Taco Rio

I’m so happy to have a great Tex-​Mex restaurant close to home. The value and taste are great. I just wish they had a drive through.

Love Taco Rio! The cheese covered Sancho is the best! Always friendly service. Pricing on the medium to higher side for fast Mexican food, but worth it.

I SO greatly miss Taco Rio :(
I haven’t found anything in the OP/​KC area anywhere as good as Taco Rio. (If anyone knows of a place PLEASE feel free to let me know)
Why is it so hard to find a place with great and fast tacos, enchiladas, burritos, and so on!

It’s, shabby, run down and divey, (a good thing in my book!) which is why I like the place so much! That’s not saying anything bad about the food, because the food is carefully crafted by generous women who are friendly and eager to please. It’s a cozy place on the inside. Not every place has to look brand spanking new for me to know if it’s an old location, the food is great, which kept the place open so long! I’m in!
Forget the outside, the inside is well kept. I really like the pictures on the walls.
Enough about the architecture. Let’s eat! Pay attention to the weekly specials. Worth every bite! Look for coupons in the back of the phone book. When you get your food, stop at the little sauce area. Hook up to a variety of sauces and even sliced jalapeños to add to your food.
Water is readily available with the «good» ice. We asked and were immediately handed a cup with a W on it. I drink a lot of water, so I appreciate that!
Be sure to put in a good word by using the comment card on the table. We’ll be back!

Another «Taco Fast Food». Wichita is well known for having these types of Taco places. I find it very good and Taco Rio is at the top end of the list. They offer the tradition taco, burritos, taco burgers etc. This place provides a good tasting product that has never changed. Parking and seating is slim though. Try the smothered burrito.

Love the food, my wife and I go there at least twice a month, have relatives from KC Ks that every time the come to Wichita the want to have lunch at Taco Rio

My favorite TEX-​MEX restaurant, now the that complain on here need to realize the difference between Authentic and Tex-​Mex, and some idiot said a sancho wasn’t a real thing, YES IT IS. I eat here all the time. The soada/​pop is really good because they (like bars) don’t water it down much, so it’s even better than buying it from a bottle or can. Styrofoam cups with crushed ice.
I always get the #3Dinner with rice and mild sauce, I change the combo burrito for a bean and cheese burrito, I recommend getting a side order of 2 oz cheese sauce for the chips, and burrito!
Bad turn over of employees. Old owner was better, but I still love the food!

I never use Unilocal but I had to download this app to warn you about this place. «The finest tacos in wichita» is a freaking lie, this was probably one of the worst mexican restraunts I’ve ever tried. The enchilada was greasy, excessively cheesy, and just not that good. The taco tastes like one you make at home, I’m pacific islander, I have no idea how to make authentic mexican cuisine and apparently neither does the staff. Boom. But seriously this place is so bad that me and the people I was with didn’t even finish there plate. Also wtf is a sancho. It’s not a real thing!

Taco Rio is the absolute best tacos anywhere, I’ve traveled far and wide and never experienced a taco as such, all of their food is great and employees always have a smile on their face, I highly recommend them

The sign in front of Taco Rio boasts «Wichita’s Finest Taco». I would have to agree. I ordered the number 2 which came with a taco, chips and bean dip, a taco burger and a sancho. The taco was 5 stars This is a great place to come for a fast bite to eat and a lot of food for under $ 7. The two young ladies that took our orders seemed less than ecstatic to do so, but they weren’t rude. It was a nice, big, Tex-​Mex dinner.

I have been eating at Taco Rio since the late 80’s or early 90’s. I always leave full, even ordering the ½ meal or a cheese covered sancho and chips. The sauce bar is good, fresh salsa. The dining area is either clean or will be shortly after a table or two leave. They stay on top of it. The salsa bar is kept clean and well stocked as well. The staff are personable and friendly. It is not authentic Mexican. It is tasty, freshly made, good quality food. It has a consistent taste that hasn’t changed in the decades I have been eating there. Unless you order a single a la carte item, you will leave pleasantly full to too full depending on self control. The chips are thin, crispy and tasty, but can stand up to the salsa. I always get mild sauce on my order and green chili for my chips. Occasionally the peppers in the green chili sauce are hotter than usual. This way I can control the heat. Most of the employees are adults, which is a nice change from the teens that normally work fast food. You know the ones with a bad attitude, poor listening skills and non-​existent customer service skills? You won’t find that at Taco Rio. I have only found that once here. The person didn’t last long. If you are looking for modern décor, authentic Mexican food, gourmet Mexican food, this is NOT that place. If you want somewhere you can get in and out of during your lunch hour, you can normally do it. Better if you arrive before 11:30 or after 1 pm. They give the staff major holidays off too. Another reason I like them. If you like Taco Bell better, then you deserve what you get there. Personally I can’t stand Taco Bell or Taco Tico when they were still around. But this place is a keeper!

I’m setting a pretty lofty goal to visit all of the Mexican restaurants in Wichita and this was my first… And boy are we off to a bad start. I came here after work because the outside looks just divey enough to be good. The inside has dine in seating but I chose carry-​out. The service was fine, friendly staff. I ordered a number 3, which even looking at the half eaten plate now I cannot tell you what it was. I think there’s a burrito in there… The beef tastes like refried beans and the refried beans tastes like mashed potatoes. Salsa barely adds flavor. This is by no means Mexican food and even for fast food it’s pretty bad. The only thing that was okay was the 2 ounces of rice they put in the corner of the plate. I won’t be eating from here again.

While not the fastest fast-​food place in town I keep going back because their food has never let me down. I’m a fan of their bean and cheese burritos and the enchiladas are really good too. They also have the best fountain Cokes with crunchy ice and free refills.
The only reason I’m giving it 4 stars is because they can be slow and they’re a bit pricey if you don’t order a combo meal.

I stopped in here about a month ago and wasn’t terribly impressed. You order at a counter like at McDonalds, then go to the tables on your own. The food was OK, but nothing to write home about. I left feeling my dollars for Mexican food could go much further elsewhere.
I stopped in again this week. a couple of years since my first review (it’s now ⁷⁄₂₀₁₅). I noticed that Unilocalers consistently give this place good ratings so I wanted to see what I missed. I ordered a combo meal and sat at one of the small tables at the edge of the entryway. My food was good and the choices of salsas on the salsa bar gave me lots of options to heat it up like I like. My combo included one of their featured tacos. It is totally filled with meat, lettuce and cheese. I watched as a steady stream of customers kept the staff busy. I raised my rating to 4 stars since I’m now a fan… even though I’m still not blown away by the place. I’ll be back.

Not my place for Mexican (there are too many authentic places in town for Taco Rio to compete for my wallet and taste buds.)

If you are tired of the skimpy tacos from bell and tick this the the fast Mexican place to go. I had a taco and tostada. The shell was thin and crispy. They had plenty of toppings. Taco Rio is a step above tick and bell. Try it today.

Terrible. There is no way this should pass as Mexican, and if you claim it is fast food then taco bell blows this place away and is much cheaper. If I had known what I was in for I would have just walked next door to Subway.
I tried the taco, burrito, and enchilada. All were bad. I asked for what is considered «extra hot» and there was no heat.

This place is good for what it is — greasy, fast food Mexican. It’s an order-​at-​the-​counter setup with a lot of a la carte options.
I love that I can actually get hot and extra hot sauce with a kick here. The sauces are a little sweet, and really tomato-​ey, not like the weird sauce you get at Taco Bell where you can’t tell there’s any real ingredients in it.
Their tacos and tostadas are my preference. The corn shells aren’t the thick kind you get at the grocery store; they seem homemade and they are thin (but not too thin!) and retain their crispiness despite being mounded with tons of toppings. Their ground beef is flavorful and you get tons of lettuce and tomato as well as shredded cheese on their tacos and tostadas. The burritos to me are a little off. The filling is good, but the tortillas are dry and flour-​y and remind me of the kind you get in a cafeteria at school. Bleck.
The portions are good and you can’t beat the dinners for value — you get three items, chips and rice or beans for around $ 5. Service can be a little slow and unhelpful but for a cheap meal I’m willing to overlook it. Just be aware they get slammed during lunch and the inside is small so you may not get a seat right away. It’s worth a stop if you’re in the mood for flavorful fast Mexican.

I don’t get this obsession with fast food Mexican — the regular Mexican food is pretty fast in itself, with the only purpose it serves is as justification for a substandard product. I recently had my first and last encounter with Taco Shop, and was getting a sense of déjà vu when I ordered one of the specials, as I accidentally ordered the same uninspired trio of a taco, taco burger and a tostada. One interesting thing about Taco Rio is that the meat is so finely ground that it has a finer texture than the refried beans, breaking down into almost a sort of goo. A beef goo. There was some lettuce and some cheese maybe and some generic taco shells.
For the price of the meal, I was a little surprised to see a single tamale, but to their credit, it was fairly large and covered in queso and hot salsa. Also, to their discredit, it was covered in queso and hot salsa. Seriously, though, the tamale held together well and actually wasn’t that bad. On the whole, an entirely forgettable meal.

Taco Rio has been around forever and I can see why! It is delicious and although it is considered «fast food» it definitely doesn’t taste like“fast food”.
I agree with Kent, the combos are huge! I got the #3 which is a burrito, a taco, a tostada and then your choice of rice or beans and chips. The usual price is $ 5 something (maybe $ 5.25?) but yesterday it was on special for $ 4.74…booyah! I love a sale! And these aren’t small sized items but full sized! Yeah I ate it all but man was I hurting after… lol But from a tummy full of good food, so it was a good hurt!
It is a hole in the wall; it’s tine and could definitely use some remodeling, but when the food is this good, who cares what it looks like? lol
The salsa bar is also yummy and a nice touch… I love having fresh salsa at my fingertips.
We went at dinner time and it wasn’t extremely busy but yes it gets PACKED at lunch (I used to work near here when I lived in Wichita and would either go before 12 pm or after 1pm… otherwise you might not find a seat!).
Check this place out… it’s been around forever and the reason is fresh, delicious food!