Reviews

Review by timageous on June 10th, 2008

Rio Cafe offers an intimate setting, delicious food, and a courteous staff, though it is pretty expensive by Tucson standards. Their traditional Puerto Rican Lechon is far tastier than the Lechon that I had in a fancy restaurant in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Make sure and order the brie and pear quesadillas.

Review by Lizardboy on August 12th, 2007

We stopped by Rio Cafe yesterday for a late lunch/early dinner.

We started with crab cake appetizers and they were delicious. Large, meaty cakes were fried to be good and crispy on the outside and attractively served on a plate with some sauces (my favorite was the red one which I think was raspberry-chipotle) and baby greens.

For entrees we had the Argentinian steak with chimichurri sauce and the Platanos Cubanos. The steak was cooked to order, sliced, and served over the chimichurri sauze which gave a nice but not overpowering bite. Two large deep-fried potato balls provided the decadent starch component, and vegetables (red pepper, onions, and zuchinni) that had been skewer-roasted were nice accompaniments.

The Platanos Cubanos are stuffed plantains, breaded and deep-fried, served with a sweet salsa. Sides of cuban beans (served in a small fried flour tortilla) and some delicious rice (I don't know what they did with the rice, but it was gooood!) completed this nice plate.

We had dessert (after all, we weren't going to have dinner later!) - chocolate truffle over raspberry and their rich flan, both also very good.

The service was prompt and friendly, the food was good and very reasonable for what you're getting. The crab cakes were $9 and entrees run about $10-14.

There's ample parking and seating. You should stop by sometime and try it yourself.