Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican — Restaurant in Virginia

The food is always delicious! The restaurant is very clean, including the restrooms. The only negative is that while the staff are friendly and want to be helpful, they don't actually listen and we had to correct them several times as they prepared our food, and ultimately we got pretty much what we wanted. Staff were all wearing masks so it made hearing them difficult but we were not wearing masks so they should have been able to understand us. Had to correct them on meats for tacos and then the fixings. I asked for extra cheese, but nothing additional was added. I asked for a little bit of lettuce and they piled it on. Also, I find it strange that they dump each topping element in one place versus across the entire taco. Get the brisket if they have it- it is super! We were there around 11:30am and there was a thick film across the sauces that the preparer had to break through to get to the sauce- I would have expected them to remove the crust before they set it out in the service line. Finally, they didn't have ice but there was a nice note on the self serve machine that said they were working on it. Seems like this might have been an issue for more than just today, but the mint limeade was cold so not having ice didn't bother me. Definitely will go again- maybe I will try ordering online to see if they can read...

I’ve been eating at Cafe Rio since there was only 1 location and that was in Utah, so for over 20 years! I absolutely love their food! I’ve been to many locations throughout Utah, Nevada, California, Maryland and Virginia. The Ashburn, VA location definitely falls short. Their food isn’t as fresh and they do not make the meals the same way that other Cafe Rio locations do. For example, whenever I order a salad the employees never ask me if I would like cheese on the tortilla. They also never put cotija cheese on my salad and instead try to add a Mexican cheddar blend of grated cheese instead. It’s almost like I have to tell them how to make a Cafe Rio salad. Also you can tell that the employees do not regularly stir the sauces because there is always that dried out layer on the top and when they scoop the sauces into my burrito, that layer usually ends up in it. Like I mentioned above, I’ve been eating at Cafe Rio as various locations for over 20 years and this location does not meet the typical Cafe Rio expectations and experience that I’ve always had elsewhere. I’m very disappointed and would like to see changes because this is my local...

Normally my family and I love Cafe Rio, but this location seemed off. The rice, beans, and meat looked dry and old. Meat and beans ended up being okay rice was crunchy, like it had been cooked and then left out to dry up. Initial person in the prep line did a really good job about passing our order on to the next person but from there, it was utter chaos. The person who puts the pico, lettuce, and stuff on your dish was not paying attention to his customers but rather his co-employees. So he would ask what you wanted, you would tell him and he would confirm the exact opposite. The person checking us out had to be told 3 times what we had and 3 times that we wanted 2 drinks. He still forgot our drinks and we had to pay separately for our drinks. Again he was too busy paying attention to everyone else and what they were doing and saying instead of the customer standing in front of him. Not sure if we will return to this. location or not. Just disappointed being gs the other locations we frequent, especially the location in Manassas, are AWESOME, very kind and the food always looks...