I live the smell when I walk in! Very colorful atmosphere! Angela is a very energetic employee, and as a regular I love to see consitstant nice faces! Great vibe, food is seasoned well, and you can see them making the tortillas. Which are also very soft! read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Sweet barbacoa bowl - Mexican Near Me - Manassas, Virginia

Don't bother, I'm sorry to say.... We were in the area to pick up something at Floor & Decor and had a craving for "simple fast casual chain Mexican". We searched Yelp and could not for the life of us find a close by Chipotle, Moe's, Qdoba, CalTort. The only Mexican places right around there are one-off mom-and-pop little hole-in-the-walls. And a Taco Bell. And then there's Cafe Rio. Again, DON'T BOTHER. We went to Cafe Rio thinking it looked like a decent place from the outside. We perused the menu online and saw it had basic Mexican food and didn't want to take a chance on any of the mom-and-pop places (even though they had better reviews). We should have waited and just gone back home hungry or stopped in at Taco Bell!!!! AGAIN, DON'T BOTHER WITH THIS PLACE. SO NOT WORTH IT. Frankly I'm shocked that this place appears to have been in existence for soooo many years - I see pics from like 11 years ago - ? That's CRAZY. Howwwwwww? Don't get it. Everything is wayyyy overpriced for what you get. A small fountain drink is $3.19. The Queso & Chips are almost $7 tf?!!! To boot, the queso is weirdly gritty and a weird chunky consistency. The Kid's Meal is over $5 for nothing. And an a la carte soft taco is $5.29 - TOO MUCH!!! Our whole meal was $23 (see my receipt pic I posted, no lie) - and for what? Practically not much, that's what. I would MAYBE be ok paying that price IF the food was delicious and plentiful for what I paid. Just maybe..... But sadly, the food is bland and the portions are small. Even Taco Bell would have been WAY better tasting, fresher ingredients, MUCH cheaper and thus a way better value for the money. smh. Again, I'm not sure how this place is still in business. With the low foot traffic here (we walked in mid afternoon on the Memorial Day Monday holiday and there was only 1 family eating in the whole place), I can't imagine the food turns over very quickly - which means the ingredients can't be all that fresh. Enough said. I think you know how I feel about this place.... read more

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Excellent food. Server was very good. I had the pork barbacoa salad. I didn't even know what it was. They offered me a taste of the meat to see if I liked it. I thought that was very nice. It was really good. She Made my order perfectly to order. I liked the decor of the place too. read more

After years of not being back here, we ate dinner at this restaurant recently. Ordering a steak quesadilla and a burrito. The staff was very exceptional with their prepping and I noticed that they were friendly during customer interactions. We did enjoy the food but it felt pricey for what we got (I know.. what food place isn't somewhat expensive these days). For drinks, I recommend the blueberry mint limeade, so refreshing! Their food is good enough to come back every once in a while. If you haven't eaten here but like to try chips & queso, check this restaurant out! (I like Qdoba's queso dip, for reference) read more

I've been to this place twice, and both times the employees had a bad attitude. Terrible customer service. They're extremely rude and make you feel uncomfortable just for asking simple questions. It's like they don't want to be there or help anyone. I'm Hispanic myself, and it's disappointing to see that kind of attitude toward other customers. Definitely not coming back, and I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone who expects basic respect and professionalism. read more

We love café río and come quite often. We ordered online and arrived a few minutes early to pickup. My husband went in with my toddler and I waited in the car with our newborn. We got there at 5:52 and did not get our order until 6:22. The pickup time was scheduled in advance and for 6pm. It was very difficult keeping both kids happy for 30 minutes. They did not even start the online order until everyone in line at the restaurant had ordered. The purpose of online ordering is to make it fast and convienent. This has now happened two times and it is very frustrating. We are happy with the flavor and food but very frustrated with the experience. Not a single person working there apologized or even cared that my husband and toddler were standing around for so long. read more

The food has lost all the taste and quality. The new bowls are a joke to cut the food in half and charge $10 still. The barbacoa tastes like water and the fajitas are all tasteless. Service was good but I'm at a restaurant to buy food mostly. The place is clean. I will be calling my bank regarding the chargeback. read more

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

The worst experience I've ever had in any restaurant. My hushand ordered online. I ordered my own at Cafe Rio. Mine was ready as I ordered. The online order took over 35 minutes. When it was FINALLY ready, I drove home and they had given me the wrong protein. I threw it away. What a waste. I really did love Cafe Rio, but now... I'm not feeling it anymore.. I did contact corporate, but they didn't reach out to me. read more

I was starving so it was good, but rice was majorly undercooked. but the food TASTED good aside from that, and the service was good. read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - salad bowl - Mexican Near Me - Manassas, Virginia

Rio Bland. Flavor on the burrito was missing. Enchilada style lost me for the soggy burrito. Back in the day it probably was a 10 event. Now 19 with a drink I should have went for the nachos. For plastic cutlery they held up for the shoveling. Coke and -ades galore. I gave it a try... read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Burrito - Mexican Near Me - Manassas, Virginia

I agree with Lola O and some other Yelp reviews on here. I gave this place two chances and only because the first time, I ordered pick up for the office and my coworker went to get the food and it was missing my rice and beans in the taco combo. Corporate reached out to me and I emailed them, and they did not give me a refund to my original card payment, only a Cafe Rio credit for the missing food, so I had no choice but to return today 02-21-2023. The staff here was really unfriendly, the three employees I interacted with were impatient and rushed me even though I was polite initially. I got annoyed because they made it seem like it was a huge inconvenience to prepare my food, (even though ironically, in reality it was an inconvenience for me to even come back to Cafe Rio bc they messed up my order the first time....) The clientele dining was not diverse, so obviously don't expect authentic food, idk if their other customers are rude or what, but that still doesn't justify passing on the negativity to customers who just want a decent experience, like I did. I would avoid this place unless you want to get yelled at for simply ordering food.... Really poor experience with the service here. I work with customers and patients daily, coming here after work for dinner was a mistake, and I would just let the meal credit expire if I knew the service would be abrasive like this. read more

I am in Manassas for a conference and looking for some dinner. I can't believe I passed up all of the nearby restaurants to order from here. Tasteless guacamole, flavorless burrito, I'm so upset I spent $30+ for this bad food! I was surprised to see cleaning buckets with rags sitting out to wipe down surfaces. (Thought that went out with COVID) I tried to eat more but couldn't. Really tasteless food. Wasn't even warm by the time I drove back to the hotel! read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Burrito with guacamole. - Mexican Near Me - Manassas, Virginia

$18.47 after tax for ONE super wet quesadilla. It was DECENT but for the price not worth it im still hungry too wasn't even filling. I thought it was gonna be a huge quesadilla based on the pictures but it was slop in a tortilla. Staff was friendly though so that's good. I'd love a refund if they could do that so I can get something filling instead of a quesadilla with barely any meat that was wet read more

As much as we love cafe Rio, this may be the worst location we've ever been to, and we've been to this one a couple times. The food is fresh, the customer service is average. But here's the reason for the lower rating: the PORTIONS, they give WAY LESS PORTIONS then all the other locations in the area. My wife can normally spread her salad out over two, sometimes three meals if really stretching it, and she at the WHOLE salad. They are very light on the meat, rice and bean portions. This is NO BUENO. read more

I came here because I was craving Horchata, came to the store around 8:11 and all the juices weren't there! There was a empty container of horchata and people were already cleaning. I went to the line ready to open and I didn't felt welcomed, they obviously didn't wanted to take my order, the 2 girls at front didn't have any costumer service experience. I had to even as a cashier for drinks and chips. when they are supposed to offer items to costumers, but anyways What a disappointment! read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - the interior of a restaurant - Mexican Near Me - Manassas, Virginia

I love the green "dressing" and get a side of it to add to my nachos. This is by far my favorite place for nachos. The serving size is too big for just me and it doesn't travel well because chips would get soggy. Trying to find someone to come with me to help me eat them there isn't as easy I would have thought. Some employees are better at assembling the nachos than others but the flavor is always great. I have also enjoyed shrimp tacos in the past, they were very good. I do have minor complaints about corporate decisions like when they removed the stevia sweetened strawberry lemonade and twice my loyalty points have been erased because I was unable to get there as often as I would like. I have no complaints about the food taste or quality or the service. If I could change anything it would be to not erase loyalty points and I think it would be easier to persuade my friends to go there after work if they had margaritas and a happy hour. read more

I love this place! Ever since my coworkers introduced me, I've been obsessed. Everything tastes super fresh and delicious, the horchata and the mango drinks are extremely good. I would recommend staying away from the lemonade though, it was pretty bland :/ The inside is usually clean and bright and the employees have always got my orders right. Really glad I work nearby! read more

I ordered online few times here, but never got it correct. They always miss some toppings or sides.

Order my food in line and got it to go. Once home I was a couple bits in my salad when I saw a bug crawling up from under. I lost my appetite and called the restaurant. Told me I had to have to wait 24 hours for the purchase to process and get a refund. read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Shredded chicken salad - Mexican Near Me - Manassas, Virginia

Cafe Rio is always the best! I can honestly say that I have never had a bad meal here. Everything is fresh and the staff takes the time to make sure your meal is perfect. I have had some times here where I needed to wait for them to finish making an item (the sweet pork is worth waiting for!) and they will remake my meal on the spot, without asking. I don't know what it is about Cafe Rio, but all of their locations have such fabulous and hardworking employees! I can't say enough about the effort of the staff here. read more

Very delicious food! The quantity is great and everything is so fresh. The salsa and the lettuce feel like they're made fresh. All the meat also taste healthy and great. Definitely recommend. read more

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I would go pretty out of the way for this place. The barbacoa (sweet port) is pretty amazing. Put a little of the weird green sauce on it and you've got gold. (The price of taco Tuesday has steadily gone up every year, but it's still not a bad deal). read more

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

Terrible customer service. I convinced all my co workers how great cafe rio was and this store made me look like a liar. I usually go to the one in Chantilly (which is great btw) But I ordered through the app and they got EVER SINGLE ORDER WRONG!! They couldn't even manage to give us chips with the chips and queso I ordered. We had an event going on at work and could not go back so we called to see if they could bring them. She said "no we're too busy but you can file a complaint with corporate" This is a terrible way of doing business and I will never go to this location again. read more

Clean on the inside. Love the sweet pork and the horchata!! Has a outside dining area to eat at read more

Service was ok, food was cold, tasteless and too expensive for the low quality. Will not return. read more

Finally had a chance to stop in here for lunch. The place was absolutely packed with customers. As others have noted, similar in concept to the assembly line approach of Chipotle. I ordered the Pork Barbacoa Burrito - with black beans, and I went with the spicy sauce, cheese melted on the outside, more of the sauce ladled over the outside - plus guacamole and lettuce on the outside. I was surprised and how strongly sweet the sauce was. I was expecting something spicy. I really did not like the sweetness of the sauce. I retrieved a bottle of the Half Moon Bay Smoked Chipotle sauce and liberally drowned the Burrito with it - to try and overcome the rampant sweetness of the sauce. If it weren't for the sweetness of the sauce, it would have been a pretty good Burrito. I'm not a fan of that style sauce. I would give this place another chance - but try something that does not have that annoyingly sweet sauce! read more

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My family loves Cafe Rio, and we're excited to find one in Northern Virginia. The food is awesome. I'd go for a chicken burrito with 1/2 and 1/2 beans. It's fresh and made-to-order, so don't expect Taco Bell prices. I like the kitschy decor and the splattered-paint look. It's it's weird, and fun. I also enjoy horchata and the mint-lemonade on tap - although check the calories! My one issue with this location is that depending on the staff, you may get great service, or you may get not-so-great service. It may be a re-training issue for a couple staffers. read more

I have eaten here at least 3 times. It can be good but then more time than not there's been an issue with the order. Maybe I should not mobile order so much. Going in worked better read more

Rude staff, had a poorly wrapped burrito that made it genuinely impossible to properly eat it with the sour cream underneath the burrito which soaked into it instead of being totally to the side to just add as I go, and what's the point of the the to go area if they can't pre-fill the drinks you've ordered read more

Love this place, have had the burritos, the salads, and the quesadillas and l can recommend them all.

If you're a fan of unseasoned steak and soggy tortillas, boy have I got the place for you! It all started when I decided I wanted, no NEEDED, a chicken tortilla soup from Cafe Rio, known for the in house made ingredients and tex-mex dishes. When they first came to the east coast, they were all the rage because of this and their consistency and commitment to quality and good food. I hadn't had the chance to get any for awhile and when I managed to find one on the job today, I had to stop in. I ordered one(1) steak taco with a side of rice, topped it with lettuce and pico de gallo, as well as the aforementioned tortilla soup. Upon picking up my taco for the first bite, the juice of a thousand cut tomatoes ran out of my taco, but not before rendering my taco tortilla completely soggy. Oh well, soggy tortilla, no big deal right? Well, it wouldn't have been had the meat tasted better than soggy cardboard. I take that back, soggy cardboard wouldn't appreciate that i'm comparing it to this steak. Though cooked properly, it lacked any definition or flavor that you'd expect when biting into a juicy morsel of steak. I try a bit of rice to see if I can get the flavors to compliment it each other. No such luck. It actually had the opposite effect. The rice, though appearing appetizing, was dry and flavorless, almost hard at times(i was their first customer 5 minutes after they opened). All this for the pricetag of 16$ and some change. Didn't finish my taco or rice. The soup was the best item in my whole order, though I think that's one of the few items they don't make in house. I don't know if it's this particular location that is especially bad or if Cafe Rio have lost their touch but I would not recommend ever dining here unless you want to be led astray to what good fast casual tex-mex is. read more

Nachos with Sweet Pork Barbacoa. Barely any meat, tasted stale, chips were soggy, guacamole was brown. It was overall a very unpleasant experience. Threw the bowl away after three bites and had a stomach ache after. read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Nachos with Sweet Pork Barbacoa. - Mexican Near Me - Manassas, Virginia

Ordered from Cafe Rio today for me and my boyfriend. I ordered the salad bowl and the burrito, both with their sweet barbacoa. To be honest, the barbacoa was a little too sweet for me, but their tomatillo sauce evened out the taste of it. The tomatillo cream sauce on its own is something I would pay for. It was delicious!! The bowl was HUGE. Wish I took a photo of it haha. Nevertheless, it did not disappoint. I would classify it more to be a burrito bowl instead of a salad lol. As for the burrito, it was massive as well, but not as appealing. They left the greens and tomato outside of the burrito, which was a little confusing. And it wasn't even wrapped all the way, it was more like a big taco. O read more

Cafe Rio Fresh Modern Mexican - Salad - Mexican Near Me - Manassas, Virginia

I have a Cafe Rio very close to my house. I used to order from there frequently. Since the change in ownership it has gone downhill in a serious fashion. I've been ordering online lately due to the pandemic. They tell me what time my order is ready and I go and pick it up. The last several times I have done that I have waited 30 minutes for the food to actually be ready for me to pickup. Last night I went figuring waiting in line couldn't be worse than waiting for my online order so I'd try that route. After waiting in line for a very long time, given how few people were actually in line, they were out of both kinds of beans. There isn't really any food you can buy there that doesn't involve beans. I decided to get the soup and half way through the counter where its being made, I get told they are out of broth. How does this happen on a Saturday evening around 8:00 p.m.? I used to go there at lunch with clients. The line would be backed up to the door. We would get through the line in time to have a leisurely lunch and head back to work within our allotted lunch time frame. Now I wouldn't even think of it. They don't enforce the social distancing and were very slow to follow the mask mandate. read more

The line workers very rude and not understanding at all. The portions were a joke, They skimped even with the Lettuce? The "manager" doesn't know how to deal with customers. Used to love coming here years ago, the ambiance is nice but it's just not worth it with anymore. read more

This breaks my heart to give Cafe Rio an updated review of one star because it used to be my favorite restaurant. I had a horrible customer service experience here recently and will not be returning. When I filled out the contact form on their website, I added my contact info so HQ could contact me and I never heard back in 2 weeks. I had 100 points on their app so I received a $10 credit. I ordered one of their delicious salads, but the new app was taking forever to load at the register when I tried to redeem my credit. The cashier told me to kill the app and restart. That wiped out my credit and it showed $0. I asked them to honor the $10 credit (my meal was only $11 so was happy to pay the difference) since they saw the $10 credit in my app before it disappeared when I followed her instructions. She told me no, I had to pay full price. I asked to speak to the manager (I never do this) and they just spoke in Spanish and rolled their eyes to each other. I retold the story and asked for my $10 credit to be honored (since I earned it by spending $100 there to get the $10 credit - I've done this many times before). They said no again. I pushed back and said I would walk away, then they offered $5. I said no I have a $10 credit that was lost. They smiled condescendingly and then shrugged. I told them I was a loyal customer and that I would walk away and leave the food if they didn't honor my credit. They said no again and shrugged, so I walked out and left the food. I reminded them I was a loyal customer and have never been treated this poorly before. I have been going here for years and these girls were new workers I think since I didn't recognize them. They do not stand by the brand and they do not represent Cafe Rio well. Such a disappointment to not hear back from HQ too. read more

I have eaten here 3 times and every single time my order has been wrong. The first two times I called in my order so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and assumed they just misunderstood what I said. Today I placed my order online to make sure there was no miscommunication and every item in my order was wrong!! The receipt that they taped to my bag had everything listed correctly and yet everything they put in the bag was SOO wrong... Cafe Rio used to be one of my family's favorite places to eat and this location has officially ruined it for us... read more

If you like Chipotle you will absolutely LOVE Cafe Rio. The same concept...select what you want but will twist on ingredients like sweet shredded pork and habanero chicken. They also have tamales and salmon for extra menu diversity. If you like chips and salsa they provide a huge serving of tortilla chips that keep for a day or so and their queso is very flavorful. Staff are always friendly - but not overly so. Hot tip: Tuesday's you save $2 on burritos! read more

Poor customer service. Not a welcoming experience at all. You can feel the negative energy coming from the employees. Walked in 2 1/2 hours before close and while ordering the person making my food was just irritated the whole time. My order was simple nothing special about it. Won't be returning here anymore. I truly don't recommend this location. read more

A bad day for customer service. I could describe my less than desirable experience with this location in colorful words, but it wouldn't help cool me down from how heated I am after my experience. I ordered online for take out. Picked up my order. Got home and discovered that I was not only missing portions of my order, but the items I did receive were wrong. So I drove back, more than mildly irritated, to have them fix the order. The next point is what really angers me. I have had orders wrong at other restaurants before, not cafe rio, and they were fixed no problem. I show up and explain everything wrong with the order and the staff first tries to insist I was the one mistaken, even though my receipt clearly shows they were in the wrong. Once they submit to their error, they wonder why, after my drive to and from and back again to the establishment, I am asking them to redo the entire order after it has gone cold from the drive to correct the error they made. So now we are at the point they decide that they have to provide customer service and read back the receipt to me to ensure they complete the order correctly. Next on this wonderful experience, they bring me my order... and they still have forgotten pieces of the order. One of the employees tried to imply that I did not bring back all pieces of the order, but I just pointed to the bag of items I brought back, and realized they were wrong again. I leave finally with all pieces of the order to return home... only to find that the order was wrong again. At this point I had driven to and from the place twice, the fact that my family has been waiting for food for over 90min should be irrelevant, but one of the main pieces that was wrong the first time was wrong again after they had read back the receipt to me. Mind you, you cannot tell if the order is wrong until you cut/bite into it. No idea if this was an off day for the staff or they just did not care that I made the extra effort to give them a chance to fix the error. I always give second chances to business with bad first impressions, because you never know if you end up on the wrong side of a bad day. This second chance was wasted by the staff. read more