Surprise surprise I found myself some fresh Mexican! I enjoyed my meal here and customer service was pretty cool! We came in for a quick food order and were satisfied with the entire experience. They offered us a taste of the churro cookie (delish) but I didn't get a full one. I order the Rio burrito, filled with steak pinto beans rice, pico-de-gallo, peppers and onions, baked and topped with lettuce and sour cream. I included a cup of queso on the side and it was a great add-on! The portions were huge and the food was filling. This order was to go so we didn't dine inside and will definitely return read more

See all

This place is disgusting! We wanted to try this place out as we heard great things about it. The food was not fresh and the service was horrible. The floors, counters, and cooking area were filthy. My lettuce was black. No manager on site and the employees have no idea what they're doing. Definitely won't be returning back here. read more

This was my first time trying Cafe Rio. It was a subpar first time. It reminded me a lot to A chipotle or a Costa Vida type vibe. The price was extremely high for the options that you can get the flavor was good though I think I would prefer going to a Costa Vida and get the same size burrito for less. The people working there didn't seem to enjoy their job. Wearing hoodies and disgusting. Looks on their face. read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Chicken burrito - Mexican Near Me - Castle Rock, Colorado

First time having Cafe Rio after a 3 hr drive back from Nebraska & we were starving for it to be cold, undercooked, with poor service & hygiene. The Rio Burrito with the red sauce tasted like canned chili. The rice was hard & the tortillas tasted like wet Fritos. The meat had no flavor or seasoning. After taking a few bites our fork broke onto the burrito and we just gave up on eating it. Never will come back after that experience. read more

To start off, I've been coming here for a long time because of the people and the food. This time was a lot different. I walked in and wasn't greeted at the door. When I walked up, the people working the line had an attitude, food looked like it was sitting out for a while and didn't look appealing. I ordered a burrito the way I wanted it to be, but the workers had a hard time and wouldn't listen. I then told them that is what I would like, nothing else and they finally did what I asked. The same problem happened with another family member. I wouldn't recommend coming here again because how the food taste, service was, and the environment of the restaurant read more

I don't know what happened recently at the castle rock location that has caused the customer service to fall so badly. I did a mobile order and picked it up at the time they said it would be ready. I was told that they were really busy and that it would be another 15 minutes. They only had one person putting the mobile orders together. There was one employee that wasn't working g but was hanging out with the staff and interfering with their ability to move faster. Management needs to do something fast before this location loses business. read more

After my soccer game I went to this place and OMG! I got a burrito with steak and rice with cheese. Some of my family members got beans, and it exploded into the bowl so don't recommend the beans. But for me it was so good! I got sour cream with it but I wish the sour cream was inside it though. But either way it was amazing. Highly recommend read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Very good burrito - Mexican Near Me - Castle Rock, Colorado

David was absolutely delightful and such a rare joy behind the counter. Most individuals in fast food don't have the level of energy and charisma he does when speaking with and entertaining customers. He asked so many questions about us and kept the talk flowing easily, but definitely acted like he actually cared. 10/10 experience. read more

First time at Cafe Rio, more like Fatty Rio. Ordered the steak quesadilla, got about 25% steak and the other 75% was all fat. Not very impressive. I'm from Orlando Florida and I thought the closer I get to Mexico the better the Mexican food. read more

We discovered this place a while back and frankly it had become one of our favorites. We think it's way better than Chipotle. However, It may be starting to go downhill. We came in after they opened yesterday (almost certainly first customers of the day) and the dining room was filthy. Most tables had food on them and trash under them. The beverage station didn't look very clean and the floor underneath the station looked pretty disgusting. Trash receptacles were filthy. Obviously whoever closed the night before did not clean. And there were at least five employees in the kitchen that morning, which in fairness was clean from what we could tell, but no one doing anything about dining room. This was a Saturday in a busy shopping area during the holidays so I'm sure in another hour it would be very busy. Yet, I doubt customers would be able to find a clean place to eat as we probably got the only one that looked wiped off at 10:50 in the morning. Anyway, despite having gone to this store regularly we may be done. I can't deal with dirty restaurants even if it is the dining room. They either dropped the ball that day or just don't care. read more

Flavors are nice but the rice in my salad that took up about 60% of the bowl wasn't cooked thoroughly so every few bites we'd get a rock hard piece of rice. read more

Ordered the bowl with rice, black beans and protein (steak?), guac,and hot sauce. The server took ten minutes to ring with an $8 coupon. He took more time and the declared my coupon was only worth a buck. Frustrated I left without food and told him to keep it. Such a low quality establishment! read more

Calling this place fresh is a joke. This is the second time I've ordered here, the first time things were wrong or food items were cold, but I figured it was a one off thing, so I'd give them another chance. This second time absolutely blew my mind with how horrible it is. Firstly they were out of the protein I wanted which isn't that big of a deal, but what gets me is the rice. It was very clearly old rice that they scrapped off the bottom of the pan. It was ICE COLD and was like chewing on plastic, barely edible. Also the fact I ordered double rice yet my bowl was 80% lettuce is might as well been a salad with a dash of rice. The only saving grace, if that's what you can even call it, is the horchata was decent but that's not anything to be proud of. I'll be taking my business elsewhere from now on. read more

Food is bomb here, fresh & big portions! It definitely fills you up, delicious. Definitely worth the drive coming up here from the springs. read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Polo chicken burrito - Mexican Near Me - Castle Rock, Colorado

Saw some older poor reviews and wanted to add my positive experience. We come here every once in a while, but our lunch today was especially great! The employees didn't skimp on meat and toppings. And informed us that a kids quesadilla (entree, not meal) is free! No one had told us that before. We noticed employees cleaning and straightening out tables throughout our meal. Clean, and quality meal. read more

We stopped in for lunch and I grabbed a burrito. The line moved quickly. The dining area and bathrooms were clean, the staff was friendly, and the cost was reasonable. The burrito was pretty standard fare, about as-expected. The queso paired well with it as well as the habanero salsa, which had a little kick to it. I also tried the horchata, which was good. My wife grabbed chicken nachos. I thought the chicken needed seasoning, but the cheese and everything else on top helped balance it out. It was a pretty dense plate for a lunch. read more

The staff is nice but the food is always cold here. The warming trays that the food items are in are lukewarm at best. The food is always served cold. Can't stand going here anymore as the warming rack that they run your dish thru doesn't really heat up your dish. Just barely warms the outside and nothing else gets cooked. Cold slop. How can you ruin a bean and cheese burrito? By serving it cold. Will never go here again. read more

I never leave reviews but after what we were served, this deserved a review. worst food I've ever had, cold enchilada, soggy tostado taco, very cold tortillas for the tacos, missing drinks, and overall poor customer service. I will NEVER go back to this place or recommend others! steer clear! Overpriced for crap food and service. Don't waste your time and money like I did. read more

See all

A solid 3.5 stars and I'd gladly go back for more of that tortilla. I know similar chains might give you a burrito the size of a small child but I think I'd pick Cafe Rio over those when I have the choice. The fact that just about every menu option consists of the same ingredients is somewhat amusing but at least they all taste good. Pick how you want your beans, cheese, meat, tortilla, and veggies and you're all set. Speaking of the tortilla, that's where Cafe Rio really shines. They're much better than the other Mexican chains. I personally recommend getting the salad. All the good things you pick sit atop the tortilla and you can pull off pieces as you go. For the meat, I recommend going with the one with green chilé. Lots of flavor and not much heat for anyone iffy on the spicy. More than a few tables outside and they're taking precautions with filling and refilling fountain drinks. There's definitely a well formed barrier between patrons and the food so you can feel pretty COVID safe here. read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - The salad is pretty much a deconstructed burrito and I'm okay with that - Mexican Near Me - Castle Rock, Colorado

Ordered 5 meals from Cafe Rio today. 2 of the meals, both the 2 tacos had the wrong protein in them. All 5 meals were so soggy that we had to throw all of them away as they were not edible. On top of spending $90 there and getting that unacceptable quality of food, the staff was incredibly rude to my boyfriend when he picked it up. We will not ever go back to this place. Money down the drain. read more

Delicious food - dirty restaurant! My boyfriend suggested this restaurant because he had a quesadilla here a while back and said it was really good! The first thing I noticed when I walked in is that the food prep area was very dirty, but not dirt dirty, food dirty. There was food, flour & water spots everywhere. It kind of made me not want to eat here but I gave it a chance. I ordered a tostada and after she added everything I asked for she placed through their conveyor oven. Then I watched her use her dirty apron to grab the side of the container...yuck! I did eat the salad and it was actually really really good but the fact that they don't keep the restaurant clean really makes me nervous and grossed me out. I'm not sure I could eat here again after what I saw. read more

See all

As a door dash and Uber person. The take out line horrific. I got there about 15 minutes after the order and had another order waiting. They had one guy working the take out and 8 people working the in side part. Poor kid took 15 minutes to prep each order. After standing there for 20 minutes. I had a client CandL another order and had to reject another. Cost me a total of about &20 and the worst part he hadn't even started my order. Management please fix your take out or don't take carry out orders at all. I'm sure the food is ok. But me not my client had a chance to see. Seriously have more than one person working take out food. It was not even close and the poor kid working had TJ ready everything 5 times before making it. Very disappointing. read more

Ordered on the cafe Rio website, picked up food myself and was charged an extra 21%. Was told that Postmates hijacked the website. Postmates and Cafe Rio both refused to refund the extra 20%. Food was.. meh. And the management response (below) does not make the situation right. I would not do business with these people ever again and will report their practices to the proper authority. read more

Food is average. Lacks flavor that makes you remember and say I want more. Nice seeing your food prepared from beginning to end. I kept getting e-mails about App points expiring. I unsubscribed and continued to get reminder e-mails. Last time eating at this chain. read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - the interior of the restaurant - Mexican Near Me - Castle Rock, Colorado

We usually love Cafe Rio, this specific location is absolutely terrible. Ordered tacos, first order was made incorrectly and the worker refused to remake them, leaving a coworker to have to do it. After that, none of the tacos had any cheese and contained barely any meat. As other reviews have noted this, it's clearly an indication of the the poor management and quality assurance of the product. Do your best to avoid. read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Mexican Near Me - Castle Rock, Colorado

So this is probably the worst experience I've had with cafe rio. Barely got any meat on my tacos, they poured the side of sour cream into the same pan. My 5$ side of protein has nothing in it, even managed to give me a cold side of tortillas. Embarrassing service. read more

See all

The Cafe Rio in CastleRock is probably the worst location I have ever been to. Super disrespectful employees, definitely need more training on customer service. When I asked for queso... the employee blankly looked at me and said they're out without giving us any info on if they'll make anymore. Haha it's nachos, how do you not have queso?? The first red flag was how dead it was inside the restaurant. I walked out. I didn't even want the half ass nachos the snot nose filled kid made. 0/10. read more

Amazing Pulled Pork Quesadillas!! My wife had tortilla salad with pulled pork. We have eaten here a few times and the quality of food never lets you down. Too bad their closed on Thanksgiving day but I understand. read more

After a dozen visits and a few hiccups tonight really decimated all others. After ordering online at 8:15 to be ready at 8:30 I arrived at 8:40 to find my order not bagged and missing items. After arriving home I realized it was far from over. The quesadilla wasn't cut at all, unlike like the times before where it was haphazardly cut. After biting in and realizing this is sweet pork not Chile pork I pick at the lump of meat in the middle before tossing it in the trash. Truly frustrating to order 45 minutes before close in an empty restaurant and get such horrible service and quality or lack thereof. read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Un-sliced "quesadilla" with the wrong protein. Quesadilla - Mexican Near Me - Castle Rock, Colorado

See all

He likes this place and I can't figure out why. I don't mind it but it's not my go to for Mexican food. They're not open for dine in yet but we didn't know so we went. You're not required to wear a mask to enter but the servers have masks. There's a plexi along the order counter and between that, the masks and the regular noise it's difficult to hear and to order. But we persevered and just decided to accept whatever happened. So my dish wasn't exactly what I wanted but oh well. I chose tacos with the spicy hatch chile pork - shredded pork simmered in tomatillos, habaneros and hatch green chilles. I added rice and beans to my dish. He had a burrito. The dishes were wrapped to go for us. There are no soda refills which is not good. Another restaurant we went to offered refills with new cups. We sat out on the patio tables among other diners. The spicy hatch Chile pork is my favorite meat so far. There was a little too much juice in the pico but the tacos were still tasty. That would have made my review four stars even with the inconveniences. But the rice was awful. It must have sat out too long. Dry, crusty dry for some of it and tasteless. I love rice so this was horrible. No matter how many times we come here I never feel like it's worth it. read more

See all

We've got some mixed reviews here. I had zero complaints about my meal, except I wish I was given even MORE grilled chicken- I got double chicken... And my niece really liked her tacos too. That being said, my friend and husband didn't really enjoy their meals at all and they blame it on the shredded chicken. Apparently the grilled vs shredded chicken makes a big difference. I also think what helped my meal become more tasty, was the extra sides of guac I asked for! Guacamole, avocado in general, makes everything taste better in my opinion, including my lunch! Over all, I didn't mind it at all, however, despite it resembling Chipotle in a lot of ways, it was NOT as tasty! read more

Big portions, so yummy and quick! Staff is always friendly and several options to customize exactly what you want!

I wanted to like it. It was good and seemed fresh. However, I got food poisoning. I know it's this food because that's exactly what came back up (and out). This isn't the first time I've heard of someone getting food poisoning from here but I thought. 'What the heck? That was many years ago that I heard about someone getting sick, let's give it a go.' Nope, never again. The employees were all very kind and quick, it was just the food. read more

Shredded chicken and barbacoa are good, but they are soooo stingy with their toppings and charge you for every little thing you add to your entree! They have zero consideration for the environment with plastic and styrofoam everywhere. Just annoyed at this place. read more

Wow, food here has really gone downhill! The restaurant was not even busy, the food in the containers was old looking and low. The guacamole was discolored and unappetizing. The drink station containers were only about 1 inch full!!! I had one coconut shrimp taco and the shrimp were soggy, not crisp, and absolutely no flavor. O thing like the display picture of them!!! The shredded chicken taco was ok. But everything there is too wet. Too much water in everything Even the lettuce was swimming in water! YUCK. The counters were dirty and it looked like no one had cleaned anything for the entire afternoon. Very sloppy inside. I was already feeling uneasy when I got home, 20 min away. Stomach ache all afternoon. Bad, just bad food. Someone needs to supervise this establishment and make it shine. It used to be very good, but not this time!!! Don't think I'll come back or recommend this place to anyone until they improve. read more

Not sure what's going on with this location lately but it's an absolute stye!! Walked in and used the bathroom which was filthy. Tables were dirty and trays/garbage stacked overflowing out of every bin. Food prep line was a pig stye too with scatter rice everywhere. Food was ok but not hot. Rice was a little hard as well! Sad because I really like Cafe Rio but dang, clean that sucker up and serve HOT food!! read more

I come to Cafe Rio quite often when my boyfriend is in town. The food is not that bad for "fast food", but it can be expensive. It took a us about 20 minutes to get to the front of the line. The staff is super friendly though! read more

Ordered door dash for dinner. Two chicken tacos with rice and beans. Got two tacos with rice and beans but no chicken. Tried calling to get them to correct the order but no one will pick up. Definitely a terrible meal. Will look for other options next time. read more

Service was great. The steak burrito with hot sauce was very bland. The horchata was good. I think I prefer Costa Vida.

My enchilada and salad were fantastic! The queso was significantly more dense than any I've ever had so we mixed sauce into it. It did taste good. The quesadilla had WAY too much cheese. This is coming from a cheese lover. So much cheese it was hard to pick up. read more