Cafe Del Rio

I love that they offer huge portions of queso and green sauce the food is delicious basic tex mex. There are a lot of piñatas everywhere lol my husband isn’t exactly sure if he likes dining in or not.

Love love love! Great good! Great drinks! Great place for a quick lunch too if you only have an hour! Will recommend-​will return! Even had them cater our Christmas Eve! If they could match the green sauce at Casa Olé-​this place would be perfection!

Chose this place as I was told that it was the TexMex spot that locals flock to. Friendly and relatively quick service, but the food was pretty meh. The chips for the salsa were bland and not very crunchy. I got a combo with a chicken enchilada, a beef tostada and a tamale. Nothing bad per se, but very lacking in flavor. Had to go to heavy salt shaker usage plus the jalapeño side to get anything out of it. Not bad portion size but not a good value for the price.

This place was huge! We expected to wait but got in after about ten minutes on a Friday night. The food was awesome. The staff was friendly. My kids loved the free ice cream after dinner.

I’m not a of Tex Mex food fan. I however do like brisket tacos and they serve them here. I don’t like paying ten dollars for two of them though. Our last visit wasn’t the greatest. The waitress was pre occupied and not very good at remembering our requests. Simple things like silverware, napkins and the green sauce we ordered as part of the appetizer. If I go there I try to order pickup to avoid the not so great service. The food is fine for Tex Mex as my wife seems to enjoy it.

People giving Café Del Rio 1 Star reviews because they don’t like Tex Mex or that their service wasn’t up to par on their one visit drive me crazy.
I’m aware that Del Rio is a chain restaurant, but there’s just something about the Lufkin Café Del Rio I love so much. I’ve been enjoying Café Del Rio since I moved to Lufkin 16 years ago, and will continue to make Café Del Rio my «go-​to» destination for special nights when I want to treat myself. Even after they move locations to East Denman Ave. (Hopefully nothing changes other than location)
It is a bit dark, but each booth and table are well lit enough that you feel like you are alone with whoever you’re dining with, but you might always spot a friend there too.
The pinatas and lights on the wall keep my child looking around in awe, allowing me brief moments to eat in peace. (lol)
There will be bottles of honey, butter, chips, and tortillas if you ask for them.
1. Crush some chips onto a tortilla
2. Lightly glaze the crushed chips with butter and honey. (Add Salsa if that’s your thing)
3. Roll it up like a baby taquito
4. Enjoy!
By the time your food comes out, you’ll be full enough to get a carry out box, and NOTHING is better than remembering you have leftovers from Del Rio in the fridge.
I have eaten just about everything they have and it’s ALL good.
The fish tacos are perfection, with just tender enough tilapia that you can tear into. The flavor is exactly what you would want/​expect when you order fish tacos. Drink a beer while you scarf them down, and you’re in Heaven.
For a while I would challenge myself to eat an entire Botana Platter by myself, but nowadays I order it, eat the nacho portion (Chips don’t reheat well as leftovers) and take the Quesadillas, jalapeño poppers, and taquitos home to eat whenever I get hungry again.
In the entire span of time that I’ve been going to Del Rio, I might have had to wait a bit longer than I would have liked, but it was on a super busy night, which was totally understandable, and the food is so delectable, they always get a pass with me.
The staff is helpful, nice, and at times funny, but I honestly wouldn’t care if they were rude. The food is that good.

Good food, nice atmosphere. Visited several times, and it seems to be consistently good. Service is consistently good, as well. Never a disappointment.

This place seemed iffy to me before we walked in, but once we experienced the atmosphere, it became my favorite Tex mex restaurant. The queso is the best, salsa wonderful, and fajitas were great. Don’t forget to get some extra tortillas and put butter and honey on them!

I’m sorry but if I have to wait 10 minutes for a drink order, I will leave and obviously not give more than one star. I know this place has been around for many years, but I live in a city where you actually get decent service so I can’t forgive waiting that long for a drink order. We visit this forsaken city often but will not be back to this establishment.

100% Tex-​Mex. If that’s your thing then I’m sure this place is adequate.
If you’ve never had authentic Mexican or don’t like it. This is the place for you.

This is a lie they don’t deliver and when they do it’s a 25 dollar fee plus your food that is freaking ridiculous!!!

Here on business from the big city seems this is a local favorite. Super busy, parking lot full, all good signs. Walked in even though it was packed we were greeted warmly and escorted to the bar while they prepared our table. Ice cold beer was a plus but the bartender was glacially slow to serve us. Chips were excellent though their idea of salsa is just plain weird slightly sour tasting and no heat/​spiciness at all I’d avoid it actually. Waitress forgot our queso and green sauce even though we ordered it. Next up she botched our order; ordered the chili relleno with fajita beef. Unfortunately they brought me taco meat which was grayish and not very good having eaten almost half if it I was reluctant to send it back, though needless to say I was none too pleased with that. Rice was pretty good though the charro beans may have been the worst I’ve ever had, seriously opening a can of beans would have been preferable. Water tasted funny too, like well water. So yeah they were busy but forgetting our queso and sauce and bringing me the wrong dish while still charging us the premium price all but ensures I’ll not be back. So to say this was a letdown based on the local consensus is really understating it, middle of the road food poor service wait staff wise. Your mileage may vary.

Overrated gimmicky «Mexican» food. Considering we’re only 2 hours from Houston, it’s disappointing that the most popular Tex-​Mex restaurant in town is nothing but a caricature/​theme park rendition from top to bottom.
Save yourself some trouble and just go to TGI Friday’s/Chili’s/Cheddar’s with a sombrero and an over the top mustache.

I needed a last minute delivery for 12 people. They really came through for me. I was able to get beef and chicken enchiladas w chips and queso and a gallon of tea for 12 people delivered in two hours. The food was really good and my customers liked it.
I have not eaten at the restaurant but from a customer service and delivery point of view, I couldn’t have been more pleased. Because of the customer service and pretty good enchiladas, I have them 5 stars.

Great food & homemade tortillas. Very clean & friendly staff. Was recommended by a local family & turned out to be an excellent lunch. Pretty crowded & busy, but that didn’t effect the service.

The food was overpriced and only okay. It was also very dark inside; though, the service was good. All in all, I won’t be back.

Café Del Rio dishes out some solid Tex-​Mex. It’s family friendly (make sure your little one uses the little door …), and offers up something you’ll know from just about any establishment that purports to be Tex-​Mex.
Things that I noticed: some sort of sour cream/​guacamole sauce. It’s green, it’s thick, and it’s not bad, but it has an unusual taste. Someone was getting creative in the kitchen, but I’m not sold on the texture. Chips were fresh.
Portions: Mondo, grande, extra largo, etc.
Service was very good. Our gal made sure to check on us, and was always there with a refill.

Decent Mexican but other than a few things I’ll mention here, average. So… think average chips and hot sauce, average house-​made flour tortillas (a little thick… you may like them that way), average tasting fajitas (too heavy on the pepper seasoning). Stand-​outs: tasty queso, fabulous green sauce (both may be had for an extra charge), and the mixed fajitas came with 8 shrimp (wow)! Service was pretty good and friendly.
If we were local, we’d eat here again. On a road trip, we’d try another place.

The best Tex-​Mex in Lufkin.
That said, don’t expect a true Mexican meal here. Fajitas are served in several varieties (beef, chicken, shrimp and combo) and are possibly the best in town on a consistent basis. All food portions are large, my wife loves both there charro and refrained beans, and they recently switched back to their older rice recipe that is absolutely excellent. The flour tortillas are made on site and you can even watch them being made as you enter the seating area.
The atmosphere is patent Tex-​Mex with Christmas lighting used for accent throughout and all kinds of different stuff hanging from the ceiling. Bare cement floors make it easy for the staff to keep the areas clean, but can add to the overall noise level when loud groups are around.

Café Del Rio offers your regular Tex-​Mex fare, but could probably beat out any Tex-​Mex restaurant in Houston or Dallas. The food is tasty, portions are generous, and everything is freshly made. My favorite is the Chile Relleno dish, with a nice crispy taco, a cheese enchilada and a meat-​stuffed poblano chile covered in queso and pico. I love the fact that the crust on the poblano chile still crispy, despite being draped in queso. Whenever I’m in Lufkin I make it a point to stop by Café Del Rio. Wish they had a location in my hometown of Houston.