urban rio cantina & grill

my son and i were looking for a late night bite to eat and decided to try urban rio friday night at 10pm. we went in and we're seated promptly. the booth was very comfortable. we reviewed the menu and i decided on brisket tacos and my son got brisket quesadillas. they brought chips andsalsaand a black bean dip. the bean dip tasted strongly of cinnamon. it wasn't bad just a surprise. it was also served hot. thesalsawas very good. just the right amount of heat. our food came out fairly quickly. mine was served in a kind of taco holder and looked like street tacos. they looked pretty good but had bbq sauce all over the meat and that was a disappointment to me. same thing with the quesadillas. food wasn't bad. just kinda mediocre and pretentious at the same time. we probably won't go back

enjoy the eats at urban rio. i like how urban rio starts you off with chips,salsaand black bean dip. thesalsahad a subtle kick and the black bean dip helped neutralize each bite. watch out though, it's addicting...and you will need to leave room for your meal. we also enjoyed a bowl of their homemade guacamole with those chips - which was excellent. for my main course i went with the rack of veggie tacos (mushrooms, garlic, squash, bell peppers and avocado) cheese and their mexican crema sauce are served on the side without which you can keep this a vegan option. for the meat eaters in our party the stuffed avocado earned rave reviews. there are several seating options at this location. the main floor dining room had a certain elegance which was nice. the upstairs features outdoor seating, but definitely feels more bar-like. over all we had a great dining experience. good service and great food.

awesome. i took my employees there for a bonus lunch, almost everyone was not interested because they had never been there before and had no idea what to expect.
well the chips andsalsawas enough to convince them differently:)

the waitress was fun and very good, the atmosphere was outstanding and the food left everyone saying "let's eat here again real soon"!!!!

kb

this fun restaurant describes itself as next mex. i enjoyed the tamale pie and my husband had nate's chicken. also, on sunday during brunch, the $1 mimosas are a nice treat. the chips are served withsalsaand bean dip. both were delicious. i will return.

a great night out. recently my husband and i were lamenting how it had been a long time since we had a dining experience that was the full package: great atmosphere, great service, and great food. last night we found it with a trip to urban rio. it was crowded when we got there (it was saturday, after all) and were facing an hour wait, so we headed upstairs to on the rocks. we found a quiet corner with the coziest chairs i've seen in a bar and had a drink while we waited. our server brought us chips andsalsaand was attentive, even in the busy bar. it was a very laid back, relaxing environment, and i was a little disappointed when our buzzer flashed. downstairs our server was mick; he was incredible. like refilling your water glass every five minutes and getting your cocktail in under a minute incredible. we had crab empanadas, fish tacos, and the rio steak. all were delicious. our dinner went quickly, so we headed back upstairs to listen to the guy playing acoustic guitar, who was also awesome. it was a fabulous night out, and we will most certainly be back.

another hit in downtown plano. the first thing you'll notice is the lovely atmosphere. just like their sibling nearby, urban crust, its a very vertical concept with rooftop bar. cozy main dining room on the first level. surprise in the basket of chips were the cactus chips which were green and very thick and tasty. in addition to the standardsalsawas a black bean dip which was good.
the queso blanco arrived in a skillet and was piping hot and delicious.
good selection on the menu of grilled items, veggie options, inviting salads and some basics like fajitas and enchiladas.
the chicken and beef fajitas were very good, big portion and came with sour cream which isn't always a given. chicken enchiladas were enjoyed with sour cream sauce.
i don't recommend the corn & crab enchiladas because the crab is more of a garnish than an ingredient. a small portion of crab was served as a topping above the tomatillo sauce. so really i felt like i was eating corn enchiladas because i was. could be fixed with a clearer menu description. and this did explain the low price of only $9.50 for the entree.
lots of cozy booth seating and plenty of flat screen tvs for game time.
special treat is a gelato place in the shared space. salty caramel gelato was awesome.

extremely rude bartender. this was my second visit to urban rio and it was my definitely my last.
the bartender was so incredibly rude and she had such an attitude that i felt my blood pressure going up exponentially as i sat at the downstairs bar. i actually looked at my husband and said "i can see you..... you can see me too, right?!?! maybe we are invisible!!" because that's actually how she made us feel! well, that's how she tried to make us feel. we have some self esteem. we know we are not invisible, that's just silly!
so....
let's start with my first visit here;
i had the day off, and met some girlfriends for lunch on a friday. we went early because we figured that the crowds would grow on a friday at lunch and i'm glad we did, because the dining room did get really crowded. it was a good experience. but hey, i had a day off, the kids were in school, i met some girlfriends for lunch and we even allowed ourselves a marg or a glass of wine. it was destined to be a success! the chips andsalsawere really good. the marg was good. i ordered fish tacos, and they were just okay. they should've been called cabbage tacos. because if you had a mishap, and the one popcorn sized piece of fish fell out, and on to the table, instead of your plate, that was what you were eating. the pieces of fish in the tacos were laughably tiny.
the food was nothing to write home about. my fellow lunch mates neither raved or complained about their meals, but this day was clearly about the company not the food!
i left happy and wiling to revisit to try another menu item.

now, to last night.....
my husband had been wanting to try out the restaurant. he actually works in downtown plano and is always looking for a new place to have lunch meetings, or a local, non-chain restaurant to do their catering. he suggested we give it a try because we were out, sans kids, and it was 8:15ish so we hoped that might put us behind the dinner rush.
we were greeted by friendly, pleasant hostesses and told there would be about a 20 minute wait. no kids to whine, no brainer, we'll wait. hey the bar has empty seats. we can even get a marg while we wait. picture me happy!
then we actually had the audacity to sit at her bar....
i guess you aren't welcome to sit at her bar if you're over 25, which she proved by serving those that she needed to id, all the while ignoring us.
not only were we ignored and treated as if we were invisible, when she finally did acknowledge that we were visible and that she had seen us the whole time, her attitude started! we just thought she had an attitude, when she opened her mouth and actually spoke to us, she proved that she had a bad attitude. so very rude.
we spoke to the manager on the way out, because i feel management should know that one employee has me leaving to get in my car and drive somewhere else to spend my money and possibly start another wait.
i'm leaving.... you had me and you lost me. he didn't say much. we were mad. i'm not sure he could've changed our minds.

i will not set foot in this restaurant again. ever.

here's what blows me away. this restaurant has a great atmosphere, (if you don't mind a mountain climb and a trip through the bowels of the restaurant to use the restroom..... another issue) and this area of plano needs great restaurants. plano's tax base needs it's residents to spend their dollars in plano.
if urban rio's owners/management are trying to appeal to the "in" crowd they won't do that by by ignoring patrons that don't fit that niche. we are older. we are loyal. we eat out. often. your restaurant is in my neighborhood and i wanted to like it. fail.
i have lived in the dallas area my entire life. i have seen lots of restaurants come and go because they want to be popular with the "in" crowd. the restaurants that having staying power know that the "in" crowd is a fickle, disloyal group. they aren't the people you want to appeal to. you want to appeal to any customer who takes the time to walk through your door. any customer. because they will talk at dinner parties, business meetings, and pta meetings. that customer gets to decide where they will spend their dollars and they will talk to their friends about it. it's your job as an employee to make every customer want to come back and spend their dollars at your restaurant.

i read a few other reviews for urban rio, and i can see that this has been a recurring problem with some employees. wow. you are really going to let these people chase your customers away??? this review is a waste of my time. the fact that i can see that this is a recurring problem tells me that you don't care. too bad. you've clearly spent a ton of money on this location. you are throwing that investment away if you allow rude employees to offend and treat your customers like an inconvenience. it's bad business and your business will fail.

what a disgrace..... i took my wife to urban rio on monday night for the first time to check it out. we found an engaging decor, great atmosphere and flat screens everywhere. i thought i was in heaven. we went to sit on the patio and the experience began to deteriorate immediately. the waitress recommended the rio steak, but they were out. they were out of house chardonnay and other items as well. we never recieved chips andsalsauntil i asked another waiter if they were still serving them. the margarita tasted like watered down lemonade. my wife ordered the chicken torta. it arrived missing avocado salad and black beans as listed on the menu. it was served with a tasteless red cabbage slaw, however. i ordered the supposedly chile rubbed tuna with apricot salsa. the tuna was cooked nicely, however , no chile rub and about a quarter teaspoon of thesalsagarnished the tuna. we also ordered the guacamole for an appetizer, but it never made it to our table. what a shame. the place looks like it has great potential, but nobody there seems to either know or care what to do to provide an enjoyable dining experience for gueats.