Cafe Rio vs. Don Pablo's

1.  Name: 

Cuisines: Tex/Mex

Payment: Cash, Visa, MasterCard

Alcohol:  No

Price: $

Address: 7803 Sudley Rd., Manassas, VA 20109

Hours of Operation: Fri-Sat 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m.. Sun 11-8 p.m.

2. Name:

Cuisines: Tex/Mex

Payment: Cash, Visa, MasterCard

Alcohol: Yes

Price: $

Address: 10691 Davidson Place, Manassas, VA 20109

Hours of Operation: Sun - Thu, 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.; Fri - Sat, 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. 

Salt Says:

I've never been to either restaurant, so when I walked into Cafe Rio, I was a bit taken aback. I was expecting a typical sit-down restaurant, but what I walked into reminded me more of a Chipotle or Qdoba.  I had to look around for a minute to find where the line was, but after that it was easy sailing ... almost.

Deciding what to order felt a bit rushed. There are two menus in the line:One at the end and the other closer to the counter, but there is nothing over the front where the servers are preparing the food. This—especially if you're indecisive or if the line is short—can be a problem. Fortunately, Cafe Rio offers daily specials so I just chose that: Coconut shrimp tacos with mango sauce serve with came with rice and beans.

The beans were average and the rice was OK; it tasted a little bitter because of the lime and other seasonings. The tacos were good, but a little too sweet. I was glad I ordered the mango sauce on the side because I could control some of the sweetness. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and the tortilla was light and fluffy. It was good.

The people working in the line were all extraordinarily friendly. They greeted me with a big smile and were very helpful. It felt like the kind of place where people get to know each other. 

Overall, I was pleased with the experience and would go back.

Don Pablo's was a little different. It is a standard sit-down restaurant, but you can opt for takeout, which is what I decided to do. I went to both restaurants at the height of lunch hour, and while Cafe Rio was teaming with people, Don Pablo's was a bit empty. And as I waited for someone to come to the hostess station, I could see why. It took more than a few minutes before someone came to seat me. 

In fact, most of my visit to Don Pablo's was waiting. It took about 20 minutes for my food to come out.  But to be fair, if I were sitting with a group of people enjoying a long lunch I probably wouldn't care so much. But I digress.

I ordered the Don's chicken sandwich, which consisted of mesquite grilled chicken breast, bacon, cheese, lettuce and tomato and came with a side of fries. The chicken was perfect. It was juicy and tender, perfectly seasoned and full of flavor. Even though the chicken would have been fine by itself, the cheese and bacon really made the sandwich. My only complaint was that there was too much cheese. The fries were OK, but nothing to brag about. Because I ordered my meal to go, they threw in a bag of fresh corn chips and salsa.

In Cafe Rio v. Don Pablo's, Cafe Rio might have better customer service, but Don Pablo's wins for flavor and price.

Pepper Says:

Now I haven’t been to a Don Pablo’s in years, and I've only been to the Fair Lakes and Alexandria locations. I wasn’t overly excited about returning, as I remembered the food was rather mediocre.

The hostesses at the Manassas location was rude when I arrived and so I just went to sit at the bar. The bartender was very nice, and I was the only one in the entire section.

For mains, I ordered the chicken fajitas served with chips and salsa. The salsa was pretty good, but it had giant slabs of tomatoes in it and I'm still not quite sure what that was about.

The chips were very thin and decent. The chicken was a little over grilled on the outside, making it a little tough to chew. The tortillas were ordinary and they tasted the same as those at Ruby Tuesdays and similar places. The re-fried beans turned out to be a very dull paste.  Overall, the food was pretty plain. The service at the bar,however, was very good.

When I walked into Café Rio, I was shocked and I felt like I'd just walked into a tex mex Chuck E. Cheese.

Because of the name and website, I had imagined it to be a sit-down restaurant like Don Pablo’s. Normally this would not be overwhelmingly disappointing for me, but this time it was.

The atmosphere was absolutely chaotic, and I had to repeat my order over and over because they couldn’t hear me. And I only heard about half of what they were saying to me. 

 Not to mention the fact the girl left on register during the busy dinnertime crowd was in training and kept having to call someone over. Keep in mind I only ordered one item—I could have ordered a room full of burritos at Chipotle in the same amount of time.

My order took a little over 12 minutes to make. Yes, I was counting—counting every second I was in there and I could not wait to get out. When my food was ready, I ran to the car to try it. I don’t think it’s a very good sign for Cafe Rio when its customers rather eat food in a poorly air conditioned car when it’s around 90-something degrees outside, than eat in the restaurant.  

I ordered the beef enchilada, which came with rice, black beans and some shredded lettuce. The first thing I noticed was that it was a very small portion. Now while I wasn’t expecting a feast, I was expecting at least a moderate-sized enchilada, but it was so tiny. It was only around $7 but for this price, you could go to and get a meal three times the size.

I ordered the hot sauce, which wasn’t too terribly tasty, but the enchilada itself was very good—nice and cheesy with tender beef. Everything that came with it was mixed together very well. So if you’re looking for a small meal, this would be a great choice.

While ordering took a long time and the atmosphere was insane, the staff was very nice. I might return there, perhaps on a Monday morning or some other time when it is not packed with children.  Overall the food is good, but nothing to get too excited about.

It’s hard to compare Cafe Rio and Don Pablo's because as far as atmosphere is concerned they’re two different places.

I did like the Cafe Rio enchilada a little better than Don Pablo's fajitas. But if I had ordered a different dish at both places, who knows which one might be better?

Having said that, I think both places definitely need a second try.

Until then I'll say this:If you’re going for a sit-down dinner where you want to talk, or grab a drink with a friend at the bar, Pablo’s is definitely your place.  But if you need a quick lunch on the go, Café Rio is your place. The staff is friendly at both place and both looked clean, but Café Rio is definitely much, much newer.