Cafe Rio was started in my home town. It has now become franchised and I think they are up to like 20-25 locations nationwide. If you haven't been there, I highly suggest trying it. I have heard them being compared to Chipotle, Qdoba, etc. They are a fast food high quality, and fresh Mexican restaurant. My only complaint is that ever since they have started to get bigger and bigger, their quality and customer service has declined. They recently moved their only location here locally. The location is horrible. The parking is a nightmare. The wait is DOUBLE what it used to. The employee's act like you are wasting their time even being there. Long story short I love this place, but I hate their growing pains. I suggest trying them out if you haven't.
Why not drop the manager an email and let them know that standards have slipped recently. You never know, it could bag you a coupon!
It seems like that is becoming more and more common... no matter where you go. Bad attitudes, obvious smartpeep comments, designed to make you feel like you are really putting them out by giving them your business. I don't think they realize how business works. If they want to keep their job, they have to keep the customers happy. Otherwise the company folds.
I have complained, and now at this point I just feel like a nagging customer that is never happy. In the past when my meals were messed up or to go orders not correct they would send me a coupon for a replacement free meal. Now it seems they just say "Thanks for the heads up, amiga. Come try us again another time." I think they are having so many complaints that they can't keep up with it. The sad thing is the food is not the problem. The problem always seems to be the person making the meal incorrectly & not listening to what you want, or they don't fulfill your to go order correctly. The food is the star. Everything else has been falling short.
I've had the opposite problem lately. I'm 30 minutes away from any store, at all. The one that's closest is where we go to get little things we might need, or cigarettes, or gas. They are such wonderful people. The husband is always joking around and making everybody smile.they also have the habit of charging tax on things that are not taxable. Or giving someone a pack of cigarettes and letting them come back and pay. They are going to do what they have to do to make as much money as possible. But they do enough to help people out that we let them do what they want. Well, they make gas station pizzas up there. And that's where they make the most profit. The problem is the pizza is HORRIBLE. I've never made through an entire slice, lol. But because they are so good to their customers I want to help them out, and buy a pizza or something. So I end up with enough money every once in a while. And I have to choose... should I sacrifice quality pizza to get better service? Or should I be unloyal and go get the better quality pizza with bad service?
It sounds like the owner is nice enough that you could make a constructive joke about the pizza. Say something along the lines of "Hey man, I don't mind paying double for this crap you call pizza because I like you so much, but could you at least use real cheese?". Mention that the pizza could be better in some sort of joking banter and maybe they will take some steps to making it better. I think its awesome to support local, real people who are just trying to make it, so good for you.
I've been wanting to try this place out for quite some time now, because I've seen so many "copycat" recipes for their pulled pork online, and I really want to know what the real deal tastes like. Unfortunately I live on the east coast, far away from any of their locations, but if I make it out west I definitely plan to hunt down one of these restaurants. I tried some of the copycat recipes, because many of them call for El Pato spicy tomato sauce, which I use a lot in my cooking. But the sugar amounts they recommend vary wildly - one of the recipes that the author swears is just like the real thing called for 2 cups of sugar - which sounds insane. Even another recipe I tried which only called for 3/4 a cup of brown sugar was way too sweet imo. Currently the only "Chipotle" competitors we have around here are QDoba, which I don't really care for, and another newer one which originated in Columbus, Ohio called Hothead Burritos, which totally sucks. They're not even coy about how they are ripping off the whole Chipotle experience, except their food literally tastes awful and can't shake a stick at Chipotle. Their tortilla wraps are really bizarre and stretchy, it's like eating a sheet of rubber. And their signature "sauce" literally tastes like straight corn syrup with some dried pepper flakes in it - yuck.
