Rainforest Cafe- much ado about not much
Written: Apr 24 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The sights and sounds can help keep the attention of the younger children.
Cons: Way too expensive.
The Bottom Line: Even at lunch time, the prices are cost prohibitive for families on a budget. It is a neat place, but not worth the cost.
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| ronikaye's Full Review: Rainforest Cafe |
We had always intended to take our children, ages 3, 8, and 14 to the Rainforest Cafe. We had seen the ones in South Florida, but they were always too crowded, with long wait times for a table. When we saw the one in Niagara Falls, Ontario, we made a note to come back on the weekend for a nice family meal out.
The atmosphere:
The atmosphere at the Rainforest Cafe is neat, and I can not say that I have been anywhere quite like it. It is dark, with lots of fish tanks everywhere, with very colourful fish, which makes for a nice visual distraction for the younger ones- especially when they have "Nemo" and "Dorie" in the tanks! They also have animatronic apes, monkeys, and elephants that come to life every 15 minutes. There is a constant hum of crickets, and different bird calls, the place is definitely full of interesting things to hear and see. They advertise to have a "shark encounter" at the one in Niagara Falls, if you call having a really small shark in a really big tank a shark encounter, ok, but that was all there was to it. Also, they had a very very large snake, I assume it was a boa constrictor, he must have been 10 feet long stretched out, he was cramped up in a tiny tank, it made me sad to see him all cooped up like that. I am not zealous about that sort of thing but if you are going to cage an animal for display, please ensure their cage is the appropriate size to accommodate. I said something to the hostess about his cramped quarters, she looked at the tank and said "Oh he does not seem to mind". "Oh, so you have talked to him about it?" Hmm. Moving along.
The servers:
The hostess who sat us was nice, she gave us the 50 cent tour of the place (when we told her it was our first time), and she ensured the children had the standard color page and crayons. No complaints about the service whatsoever. The server that we had was very nice, very enthusiastic, and very attentive.
The Food:
The prices at the Rainforest Cafe in Niagara Falls are very very high. I am speaking only of this location, since I have not been to others. I know that Kelseys on Clifton Hill is on average 5-7 dollars more expensive per entre than the one across town, so this may be the case here as well- unfortunately this is the only RFC in town.
We paid 8.95 for a child's chicken tender meal, my son ordered a club sandwich for 12.95, and my husband and I ordered a dinner size grilled chicken ceasar salad, 15.95. We were starving, so we ordered a fried mozza sticks appetizer, 9.95. Our bill came out to over 75 dollars when you included the drinks- and there were no "bar drinks" either! We were very surpised at how expensive the food was- we opted to split a salad because had we both ordered our own, the bill would have been a hundred dollars! I wish I had more commentary about the actual dishes, but this was all we ordered. If the quality of all the food is standard, than whatever you order should be pretty tasty. Fortunately, the salad was big enough for both of us with leftovers. The mozza sticks were good. My son enjoyed his sandwhich, and the girls enjoyed their chicken tenders. I would swear that the chicken tenders are the same ones you can buy at the grocery store, "Tyson all white chicken tenders".
The food was good, not tremendous, not delicious, it was good, and it was served fairly quickly. The restaurant was not overly crowded, now I know why.
Bottom line:
The food and the service were adequate, the salad was actually abover average- the dressing on the salad was good, the greens were fresh and crisp, but not 16 dollars worth of good. The animatronics were loud and actually scared my 3 year old, she was terrified the first time the monkeys came to life and chattered and jumped around. She was ok the second time, and by the third time, she all but ignored them. I am glad we went, but I have no plans to go back. Overall I was a little bit disappointed with the experience, maybe because it cost so much, maybe because my expectations were higher than they should have been.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
ronikaye
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Member: Roni Kaye
Location: Canada
Reviews written: 65
Trusted by: 9 members
About Me:
I am a 38 year old wife and mother of 3.
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