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"Love the Fish tacos and FAST service! Great place to go before heading to the movies"
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I frequent Rio Adobe about once every other week. I usually get the adobada taco plate, but more recently I have been ordering the adobada enchilada. These are two of my favorite dishes. The burritos have too many rice and beans for my taste, but the quality of the ingredients has been fantastic for every meal I have had there.
I am regularly impressed by how fresh and clean the food tastes. I also really enjoy the salsa bar. Jim, the owner, is an extremely agreeable guy and the staff are very pleasant. 5-stars, easy.
Very friendly staff.
I've been here twice : ordered salmon taco the first time. Salmon was very fresh and delicious. The 2nd time i ordered a burrito; and it was huge. But unfortunately my burrito fell apart, so not fun, and the meat was cold , also not a good thing.
the chips were good.
It does get packed during lunch time.
When I walked in, I had a hard time figuring out what to eat as at first, I couldn't find a taco combo plate with rice and beans on the menu, but it turns out you can order tacos and then add rice and beans to it. So I ended up ordering 2 chicken soft tacos with rice and beans. I forgot to ask if they had black beans so it came with pinto beans, which was not good.
I love the salsa bar they have. Every order pretty much comes with chips. The hot salsa was not as spicy as I expected. My chicken tacos were very bland that although I topped it with salsa, it still tasted like grilled chicken. I thought the chicken tacos at Wahoo's tasted better. I've had their crab tacos before so next time, I know not to order chicken tacos.
I went here for lunch today with some coworkers. It was quite crowded so it must be popular. You… Read more »
Good old fashioned massive Burritos. Great place for lunch or a quick bite.
Excellent place to eat! I came here on the advice of someone else and boy am I glad I did! This is really great food and a very affordable price. The restaurant was clean and the staff friendly. I consider this my biggest new "find" so far in 2010. I am already looking forward to my next visit here.
Great lunch place! Quick, easy and hearty. I like the multi-tasking waiter who tries to pronounce everyones names -- he always delivers a fresh hot basket of chips! The salsa bar is a great idea, but I wish they would label them and have some options for real *hot* salsas. The salsas are flavorful, but not zesty enough. I've tried their tacos, quesadillas, soups and salads and have always left feeling satisfied. BTW, they have Mexican Coke!!
I met a friend here for dinner. It wasn't too loud, which was nice. I ordered the fish tacos and the rice and black beans. I thought I would take one taco home for later. WRONG! These were the smallest tacos I've ever seen in my life. The tacos thesemselves were fine. The rice and beans were flavorless. I got pinto beans in error so perhaps the black ones were better. I don't think you should have to add salsa to something to make it taste good if a chef knows how to season. They did bring chips to the table, which was nice but those too were flavorless..
The first few times I came here I got various tacos and enchiladas, all which were a little too bland for my taste. But upon trying the Pork Adobado Burrito, I would come as often as possible. Even though still on the slightly bland side, the ingredients are perfectly balanced to produce the most tender and delicious burrito I've tried. Rio Adobe, expect me to return again and again just for this combination of awesomeness.
Additional notes: good salsa bar (the corn and bean salsa is a great side dish, though the other salsas could be spicier (the most spicy listed salsa was nothing for my taste buds)), GREAT service, and a nice homestyle decor.
Only reason this place doesn't get a 5/5 is because their menu isn't a complete hit, but there will be something to love.
My husband's running group goes here for dinner every Tuesday after they run the track. They are staunchly loyal about it and recently I found out why. Huge and I mean HUGE salads that are fresh and tasty, decent prices and a casual relaxed atmosphere all cultivated by a downright nice staff.
The only thing I didn't quite understand was the messiest burrito I've ever navigated. I don't know what the cook did to this burrito wrapper but it fell apart two bites in. It was still delicious though --- it was the Mahi Mahi burrito, YUM!
Rio Adobe has a kids' menu, a terrific salsa bar and if you bring a birthday cake, they're very nice about stowing it in the fridge and lending you a knife and plates!
My coworkers and I frequent this place during our lunch hour. It's much better than Chipotle! I've tried their fish tacos, corn enchiladas, and the corn quesadilla with chicken.
Every time I come here, I get sooooo full because they give free tortilla chips to go with their "salsa bar". Salsa is pretty good and fresh. The tortilla chips are a tad oily, but what can you do? They're chips! They are delicious and addicting.
The food is fresh, but there seems to be something missing... I'm not in LOVE with the food here. Typically, if I am in love with food, I am a creature of habit and order the same thing over and over. Never deviate! However, each time I come here I find that I order something different each time, in hopes of finding that dish I'll fall in love with. I'm starting to think I may never. Nevertheless, the chips and salsa make me full. The food is pretty good, but not the best... coming from a So Cal native where we have crazy dishes like Carne Asada French Fries!
A few things I didn't like about this place:
- Food was not salted at all, and generally lacking in flavor (Beef burrito, and Port taco's)
- Salsa's were bland and not spicy. (I tried all six)
The food is constructed in a very authentic way, but the components are lacking the flavor that Southwestern fare is famous for.
Rio Adobe, I'm so glad I found you!
We found this place by chance last week and I am so happy we did. When we first came in I noticed a lot of the things on the menu claimed to have New Mexico style flavor. I was born and raised in New Mexico and have never found a Mexican restaurant in California that could deliver authentic New Mexican food , so I was skeptical at first. But Rio Adobe totally delivered!
The enchiladas were fantastic, the chili was authentic, salsa was amazing, and the sopapillas were to die for. I need to also mention that the ingredients were fresh and of excellent quality. The portions were huge, and the price was right. The décor is cute with a southwestern style. The service was awesome! What more can I say? This place is perfect. I'm in love.
Not cheap, but better than Wahoo's and not over-hyped like Dia de Pesca. I always thought Wahoo's fish tacos were dry and tasteless. Rio Adobe's mahi mahi tacos are fresh, juicy and flavorful, while maintaining a clean and light taste. But, they are small and you will probably need to eat 3 to fill up, if you're not eating chips. If you're like me and always eat the chips, you probably only need 2. I also liked how the corn tortillas for the fish tacos were super thin.
Because they were listed as a special, I ordered the smoked pork tacos as well. These are a lot bigger and more filling. However, they were not as flavorful as I had expected, and were a little dry. I would stick with the mahi mahi tacos.
I didn't see any horchata when I went, but I noticed they had a pretty decent beer selection. I'll definitely be back when I want fish tacos in Cupertino!
Rio Adobe is the standard lunch place for my co-workers when we end up going out to lunch, and we can't decide on where to go. It's a much better alternative to going down the street to Chipotle or another fast food restaurant. they have excellent burritos, and the homemade salsa bar is excellent. I'm a fan of their tomatillo salsa, and even though I'm not normally a huge cilantro fan, their pico de gallo is very tasty.
As with other Mexican places, they stock Mexican Coke. Their horchata is also pretty good, too, though not the best. They have home-made chips, as other Yelpers have pointed out, which are pretty good. My favorite dish is either their steak burrito or the smoked pork tacos -- usually a toss-up as to which I would get. This place does get quite crowded at lunchtime, so either go at 11:45 or after 1PM -- going at noon will almost certainly guarantee that it'll be tough to find a table.
I tried a adobe steak burrito from here. Called in my order, and picked it up about 10 minutes later. I was able to pay by credit card, picked up a heavy bag containing a burrito and lots of fresh tortilla chips. I went to the salsa bar and grabbed a ton of different flavors.
The burrito was very filling, but I thought it had too much rice. It definitely had a "tex-mex" taste to it, which wasn't bad, just different. I liked all the different salsas... they were pretty fresh, some not as spicy as advertised though. I ended up eating most of my burrito, but avoided a lot of the rice. I was so full, I didn't end up eating much chips, so I thought I'd save it for the next day. Haha, they actually still tasted pretty good the next day, they were crispy and lightly salted, but the brown paper bag they came in had soaked up all the oil. Eek!
I love coming to this place because the food is great, customer service is wonderful and the atmosphere is really relaxing. I normally have the havasu salad which can actually be a meal for the entire day! This is probably the biggest salad that I have ever had. They serve complimentary chips also and have a wide selection of salsa to try.
I like this place because it is different and the ambiance is great! It's a place that you should try out!
I'm always up for burritos! I was very excited to try Cupertino burritos during my visit here, so we chose Rio Adobe for that purpose. I have to say these are the biggest burritos I have ever seen in my life. You have to cradle its bottom like a baby!
We came very late on a weeknight so we were the only customers, but the staff was very friendly and even gave us an extra drink cup for free! Very cute atmosphere, flavorful burritos, free basket of chips, what else can you ask for.
I probably won't be back any time soon since I'm from the east coast, but I certainly enjoyed it, and am still in awe of the size of their burritos!
I arrive at Rio Adobe around 7:15 and the place is full except for two small tables. The person behind the register greets me. I already knew what I wanted as I had looked at the menu earlier on during the day. I order one taco Del Mar (2.75), which consists or marinated and grilled Mahi-Mahi with southwest slaw on soft corn tortilla and their special chicken Burrito Majado (6.95), which consists of chicken, steak, or rice and beans, topped with red sauce and baked cheese. When I ordered the taco, I assumed I was getting two for 2.75, but the cashier asked me how many I wanted and I said just one and he rang me up for 2.75. I was thinking to myself "the taco better be damn good for 2.75."
I figured my order would take 5 or 6 minutes tops but instead it took more like 10 to 15 minutes. While I waited for my order, there was a consistent stream of customers coming in to order. I also observed one person serving all the orders. He seemed to know who ordered what and would bring out the order, when he did not know he called out their name. He was very efficient and courteous. One couple asked him to kindly clean a table for four and he went in the back to grab a bin and cleaned off the table right away for them. There were about three other people in the back cooking food and running around trying to get the orders out.
I saw them stick my burrito into the oven and I finally saw them preparing my order. I do not think I got many chips as I would have had I decided to dine in. The condiments sections had variety of salsas but they were not labeled so I could not tell which ones were spicy and which ones were mild. They rang out some of their salsa and it did not seem like they would be filled. I did not want to take a chance so I went with the fresh salsa but even that was on empty and I was barely able to fill the small salsa cup.
By the time I get home, I am starving. I take out all the items. The taco is small. The tortilla is smaller than most soft taco shells I have seen. The soft taco looked more like a veggie item than a meat item. I thought the Mahi-Mahi would be sliced and placed in the taco with some slaw on top. My taco was covered in slaw and I could not even see the Mahi-Mahi at first until I started eating it. They gave me a huge chunk of Mahi-Mahi. This was not a good deal for 2.75. The Mahi-Mahi was good and the sauce they had on it was good but there was just excessive slaw. The slaw was unique in that it added crunch to the taco and balanced out with the grilled flakey fish. Honest I would have paid 3 more dollars and just gotten the Mahi-Mahi burrito instead.
When I bit into the burrito I was expecting the typical sliced grilled chicken, instead Rio Adobe uses chunks of breast meat from roasted whole chickens. I was impressed with their meat selection. Inside the burrito were several chunks of roasted chicken with skin, fresh salsa and guacamole. The outside layer was covered in red sauce and cheese baked in an oven. By the time I got home the top was already crispy but warm. I think the cheese and sauce would have been bubbly had I dined in, but the burrito was still superb!
The free chips is home made but it is just OK. By the time I ate them the chips were cold. Same goes for the free slaw. The dressing is good but I am not down with the slaw. Actually, after finishing off the taco I had plenty of slaw from my taco that I just dumped into the free slaw them provided. (OK, that was just a pointless comment).
One thing I noticed while standing around was that people ordered the house made desert. The deserts are Sopaipillas for 2.95 for about 4 slices or with ala mode for a dollar more. It is pizza shaped soft dough with some sort of sweet filling with powdered sugar on top served with honey. The honey is served on the side in those syrup jars you see at IHOP where you can pour on as much or as little as you like.
I would defiantly come back again and get their desert as well as burrito. I believe their burrito is the best value. It is tasty with plenty of flavor and huge.
My husband had heard that their enchiladas were good, so we decided to try this for dinner tonight. It wasn't too bad, but I expected better. I had two chicken enchildas with rice and the red sauce. The chicken was tasty, but the tortillas were just OK, there was not enough sauce (so it was a bit dry), and the rice was kind of bland (though the corn in it was a nice addition).
My husband had the Carne Adobada Burrito, which is slow-cooked spicy pork. He said the burrito had too much rice in it--it was the primary ingredient. It was pretty big, so would fill up anyone. Again, it was OK, but nothing special. It was a bit spicy.
Everything seemed like it was made fresh, and the chips that were provided were also fresh, salty & tasty. If you are in the neighborhood, then you might want to try it, but don't go out of your way.
The Good: Fish and Seafood dishes (tacos are great? Crab enchiladas excellent!). Their horchata was tasty too.
The Bad: Kid menu could be a little better.
Overall, we'll be back, close to home too.
Fantastic food, small diner, sit outside and enjoy the evening.
I had the steak burrito and it was amazing. Be sure to try the margarita as it's one of the best I have had.
Will be sure to visit this place again when I'm in the area, those that are local sure are lucky to have a place this nice and friendly in their neighborhood.
Greg
I have been here a number of times during my college days at DeAnza. I had first gone here really close to their first opening, and was excited to try the unique food. Everything here I experienced was fresh and very tasty. I really do love the burritos here. My first few experiences here I got a nice tasty juicy steak pieces in my burrito. These guys really knew how to cook the meat right!
The salsa bar is open and usually is decently fresh, sometimes not if you come at a bad time. Asking the staff to replensih it is probably the thing to do if it is not up to your liking.
I am torn on giving this place 5/5, because it is quite not "as goos as it gets." But very close to it. Honestly it is a 4.5 solidly. Haven't been here in a long while, but if I'm in the area I'd definitely go again.
Went with a group of salad eating folk and I have to agree - salads were huge. It did look like lots and lots of lettuce, but huge regardless. I went for the poblano & chicken quesadilla and they didn't skimp on either. I ordered a 'coke in a bottle' because I didn't want to order a 'Mexican coke' but that is how it came up on the register - Mexican coke. Next time I'll know. Three and a half stars.
This place is wonderful. They offer up delicious Americanized Mexican dishes. It reminds of Dos Coyotes in Davis.
I have had enchiladas, nachos, and burritos here. It was all tasty at affordable prices.
I highly recommend it.
I work nearby and have loved this place since it opened. The food is fresh and just soooo good. Although I live 8 miles or so away, in a land filled with fairly good burritos, I drive the 8 miles to introduce my friends to this place. The Burrito Mojado (chicken) is my favorite. The folks are friendly, the chips are good, and I am never disappointed with the quality of my meal. Huge portions and decent prices. Definitely 5 stars!
This place rocks! Let's start with the chips. They're light and thin an have just enough salt. The salsa is very tasty. Not much of a spicy salsa fan but the mild and medium are excellent.
Now to the main course. Whether it's the carne asade tacos or burrito, they pile on the meat. The tacos are two-handers. They use two small corn tortillas and pile on the meat. Definitely not for vegetarians.
If you go don't go at lunch time. All the local Silicon Valley people swarm on this place. You're better off going at 1:30pm or later.
I came here for lunch with coworker and was surprised how good it was! They have a huge menu with tons of different options. You pay up front and they bring the food out to you. I had crab tacos with black beans and rice and it was soo good! The tacos have tons of crab meat, lettuces, and onions. They have a huge salsa bar with tons of yummy salsas so you can try tons of different flavors. My only complaint was the blacks beans seemed a little cold to me. Our food was served quickly and we enjoyed sitting outside on a Friday. Prices are reasonable. Great mexican food and can't wait to go back and try the enchiladas!
Time for an update. Since my 1st review (yay) I've been back a couple of dozen times; sometimes with friends, sometimes with family.
Still my favorite southwest food in the area! Jim continues to provide a fast, nice, casual sit-down meal and at a fair price. The salsas are excellent, the specials are good.
Keep up the good work!
A real star in Cupertino. I highly recommend the Havasu salad, and I have never been disappointed… Read more »
This was a great place. They had so many items on the menu that I wanted to try. I ended up getting a VERY specific order which they filled with ease. I got a salad with the Mahi Mahi instead of the chicken, dressing on the side and a whole wheat tortilla. It was prefect and delicious. The chips were good and they had some great salsas in their salsa bar.
My friends enjoyed their meals as well. They had specials on the board which I didn't get to sample but they were salmon tacos which sounded amazing and a corn chowder soup of sorts.
The place was very clean and the staff were excellent. There is not too much seating and it was sort of crowded (with all the the nearby tech guys, i.e. Apple employees). The wait to order was a bit long and it took awhile for me to get my meal, I think only because of the exactness of my order, my friends received theirs in no time. The portions are HUGE and will fill you up. The prices are extremely reasonable.
This place reminds me of Andale's (in Palo Alto & Los Gatos) but it definitely stands out on it's own. Give it a shot, it's good!
Rio Adobe, I bet that is Spanish for "delicious". OK, I'm Brazilian, I totally know that doesn't mean delicious, but adobe river, not sure if that's much better. On to the food. OK, I'm vegetarian, so this place is awesome. Being vegetarian means you have less options and those options may not have much flavor. Here at Rio Adobe, however, flavor is king and there's a lot of it. I really enjoy the Quesadilla Hongos. A Parmesan encrusted flour tortilla, with cheese, mushrooms, garlic and onions, greasy and d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s. Thank you Rio Adobe for making my taste buds dance.
So why did they only get 4 stars, well the place is run pretty much by high school kids in the evening when I go. They are nice, and polite, but not on top of it. So one time I had to wait forever to get my Quesadilla and it was cold. There goes your star.
Just ok. Nice little place for a relaxed sit down lunch where you order at the counter and then they bring the food to you.
Grilled fish taco - 3 stars - didn't impress nor have any complaints. I ate it and it was okay. Probably won't order again.
Steak taco - 3 stars - steak was a bit tough and overcooked.
Chips - rather thin and wimpy.
They do have a good salsa bar with 8 different kinds of salsas and even have signs describing each one - nice touch. Salsas were quite tasty.
Bottom line: My tacos were just ok. But I saw other ppl's huge tasty-looking salads and plan to give this place another try for that. Outside patio tables (4-5) are an added plus for a relaxed lunch outside.
Okay. So here's the deal. Not only is Jim, the owner, a great guy with a terrific restaurant, but he and his team did a fabulous job catering our wedding. When we first spoke with Jim about possibly catering for us, he had so many ideas right off the bat that we jokingly asked him if he also did wedding planning. The day of the wedding, he was organized, calm, and totally on top of his game. It was so cool - he actually made these cool little souffles for us with a whole bunch of other stuff at the sweetheart table, and his servers also were bringing food over to us in the room we were hanging out in before being announced at the reception.
Our guests keep commenting over and over how good the food was at the wedding - which is great, because Jim had mentioned all along during the planning process that it was his objective for this to happen.
Thanks so much, Jim!
Had a quick business lunch here today and I was impressed. The beans actually had flavor and both the carne asada and the salmon tacos were pretty damn good. The carne asada corn tortillas were soaked and mushy, but other than that--the food is reasonably priced, the place is clean, and the food is great.
I kind of hate it when a place is good--my reviews are so much more entertaining when a restaurant sucks!
Really, Cupertino? Really? *This* is what you consider a good burrito?
And Yelpers, I thought better of you. I thought I could trust you to lead me to the promise land of delicious Burritoville in the midst of suburbia.
Obviously, I was mistaken.
My R&B burrito took forever to make and was flavorless to boot. I had to drown it (yes, I think it actually asphyxiated) in salsa to stomach it.
They did seem to have other promising menu options, so maybe I will return once I am not so sorely disappointed. In the meantime, I will pity you yelpers who have obviously never experienced the deliciousness that is an amazing burrito.
Quite a surprise this was. We ordered enchiladas traditional - one with steak and one with chicken. They are served with rice and beans. The have a fairly extensive salsa bar and make their own chips.
Everything was hot and delicious. My DH had never had Southwestern cuisine and he decided he likes it. The price is right for what you get. Ours with drinks was $23. Our food was ready in a small amount of time. The only bad thing that happened was they served it Christmas style (red and green sauce together) and we had asked for green sauce only. The waitress was very apologetic and offered to make our order over again. We declined and still enjoyed our enchiladas. If I am ever over in the area again I will certainly give something different a try.
This place was a regular for the house when I lived with my roommates around the corner, and I still go back when I'm in the area.
Jim, the owner, knows his food. We asked him to explain and item on the menu and in about 30 seconds had compaired it to 5 different foods I had never heard of. Somehow these descriptions made me more hungry not confused.
The menu is great, but what's better... shhhhh... is that you can pretty much order anything they have the stuff to make. My favorite, and main stay, is the Carne Asada Burnoto... Burrito with no Tortilla. Yes, a big burrito salad.
They have a great salsa bar with everything labeled well. I will have to say they need to put a spicier one in there, but that's just opinion.
The crowds get out the door, but they're fast and will bring it to your table. So no, they don't have witers per say, but they do do table service.
Prices are reasonable and the food is the best.
I ordered the steak burrito. The steak was tasty but the rest of the burrito was extremely bland. It was so bland I had to make several trips to the salsa bar to make the burrito edible. Even then some of the salsas (8 total) were also tasteless.
I'm unsure of how the service works. Do I order at the counter or sit down? It seems like there is a full service wait staff but there's a soda dispenser and salsa bar? If I order from the counter do I still leave a tip?
Meat Overdose is a good name for a porn movie. It's also an apt description of Rio Adobe's tacos. I ordered two soft tacos, one steak and one chicken and they were overflowing with so much meat I actually think they would taste better with less meat and more onions and cilantro. Ditto the Meat Overflow (also a good name for a porn movie) on the chicken burrito.
Speaking of which, the chicken is okay, but the steak is clearly the way to go.
The chips come in the most bizarre metal cone thing ever. There are 9 salsas to choose from, but I particularly like the salsa map which names the salsas and indicates their level of spiciness. It's second only to the map that indicates the fillings that comes with Sees truffles.
The food is okay. I ordered the Vaquero Burrito with steak. I don't know why it's called a burrito because all the insides came tumbling out! I was looking for some pizzazz in my burrito and sadly, there was none. Maybe b/c it's healthy....Haha! Many other reviewers liked the salsa bar but I didn't think it was that great. Chips and the sopapilla, on the other hand, are their redeeming items. Clean restaurant and good prices.
Update 5/12/07
Fish taco and shrimp taco are the way to go at Rio Adobe Grill. They're a bit small but delicious. I think it would taste better with lime juice drizzled on it.
Rio Adobe is more of a Fresh-Mex style of Mexican restaurant, rather than the authentic hole-in-the-wall style. Seating is limited and can get crowded during lunch. If you're lucky, you'll get free chips with your meal.
Most places have a "specialty" that everyone gets but whenever I come here with my coworkers, the "usual" varies for every person on my team: the burritos, quesadillas, tacos, and salads are each a favorite for someone. My personal favorites are the Hongos Quesdadilla (mushroom, onions, poblanos, jack, parmesan crusted tortilla) and the HUGE Havasu Salad (mixed greens, carrots, onions, jicama, red bells, corn, sour cream, guac, with a Citrus Vinaigrette, all on a flour tortilla with a layer of black beans... but I always ask them to leave out the beans and bell peppers, yuck!).
Service is generally friendly, but they can take a long time or mess up on your order if it's too busy. Tip: Free soda with a student ID.
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