Growing up in Bethesda during the late 80s to early 90s, I’ve had the pleasure of watching a small town, grow into a bustling mid-sized city. Throughout Bethesda’s growth, several landmarks have thrived including Rio Grande. Rio Grande was one of the first family-style restaurants to draw a consistently large client base and continues to this day. Throughout the years they have expanded the space as well as the design but the fundamentals have kept Rio Grande going strong.

Price – $$

Service – B+
I’ve always had good experience with the service at Rio Grande. They staff appropriately so you never have to wait very long for an order. Additionally, the wait staff has been trained well and are extremely professional.

Food – B
Solid.  Everything on the menu is pretty good – definitely on par with some of the other Tex-Mex places in the DC area like Alero.

Décor – C
Rio Grande is an enormous family-style restaurant with a loud, main open area so aesthetics are clearly not part of their business model. Imagine dozens of tables and hundreds of yuppies in a large barn eating tacos and Rio Grande is something like that.

Feel – B
Rio Grande is a loud large space full of noise, movement and the smell of grilled fajitas. It probably is not the best place to take a date unless you don’t really care how it ends but it is an ideal venue for a family, large group, or a laid-back evening before a film.

Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande Cafe is located at 4870 Bethesda Ave in Bethesda, MD. They can be reached at (301) 656-2981.

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