Rio Mambo Tex-Mex y Más has closed its restaurants in Burleson, Colleyville and Weatherford, leaving just one location standing — the original spot at 6125 SW Loop 820 in Fort Worth’s Cityview Centre. That restaurant remained open on Tuesday, even as the chain’s suburban footprint quietly shrank to nothing.
The closures were first reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, whose Eats Beat columnist Bud Kennedy has covered Texas restaurants since 1985 and written more than 3,000 columns on the subject. Rio Mambo’s remaining Fort Worth restaurant opened at that Cityview Centre address on September 11, 2001, and operated under founder Brent Johnson for 22 years before it was sold, according to earlier Hoodline reporting. Over the years, the chain also ran several other restaurants, including a former location in Arlington, per the Star-Telegram.
California-based Xperience Restaurant Group bought Rio Mambo in 2023, folding it into a national portfolio that also includes the 75-year-old El Torito chain. That acquisition, which also swept up sister concept The Rim Scratch Craft Eats, shifted Rio Mambo from local, family-run ownership to national corporate management, according to a Xperience from that time.
A Pattern of Retreat Across North Texas
The Rio Mambo closures follow the same playbook Xperience Restaurant Group already used on The Rim, which promoted itself as serving “food with soul” before the company shut it down at Fort Worth’s Waterside shops on July 26. Diners were encouraged to visit the brand’s remaining location instead; Hoodline previously reported on the Waterside closure. Since the 2023 acquisition, the corporate parent has systematically pared down its North Texas footprint, closing The Rim and now three of four Rio Mambo restaurants, leaving only the 2001 original open…