Cafe Rio in Lakewood California

One early afternoon our next door neighbors asked us if we wanted to go have some Mexican food for dinner. They pretty much rock, so the wife and I knew whatever place they had in mind was sure to be good. Not only that but it was Mexican food; my say in the matter pretty much had zero bearing on what we would end up doing. We piled into their Surburban and after a quick 10 minute drive we were pulling into a parking lot across from the Lakewood Mall. Colorful umbrellas and a bit of outside seating greeted us as we walked up to the building. Cafe Rio was the place and boy were we in for a Taco Tuesday surprise!

The Establishment
Upon entering, our head was filled with a ton of color on the walls, chairs and tables. In addition, the walls were covered with signs bearing some pretty clever sayings. We took a few moments and read as many as we could before entering the service line. In line, you are greeted with a short but sweet menu, followed by the food building line. A glass divider separates you from the workers, allowing you to scan all the yummy goodness before placing your order. Next to the service line is an employee making homemade torillas right on the spot. A small grill is behind them where all the food is prepared. Everything smelled wonderful and we could tell we were in for a treat!

Chips, Salsa and the Coveted ~~Guacamole~~ QUESO!!
As always, one of the first things we ordered was the chips, salsa and guacamole. Our friends told us that the queso was amazing and we should try that, so we called an audible and ordered the queso instead of the quac. This would prove to be an excellent decision as the queso is some of the best we've ever had. Chip after chip scooped up a boatload of the hot, semi-spicy cheese until it was completely empty; I would have licked the bowl if the wife hadn't stopped me! The salsa is also quite good. We chose both the pico de gallo and the 'hot' sauce. For those of you that like cilantro, the pico is the one for you. It's flavor was the perfect addition to the lime and tomatoes. The hot sauce was good too, however it wasn't as hot as I had anticipated. Big scoops will help add some extra heat.

The Main Course - TACOS!
The reason we were here was, of course, the tacos. Cafe Rio offers tacos filled with Chile Roasted Beef, Chicken Breast, Sweet Pork Barbacoa, Fire Grilled Steak, Fire Grilled Chicken and Fire Grilled Salmon. I decided to run with something a little different so I ordered the Fire Grilled Steak and the Fire Grilled Salmon. Two 7" round, fresh flour torillas were wrapped in foil and filled with my steak and salmon. A short cooking time later and the steak taco was topped with lettuce and pico de gallo. The salmon taco was topped with the same but, in my opinion, should be offered with something a little more 'fish-related'. The steak taco was really good with its fresh tortilla loaded with flavorful meat. It was definitely worth the $2.99. The salmon taco was $4.99 and, while good, didn't rock my world enough to have me order that again. I'll probably stick to the less expensive and delightfully better steak and chicken tacos.

Final Thoughts
We'll definitely head back to Cafe Rio again. The service is good, the food is great and there's enough going on inside the walls of that building to keep your eyes occupied for some time. The menu offers a good selection of other items such as quesadillas, tostadas, burritos and enchiladas. The fresh tortillas are off the hook, too! Try them with the queso and you'll be in food-coma heaven! It's so good, in fact, that Capsaicin Head ordered a small bucket of it to go! I just hope I contain myself from eating it before she gets home from work tomorrow!