We went with a very large group. Most of the adults enjoyed their meals. Two people ordered the same thing and didn't seem to enjoy it. Multiple people had the street tacos and loved them. I had the pork belly ones and devoured them. The kids ordered grilled cheeses. No one cared for them, but the server replaced them with Mac and cheese with no extra charge.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Nachos, Haddock Tacos, Fish Tacos
Patricia Wilcox
Service was slow but the servers were very friendly and helpful. The nachos was spicy for me. The Street Tacos
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Shrimp Tacos
Alan4B
Have no idea about the food here, but the drinks, we’ll one drink is a must have. They make a coconut margarita that was so good we went back on day two to have it again. Best it was part of the happy hour menu at half off. Never even heard of coconut infused tequila before, but I’m a big fan now!!
joanne Mcnair
I think I just had the best shrimp tacos I have ever had. A menu that has the perfect combination of food and alcohol and a waiter that was knowledgeable and helpful.Thank you Jacob.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Dustin Ludwig
Good spot near the water. Chicken enchilada was excellent and the mango margarita tasted great. Kate was a good server.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Enchiladas
newfyhart
I think I just had the BEST lime shrimp tacos with a cream aoli that was amazing at this restaurant Rio In Portsmouth NH. I will have to visit more often.Our server Jocob was prompt checking in at just the right times. I LOVE it when a restaurant blows me away. Rio Tequila Cantina did just that. The absolute best ever.
Ashley Solares
Jacob was amazing!!! We had a large party and he got every single order right and was the friendliest ever. It was beyond impressive how well he handled our large party. Food was mediocre but the drinks, music and Jacob were
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Churros
Beachfan999
I have been coming here once or twice a summer for at least 7 years. This visit was the least impressive. I’m not sure if it changed ownership since last year? The location is great. I came mid week at 5:30 with a friend and had no trouble getting a table, however, of all the open tables, the hostess tried to seat us in this cramped spot next to the waitress station, and a speaker with music that was too loud. Both my friend and I looked at each other and we asked to move to another table. I said the reason for the move request was that it was too loud with the speaker, so the hostess says, “I can put you over there (pointing to a further table) but just to let you know, we have a band playing a little later. We took the new table, not realizing that “a little while” meant 20 min. Then, 10 min after we were seated, these giant glass doors (which we thought were windows) opened and the hostess but us DIRECTLY in front of the band. My head was 4 feet at most from the speaker attached to the mic. She put us in literally the loudest spot after we said the music was too loud near a speaker. She also never told us when the music was starting or that the band would be directly 2 feet behind our table. There were plenty of open tables further away and closer to the pretty view of the tugboats. We decided to leave right after we finished our food, because we kept having to yell to talk to each other and say “what?” so the other person could try to repeat, I was literally staring at her mouth to try to lip read. Regarding the food and drinks: the menu is smaller now and a favorite of mine is gone (avocado fries). We ordered happy hour margaritas. They were only 7 dollars each but the sour mix was too lemony and acidic- heartburn city. Both of us got fish tacos, which were fish sticks on a tortilla with barely any slaw, with a drizzle of a yummy sauce. When I bit into the fish, it brought me back to my mom serving me frozen fish sticks as a child. Not what I was looking for in a fish taco. Our waitress was very friendly and attentive. With all of the good food and drink options in Portsmouth, sadly, I think my days of coming here are over.
Tracie Gutierrez
The food was horrible. I don’t understand their concept. They did not serve salsa with the nachos, you have to pay for a $5 side. The nachos had about 4 beans, as if the were a decoration.The strawberry lemonada was pleasant.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 3
Thi Nhu Lanh Huynh (Discerningtravelervietnam)
Some of the best margaritas here.I haven’t been trying any foods here yet.
First night was great, second night was a totally different experience.Night one - amazing bartender and very celiac aware. Lots of menu options to choose from.Couple nights later - GF tacos all came out on flour tortillas. Service was horrible and so thankful I double checked before eating. No apologies and acted like they were doing us a favor taking food we can’t eat off the bill.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Greg Clinton
Service was good and the various margaritas were tasty. However… the food was a total miss, unfortunately. Nothing seemed fresh. Took a long time to get the food, and when I received my tortilla salad with seared tuna, it was obviously “off”. The salad portion was tiny, mostly dry tortilla strips (seemingly from a bag) and pickled jalapeño slices (from a jar, not fresh), and a tiny amount of lettuce. But the tuna was close to rancid. It appeared to have been frozen, placed onto a flat pan for a few seconds, and then left under a heat lamp to dry out. I’m pretty sure that if I had eaten it, it would’ve made me sick. It was one of those moments from the TV show where Gordon Ramsay orders food from really bad restaurants and then confirms that indeed, the kitchen is dysfunctional and dangerously negligent. I’m sorry the server has to work at a place that would put food like that out on a table — upon sharing my assessment with our server, the absent manager removed the charge, but didn’t come speak to us about it. Thinking about it later, I felt a clear review online is the only responsible thing to do. All the food was underwhelming but rotten fish and nothing fresh is way across the line. Maybe hire Gordon Ramsay to come save it? 2 stars for the margaritas and the pleasant server, but lack of manager presence and bad food make this actually a 1 star experience. Sad!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 4
TT Brown
The service was very good. The fish tacos were excellent.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Jonathan Gaffney
Tuna steak was very good but could use more seasoning. Their mock tails were also delicious!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Kate Long
Great service and food! Our server Kayla was so friendly and knowledgeable on the menu! Definitely will be coming back to Rio.
We went with a very large group. Most of the adults enjoyed their meals. Two people ordered the same thing and didn't seem to enjoy it. Multiple people had the street tacos and loved them. I had the pork belly ones and devoured them. The kids ordered grilled cheeses. No one cared for them, but the server replaced them with Mac and cheese with no extra charge.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Nachos, Haddock Tacos, Fish Tacos
Service was slow but the servers were very friendly and helpful. The nachos was spicy for me. The Street Tacos
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Shrimp Tacos
Have no idea about the food here, but the drinks, we’ll one drink is a must have. They make a coconut margarita that was so good we went back on day two to have it again. Best it was part of the happy hour menu at half off. Never even heard of coconut infused tequila before, but I’m a big fan now!!
I think I just had the best shrimp tacos I have ever had. A menu that has the perfect combination of food and alcohol and a waiter that was knowledgeable and helpful.Thank you Jacob.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Good spot near the water. Chicken enchilada was excellent and the mango margarita tasted great. Kate was a good server.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Enchiladas
I think I just had the BEST lime shrimp tacos with a cream aoli that was amazing at this restaurant Rio In Portsmouth NH. I will have to visit more often.Our server Jocob was prompt checking in at just the right times. I LOVE it when a restaurant blows me away. Rio Tequila Cantina did just that. The absolute best ever.
Jacob was amazing!!! We had a large party and he got every single order right and was the friendliest ever. It was beyond impressive how well he handled our large party. Food was mediocre but the drinks, music and Jacob were
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Churros
I have been coming here once or twice a summer for at least 7 years. This visit was the least impressive. I’m not sure if it changed ownership since last year? The location is great. I came mid week at 5:30 with a friend and had no trouble getting a table, however, of all the open tables, the hostess tried to seat us in this cramped spot next to the waitress station, and a speaker with music that was too loud. Both my friend and I looked at each other and we asked to move to another table. I said the reason for the move request was that it was too loud with the speaker, so the hostess says, “I can put you over there (pointing to a further table) but just to let you know, we have a band playing a little later. We took the new table, not realizing that “a little while” meant 20 min. Then, 10 min after we were seated, these giant glass doors (which we thought were windows) opened and the hostess but us DIRECTLY in front of the band. My head was 4 feet at most from the speaker attached to the mic. She put us in literally the loudest spot after we said the music was too loud near a speaker. She also never told us when the music was starting or that the band would be directly 2 feet behind our table. There were plenty of open tables further away and closer to the pretty view of the tugboats. We decided to leave right after we finished our food, because we kept having to yell to talk to each other and say “what?” so the other person could try to repeat, I was literally staring at her mouth to try to lip read. Regarding the food and drinks: the menu is smaller now and a favorite of mine is gone (avocado fries). We ordered happy hour margaritas. They were only 7 dollars each but the sour mix was too lemony and acidic- heartburn city. Both of us got fish tacos, which were fish sticks on a tortilla with barely any slaw, with a drizzle of a yummy sauce. When I bit into the fish, it brought me back to my mom serving me frozen fish sticks as a child. Not what I was looking for in a fish taco. Our waitress was very friendly and attentive. With all of the good food and drink options in Portsmouth, sadly, I think my days of coming here are over.
The food was horrible. I don’t understand their concept. They did not serve salsa with the nachos, you have to pay for a $5 side. The nachos had about 4 beans, as if the were a decoration.The strawberry lemonada was pleasant.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 3
Some of the best margaritas here.I haven’t been trying any foods here yet.
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
First night was great, second night was a totally different experience.Night one - amazing bartender and very celiac aware. Lots of menu options to choose from.Couple nights later - GF tacos all came out on flour tortillas. Service was horrible and so thankful I double checked before eating. No apologies and acted like they were doing us a favor taking food we can’t eat off the bill.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Service was good and the various margaritas were tasty. However… the food was a total miss, unfortunately. Nothing seemed fresh. Took a long time to get the food, and when I received my tortilla salad with seared tuna, it was obviously “off”. The salad portion was tiny, mostly dry tortilla strips (seemingly from a bag) and pickled jalapeño slices (from a jar, not fresh), and a tiny amount of lettuce. But the tuna was close to rancid. It appeared to have been frozen, placed onto a flat pan for a few seconds, and then left under a heat lamp to dry out. I’m pretty sure that if I had eaten it, it would’ve made me sick. It was one of those moments from the TV show where Gordon Ramsay orders food from really bad restaurants and then confirms that indeed, the kitchen is dysfunctional and dangerously negligent. I’m sorry the server has to work at a place that would put food like that out on a table — upon sharing my assessment with our server, the absent manager removed the charge, but didn’t come speak to us about it. Thinking about it later, I felt a clear review online is the only responsible thing to do. All the food was underwhelming but rotten fish and nothing fresh is way across the line. Maybe hire Gordon Ramsay to come save it? 2 stars for the margaritas and the pleasant server, but lack of manager presence and bad food make this actually a 1 star experience. Sad!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 4
The service was very good. The fish tacos were excellent.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Tuna steak was very good but could use more seasoning. Their mock tails were also delicious!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Great service and food! Our server Kayla was so friendly and knowledgeable on the menu! Definitely will be coming back to Rio.
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