Rainforest Cafe.....Any good?

[acepepper]

We've decided to give the rainforest cafe a go, but reading another thread on restaurants to avoid, it came out on top. Is it really that bad?

Andy.

 

[Sian]

The food and atmosphere are good, it's the waiting that is the problem. We waited over an hour after the time we had been given to return for our meal. We complained and they knocked 10% off the bill. From arriving at the DTD restaurant to eating was about 2 and a half hours, so plan ahead. WE were not in the mood to enjoy anything after that wait.

 

[MKDEBS]

we ate at the one at AK, The food was great the setting fantastic and the service was good too. But I have to add we always ate early wherever we went, it makes such a differance not having to wait for tables.

Can I add we have also been to the one in London, Doesn't come close the menu isn't the same and they try and cram to many tables in.

You should always try something once the whole atmosphere of the place was enough for me.

Hope you enjoy if you decide to go,

DEBS

 

[Tony Bush]

We ate at DTD one evening. Arrived around 6pm and had our time given as 7pm. Used the hour to look around the World of Disney store. We were sat at our table within 10 minutes of our given time. No complaints at all. The food was good, not too expensive either, service was excellent and all of us (2 adults, 2 kids) absolutely loved the atmosphere. We will definately return this time. Judge for yourself - but you must at least try it.....

Tony

 

[snookhams]

We have eaten at the rainforest cafe at AK several times and always thoroughly enjoyed it and the kids think its fantastic, we have never had to wait all that long, but I would think about eating a little earlier to miss some of the rush.

MKDEBS - you were lucky to get into the one in London when we went we waited so long we had to leave without being seated because we had theater tickets and we had been waiting nearly 2 hrs had to grab a big mac on the way to the Paladium, and decided that we would save rainforest visit until Florida.

 

[Wednesday till I die]

The one at A.K is fantastic - atmosphere, food and service. Have had breakfast there with no wait at all.

Agree about the London one. Had lunch there on our way to see the Lion King and it was ordinary at best. Then again isn't everything in London?

Barry.

 

[vernon]

I regularly use the RC at AK, always been happy with it. I do find it a little frustrating when the make you wait for 20 minutes if you arrive at your due time, while there are still plenty of empty tables. It's obviously a marketting ploy to make you spend money in the shop, although recently they seem to have gone to a "standing" queue and you get seated when your turn comes up. It seemed to be much quicker than the old method.

Certainly worth a visit, decent food, good range of menu, reasonable value and a fun place to be.

 

[Hemelman]

We ate in the Rainforest Cafe in DTD. If you prebook a table outside main busy times then you shouldn't have to wait too long.

The food was good, usual american size portions & reasonably priced.

The theming etc is entertaining, but they do cram the tables in to use space to the optimum, definitely not the place for an intimate dinner!

Mick

 

[Madjock]

We ate at the DTD one too. We had eaten at the London one a couple of times before this and found the DTD much better. We had no problem with seating, the food was okay and the atmosphere great. The food's nothing to write home about but still enjoyable but the main attraction to these restaurants are that they are great places for the kids, they love them and they're fun.

I would say try it and see what you think.

Annmarie

 

[BevS97]

we ate at the one in disneyland paris- we didn't have to wait very long, maybe 15 minutes no longer.

The food was lovely, and the theming is superb, but Katie was terrified when the thunderstorm started - I hadn't even given that a second thought, but she didn't like it at all. Something to bear in mind if you have small kids

Bev

 

[UKDEB]

I've never understood why RFC gets such a slating. We eat at the AK one each trip and we've also eaten once at the DTD one. We've never had to wait. We always go for an early lunch at AK which probably helps, but when we ate at DTD (evening) it was extremely busy, but still no wait. We did have a PS so maybe that helps.

We like the food - it's definitely as good as the other themed restaurants and there are plenty of more unusual options. We do find it a bit expensive. Although the individual prices don't seem that bad, we've noticed that the bill is always significantly more than similar places.

 

[Fiona R from UK]

I was really surprised too at the bad reviews Rainforest Cafe seems to get in reviews. We've eaten at the AK one twice, Feb 01 and Feb 02. Both times the service was fine and food excellent, the bill seems to come to around $50 for 5 of us, the portions are huge so I share with my 12 yo!! We thought the storm was all a bit tame!!

 

[Astrid]

Hi Andy

I suppose the problem with asking for a review on a restaurant is that everyones likes/dislikes are different! So I'd go with what has been suggested by a few of the replies and give it a try anyway so you can form your own opinion!

I've been to the DTD RC twice but I wouldn't put it on my 'must visit' list:

Plus points: Theming is excellent, my kids loved it and the food was good. As others have said, we ate outside the most popular times and didn't have to wait long for a table.

Minus points: As UKDeb says, I find it expensive for what you get, Jungle Jims is a comparable restaurant in some ways but is a lot lot cheaper. I've yet to be very impressed with the service.

Give it a try I look forward to hearing what you think!

Astrid

 

[WebmasterPenny]

I've eaten at the DTD one twice. Both times food and service have been fine! I do think it's a little on the pricey side, even when you take into account the 10% discount you get with the AP (or is it DC...or maybe both!). It's somewhere I'd be happy to go to again, but not neccessarily go out of my way to do.

Like Astrid says, people have different expectations...plus <b>any</b> restaurant can have an off day! Personally, my own rule of thumb is if a restaurant appeals to me then to give it a chance atleast once and I can form my own opinion.

Penny

 

[Bilboo]

Morning Folks,

Might hold a board record here because I’ve been to 5 RFC’s in my time and just thought I’d give you my views on each one:-

DTD – I’d say the best, where else can you eat in a volcano! One hour wait when we went in 2000, but they wanted us to wait 2.5 hours in 2001 (on a Monday evening in May!) so went to TGI’s at Crossroads. Food was as expected, service was OK.

AK – Great setting again, but I found it a bit lacking in atmosphere (about 3.30pm as we come out of AK – I do wish it more of a full day there). Food and service as above.

DLP – Got there about 5pm to avoid the after park crush, and was seated straight away. Then waited 20 minutes and wasn’t even acknowledged, we try to get a ‘Safari Guides’ attention but was rudely told to wait. Anyway, we walked out (letting the supervisor know what we thought on the way) and went to Planet Hollywood were we had a great meal with excellent service.

London – I’d say the best for atmosphere, it is cramped inside but I think that makes it more fun. Food not as good as Florida but the service was about the best of the bunch.

Manchester Trafford Park (now shut) – Bit of a ‘RFC Lite’, more spacious than the others, but small and not as well themed. Service and food were OK but not as good as the others.

On a general note, I’d say they all suffer from mediocre service with the exception of London, and in food terms I prefer PH which I also think is more 'fun'.

Cheers
Bilboo

 

[stevechase]

Hi,

The RC at Downtown was really busy all the time, we went into the one at AK at about 3pm one afternoon and were seated right away and we were there over Easter. But we thought it was fantastic, the kids loved it too. One bit of advice if you have kids, we had one meal between them they are big meals. My wife had a salad that I thought was for the entire table, huge!

If you get chance to try before you buy, so to speak. There is one in London apparently, dont know where though.

Have a great time

Jac, Steve, Beth and Ellie