Cafe Rio

Today was the 1^st time I’ve ever been in a Café Rio (Orem, UT) & the service & food was terrible! The girl that was fixing my food didn’t understand English & I had to keep repeating myself, then she still screwed it up. Also, it seems strange that they keep the napkins & forks hidden behind the soda machine. It took 5 min to get a clerk’s attention to find out where they were. I could have gotten better tasting food at Taco Bell & saved some money! This was my 1^st experience w/​Café Rio & the last. Stay away from Café Rio unless you want to waste your money on expensive bad tasting food.

Complete joke of a café Rio. I’ve gone to this location 3 – 4 times (I frequent Provo). The lettuce on the pork salad has been soggy or has had brown edges every time, and was skimpy on the meat. Not only this I went to use my free meal card and they accused me of stealing a stamp and wouldn’t give me my meal. They offered me half off, such crap. Why have a promotion if you’re not going to honor it. My suggestion, go to another location. I’d take Costa Vita over this location.

I continually come here hoping it will get better and that my past bad experience was just one time but that’s not the case. The food is tasty, I will give them that. But the overall care for the customer is lacking, not only at this location but also the one in Provo. I have had workers argue with me about my order, I think they missed the day when you learn the customer is always right. I work in food and I know that orders can be complex and sometimes silly but I would never talk back like workers have to me at café rio. They are overpriced and rip you off for every extra thing. 1.19 for a single scoop of guac? That’s ridiculous. And they charge you for any extra dressing. They need to stop being so stingy. I also don’t appreciate their lack of care, they ask what I want but it doesn’t matter since they make it however they’re used to anyway, they also barely wrapped my side tortillas, leaving them completely exposed. I won’t be returning.

I went to in one time and ordered a pork salad. The salad was 95% lettuce and the rest was meat and toppings. It is not usually like that. And the lettuce was super soggy. The next time I wanted to go when I called for takeout. The lady that answered asked what I want when I started to order she said I can’t take orders because they are short on staff. She then just hung up.

I’ve actually always loved café rio, but the last few times it just hasn’t been the same. They tend to always screw up my order now and the last time I went I ordered online to skip the line, but when I got there, there was no line so I thought it would be pretty quick. I was waiting for them to attend me, but no one would. They would look at me then walk away. This continued for about 15 minutes I was going to leave, but then this lady attended me took my card so I payed. It took them around 30 minutes for them to give me the food. That there was even people standing behind me now frustrated that one man snapped at them so they could attend him because they were just pretending we weren’t there.

This location is not a good place to come if you want to relax while you eat! It’s very crowded! When we were in line they were yelling at us to get our order when we were not even up to her yet! They messed all of our salads and burritos up 4 times! If you want a better experience with this type of food go to costa vida they are way more laid back!

I’m lovin’ on Café Rio. The layout is a walk through line while ordering over the counter then utensils and drinks just around the cash register. Loud, busy environment but although the lines are unforgiving at rush hours, there never seems to be a wait for a table. Food portions are huge so expect left overs. I usually order a tostada with extra lettuce which ends up being practically the size of a salad but for dollars cheaper. Remind the cashier that it is a tostado or they will charge you for a salad by the looks of it. If you order a salad (or tostado with a soft shell), as for the tortilla in the side. They will wrap it in foil so it stays warm. This way you can eat your food without the tortilla becoming soggy by the time you get down to it. My husband is obsessed with their pork burrito which will come with rice, beans, lettuce, and Pico de gallo. Beware that to have anything smothered is extra, as well as any extra meat or guacamole. Café Rio seems to be specific to these parts so try it while you’re in town and expect cheap, Mexican-​American food that seems cleaner than others at this price. If you’re a local, get a punch card — after 10 meals you get a free meal, and it just isn’t hard to rack up 10 meals.

Why would café rio offer online ordering, when the staff does not even look at the orders?
Staff was curt and no apology given. At least 30 orders not even started. Additional 30 min wait. Staff would take money, turn around and make food without gloves or washing. Horrible experience.

This location in Orem has really gone down hill. You’re first greeted by the smell of cleaning products. Not very appealing when you’re about to order food. Next, you order the food. The food is not consistent on the temperature, the portions, and flavor. Its hit and miss. Finally, you sit down to eat and the smell of the cleaning products lingers in the air. You’ve got a worker cleaning the table by spraying cleaning products on the table and not on their rag. (I’ve seen this happen many times. It’s not the first time) The chemical is airborne. Very annoying when the worker does it right next to you. I avoid this location. I try to either go to the Provo or the SLC downtown or Boise locations.

I have become less of a fan of Café Rio. The main reason for my disappointment is how they have lessened the portions of meat, big time. I have gone several times thinking that they would give me more and they have let me down. I even asked to pay for extra meat and they gave me the same amount that they would have given me back in the day when the portions were more reasonable. One of the workers directly told me that management asked them to lessen the portions. One good thing is the workers have always been very nice.

This store’s traffic flow is weird – you have to walk through the restaurant from the front entrance to order. Then the utensils, draws, drink lids and napkins are behind the soda machines; can’t even see them. Also the slowest employees of any Café Rio. But they got my orders correct and the food was great.

Food was ok it’s café rio. Unfortunately people hanging over sneeze guard and terrible customer service from the manager I have given this location many chances and don’t think I can go back very disappointed use to love this place

I looove a café rio pork salad, I’ll never get sick of them and I crave them all the time! the food is seriously amazing but at this restaurant (don’t know if it’s just this one or the same case at the other locations) they ALWAYS close early. seriously? who closes 2 hours early?! don’t post that you’re opened until 11 so that I can show up at 9:30 to find that you are closed for the night.

Don’t come at a peak time or the wait is really long. Food is great. My husband loves the pork burrito with green sauce. I love the steak salad, but over $ 10 for a salad is ridiculous. You can get free kid quesadillas with adult meal purchase.

The food at Café Rio is amazing every time I come. My only problem with café rio is that most of the time you feel extremely rushed once you start ordering. The employees speak super fast and expect that you know exactly how to order there. now that i am a regular there it is fine but when i had never been there before it was pretty confusing having them yell incredibly fast «black or pinto beans» and the rest of their questions after telling them i want a burito.
Again amazing food. they could work on their customer service though

This place was a pleasant surprise for me. What I imagined was another over-​salted Chipotle clone with bad salsa; what I got was a fresh lunch with quality ingredients. Let it be known that this is NOT Mexican food or even Tex-​Mex food, but it is tasty, afforable, and fast.
We first ate at Café Rio in the SLC airport on our way back to Austin before we even moved to Utah. We split a breakfast burrito with eggs, potatoes, cheese, and beans, smothered in enchilada sauce. I was impressed, especially with the homemade tortilla. It was a perfect breakfast for the long day we had ahead of us, and I looked forward to eating it again when we moved.
BIG PROBLEM: This Orem Café Rio location does NOT serve breakfast. This was a huge disappointment to me, especially since they open at 10:30am. I would be so happy to get a breakfast burrito here instead of at Rancherito, despite the fact that Café Rio is twice the price. They should absolutely serve the breakfast burrito here, especially since it makes a massive profit. Eggs, potatoes, and beans selling for almost $ 7? Yeah, there’s no reason not to.
Anyway, the lunch/​dinner options are also tasty. Those homemade tortillas make all the difference. They’re tender and just thick enough, and they taste about like the ones my husband whips up at home using a recipe from Sonora. The meats are fresh and not greasy, especially the fire-​grilled chicken, which you can see being prepared throughout the day on an open grill. I also love both salad dressings available here. The «creamy tomatillo» is like slightly spicy ranch, and the «cilantro lime» is an excellent vinaigrette that I wish I could recreate at home. The salads come in a bowl lined with one of those awesome tortillas, so they’re basically a deconstructed burrito. Not exactly a healthier option, but I like it. If you’re not trying to meet your daily lettuce quota here, I recommend a chicken burrito «enchilada style,» covered in sauce and cheese.
Overall, this is a definite step up from something like Chipotle, and it’s not overpriced. I just wish they would add breakfast to the menu.

So many options to chose from! I ordered the chile beef tacos which were delicious. The only negative is that they charge for sour cream, cmon really?

Last time I come to this location. SUPER slow with a 20 min wait to get through a short line for a salad. I took a team of 45 to the American Fork location during lunchtime a couple months ago and got through the line, paid, and finished eating in just an hour. This location smells like moth balls. They were either out or scraping the bottom of the inserts of everything. Although it is 30 min before close so a VERY SLIGHT benefit of the doubt on this one. That being said, throw a couple chicken breasts on the grill. I shouldn’t feel like I’m inconveniencing a place I am paying money to with hours of operation ending at 10. It appears the restaurant shuts down at 9, and closes its doors at 10. Avoid this location! Take the extra time to go north to American Fork or south to Provo.
Edit: ordered a grilled steak salad (because they were out of chicken) and started eating it… From the menu board «Café Rio cooks their steak to a medium rare temperature…». My steak is well done. My tomatoes are grainy and have that acidic taste when they’ve been prepped and stored longer than they should be. Guac is one of my favorite parts of the salad but they were out. The tortilla is closer to a pita. I’ll probably eat half the salad because I’m starving but it will be solely for fuel, not for enjoyment.

This was definitely the worst Café Rio experience I’ve had. I expect not amazing service when I go– I’m fine with that. This place had fine service which is why I gave it two stars instead of one. The sweet pork salad was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve had. Sweet pork was ok– it was almost normal. The lettuce was old. That was no secret. The tortilla was not cooked. Like doughy-​weird-​please-​make-​this-​stop-​doughy.
Frownyface.

Café Rio was SERIOUSLY hyped up from many of my friends who originate from Utah.
I walked in and tried to keep my expectations low, but the place had a Chipotle meets Beach Hut Deli vibe. The lines were long and of course, full of large families. We waited about 10 – 15 minutes before ordering. I swooped on a salad with steak, beans, rice, salsa and cheese.
The dressing was probably my favorite part.
That being said, I’ll still always love Chipotle for this kind of food. Don’t get me wrong, Café Rio works in a pinch, but it’ll never beat my first love.