Cafe Rio

I came here after a long night of work, it was busy but only had two people in front of me. Within minutes there were 15 people behind me, everyone was feeling café rio tonight. It takes a team to run things but there was one person who stood out to me tonight. A young man with a large tattoo on his left fore arm and the word «loyalty» tattooed on his right arm. He was carrying everyone in that kitchen, he ran the show and he was obviously under a ton of pressure. He looked way busy all the while being so polite and efficient! There were obviously a couple people that didn’t know what to do to help and this particular guy was on top of it. Thank you for having great customer service skills, it’s so easy to get upset and lose patience but man you were awesome tonight. I really hope this isn’t the only positive recognition he gets for working his tail off tonight! One star gone for the cashier girls, they need to take a lesson and try to be on top of taking my card, instead of chatting.

Super fast service, and reasonably priced. They were fairly busy when I was in there, however they still worked fast and made jokes. Atmosphere is super friendly and welcoming. Definitely recommend!

Terrible service. Not so awesome food. My pork salad had a lake in the bottom from the wet lettuce. They were out of limes. I watched a guy get a rag and wipe down the area around the food trays, put the rag back in a bucket of water and then proceed to make a burrito, all without changing his gloves. And when I got to the end of the line the girl asked what I had. I told her a burrito and a salad. My kids were with me and getting their own food, but I was paying for it. I said, «she is with me» and gestured to my daughter who said she had a burrito. And then the girl turned to me and said, «so you have more than one burrito? How many more do you have that I have to get?» I told her she didn’t need to be rude that my kids would let her know what they had, but she continued to be snippy with me. I’m not sure I ever want to go back there.

Must say this is way better than Chipotle! I had it a few times when visiting Utah & it was always delicious. Now that we live in Utah, we go often & never get tired. The employees are always very nice & attentive. Last time we went, there was a young girl & she was so sweet & very helpful. I wish I could remember her name, but she was beyond amazing. The place is always clean and employees are always on top of cleaning it up. It’s a very laid back atmosphere. I must say I don’t like getting pork from places just because it’s pork & if not cooked well it can go down hill for you. But their sweet pork is freaking delicious & juicy. It’s a must try!!!

From 3 months ago:
Still doing very poorly. Staff wiping their faces with their «sanitary gloves,» forgetting items in our to go order, and taking forever.
Today:
Called ahead, the guy on the phone discouraged me from ordering take out, said it would be at least an hour and a half wait. Them discouraged me from coming in, said the line was really crazy. Not very polite on the phone. I didn’t go in.

Leaving another review because of another poor service experience. I did an online order and not even 5 minutes later they call and let me know they are out of flour tortillas. So I ask if we can do wheat, she then replies they are COMPLETELY out of tortillas. Seriously the most ridiculous Café Rio in Utah. Do yourself a favor and go to a different location.

Always good eats here! Never had a bad experience yet. Wish they would put one in Clinton!

The food is standard for all café rios. This café rio, out of all of them, has by far the worst wait time and customer service. It’s worth it to drive to a different one than try and come here. Plan on waiting in line for an hour if you go during a peak time or anytime on Sunday.

This place is always a mess!!! Twice now, I’ve gone in during their slow time and the service is piss poor and there wasn’t one clean table in the whole place. Besides me and my family, there was only one other table taken. We cleaned the table ourselves after finally finding napkins in a cabinet under the soda machine. So gross!

Bear in mind, most people in Utah have already had Café Rio, so this review should be taken in the context of other Utah Café Rio locations, which have usually been top-​notch. Firstly, although they say they close at 11:00, they really begin shutting things down at 10. We arrived on a Sat at 10:10 pm. Immediately noticeable was the trashy, dirty conditions — it is by far the worst Café Rio I’ve been to (and I’ve been to every location in Salt Lake County, St. George, Vernal, Rock Springs, WY, Riverdale, and Idaho Falls, ID). The drinks station was half shut-​down, with all of the flavor additives covered and the punches/​horchata empty. They had run out of salmon for the salmon taco, and they were completely out of chips (what tex-​mex restaurant runs out of chips??!) The food was sub-​par by Café Rio standards.
So, for a late-​night meal, remember that even though their sign says they close at 11:00 pm, the Layton Café Rio shuts down at 10. I’ll keep going to Café Rio, but not in Layton.

I used to be a regular at this location. Once the manager with the weird lip left it hasn’t been the same. Customer service is horrible. Food quality stinks. I notice the amount of customers has steadily decreased. I talk to lots of people and they mention what we all know that that location is bad. The other night it took me 45 minutes to get through the line and I started in the second row. I go to bountiful now. One of my biggest issue is the Mexicans getting mad at the Caucasian kid blaming him for stuff when he is not the manager. This place needs a clean sweep.

So usually we love Café Rio, but this location is the worst I’ve ever had, which is unfortunate because it’s the closest in proximity to where we live.
It hasn’t always been that way, but I think they have since changed management. The last 4 times we have eaten there have been a bad experience. Not only was our food subpar, but when we confronted management about it they could not have cared less. Bad food is one thing, but when the service is terrible too you leave feeling like you never want to go back.
I hope they figure it out soon because Chipotle is across the street now and I’ll be taking my business there instead.

Really nice food! Really nice service but occasionally very busy and not fast service but they keep the food warm and move the line fast! They occasionally give free meals, and they NEVER stop smiling!

I rarely leave negative reviews because most poor experiences aren’t the norm for establishments I frequent. Sometimes a waiter is having an «off night,» and it’s not really the restaurants fault for my poor experience. Unfortunately for this particular Café Rio in Layton, UT. poor experiences have become the norm.
Over the years this location was really a bustling location (common at most Café Rio’s), any night of the week a line could be seen out the queue and sometimes out the door! Eccentric employees kept the lines moving as they happily shouted in unison, «free meal!». We craved the juicy sweet pork and fresh ingredients offered, without even thinking twice about the 35 minute line we had to stand in.
Sadly, those days seem to be gone for this location. My husband and I have given this place «a second chance» one too many times. Over the past few months we’ve gone in and were greeted with very messy tables, dirty sticky wood chairs, overflowing trash cans, specialty drinks (which they are known for are) sadly out of order, lines that move at a crawl-​pace, understaffed line-​workers sweating and swearing to themselves about how frustrated they are about the long line, (3 employees are not enough to serve a busy weekend night), understocked and out of stock food containers and condiments, messy line prep area, wilted limes, overlooked crispy dry flour tortillas, stale tortilla chips cooked in old grease… The list goes on! Café Rio was never like this in the past and my service and quality has usually been pretty epic and consistent at any location I’ve visited. Layton is a joke. This has happened to us on every occasion we’ve gone in the last 6 months. I don’t recommend this location to anyone. By the time we got our food this last visit we were so stressed from the entire experience we didn’t have an appetite for our $ 9 salads!
I did reach out to corporate via email on their website so I could help improve the experience for other Café Rio lovers. I didn’t get a response which is why I’m sharing our experience with you. Layton’s got some great dining options these days, don’t waste your time on these guys until they get their acts together and bring back the old Café Rio experience we all know and love! Until then, I’ll be visiting Costa Vida in Centerville or South Weber to avoid this mess!
***6/​1/​15 UPDATE: I want to note I did receive a phone call and email from a management member at the Café Rio Corporate office in SLC shortly after this post. They apologized for the experience and offered free meals in hopes I will give them another chance. I appreciate them taking the time to reach out and let me know that I am a valued customer.

Food was OK not great but the service was very bad. Only one person was working the food line while other workers wandered around avoiding helping the expanding 25 min. que line. I am done with this Café Rio I have given it the benefit of the doubt but it never improves.

I’ve eaten here twice and it’s excellent. Definitely would recommend it. Love the tortillas.

Remember when Café Rio was new and looked like Mexico, but clean? The chairs and table were nice and bright? The employees were excited to be there and enthusiastically shouted «Free meal!» every couple minutes? Things have changed.
I walked in having not had Café Rio in a while. The giant line rails were open and I walked straight through to order… I’ve got to wonder when the last time was that they actually used those. Someone in front of me had a free meal and so the workers quietly acknowledged it with a boring cry of, «Free meal»…I then got to order a pork barbacoa burrito and walked down the line, looking through the scratched up and salsa splattered glass glass along the way. I added mixed beans, hot and mild sauce and had it enchilada style.
I got a horchata which was good. They do have a good choice of hot sauce as well.
After I got through the line, paid my money, and left, I headed back over to the convention center. They forgot to give me a fork on my to go order.
Café Rio was fantastic food when it first came around, but they seem to be burned out. It doesn’t help that so many great new options have come over the last few years as well. The food is still good, but there is definitely more good/​better options out there then there use to be.

This place is packed at lunch. The line moved quicly, but it still took so long I had to take my food back to my office to eat. It was also so busy the people taking orders didn’t take time to listen to what you wanted. They started making my burrito before I even had time to say I didn’t want rice. Needless to say, my burrito had rice. On the plus side, the food tastes great. I ordered a shredded chicken burrito enchalada style with tomatillo salsa.

LAYTON, UT: Café Rio was the best place EVER in 1997. Now they are a pretty good place to get some decent food
Order the sweet pork burrito or sweet pork salad. The rest of the menu items are okay, as is the remainder of their marinated meats.

This place is all the rage and the lines in or out of snow storms are ridiculous.
The restaurant is dark, there are Disney type wrap around lines and unless you are up close, it is hard to read the menu so make sure to grab a paper one.
It is hard not to compare Café’ Rio to Chipotle because they are both the order at the counter while they prepare your burrito, bowl, soft taco, salad, enchilada, etc. The difference is the housemade (or warmed in front of you on a round hot plate thingamajiggy), the portions seemed reasonable, but some items were more flavorful than others. The beans are better here, the tortillas better, but Chipotle has them on the guacamole and rice and well, I would have to give this place another chance to really do a better compare/​contrast.
I didn’t find the employees particularly friendly (it was a busy night and there was a ton of snow on the ground so there was wet floor frenzy galore), but for being a new place, I felt awfully rushed through the food line.