Skip to main content

Cafe Rio ~ regional chain : Colorado Springs, Colorado


Latest visit: Oct 2025 (Briargate near Chapel Hills mall)

First visit: May 2011 (Glendale, CO)

HQ: Salt Lake City, UT; Founded: 1997 (St. George, UT)

---10/31/25 (Colorado Springs)

It's been 14 years since I first went to a Cafe Rio, and have subsequently forgot about the original experience. I've been wanting to get over here for well over a year, since they first opened here in the Springs. It's not too far from where we live, but I'm just never in this area during lunchtime. Today I made it a priority.

Cafe Rio is in every way similar to another Utah chain that we've covered extensively here in the RJG: Costa Vida. Get in line, and your counter server will pull out an aluminum round tray. I ordered the Rio Burrito, so first comes the big floppy flour tortilla. Filled with rice, and choice of pinto or black beans. Then a protein, and I went with the Fire Roasted Chicken. Essentially grilled and spiced chicken, cut into cubes. Then they add a salsa. Followed by your choice of smother. The red is the hotter so I went with that. Not sure if I could have done a Christmas and also had the green. I'll try for that next time. They then wrap up the burrito and throw cheese on top. Into the conveyor belt oven your tray goes, and on the other side you have a hot melted cheese burrito. They then will add lettuce, guac and sour cream (the latter two not for me). Paid up at the register, grabbed a water, and $14 later I was munching down my burrito.

I must say this is much better than my last experiences at Costa Vida. I found the sauces spicier, the chicken more inspired, and the rice perfectly cooked. Excellent really. I'll have to go back to Costa Vida, it's been a couple of years. In listening to the employees speak, it sounds like Cafe Rio recently upgraded their offerings.

The restaurant seems well managed, and I'm pretty sure the manager was onsite. Clean and comfortable. The crowd was light at just after 11:00, but steady.

Easy RJG Rotation addition.

Locations: 170 stores in 11 states (UT, CO, WY, CA, AZ, ID, MT, NV, WA, VA, MD)

Colorado Springs: 10/31/25
Glendale, CO: 5/21/11

10/31/25 (new entry)

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Five Guys Burgers and Fries ~ national chain : Colorado Springs, Colorado

Latest visit: Oct 2023 (Colorado Springs - Interquest) First visit: Jan 2007 (Reston, VA) Locations: 49 states + DC. Only Alaska is missing. There are 30 in Colorado (4 in the Springs). That's +3 from last year. Texas has 68 (our former locale of Southlake is closed, so Hurst would have been the closest). There are 123 in California which is their largest state presence. The original Reston location that I first went to is still going.  In what appears to be a recurring theme, I state each year this will be my last visit to Five Guys. Only to return anyway. This year's excuse is I wanted to try their new location, which very recently opened up close to our house. This is definitely the closest we've ever lived to a Five Guys - even the Reston location was further from my office at the time. And I thought maybe it would make a good choice for a weekday lunch while working from home, thus putting Five Guys back into the rotation. I put that idea to the test here this Saturda...
2 comments
Read more

Denver's Old School Italian Restaurants

I know, I know... I haven't posted anything in 6 months. You were checking back every week, then every month and now I've fallen completely off your radar. Sorry about that. My only lame excuse is that I've been "saving up" for a good one. I've been wanting to write about Denver's Italian restaurants since we returned part-time last year. And you all know how the RJG feels about this style of restaurant . As someone who grew up in Dallas, perhaps I've been more drawn to cities that embrace their history rather than completely demolish it. Only recently has Dallas become more acutely aware of their past. Previously, any buildings not in use have been razed as fast as possible, to make way for the next brand new shopping center - all in the latest architecture naturally. Contrarily you have cities like St. Louis that are 19th and 20th century industrial ghost towns - places frozen in time because for most everyone who could, they just up and left to ...
8 comments
Read more

Taco Casa ~ regional chain : Keller, Texas

Latest visit: Oct 2018 (Keller, TX)  First visit: 1992 (Durant, OK) We snuck into DFW to move the RJG's official Mom to Colorado Springs this past October. This was our only restaurant visit, as we were on a tight schedule. Could this be the last RJG visit in DFW (other than the airport of course)? It could very well be... wow, seems strange. Hard to believe the majority of the below review is now 10.5 years old. --- The RJG likes him some tacos. We mentioned in other posts that while Italian and Thai probably constitute our favorite restaurant experiences, taco places represent our favorite fast food excursion. And we'll boldly admit that it isn't even the authentic Mexican taco / taqueria stand that has been in vogue these last 25 years (though we like those too!). No, we like the good old fashioned American styled, crunchy taco. Taco Bell may be its iconic image, but it's hardly the best representative. Most taco chains are of the regional variety. And we've ...
10 comments
Read more