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    Cafe Rio

    3.8 (466 reviews)
    Closed Closed
    Updated 3 weeks ago

    Cafe Rio Photos

    CAFE RIO ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Divey
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Cafe Rio

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    Reviews With Photos

    Greek salad
    Alyssa H.

    This was probably the best place we ate at. It is super popular and for good reason. When I tell you to be prepared to wait, be prepared to wait! It was an hour ish wait for a table but that didn't bother us, we weren't in a hurry. Carry out orders were also about an hour wait. But it is worth the wait! The staff was so wonderful and the food was just so good! This definitely gives hometown favorite vibes and it is easy to see why. I highly recommend trying it but pack your patience.

    Half & Half Pizza
    Teresa R.

    Their unsweetened peach tea is the bomb! Chef salad was very delicious but next I will ask for side dressing a little too much for me. Have pizza have I don't remember to tell you which one, but it was delicious. Either way it was thin and crispy. I'll put a picture so you can see what kind of pizza I ordered and you can ask him because I actually asked the server I wanted this pizza so you may have to to do the same I saw a pic someone took. The service was tremendous. He was great attentive, even though he was the only waiter he was awesome.

    Sylvia C.

    They open at 11:30 on Sundays, and there was a very long line of people waiting to get in. The wait was worth it! The food was excellent and the staff was attentive without making you feel rushed. It was a great meal and great way to end the weekend before heading back home. 5/5 Recommended.

    Anthea S.

    The pizza , salads, and pizza tossers/servers/ underwater ceramic technicians (ie:customer service) are both amazing!! Thank you Cafe Rio for being "so cool Ruidoso"....

    Half Tuscan Half Rio 18" pizza
    Joe B.

    The ambiance has a lot of character, old license plates and old cell phone's and a variety of things to look at while you wait for your delicious food. Service prompt and friendly. The crust was top notch crispy chewy and delicious. Quality ingredients also. Food came out pretty fast. This was a really busy place. You could order from the sidewalk, call in or dine in. I would highly recommend. I heard that it's the best place to eat on the strip. Oh make sure to try the iced tea. It was really good. It didn't seem like your average tea. Tastes like it was actually brewed fresh but I'm not sure about that. It just tastes better than other restaurants tea ‍

    Chef Salad
    Wendy T.

    Busy place with lots of to go orders flowing out. The cheese pizza slices were huge with a lovely thin crust. Really tasty! The small house salads were abundant the chef salad was full of good stuff with a nice dressing. The service was friendly. The variety of fun sodas was a sweet surprise.

    Shrimp jambalaya with rice
    Joshua H.

    Back again just over a year after our very first visit here. Not much has changed and that's good because everything was Greta the first time and it still is the second time around! This time I got the shrimp jambalaya after turning a bite from a friend last time and loving it. It's as good or better than I remember it being. My wife loved her meatball sandwich and my kiddo crushed his pizza slice. He even told me it was a solid 9/10 for best pepperoni pizza he'd had. Service is fast even when busy at lunch time. We had a 30 minutes wait but we knew that would be normal during a weekday lunch time stop. Worth it!

    Interior
    Susie W.

    It had been a while since we visited Cafe Rio, so we were pleasantly surprised to find that dining was reopened. The staff was amazing! Although we couldn't sit at a regular table and had to use a high-top in the back, they moved us to a table as soon as one became available since we have a small child. The food was great, as usual. I have always loved Cafe Rio; it's a must-visit whenever I'm in Ruidoso. After this visit, the staff truly impressed us. They went above and beyond with their service, food, salads, and pizza. I can't wait to go back and dine in again!

    Great pizza and fantastic service! We ordered 12 pizzas for my son's wedding rehearsal dinner and they took care of us start to finish! We called just after opening and they took our order and had it ready when we got there at 5. They even helped carry it to the car! And the pizza was amazing !

    the menu, through the window
    Morgan R.

    The menu looks good -- many options for toppings on pizza, and generally good Yelp reviews. What a disappointment! We got a pizza with mushrooms, black olives, artichoke hearts and anchovies. Those toppings were good. But the base pizza was mediocre. I don't know if it was frozen and from a big vendor, or hand-made in the store, but either way, it just wasn't good. The crust was thin but card-board-like, the tomato sauce lacking in flavor, the cheese bland. A good indicator of the crust quality was that we didn't finish the edge pieces - too chewy and lacking in texture and flavor. Had we ordered it as a cheese pizza without the toppings, we probably wouldn't have finished it. This is obviously a busy place at times. They took our phone order promptly, and the pizza was ready when we got there. But they go to some trouble to keep people with "to-go" orders outside, picking up and paying through an exterior window. I was not impressed with the kid who helped us on pick-up ... nothing terrible, but not engaged. So it's clear that there are lots of fans of this restaurant in town -- but I'm not one of them.

    Greek salad, 2 pieces of pepperoni pizza

    Best Greek salad we've ever had! Fast lunch service. The wait staff was so kind and helpful! Classic ruidoso hospitality

    The atmosphere was super relaxed and easygoing, which made for a really enjoyable experience. I particularly loved the unique wall decor. Our server, Rebecca, was incredibly friendly. The breadsticks had a nice little kick to them, and the pizza was absolutely delicious!!

    Spicy breadstick w cheese and marinara sauce
    Chris M.

    3rd time visiting and we made it there right after they opened so we didn't have a wait!! As always, a friendly staff greeted us and gave recommendations and provided a great ambiance and experience. Today my niece and I enjoyed the spicy cheesy breadsticks and shared a 12" pizza w pepp, Italian sausage & mush on one side and Hawaiian-style on the other half. The breadsticks are not spicy, have a perfect red pepper kick and the marinara sauce is delicious. The pizza was great as usual! Even w so many topping on it the crust was still crispy and chewy! I keep thinking I'm going to try something new but the pizza is so good I haven't tried a salad or anything else yet. Next time!

    Cafe Rio Classic

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    11 months ago

    Pizza doesn't get much better than this. It's a busy place but well worth it. The Kitchen Sink pizza is awsome!

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    2 years ago

    This chef-owned restaurant always hits the mark. Great food, great service. You can also eat at the bar to watch your favorite team.

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    Ask the Community - Cafe Rio

    Do they serve wines?

    They do not serve any alcohol is what I heard the waitress tell someone.

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    Rio Grande Grill & Tap Room - Carrot cake

    Rio Grande Grill & Tap Room

    (468 reviews)

    $$

    Everything here was great. The service was awesome and they have a great selection of beer on tap…read morewhich we loved. They do not appear to serve liquor though so be prepared for that. The homemade salsa was fantastic. It was so garlicky and had a good kick thank you for seasoning your food! And the burger, that was a backyard, 4th of July type burger. It was great!

    First off, been here before, the food was good, the beer was better than most in El Paso. But I'll…read morenever go back here or recommend it to anyone coming to Ruidoso. Called inquiring about reservations, told it's first come first serve and I should expect about a 15-20 min wait. Showed up, 3 adults w/ 3 kids at 5:30. Was told I was the 2nd name behind an 11 top, and should be able to be seated in 5 min due to a few tables just waiting to be cleared upstairs. 20 mins later I watched them clear a 6 top at the front door downstairs, then split it so they could seat two tables of 4 who had shown up after my family. After waiting another 10 min I asked about how long we were looking at, the woman at the door told me she would go upstairs and check on the table, she returned to inform me that I was now looking at probably 20 min before we could be seated. We left... I don't know if the elderly woman working as a hostess at the door is an owner, a wife, family friend, or simply a pity hire due to her old age, but she has no business working customer service at a restaurant. She lied to me and several other groups about wait times, and seating availability only to double down several times about how soon we will be seated. She obviously has zero idea about how food service works, customer service relations, or kitchen service/food service times. Side note: an obviously drunk group of six made their way in during my wait, the bartender had no issue serving them, fingers crossed they weren't driving home, but I doubt anyone is that lucky.

    Cafe Rio - pizza - Updated May 2026

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