Wednesday, November 5, 2014

"¡Ándele! Rio Bravo Returning!

Rio Bravo reboot finally happening!
Ray Schoenbaum plans to reopen his beloved Rio Bravo Cantina restaurant in Sandy Springs next year. Now known as Ray's Rio Bravo, the restaurant will replace Peter Chang's Tasty China II, not far from Ray's on the River, on Powers Ferry Road.  Tasty China closed this past Sunday after a five year run.  

Plans call for the new Rio Bravo to open in time for Cinco de Mayo next year.  


Ray has reportedly been planning this reboot for over a year and began offering "Ray's Rio Bravo Catering" earlier this summer.  


Rio Bravo was started in 1985 by Ray Schoenbaum, son of Shoney's founder Alex Schoenbaum.  With the success of the Tex-Mex chain, Schoenbaum sold the group to Atlanta-based Applebee's in 1995.  At the time of the sale, Rio Bravo was an 11-unit chain with four other restaurants.   Applebee's sold the then 100-unit Rio Bravo chain to California-based Chevy's in 1999. By late 2002, the restaurant's popularity had waned, and all locations were closed.

Former Rio Bravo Cantina locations are scattered all over metro Atlanta including former sites in Buckhead, Gwinnett, Dunwoody, Roswell and Kennesaw 

There was talk that Cantina in Buckhead would be converted to a Rio Bravo but those talks fell apart and the restaurant space remains vacant.  


Will you support the new Ray's Rio Bravo?  Where would you like for Rio Bravo to open next?  Where was "your" Rio Bravo?  

Please share your thoughts below.  

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to love Rio Bravo. It was very unique back in the 80's/90's when all the other mexican places were the El Toro-white cheese dip type places.

My family used to frequent both the Buckhead and Powers Ferry/New Northside locations. The tortilla machine was always a crowd pleaser for us kids.

The Mexican food world has changed and expanded so much since the 90's. I hope they can find their nitch again.

Anonymous said...

My wife and I ate there at least once a week. We LOVED the Black-berry Margaritas!!!!! We would love to see an Alpharetta location open near us!!!!

Anonymous said...

My family went to the Roswell located every Sunday when I was growing up; we loved it! Then it was sold and started to change and went downhill, so we stopped going.

My parents got divorced shortly thereafter...

Anonymous said...

My office is right next door to the new location. We're all jazzed about this development and looking forward to lunches there, take-out, and happy hours!

Anonymous said...

Unless the bring back the tortilla machine, I ain't visiting!

Anonymous said...

Adios Rio Bravo. Atlanta will not bite. There are already many great Mexican restaurants nearby on Roswell Road that are truly unique, provide great food, and are much cheaper than Rio Bravo. Its a loser location on Powers Ferry too. Ray needs to stick to his overpriced joint on the river instead of pretend Mex food served by snot-nosed preppy teenagers.

Jen said...

So excited for this I can't even stand it! There has never been a suitable replacement for Rio Bravo since they closed their doors. Their cheese dip and steak quesadillas pretty much sustained me in my 20's!

Anonymous said...

I hate it. Generic Mexican food replacing something truly interesting and rather unique.

Frankie the Cranky Yankee said...

Is that offensive stereotype cartoon REALLY their logo? Wow.

Long Time Atlantan said...

Rio Bravo coming back is nothing but great news! Cheese dip, fresh tortillas and awesome margaritas! What more could we ask for? I'm sure they are going to update the look and feel to make it relevant, but still give us that great food we loved and still crave all these years later. WELCOME HOME RIO BRAVO!

Anonymous said...

Born again! Praise Machino, guacamole & Margarita! I am so happy to hear that Ray is bringing Rio Bravo back! We ate there religiously. ;-) Rio Bravo was totally unique and since they closed there just isn't great Tex-Mex in Atlanta. There are lots of good Mexican food restaurants all over the place but that's not good old Rio Bravo Tex-Mex. Nothing matches Ray's Tex-Mex Cantina formula for Rio Bravo and I have no doubt that the new one will be even better! Going to be a long six months wait!

Anonymous said...

Calm down Frankie

Anonymous said...

SO excited for this! Please re-open in Dunwoody! Before they sold it, Rio Bravo was the best Tex Mex in Atlanta. I've missed them. That cheese dip, the fresh tortillas, the Sunday brunch, the steak quesadilla fajitas - and their salsa was superb. I hope it's just like it was before they sold it and it was ruined.

Anonymous said...

Meh, this will just be overpriced and not work. Rio Bravo has a bad connotation with ATLiens. And team it with Ray's and it will be overpriced crap. I won't trek from Roswell Road, where there are 4 other mexican restaurants that I go to. And I certainly won't come from Buckhead or Cobb Pkwy. And with the Braves coming closer, good luck with traffic. Guess overpriced drinks and food will be waiting during traffic...

Anonymous said...

Our family ate there 2-3 times a month when they changed owners I told my wife this is the end. As long as they have the same quality and constancy I know they will do just fine I am really looking forward to the Sunday Brunch and the best fajitas ever!!!! A location in Cumming Ga would be great but as before we will support all locations. I can't wait for the opening I have missed this place for so long I still can't believe its true

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