Rio Mambo - S. Arlington

They didn't have my reservation on file and said that they didn't use Open Table.

Rio mambo simply has great food!!! The dishes are made in house including tasty, chunky hot sauce to delicious tamales. You can find quality Tex mex or unique dishes for those in your party that aren't crazy about Tex Mex. My husband likes their pork dish on orzo with corn. It is better and cheaper than at other restaurants where he got it. Service is inconsistent. This time we had Jorge and he was fabulous! He remembered to put my sauce on the side and to bring water with no ice. Also the young man in charge of refilling chips etc was really on the ball. Also, the music wasn't blaring as it usually is, making this our most pleasant visit yet!! Give it a try and if service isn't up to par or music is too loud, flag down the manager as he is always very nice and wants happy customers.

The food is actually very good. It is fresh and made on site so you aren 't getting canned or frozen dinners. The menu is varied and has something for everyone. The tacos has a good balance of tasty meat with fresh veggies. It isn 't greasy. The enchiladas also have a nice balance of meat. The chicken should be a better quality. The sauces are not too salty and very tasty. The charro beans are great! Salty, but, seasoned well and cooked to perfection. The pork shank was excellent and placed on a bed of risotto that was done well. The atmosphere oh my! SOOO LOUD!! People are coming to eat and most aren 't alone. It is very hard to hear your server or your companions and it gets to be a drum beat in your ear as the meal goes on. It seriously is like you have come to a dance club or loud party, not a restaurant where all types of people have come to enjoy a meal. Tone it down! I know they have Salsa some nights, but on a regular dinner time, the music just shouldn 't be so loud. The service just wasn 't good at all. The server had a trainee shadowing him. I hope the trainee doesn 't follow the example. He wrote down our drink order on a tablet, then brought everything wrong and didn 't fix it. It appeared that our request just didn 't matter. He never refilled our water. Another server actually saw our empty glasses and did it for him without us even asking. We had to ask for anything we got and finally gave up. If the weather had been good, we would have gone outside. The outside area is very nice and maybe it would not be so loud.

Slowest service ever. Bland food. Nothing special here.

Terrible service can not be for good eating. the last time we were in rio mambo was for my birthday last year, which they totally ruined by ignoring my open table reservation for 8 even after I went to the restaurant this afternoon and talked to the manager who went on the terrace to see where we wanted to sit. then we came with a party of 8 a little early and he had given the place away and had no place for us. then, when we were served, two meals were wrong. When I communicated with the restaurant the next day, I never heard of them. So let's try again, 7 months later. we came and gave our names. the hostesses didn't check anything and we said we would like to sit outside. I mentioned an open table when we arrived and mentioned it again when we sat. She finally said we really don't do this during the week. I replied that we used an open table partly for the points. she didn't react. I don't see we have our points. I don't know which relationship has more open table with restaurants, but rio mambo has not honored our reservation by open table. we are through unless another location has a good management.