Rainforest Cafe in Burlington, MA - Ooh, Ooh, Ooh, Aah, Aah, Aah
Written: Mar 02 '03 (Updated Mar 03 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Comprehensive rain forest decor will appeal to kids and adults
Cons: The food is expensive and not particularly good.
The Bottom Line: Go for the decor - your kids will love it. The food is just okay and occasionally inedible.
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| modernmarvel's Full Review: Rainforest Cafe |
The Rainforest Cafe had amazing decor. It is covered from floor to ceiling in decorations designed to evoke the rainforest. Quality animatronic animals put on a show every few minutes and there is an artificial "storm" complete with thunder and lightning every 15 minutes or so.
We have dined at this location a few times in the last six months. The experience each time has been almost exactly the same except that the wait time varies significantly.
DECOR
The decor is just amazing. All of the walls are covered with silk plants and flowers and spanish moss so that you can't see the actual walls. The ceiling also gets this treatment. There are many life-size animatronic animals along the walls including gorillas and elephants. They look pretty realistic and the sound system gives them each their own voice. Even though this location has been around for a long time - the decor shows no sign of wear.
The restaurant is rather dark. There are lots of jungle noises and background music to add to the ambiance. The tables each have complex jungle prints on them. Every 15 minutes or so there is a thunder storm which has thunder noises and bright flashes of light for the lightning. This can be scary for the youngest children but older ones seem to love it.
The restaurant has lots of alcoves and winds around a bit. This seems to keep the noise level down and makes this very large restaurant (according to the web site, it seats 330) seem more intimate. There are both tables and booths.
Rain Forest Cafe has lots of great features to see. You enter the restaurant under an elaborate salt water fish tank that consists of two large circular tanks with an arch over your head that the fish can use to swim between the two tanks. The tank is clean and has lots of great specimens. Kids love to see the fish swim between the large tanks. There is another large tank in the dining room.
The dining room also has an elaborate fountain with a gold stature of atlas holding up the world in the middle of it. Another part of the dining room has the night sky with laser optic stars and the occasional meteor.
The restaurant is designed so that most seats do not have a view of the gift shop. Instead, you are completely enveloped by the decor. In the parts of the dining room where you can see the gift shop, there is an interesting waterfall that creates a wall between the two.
This location is very accommodating about honoring a seating request, although you may have to wait longer until a seat opens up. I like to sit anywhere where I can't see the gift shop. This is usually easy to accommodate. Don't sit near the fountain because it can give off a chemical smell.
The restrooms continue the theming with wall murals. They have been clean on all of our visits.
There used to be a bar at this location - however it is gone now and there are tables in its place. This part of the restaurant looks out over the gift shop and the mall beyond so, if you have come to take in the decor, try to avoid sitting in this area.
FOOD
The menu has a very broad selection of appetizers and entrees including burgers, sandwiches, salads, soups, seafood, pizza and full meals with chicken, pork and beef. All of the dishes have cute rainforest-themed names and are often covered in sauces or have other high-caloric touches.
We tried the coastal calamari appetizer which was deep fried calamari with a tomato based dipping sauce. It was the best thing we had at the restaurant. I had the China Island Chicken Salad and it was awful. There were potato sticks in it (they did warn me about that on the menu description but they were pretty gross in reality) and it was so drenched in dressing that I couldn't eat it. My husband had a pretty ordinary cheeseburger that came with ordinary slightly spicy fries. On another visit, I had the Jambalaya which was chunks of mostly sausage swimming in orange-tinged grease. Prices for adult entrees start at about $8 and go up to $18 or so. There is a decent selection of burgers and sandwiches for under $10 on the menu.
The children's menu has a few offerings for $5.99 including macaroni & cheese, chicken nuggets and cheeseburgers. My kids always choose the chicken nuggets because they come in animal shapes. Obviously, they don't come off the chicken this way and are pretty processed and artificial. The fries are a bit spicy which may not appeal to all kids. The children's menu also has ice cream desserts for $1.99. There was a sign on our table that said you could buy the plate that the nuggets are served on for an additional $2.99.
The dessert choices are more limited than the entrees selections with a few selections of pie or ice cream. We tried the Volcano, which at $11.95 was a bit steep in price, but was enough to feed our entire family. The Volcano is a large scoop of vanilla ice cream with three brownies forming a pyramid over it, some hot fudge, caramel and whipped cream. There is a large silver decoration on top. The servers yell "Volcano" whenever they bring one out which is cute once but can get annoying if you hear it about 20 times for other diners before your volcano is served.
Rainforest Cafe has a full liquor license. The menu offers several expensive tropical drinks. They also offer a good selection of beers in the bottle.
SERVICE
It seems that all of the staff here is young and inexperienced. The service is always off even though there is often a lot of staff milling about. We always have to ask for extras such as ketchup or salt. They don't clear the table when they bring the bill. Servers rarely look enthused about their jobs, some are even rude.
LOCATION
This location is buried in the Burlington Mall. There is plenty of free parking, although there is not much near the closest door to the restaurant. We usually end up parking pretty far into the parking lot and hoofing it through the parking lot and the mall to the restaurant.
You have to pass a lot of stores to get to this restaurant and then pass through the restaurant's own gift shop. The mall location can be good if there is a wait because you can kill time looking through the Gap, Pottery Barn and numerous other stores. The mall location can be bad if you don't want to drag young children through stores.
GIFT SHOP
All of the theming continues into the gift shop and even overflows right out into the mall. Unfortunately, you have to enter and exit the restaurant through the gift shop. When you enter the gift shop there is a large animatronic alligator that thrashes about and opens its mouth. There is also a talking tree that reminded me of the one in Pocahontas.
The merchandise either relates to the rain forest or has the restaurant's logo on it. There is a lot of clothing, some housewares, jewelery, toys and other sundry things. It reminds me quite a bit of a Disney store. Most of the prices are okay - although the toys could probably be found cheaper elsewhere.
THE WAIT
Rainforest Cafe is notorious for its long waits. We came to this location at 6pm on a Tuesday night and sailed right in to a half-empty dining room. HOWEVER, we visited at 7pm on a Friday night and were told it was a hour and twenty minute wait. We were issued a cardboard "passport" and told to come back to the host stand at that time. We returned in a hour to see if we could be seated any sooner and were brusquely told that we had to come back at the appointed time. When our time finally arrive, weak with hunger, we returned to the host's stand, got our passport stamped and got in line at the dining room where we were seated promptly. It was a little annoying to discover that there were many empty tables. Apparently, the hosts couldn't be bothered to see if seating was available - they simply insisted that we wait until our appointed time. This behavior was consistent with the typically poor service we always receive at this location.
When doing some research for this review, I saw on the web site that this location takes reservations - although there is no mention of that in the restaurant itself. We are going to try that route next time we go.
OTHER INFORMATION
They take all major credit cards.
The web site is at www.rainforestcafe.com. You can see the entire menu on the web site.
The phone number is (781) 272-7555.
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
The decor in Rainforest Cafe is the big draw. It is really a fun place to spend some time watching the animals and fountains and enjoying the theming. Our kids love it and it is a big treat when we get to go. The food is just okay and the wait times can top an hour. However, I am recommending it because there isn't much else like it in our area.
HUNGRY FOR MORE? TRY THESE BOSTON-AREA RESTAURANTS:
BOSTON: Radius; Caffe Vitoria; Excelsior; Jacob Wirth; Cottonwood Cafe; Imperial Seafood House; Sibling Rivalry; Fleming’s; 29 Newbury.
BROOKLINE: Mr. Sushi; Fugakyu; Takeshima; Tsunami; Anna's Taqueria; Zaftigs Delicatessen; Bangkok Bistro; Golden Temple.
NEWTON: Appetito; India Paradise; Blue Ribbon Barbeque; Ice Cream Works; Baker's Best; Bill’s Pizzeria; Cafe Nicolas; Union Street; O’Hara’s; Yeradi’s; Johnny’s Luchonette.
CAMBRIDGE: S&S Restaurant; The Japanese Mall; Jasper White’s Summer Shack; Dali .
WEST ROXBURY: Cafe Misono.
BRIGHTON: Tasca.
FRAMINGHAM: The Aegean.
ESSEX: Woodman’s.
SAUGUS: Kowloon; Hilltop Steakhouse.
CHAIN RESTAURANTS: Not Your Average Joe’s; Bertucci’s; Legal Sea Foods; Cheesecake Factory; Fire & Ice; Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse; Friendly’s; Ikea Cafeteria; Longhorn Steakhouse.
COFFEE, BAGELS AND DONUTS: Bruegger’s Bagels; Finagle a Bagel; Dunkin Donuts; Peet’s Coffee and Tea.
Recommended:
Yes
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modernmarvel
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