Vista De Rio restaurant opening this weekend
The Vista De Rio Mexican restaurant is scheduled to open Saturday, Feb. 1, in this location at 1625 Oak Ridge Highway, acccording to owner Tim Johnson of Clinton. It once was the River View barbecue restaurant, but most recently housed the Rice Kitchen Sushi and Hibachi restaurant. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
To be called Vista De Rio – which translates to “view of the river” – the restaurant also is in the spot of the former River View Grill BBQ and Seafood restaurant, which closed in 2020.
It was replaced by I Kook Hibachi Steak & Sushi in early 2021, which in turn was replaced by the Rice Kitchen in mid-2023.
Owner of Vista De Rio is Clinton native Tim Johnson, a truck driver by trade who is now trying his hand in the restaurant business.
Running the kitchen will be cousins Rogelio “Roy” Trujillo and Ruben Rogel, who are veterans of the La Sierra and Habanero’s Mexican restaurants in Andersonville and the east side of Clinton.
Johnson said Vista De Rio will offer traditional Mexican fare rather than the Tex-Mex usually found in this area.
“We will be focusing on more-authentic items such as tamales, menudo, soups, and Sonora dogs,” he said.
“We also have the smoker that was left over from River View, and while we won’t be offering smoked meats, we will use the smoker to flavor some of the meats we use in our dishes,” he said.
Vista De Rio will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.
Carlos Hernandez of Tellico Village opened the Clinton Rice Kitchen restaurant as his second location in 2023, but he said last week that he closed the restaurant when his lease expired at the end of December.
The original Rice Kitchen remains open in Tellico Village, he said.
