Tonight DH, the kids and I had dinner at Cafe Rio (Mesa, AZ). We walk in and DH goes, wow I feel like I'm at church.

LOL!

Why the heck are there always a crap ton of Mormons at Cafe Rio?

or it started in Utah or something. I haven't had their salmon taco in forever and that green sauce stuff (I forget the name of it) is fabulous. I need to learn how to make it at home.

Yup, it's a Utah chain. I like their nacho plate, but I get the same weird feeling whenever I walk into one. BF ordered a beer the first time we went there and I started cracking up.

Chick Fil A is closed on Sundays but it's owned by a devout Baptist.

The Cedar city one is open on Sundays. We sometimes stop there on our way back from Vegas.

Cafe Rio is a franchise chain. That decision is likely left to the local owner.

I don't think I will go there.

The restaurant models in Utah that tend to prosper include the following...

a) Sizzler

b) Chuck-a-Rama

c) Golden Corral

d) Cafe Rio

e) Hometown Buffet

Anybody not see a pattern there?

Hometown Buffet no longer exists in Utah. The ones in Taylorsville and Sandy have closed and I don't know of any others.

But you're right about mormons confusing QUANTITY with QUALITY. If you get a lot of food then it must be good.

When I want quality and quantity at a modest price, I go for the Greeks...

Besides the Crown Burger thread, there's the Other Place, Coachmans, and Lambs... And some others as well... Google failed me on the one on 700 East near Sugarhouse Barbecue... I hope it's still there...

Sugarhouse Barbecue?
The Sugarhouse BBQ at 2207 South 700 East was still there a few months ago when I stopped there for lunch.

If you like BBQ, have you tried Pat's BBQ? It's very good as well.
155 West Commonwealth Avenue
Salt Lake City, UT 84115

http://www.sugarhousebbq.com/
http://www.patsbbq.com/

FYI: The company that runs Hometown Buffet operates under a whole list of different names, although none of them are here in Utah:

* Old Country Buffet
* Ryan's
* Home Town Buffet
* Fire Mountain
* Country Buffet
* Granny's Buffet

http://www.hometownbuffet.com/

Sugarhouse BBQ just moved to 21st south and I believe 9th east. Very recently...maybe 2-3 weeks ago.

IMO, Pats has gone downhill, though it is a fun place to go, live music, etc. I like a smaller joint called firehouse bbq, on 21st south and somewhere around 5th east.

Ryan's is so awful I think that buffet in Vegas Vacation was based on it. blegh!

Mmm, love Crown Burger and the Other Place. I've only been to Lambs once, and it was for the luncheon after a SLC temple wedding of a good friend. Probably the nicest luncheon I've ever been to. The last one I went to was at Chuck-a-Rama on 400 South, lol.

Ended up here wanting to find out if cafe rio is open today. Didn't expect to see comments about crown burger, my family owns those! I also work there. Thanks for the kind words!

Love Crown Burger! Does your family own the franchise or just one of the stores?

I once read an article about the family that created Crown Burger and how there were a Greek family from LA. Very cool!

Or Olympic Diner? O-something, at any rate. I think it's still there.

I, however, am still in mourning over the loss of Kosta's. :)

http://www.yelp.com/biz/olympian-restaurant-salt-lake-city-2

Not surprised at the mixed reviews... More food than Dee's a half mile north, and more ambience... I see the hours have been cut back to breakfast and lunch...

I'm not a barbecue fan, at least most of the Utah versions of it... I tried Sugarhouse Barbecue; haven't been to Pat's but I know where it is...

Not hard to figure out what happened.

Those were all-you-can-eat places and the Mormons ate them into bankruptcy.

Oh, sick. My tbm in-laws ALWAYS want to go to Chuck-A-Rama... Even the name makes me want to puke.
When I met my husband, all he wanted to eat at was Golden Corral, which I found disgusting... I turned him to good food, now, and we never go to buffets!

I do love me some Cafe Rio, though.

Cafe Rio is starting to have locations in California, so I've had that food. I always get the iced tea when I'm there, and when I did that in the Las Vegas area, I did get some looks from the Mormons that were there. Then again, I was also wearing a tank top and shorts since it happened to be in July and I was dressed for the heat.

There is a Cafe Rio twin in Highlands Ranch/Lone Tree, Colorado called Costa Vida! It has delicious food very similar to Cafe Rio, and on Monday nights, children eat free. I think it actually must be owned by hispanic LDS people and is usually FILLED with LDS people on Monday nights and missionaries during lunch.

We have Costa Vida in Utah, as well. There's one at the Gateway in Salt Lake, and one really close to my sister's home in South Ogden.

My daffy and addle-pated parents have their Thanksgiving dinners at Chuck-a-Rama. They moved way out into the southern Utah desert, so no one could bother them. Now they tuck into their processed turkey with other old folks who have offended and abandoned their young.

Weird! My Husband's ex's family always have Thanksgiving at the Chuck-a-rama! And they drive a great distance to get together to do it. Gawd. I can't even imagine eating that food.

and lemon all ready on my hand.

Cafe Rio in Oxnard, CA lasted around a year. It's gone now.
I went there three times and it was a ghost town, populated ONLY by Mormons every time I went.

Apparently, the other Mexican joints in Oxnard were better...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/2013 09:30PM by csuprovostudent.

There's a couple of Cafe Rio restaurants in my area, and whenever I've gone, I've had iced tea just to piss off any Mormons there.

I've only been there once since I live in southern California so there's better choices for Mexican food. As my brother calls it, Cafe Rio is "Mexican for white people" only I would say it's Mormon Mexican food. I also like having the option of getting a beer or a margarita with my Mexican food if I want, so it's another reason not to go to Cafe Rio.

Little kids get a cheese tortilla with a strawberry for free. So families with little kids only pay for the adult meals.

When I was in SLC recently, I tried Cafe Rio. All my TBM friends from Utah constantly praised it. I just wanted to see what the fuss is about. It was nasty. I can't believe I wasted perfectly good taste buds and money on that slop. It just looked gross and didn't taste much better. I guess I'm spoiled with the good stuff in Texas. I'm back to following my own rule - do not eat Mexican food outside of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California or Mexico.