$, Bar Scene, Cheap Eats, Dine At The Bar, Family-Friendly Dining, Group Dining, Local Favorite, Outdoor Dining, Open 7 Days
From its bustling downtown location adjacent to Boulder's Pearl Street Mall, the Rio Grande has become an important part of any visit to downtown Boulder. The Rio has an award-winning combination of delicious and healthy TexMex food freshly prepared every day by our hard-working kitchen staff, famous Cuervo Gold Margaritas, and a lively, energetic atmosphere that can be equally enjoyed by patrons from 5 to 95. The store has many unique features: beautifully hand-painted tables, traditional Mexican music, original artwork, and unique garage door style windows which can be opened or closed to enjoy the ever changing Colorado weather. Built on the premise of creating a fiesta for everyone with fresh food and drink, the Rio becomes "family" for both the employee and the customer. We are proud that the spirit of people is our secret ingredient. Now offering Custom Catering To-Go.
Located right near Pearl Street, the Rio is a favorite among the locals. The margaritas are great and the food is excellent. It can often be packed and have long waiting times, but it is well worth the wait.
Posted 12/27/08 | Report Abuse
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I really enjoy the food here, though I think the margaritas are a bit overrated. They put extra shots in them so it'll put over the top faster than normal.
Posted 05/15/08 | Report Abuse
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The Rio's margaritas are what draws most people to the restaurant. They are the best margaritas in Boulder and their food is amazing as well. Both can become addicting, so beware! The margaritas are high priced, but the limit is three so you won't spend too much. It is always packed, especially in the bar, but it is always worth the wait. Like many places in downtown Boulder it becomes less busy in the summer when the students aren't around, so summer is the best time to go, especially during the week. They have amazing enchiladas and the fajitas are great as well. Anything you order will be great!
Posted 05/17/05 | Report Abuse
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TERRIBLE, bland food; I cant even eat it when Im drunk.
The margaritas are good, however...but dont even bother with an appetizer at this joint.
Posted 02/04/09
OK, so there's alot of differing opinions about the Rio. The truth- it is one of the best places in Boulder. Nowhere else can u go for the atmosphere, overall food quality and delicious margarita. As a long time regular I'm going to lay out a set of rules to keep in mind if u have never been there and respond to the 'naysayers,' which is bound to happen when u serve as many people as the Rio does.
1- the price. u can be in and out with a margarita and entree for under 20$. Try that anywhere else in Boulder that isn't a dive inside like Juanita's. 2- to the one who complained about a chicken bone in her enchilada. This isn't taco bell, they use real chickens, which have bones. Did u know that?
3- The trick to the Rio is keeping things simple. Its high volume and cheap, so u cant expect "Frasca-like" service. Also the waitstaff is mostly college kids looking to pay their bills and have a good time while they work. I have met so many people that come every week, alot of families, because they know the faces and love the prices. Anywhere else in town you will pay 8$ and up for a margarita that has less tequila.
Did you know the Rio's has 3 shots of alcohol? Hence the 3 limit. 4- The rooftop patio is one of the best on earth. Problem is there is no kitchen or bar on the roof so things take longer, plus they have a whole downstairs with hundreds of hungry, thirsty people. How to avoid that? Grab a drink downstairs and carry it up, or order extra when the waiter "finally" arrives. Be patient, u are lucky to be served in such a beautiful place! 5- Cinco de Mayo at the Rio trumps any other Cinco party.
Menu tips- Bobby Flay isn't cooking, got it?
-Guacamole is amazing. Simple, delicious, no unnecessary ingredients.
-Burrito de Carne smothered in Green/spicy or ranchero sauce. So good, especially w/ a margarita!
-Cheese queso appetizer
-Enchiladas,Tostadas,Chicken Salads,Fajitas
-Agave Martini on the rocks= Top shelf margarita for 8-9$!
Pros: Awesome food, margaritas and service. Rooftop patio, "Garage" seats.
Cons: Can get a busy on weekends, but worth the wait!
Posted 10/20/08
I've been here numerous times and have yet to have a bad experience. There margs are tasty, if you like them strong. Being a vegetarian I love the fajitas and nachos. Granted it's not the best mexican food out there, but it's got average prices and a nice atmosphere. Also seating area outdoors - perfect for the hot summer nights! Another good place is Tahona!
Posted 07/18/08
The margaritas are definitely worth going there, but the food is a different story. I refuse to eat there since I found a 3 in. chicken bone in my enchilada. Go for a margarita and chips and salsa, anything more than that is a gamble.
Pros: Margaritas, Service
Cons: Parking, Food
Posted 05/07/08
This place ROCKS! Literally, the margs are the best and the food is amazing. Their food is fresh and they don't use any lard in any recipe. Their salsa is heavenly and when you sit on the rooftop, sip a marg and eat a healthy Salad, nothing beats The Rio. The servers are laid-back and friendly. Tahona is a joke compared to this place
Pros: Mexican, Margs, Service
Cons: Parking
Posted 04/28/08
If you think that Azteca is actually good Mexican food, than you might like this place. Otherwise, if you own a tongue, please stay way. Cheap margaritas are ok, but if you want real good Latin food, check out Centro or Tahona Tequila Bar.
Pros: margaritas
Cons: bland food
Posted 04/12/08
I am not from Boulder and was taken here by my friend and wow. I am now Rio obsessed. Their margaritas really are as amazing as they and everyone else says, and the food was fantastic. It's a really fun place to eat and get ridiculous, haha. If I lived there, it would be a bit dangerous for me...
Pros: Margaritas, Ambience
Posted 02/19/08
Unfortunately, I have eaten at the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant 3 times. Each time was worse than the last. I don't know how it stays in business. On my second and third visits I tried to convince my friends to choose another restaurant (Boulder has MANY) but they wanted to try this one. The wait staff seemed to be waiting for other jobs and ignored every table they had. We had to get up to find them to ask for more water. After a 45 min. wait, our food arrived with the appetizers and everything was OLD and COLD. I see from the reviews that some enjoy the ambiance but, you can't eat the decor. This restaurant is the first place I have ever left less than a 20% gratuity - the service WAS that bad. Yes, we did tell the management of the poor service and food quality but they had obviously heard it many times before and did nothing other than a quick, "Sorry about that." Save yourself the unsavory experience and dine elsewhere!
Pros: Interesting location
Cons: Food and service was unbelievably POOR. Taco Bell has better of both?!?
Posted 10/18/07
I don't ever do this and I created an account just to write this review. I would have to say this was the worst meal I have ever had. The service from the waitstaff was good but the manager was far from it. My visit here a year ago was an exceptional one, so when family from all over the states came for my younger sisters wedding (she is 27), they wanted to visit boulder. I did not hesitate to recommend Rio for a nice dinner. To my surprise the food was aweful (2 of my nieces actually cried) and when the manager came by to see if everything was good I told him "honostley, the food is horrible". He walked away without ANY RESPONSE nor did he try to make things right with us. Hmmm.. so why even ask if you did not get an answer you should be ready for. I was super embarrased I brought in a party of 15, they are lucky I even gave them one star. If you want great food and great service in Boulder, go to Frasca! Your $400.00 will be well worth it there.
Pros: Waitstaff
Cons: Everthing else
Posted 09/19/07
Had an awful experience on Sep 15th . We chose rooftop seating as the day was nice but the service was beyond poor. We waited for 20 minutes in the hot sun and finally had to flag a server to get us water. The hostess did ask the couple of servers on the rooftop to attend to our table but we were ignored. Noone took our order . Finally we got up to leave and thought we would talk to the manager on the way out. She was a witch from hell. Instead of apologizing for the poor service she made excuses as to how busy she was and could not get to the rooftop and there were other things that took priority. She didnot care that we were leaving neither did the other servers. Shame on the management . Cannot even talk about the food or the drinks as we were not given a chance to sample those.
Pros: great rooftop seating on a sunny day
Cons: poor service and unapologetic management
Posted 09/14/07
The Rio has really gone down hill. Today, in for a late lunch, the server, while nice, brought out soup (appetizer) with the actual entrees. The Rio is notorious for bad timing. The green chili (which I ordered the regular kind, not the hot kind) that smothered the chicken enchiladas was so spicy it was inedible. After over ten minutes of waiting for the server to come over and take it away, she tried to argue with me that it was not the hot kind. The manager then stopped by, explained that they had "extra hot green chilis" delivered and were trying to warn people before ordering. Clearly, I did not receive this warning. I was so over it that I passed on a comped entree the manager offered (their enchilada sauce is way to tex-mex), and gave me a $5 gift card. Whatever.
If you just want a marg and chips & salsa - stop by the Rio. Otherwise, if you are hungry for authentic Mexican food, stop by Rincon del Sol, Sol Azteca or Casa Alvarez.
Pros: Location, salsa, margaritas
Cons: Service (it is almost always poor, except in the bar), cleanliness of the restaurant, food.
Posted 06/23/07
Margaritas, Sangrias, House Margarita, salted, surgar, iced, on the rocks.
This place is where to go for margaritas. The food is average, getting better but you go to this place for the Margaritas. They have a 3 Margarita limit for a reason, the house is plesantly strong. I recently ate there and they had expanded their menu, their homemade Flan was quite good. Oh must warn you, don't order the sopopeias. Not worth it.
Posted 11/12/06
The Rio is hyped a little more than it is worth, still a good choice for a weekday lunch. Decent happy hour deals, service is inattentive and indifferent. Margaritas are okay, I've had better and worse - but they will sneak up on you, hence the 3 drink limit.
Pros: Margs
Cons: Service
Posted 11/03/06
I really enjoyed the margaritas! They aren't syrupy-sweet and they tasted great. I originally tried to order a different mixed drink, but our waiter claimed that they only have beer, wine, and tequila. The food was good, but nothing unusual or outstanding. The service was kind of slow. We were there on a weeknight and it wasn't that busy. We were hoping to order dessert, but when our waiter finally dropped the bill off, he just dropped it and ran, so we paid and left.
Pros: Good margaritas
Cons: slow service
Posted 07/22/06
All the rave reviews about the margaritas are correct--I have never had better! All of them (house, frozen, frozen strawberry) are excellent. Try a "strawberry light" if you want strawberry flavor without overdoing it (mixed with regular frozen). As for the food, I am a vegetarian and LOVE this place! The bean/cheese burrito is only $6.95 and is definitely filling (ask for it baked, or the cheese won't be melted). Their chile rellenos are good as well. They have excellent veggie green chile, which is rare. And the nachos...mmm! Some food prices are high, but most are very reasonable. Overall, a great place.
Posted 04/03/06
what you can expect here are excellent chips and salsa (order the side of queso to go w/ it...it's good) and excellent steak tacos...they are marinated and very good. i order this every time I go there. yucatan shrimp is another good option. It's pretty hard to screw up beans and rice...there's nothing wrong w/ them. The service is always good and in the summer time head out to the patio...there's a water fountain and the atmosphere is excellent. I personally do like the margaritas....they are not the best in town but are good....very strong...but good. $5 for margarita and for 2 steak tacos it's around $9. my girlfriend went there this weekend and we ordered steak tacos lunch special(1 taco), yucatan shrimp, side of queso and the bill came to $22 bucks....this is very reasonable.
Posted 01/24/05
This place has great atmosphere and great service. The mexican food is catered to Anglo Saxon taste and is not spicy or authentic. They could have done more by asking whether one wanted real Mexican or American Mexican. In any case this is a great place to spend an evening with friends. The only thing spicy was the salsa which was very very good.
Pros: ambience, service
Posted 12/24/04
Everything about this place besides the Margaritas is place is terrible. The service is rude, slow and inefficient, the food is poor quality and small portions and grossly overpriced.
Pros: Margaritas
Cons: , Price, Service
Posted 12/01/04
Had this place simply refrained from their claims of TexMex authenticity, I might have forgiven them for serving such insipid fare, but this place is worse than the usual Col-Mex restaurant. If you're a misplaced Texan hoping to find a local version of Ninfa's, or El Fenix, or Mia's, or even El Chico, keep looking. This place was just awful. The highly regarded Margarita came in an old fashioned champagne glass, and appeared to be made from either Rose's lime juice, rather than fresh, or perhaps lime Kool-Aid. The basis of any Mexican joint are enchiladas. These were filled with some form of gonvernment cheese and were so tough they had to be cut with a knife. The beans were awful; rice from a mix. Walk half a block and eat at Juanitas, not TexMex but they know what they're doing with tortillas and a can of lard.
Pros: Quick service, let me leave, quickly
Cons: , cheesy frathouse marg, distant service
Posted 07/03/04
Great food and a very lively atmosphere. Great for vegetarians, because vegie items are clearly marked on the menu.
Pros: Veg Friendly, Great Food, Great Atmosphere
Posted 02/14/03
I was reluctant to try the Rio b/c I am particular about Mexican, but I loved it. The fajitas are awesome and the queso is to die for!! I would go there just for the queso. The margs are totally delicious, but very strong. This restaurant is a great place to meet friends and there is a great view of the flatirons.
Pros: good food, margs, fun
Posted 12/11/02
The menu, the cooking, the presentation, the service are all purely mediocre. Nothing about the price makes up for utter lack of anything else especially appealing or striking about this restaurant.
Posted 10/24/02
I love this place! Finally, a restaurant that's not afraid to put a little spice into their food. I truly think this is the best mexican food I've ever had, and the location is right in the heart of Boulder.
Pros: Fun, Great food, Great Margaritas
Posted 10/08/02
