Local Restaurant Review: Rio Cafe: Mid-price Dining in Midtown Tucson

Rio Cafe is housed in the former Nonie restaurant, and seems demure and quiet next to its more boisterous French Quarter neighbor restaurant. That impression is only heightened as one walks into the nearly empty dining room.

Why is Rio Cafe so empty?

Maybe because the food is so hit-or-miss.

My first time at Rio Cafe, I came for a Girl's Night Out. Two of my coworkers and I sat a spell and indulged in wine, mixed drinks, and plenty of appetizers (oh, and desserts, which we count as appetizers). Rather than sitting at a table or at the bar (where the manager camped out on a stool to watch the television), we stayed in the small bench-and-end-table area in front of the bar. It wasn't comfortable or conducive to eating and visiting, but it's hardly Rio Cafe's fault that my friends insisted on staying there.

That night we sampled most of the appetizers on the menu, with the beef skewers being the best of the batch. Well, I liked them the best: my friends liked the pear and brie quesadilla better. I thought the appetizers were all rather overpriced and underwhelming, and the happy hour "specials" were anything but. If happy hour pricing is so steep, I'd hate to see the regular drink prices.

The highlight of the night was the chocolate chile mousse. And while I am not a fan at all of sweet and savory (much less sweet and spicy) pairings, the combination was phenomenal. I'd come back just for this dessert.

As far as service: for a place so empty, we felt a little neglected. On several occasions we were unable to get the attention of the manager/waiter, and we were left with small tables packed with empty plates for quite a while.

My second expedition to Rio Cafe included an actual table and entree. The dining room was, again, sparsely packed, and the one patron of the bar was recognized by my dinner companion as having been her waiter on a previous visit to Rio Cafe. Having sampled almost all of the available appetizers (and having failed to be impressed by any of them), we also decided to forego one of the overpriced salads and we jumped right to entrees. That's not entirely true: we skipped right to cocktails. I ordered a frozen margarita with salt, and my dinner companion ordered a margarita on the rocks with no salt. After the manager confirmed our drinks order, our waitress came over less than a minute later to get our drink order again. The manager had forgotten it in the time it took him to walk fifteen feet.

The dining room is small, spare, but tasteful. Nothing in the decor suggests any particular style or region-- it's Early American Nondescript. It certainly doesn't match up with Rio Cafe's description of their fare as Latin/North American fusion. I appreciate the candlelight ambience. Who doesn't look better by candlelight?

The drinks were worth the wait. While some think that all margaritas are created equal, I must say that Rio Cafe's frozen margarita is a pleasant surprise. Generous in size, it packs a punch without the harsh alcohol taste that cheap tequila brings. My friend also commented that her margarita was exceptional.

My friend was already a fan of the fish tacos and ordered them... again. The lightly-breaded (with panko or cornmeal, I believe) fish comes in generous strips wrapped in soft flour tortillas with lettuce and the other garnishes you'd expect with tacos. The dish also came with rice and black beans, which were standard, but moist and tasty. She was delighted with her meal-- but she expected to be. It's all she orders at Rio Cafe. I thought the price tag was a bit high for such a plain dish, but my friend was more than happy.

I ordered the chicken mushroom enchiladas, which also came with the uninspired side of rice and back beans. Although the portion size was generous and the chef didn't skimp with the sliced Portobellos on the top of the enchiladas, the enchiladas themselves were only so-so. The rice inside the enchiladas was somewhat bland, and the chicken was dry. Not a little-- very dry. This would have been aided by some cheese or sauce, but there just wasn't enough of anything that could have helped the dry texture. For $15, it was a dud.

The service was great-- as there were only three tables in use by the time we left, we expected no less.

Because we had a hot date with Project Runway, we took dessert to go. It was a Key Lime pie slice, and it was amazing. It was light and airy and just the right amount of tart. We only wish we hadn't ordered only one to share.

If you're looking for a nice, quiet place in Midtown to have a delicious dessert, Rio Cafe is a good bet. If you're looking for fantastic entrees in the $15+/- range, you might want to keep looking. Oh, and Rio Cafe: please do something about your website. It's a disaster. Maybe it's just that Firefox doesn't like it. Even so, Rio Cafe: lots of potential patrons are missing out on viewing your menu.