Got carry out for my son. Service is a bit slow given no one really at the restaurant. However not a long wait. Food portion is reasonable for price. It does smell really delicious and my son said it was pretty good. read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Slow braised Chicken Build Your Own Bowl - Mexican Near Me - Burke, Virginia

So tired of feeling nickel & dimed here. Every time we visit it's some new charge or new thing they charge for that they didn't use to. $13 is already plenty for two tacos w/ some beans & rice, but when I was asked if I wanted cheese, I didn't expect to be charged another $1.50 for melting it on my tiny portion of chicken. I couldn't even find any of it in my tacos. They charge for everything but very basic toppings, and the beans & rice have zero flavor (and the chicken is as blah). Not to mention the tortillas have gotten thinner over the years, resulting in them falling apart before you finish your taco. Even w/ the mil discount, it's just no longer worth bringing my family here, we're all still hungry after. And don't get me started on the workers' very poor customer service skills...so disappointed. read more

We usually hit the one in manassas. This one was equally great. The tortillas are pretty unique. I really like the sweet pork and chicken as well. read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Mexican Near Me - Burke, Virginia

See all

I used to like Cafe Rio. However, I've been to this location 3 or 4 times in the last 6 months and each time something about my order has been incorrect or missing. Tonight was the last time. It was completely wrong and inedible for me. It's not worth it for the price. read more

We go here weekly. The food is good. I recommend the salads, burritos, and the burrito bowl. They have a good rewards program. Monday nights are super busy because they give a 50 percent military discount. Thank you for giving back to those who serve. To beat the Monday rush arrive before 5pm or you can wait 20-30 minutes. Tortillas are home made. read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Steak burrito - Mexican Near Me - Burke, Virginia

Staff is awful, i'm not surprised though because staff is always awful at most locations for the past 9 years. They are slow, stingy, and really can't be bothered to do the job they are paid to do. Any extra favor will be met with a shoulder shrug and a pissed off face. They are slow to do online orders and told to do those first so your order will just sit on the conveyer belt for 5 mins. employees seem to always be doing something else other than serving people. Their food is never sitting in the warmers and is constantly left out. Always disorganized. The nerve they have to charge for extra cheese or salsa is crazy to me, esp when it will come with certain dishes. Even worse when the worker doesn't know how to put a normal amount of ingredients on a meal. Not sure why cafe rio is like this in this area, apparently it's a lot better out west. read more

Food is great staff is terrible. You'll be ignored for 10 minutes when you're standing there and the place is empty. Staff is rude. Service needs to be improved. read more

My go-to fast casual mexican-ish food. Love the flour tortillas--that's really the main reason I go.

The Mexican food is very average to good depending on what you order. Table service is not available. Ordering is done in a line as you move towards the cashier cafeteria style. Ambiance is order takeout. read more

Every time i work in the area i go to Cafe Rio for lunch . Excellent service, excellent food. read more

This is to the manager who had my sister with a disability (he knew she had one) make her do all these task purposefully overwhelming her and taking her off the schedule and never replying to her text messages asking if her mom told her to text him this (SHE HAS A DISABILITY) of course my mother will help her communicate with you. countless of other things I'm extremely disappointed and angry you made my sister look like a fool and made her quit her first ever job she was really excited for. you should be ashamed of yourself. read more

Thank you for your gracious and courteous response 19 months ago. I was taken back during that visit by the policy of charging extra for asking for an additonal scoop of dressing or lettuce, and wonder if through a change in managers or policy, Cafe Rio is still charging for more dressing. In my case, the salad was not sufficiently moistened by the 1/2 thimble of measured dressing, and I found it slight in lettuce. Other similar salad stores like Halal Guys and Mezeh are prideful in the quality of their bowls. If you are still charging, may I suggest posting a sign not that just added portions are charged, but add a notice of how many pennies or nickles you wish to add for any increase in ingrediants. Sorry, but this issue in quality product for me distracts in value for what otherwise makes Cafe Rio a go-to restaurant to visit, and I think is makes a bad product and a bad business decision. read more

Worst nachos ever. Worker didn't even attempt to do a good job and they were barely busy. Food was without taste. This was a waste of my lunch break. Would have been better off eating at Taco Bell. Threw 3/4 of the dish in the garbage and left. One star instead of zero because at least the chips were good. read more

This place was really good but hasn't been for a couple years. Order pick up and they it's 20 minutes late when there isn't even a line to order. Not to mention they always mess up the half and half sauce order. I've been coming to this location since they opened. I will never return again. read more

First off I really like the employees here. Very nice folks, hard working, and diligent about getting orders right. Cafe Rio has been here for considerable time. They have a lot of competition, although this is at a great location. Convenient to all in Burke. Plus it's even if busy, you won't be in long for hours. The best meal is the enchiladas. Quite tasty, and best bet is chicken or pork. Burritos are alright, and the tacos have me sleeping. Plus the portion size on the last, aren't going to fill you up. Oh the salad bowls are worth trying. They have raised their prices considerably. I was stunned when I dropped $30 plus total, for two meals. That's approaching higher end costs. It's a good place, but they should lower their prices, because I believe many already are going to fast food Mexican style foods. On a positive note this is a clean and comfortable restaurant. read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Mexican Near Me - Burke, Virginia

The other night my family experienced a fiasco while trying to place a rather large order online. You might think I would then not give a 5 Star rating. But the personal service my husband received ( and myself as well via a personal phone call from a wonderful employee at the Burke, VA) was EXCEPTIONAL. The error may have been on our part in that the order we placed was customized for 8 people and clicking " this" and " that" was challenging. My husband drove to the Cafe and the manager helped us tremendously. Ultimately we received our delicious, very customized dinner orders and just want to give a huge shout out of gratitude to the Cafe Rio management in Burke, VA. AMAZING SERVICE !! read more

My wife was so excited to get her sweet carnitas, tomatillo sauce, and cilantro beverage! She was so hyped to show/share her fav order to me. Unfortunately, the delivery arrived and DID NOT CONTAIN the tomatillo sauce OR the drink. I talked her off the hangry ledge and we re-ordered the missing items. Slowly becoming enthusiastic again she went to prepare her (now luke warm) enchiladas and ..... they had CHICKEN instead of sweet carnitas. Now she's crying, hungry and too upset to eat anything else. How can an establishment get SO MANY simple things wrong on ONE order? One star and it would be ZERO if that was possible. Awful, just awful. read more

BEWARE OF WORMS IN YOUR FOOD My boyfriend and i used to go to cafe rio every tuesday and it had been a while so he decided to pick some up last week. usually i get tacos but i decided to try the salad. i was feeling under the weather so when he brought the food i didn't really have a great appetite. i took a couple bites and was kinda just playing with my food in between bites... AND THATS WHEN I SAW IT! A teeny tiny little worm in my bowl that practically blended in with the lettuce. i have no idea how i saw it but im so glad i did! i took a video of it (my pic is a screenshot from the video) and my boyfriend went back the next day to show them the video. they didn't really care, they just gave him a refund for the salad... bottom line is im still traumatized and will never be going back to this location and probably not any location i'm so upset read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - worm in my salad - Mexican Near Me - Burke, Virginia

It was a roller skate day at work (and I didn't have any ). I was finally able to break away for lunch at 2 and walked out in the rain to the nearest eatery(Yep. I'm sweet but I won't melt). Headed into Cafe Rio for a K type of lunch(K is for Keto y'all). I must have missed the lunch crowd because there were only 2 People ahead of me and atmosphere was calm. I ordered the fire-grilled chicken with all the fixings-besides rice, beans, tortilla and cilantro(I don't know what it is about cilantro but I just cannot do it). Beautiful Lady Tommy prepared my lunch and Eduardo with the beautiful smile checked me out. I even managed to get a coupon for a free drink in the app! Coke Zero, of course-you know how I roll. Delicious, fresh and it hit the spot! The dressing took all that goodness to the next level. I am generally a take your lunch kind of Lady, but this is one of the places I can always go and feel like I ate well and stayed with my eating plan. Definitely one of my food staples read more

See all

Overcharged!! Got a taco with just chicken for my little one and was charged 5.49 for one taco, I spent 50+ for a burrito, bowl, taco and kids meal which is ridiculous. And the lady who was making the food needs to learn customer service. Do not go!! read more

We like the menu; tacos and burritos are good. Barbacoa is our favorite. The burrito bowls are huge. They have good choice of sauces; the chips and salsa are very good. The staff is always friendly; they make the tortillas in front of you in line. The ingredients look fresh. Lots of drink choices; the decor is a little funky and fun. read more

The food is good but with 2 small children we order to go. The order is never right, they make you wait 20 min before it is 'ready' then don't even start the order intel you get there. Just go to chipotle! read more

Great tacos abs the guacamole was to die for! The corn tortillas was warmed nicely and surprising the steak was both tender and seasoned well. Often times at quick service restaurants the steak is the first thing on the menu--not the case this time. T the chicken taco was on par at best. I was disappointed in the hot sauce none of them seemed really hot even the red one seemed like it was more ketchup than a hot sauce. The salsa was tasty and the fresh drinks a delight to have w options than just the standard soda. Overall well worth my drive off 35 mins plus traffic to get 2 tacos! I'll be back read more

Much better to order online than wait in line at store! Staff moves slow and takes long time to process each order. The beef birria tacos were tasty as well as the salads. read more

Our first time going to this restaurant. It was very good. We ordered a burrito and a bowl. The burrito was BEAUTIFUL, and was the size of my head. The meat portions were generous, and the meat was very tender and juicy. The restaurant was clean, with funky Mexican style multi-color tables. The service was very good. We got free chips and queso for signing up for texts. Both the chips and queso were fresh and warm, and generous portion sizes. We ordered using their online order system, which was easy to use, and we ate in the restaurant. read more

My family and I LOVE the menu and flavors of Cafe Rio. After giving it several chances, I think I won't be coming to this location anymirw. This place has notably degraded in service and quality since when I first discovered this once-wonderful place. Long story short--there's ALWAYS a line...not because it's packed but because the service is SLOW. This is the opppsite of fast food. There were 2 people in front of me and it took me 17 minutes to get to the cash register. The staff is very unpleasant. Snaps at you "Whattdaya want?", legitimately throws the food into the container, and also throws not enough food into the container... Anyways, I hope management does something soon. I LOVE Cafe Rio and this is the closest one to my house. read more

Went for a quick lunch got a burrito with a side of queso and chips. Eduardo thank you the queso didn't disappoint at all,. Will be back.

We placed our catering order for 25 for a realtor hosted seminar. The food was delicious, the order correct, and a good value. Eduardo assisted in making sure everything was just right. We'll use them again. read more

Let's be honest, their food is one of the best, hard to stop going there, however, this locations needs to tighten up their staff. Few days ago I placed a big order for my family, picked up the order, go home and didn't have the 2 key lime pies nor napkins and utensils in the back, luckily it was at home and we had utensils. I had to drive back to get the missing pies and the manager on duty was amazing, she made sure she made it right, sorry I didn't get her name. The cashier she was trying to inform of the mistake, didn't apologize or seem to even care, sad to see managers working hard, but with careless employees. Today, I placed another order for pick up, the leches didn't have the whip cream as selected and again didn't have the utensils and napkins. I would normally give it a 1 star but the manager was so great and the food is good of course, the'll get 3 starts for now! P.s other family members have experienced similar situations with most of their orders. read more

Ordered a black bean burrito no rice. With enchilada sauce and extra guacamole. They sent this. No guacamole. No sauce. No beans and 100 percent rice. Craftsmanship! read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Mexican Near Me - Burke, Virginia

See all

My cousin has been telling me how delicious their salads were so I finally had a chance to try out Cafe Rio and I was definitely impressed! The portions were pretty generous and I really liked the salad dressing that goes along with it. It was such a big portion (along with the tortilla) that I was only able to finish half and had to bring the rest home. Next time I'll ask for some extra lettuce since that was sparse for a salad. It is a little pricey for a "salad" ($10-12) depending on your meat choice(s) and considering Chipotle is a little cheaper. That being said, I would probably try to visit more often on Tuesdays since they have their $5.99 salad deals. They also have other weekly deals depending on the day. read more

reviewed this some time back and i lie you not, had to be the worst fake mexican food i've ever had. i was told they would reach out to discuss my visit, they offered one, ONE free meal to the many but it left such a bad taste in my mouth i didn't want to return at the moment until employees were retrained? management changed? so i reached out some time back to use the "free meal" and nothing LOL no response. not like they actually gave you a code or whatever. if you see on yelp that they "reached out to customer w issues" like they're gonna fix it just know this is the behind the door convos looks like read more

Cafe Rio is the love child of Chipotle and Chuys! It has a fast food style like Chipotle but much better flavors, closer to Chuys. Their selection is pretty customizable and their long lines give you a bunch of time to figure out what you want. It's also pretty cool that they make homemade tortillas right before your eyes! I normally go with the tacos and choose different meats for each, or opt for a tortilla soup. Their meat options include: shredded chicken, fire grilled chicken, sweet pork barbacoa, Chile roasted beef, fire grilled steak, and fire grilled salmon. You can choose from a burrito, salad, enchiladas, tacos, quesadillas, tostadas, and nachos. Their sweet pork barbacoa is ADDICTIVE! It's super juicy so the sauce just drips right out of the taco and makes a huge mess, but it's just so delicious that I don't even mind! I used to come to this location a lot back when they first opened, when I lived in Burke. Way back when, I used to always order the pork and steak tacos, but most recently, I was extremely disappointed with the steak. It was very bland and made me wish I had just chosen double barbacoa. Also, their beans and rice aren't what I remember previously enjoying. I would skip those as well. BUT order their tortilla soup! It's a fantastic combo of shredded all white meat chicken breast, topped with a steaming cup of broth and overflowing with fresh veggies, crunchy tortilla strips, hand-scooped guacamole, Pico de Gallo, and hand-shredded cheese. They have additional drink options, other than just fountain drinks including Horchata, strawberry lemonade, southwest limeade, and mint limeade. I'm going to be honest, the Horchata keeps me coming back. I'm obsessed with this stuff! It's a Mexican drink made with rice, cinnamon, and milk. They do an excellent job of making it everyday. While I think that Cafe Rio has lost a little bit of it's pizazz that it used to have, I'll still be stopping by for the sweet pork barbacoa and horchata! read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Where the magic happens! - Mexican Near Me - Burke, Virginia

I ordered ahead on my Cafe Rio app. When I got to the restaurant, my order was not there. I was told that they had no record of my name or order # in their system. I showed the person at the register my e-mail confirmation on my phone which he scrolled through. Address was correct, time and date of pick-up was correct. He kept telling me there is no record of my order in their system. He told me to just have my food made. After my food was packed, he said that I got my food for free. I told him that I paid for my food and I had the receipt to prove it. He told me two more times I got my food for free. I told him that I can show him my credit card statement, but he said that he didn't need to see it. This is not my first run-in with Cafe Rio staff. They really need to work on customer service. I stopped coming here for a while, but when they brought back their salmon tacos, I thought I'd give them another try. Big mistake. I prefer not being treated like someone looking for freebies. read more

This is my second time this month picking up food here. The mess up my order and I waited a while for the Salsa for my chips. The last time they missed and item. I asked for my Salsa and they hime me an attitude. Seriously! read more

Decided I wanted to have an alternative for chipotle... food is OK. Might have been what I ordered, but doesn't have too much flavor in my opinion. Just a solid burrito. read more

Bad customer service and very long waiting time at curbside pickup. I placed my order at 12:11pm. One hour later I arrived at the restaurant and waiting at the curbside pickup area. I called again after arriving and one worker came out to gave other people's order. He asked my name and said "give me some minutes". After about 10 minutes later, still no response. I can't wait anymore since have meeting at work later. it is pandemic time so I really don't want to go inside. But I had to. After talking to the cashier, my order was stilling at desk and not picked up at all! Only until I went inside, they started to prepare my order. Very disappointed and will not order at this restaurant anymore. read more

Tonight was an epic failure for this restaurant. It was Taco Tuesday and Cinco De Mayo. My family decided to order from Café Rio. We placed the order using their App at 6:10 pm. The app told us the order would be ready at 7:10 p.m. The first sign of trouble was when I arrived and saw many people waiting on the sidewalk. Cars were lined up in the curbside pickup area. And many people were waiting inside the restaurant and not social distancing. These, I was told, were people doing third party pickup. Other customers waiting at the curbside told me the restaurant was at least an hour behind. I flagged down a store employee who was bringing food out to people who had expected their orders to be ready at 6 p.m., and gave him my name and told him I wanted to cancel my order. I left and purchased dinner elsewhere. Café Rio, if you cannot satisfy the demand on a busy night like this, you need to stop talking orders. Otherwise you need to have sufficient staff to fulfill the orders on time. Some people may think I am being too harsh, but there needs to be a way to stop taking online orders if they cannot meet the demand. read more

Tasty food that never disappoints but it's too popular and crowded and noisy during usual lunch hours. Every time I've eaten here, I've noticed the clientele is trashy and rude to staff. read more

This place was terrible. They asked if we wanted cheese on the taco (before grilling), the person I was with said no. They put it on anyway. We only found this out when the person I was with asked for shredded cheese (not melted) and the girl behind the counter told him, "it already has cheese on it." Number one, he told the guy who put the taco on the grill in the first place no cheese (before grilling), number two, it shouldn't matter whether it already has melted cheese on it, if the customer asks for shredded cheese, give the customer the shredded cheese! Then she wanted to argue with him about it and then blamed him because she said his voice didn't carry. But she wasn't the one who made the taco in the first place. Ugh. Then they asked if we wanted it remade but we declined because a) it took so long in the first place, b) who knows what they would do to it... The right thing to do considering all the arguing was to not charge for it at all. Really unpleasant experience before we even sat down. We ordered two taco plates each, $9.50 each, a side of chips/salsa/queso, $5.99 and two sodas. It came to an outrageous $30. WAY overpriced. The tortilla edges were hard like they'd been sitting out for way too long. And the garbage can was overflowing. There were only about 10 people in there the whole time we were there and it finally got emptied right before we left. Lastly, when I got home and was sipping the last of my fountain drink, I saw that, inexplicably, there was money in my cup. Two dollar bills in my soda cup. The only thing I can think of is that they were using a cup as a tip jar (as if) and they accidentally handed that cup to me. I was completely grossed out to say the least. I have no reason to try this place every again. It's an overrated "Mexican" cafeteria. And that's insulting to cafeterias. read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Overflowing garbage can. There were only about 10 people in there the whole time we were there. It did get emptied by the time we left. - Mexican Near Me - Burke, Virginia