! The sweet pork was ridiculously good!! I wish we had Cafe Rios...

Title: "The 'Mormon Magnet': Cafe Rio Mexican Grill – A Fiesta of Flavors in Spokane Valley!"

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

If you've ever wondered what it'd be like if a Latter Day Saint social and a fiesta had a culinary baby, then my friend, Cafe Rio Mexican Grill in Spokane Valley is your delicious answer.

You see, Cafe Rio isn't just a Mexican restaurant. It's basically the North Star for all Latter Day Saints (LDS) in the area. Lost a church member? Check Cafe Rio. Can't find your neighbor? Cafe Rio. Mormon Tabernacle Choir soloist missing? Trust me, they're probably at Cafe Rio. It's like a game of Hide-and-Seek where everyone hides in the same place. It's the worst-kept secret in the LDS community, but we love it anyway.

Now, you might think, "Well, this isn't useful for me. I don't lose Mormons on a regular basis." But dear reader, let me tell you, this phenomenon is a testament to Cafe Rio's allure.

The menu is more packed than a pioneer trek reenactment, with everything from enchiladas that would make an abuela proud, to tostadas fresher than Spokane Valley's morning air. And the sweet pork? It's basically the 11th commandment: "Thou shalt not pass up the sweet pork."

Cafe Rio started as a single location in St. George, Utah, back in 1997. From there, it spread faster than news of a new episode of 'The Book of Mormon Stories' podcast. In fact, Cafe Rio is now the unofficial LDS meetup spot, the culinary equivalent of the Salt Lake City Temple. The only difference? You're allowed, nay, encouraged, to stuff your face at Cafe Rio.

So, whether you're a card-carrying LDS member, a lost tourist from Seattle, or just a hungry soul looking for some dang good Mexican food, Cafe Rio in Spokane Valley is the place to be. Just remember, if you see a group saying grace before diving into their burritos, don't be surprised. You're in LDS territory, my friend, and the local Cafe Rio is their delicious domain.

In conclusion: Cafe Rio, where the sweet pork is plentiful, the horchata is refreshing, and there's a 90% chance you'll bump into your LDS neighbor....

Ok, so I've raved about the food of this chain before, that still stands. This is about my most recent visit/experience in the Valley location. First thing that dissappointed me was their reward/app system. I feel if I'm allowing them to barrage me with notifications and emails to entice me to come in, they should at least honor their ads. I presented a code which did not work with scan or manual entering. The manager simply gave me a phone number to call the app for resolve.

To me this seems to be a ploy to elicit more traffic hedging on the bet that most people won't bother to seek resolve. In fact, I have had several instances similar with other companies and it's always blamed on the "system". I don't know about you but I'm tired of that excuse and tired of all the patches/updates/broken programming...but that's another subject entirely.

The second thing that annoyed me, (especially in WA where they are SO adamant about wearing masks and reducing exposure and such), is their decision to place one of the open to dine at tables RIGHT next to the garbage can. I feel with a little rearranging of the tables, that could be avoided. I'm talking maybe 2 feet at most sitting distance. It was the only available spot open. Everyone comes do dump their trash there , clearly not keeping a 6 foot distance.

Then worse, the employees come to empty the trash while I'm still eating. I can only imagine the disruptive aerosols landing in my food. Not only that but the employee made the verbal comment to another co-worker how "this is SO disgusting". How does she think I felt?! I realize it's "just a paycheck" but where did the common...