Rainforest Cafe

Normally we don’t go for these theme restaurants, but it had been a while since we’ve visited a rain forest café so we thought we give it a shot.
Turns out we should have stuck with our initial instinct.
$ 45 bought two ice teas, half a sandwich, bowl of cold chowder and a bowl of lettuce with shaved chicken.
To top it off as I was leaving the restroom, an employee came out of the toilet stall without washing his hands And headed right to the kitchen.
Ack. Never again.

When we came in and asked for a table, the first thing the rude hostess, Kayla, said to us is «what time is it?» It’s 7:20pm, and they close at 8:00pm, so what’s your point with that question Kayla? She was not going to seat us saying they were busy when there were so many empty tables. A manager walked by and asked what’s going on. We explained and he seated us right away.
This place is great for children, lots of finger food and entertaining robotic animals. The Awesome Appetizer Adventure was a good mix of things and could work as an entrée. Coconut shrimp does not come on sticks and tasted just okay.
I’m not sure how the souvenirs cups work, but we ordered specialty drinks and they were served in regular cups.
For the birthday option we were asked if we want the cake or the volcano. We chose the volcano. However we were not notified that the volcano comes with a 14.99 charge whereas the cake is free.
This place is overpriced for the quality of the food and there’s a huge problem with communication. Great for entertaining kids but other then that I would stay away.

I wouldn’t bother stepping foot in here. $ 95 (+tip) for poor service and high school cafeteria-​worthy food. I’d say the kids loved it but none of them liked their food either.

Will not be returning, and now looking at previous reviews, it doesn’t make me the least bit guilty. Me and my friend went there for lunch today. We were seated promptly, but ten we were never greeted. We waited 15 minutes while managers and servers passed us multiple times. You would think when you pass a table a few times and don’t see any drinks or food, you would realize they haven’t been greeted and stop and ask, but no. We made eye contact with several and they just ignored us. It wasn’t even busy there were maybe a total of 7 – 10 tables and at least 5 servers on.
We walked out without any food or being greeted.
I will not be back at all, and will tell everyone I know to steer away from
This place.
Plus the food is a ridiculous amount of money.
Take it from all the other reviews on here and stay away.

I wish I could tell you if the food was good or bad however my family and I didn’t make it that far. We waited 25 minutes in line to approach the elephant to get a table. When we arrived the elephant attendant scolded us for not having a reservation and let us know it would be a three hour wait.
While I accept responsibility for not getting a reservation on Presidents Day (which I mean totally goes hand in hand with Rainforests) it would have been nice of the restaurant would have put a sign out or even a real live person to let folks know that there was a three hour wait. Instead we the restaurant wasted my time. Hopefully your adventure goes more smoothly than ours.

I made a reservation for Monday afternoon. I work in the mall and my family was meeting me for lunch. When we arrived at the host stand the host was leaving to seat a table. She didn’t return for over 10 minutes. I stopped another staff member and they disregarded me telling me someone would be with my shortly. When the host dos finally return I told her we had a reservation. She told me reservations have to check in at the elephant stand first before coming to her host stand. That I needed a check in slip. By now quite the line had gathered at the door. I told her I was on my lunch break and if she could please just seat us since I had minimal time left. Her response was «that’s not my problem» We turned around and walked out, my three year old was so disappointed

If hell has a rainforest then I have found its café. We went to the old rainforest café a few years ago and had a good experience with the kids (a little overpriced but we expected that). This new location is absolutely terrible, I don’t know how moving two floors up can make the restaurant fall into complete despair but apparently that is possible. I could go on for a few pages about the «experience» but it looks like everyone else that reviewed the place had a similar experience, which is nuts because this was by far the WORST dining experience in my LIFE! The cliff note version: Had a reservation, didn’t get seated for an hour, we actually didn’t have a server when we got to the table, we eventually had to be served by the floor manager, they still screwed up the order (one guy said they dropped our burger and another said they gave it to someone else) and when this whole dining hell was coming to a close no one would pick up our credit cards, which meant we almost missed the last shuttle to our hotel!!! Stay far, far away from this place it was literally a nightmare incarnate, you know the type of nightmare, the one where you wake up the next day and tell someone «ok, so I dreamt the weirdest thing last night», pretty much sums up our experience.

Came for my son’s 7^th birthday… Never again! The dry cupcake was only a dollar but the Volcano dessert they literally scream about for birthdays is not much more than a triple scoop ice cream cone and costs $ 15. But that is minor in my complaints. After being told of and sticking to a 30 minute wait to get in we thought it would go faster. Boy were we wrong! 45 minutes after we were seated our children finally got food. After they finished eating (1 hr 15 min after being sat) we called a manager over and asked to just cancel our order. He goes back to check if it’s coming now with the before mentioned dry cupcake. He is able to come with our order 5min later. In the end we received no refills, the food not great and the service/​wait time sucked. Way overpriced and not returning! We did get the kids meals comped but so not worth it!

The new location is a bust. Smaller restaurant, no aquariums. Food is average and way over priced.

Terrible service! We waited almost 2 hours to get seated and 1 ½ for our food to be served. Oh and terrible food too! Expensive and it taste awful!!!

This may have been the worst dining experience in my life. As someone with a young son and a baby, we were excited to have an evening at MOA with some friends with similarly aged children. It was hell from the first phone call to the time we were sprinting out of the restaurant.
First, we called to set a reservation for 4:00. We also asked if they had other openings and they said 5:00 would also work. We said we would let them know. They were very rude about calling back to change the time and wanted us to keep the original time. We did get it changed to 5:00. Fine, whatever, but this was the tip of the iceberg.
Next, the experience, and that it was! We have been to the old location on multiple occasions so we knew to expect overpriced food in an overstimulation environment.
First, we had reservations at 5:00. We were there at about 4:45 to let them know we had reservations. There was a line just to get to the desk to check in. Okay, fine, it was busy., but it was very inefficient. They said there were about five tables ahead of us. About fifteen or more parties of varying sizes ended up ahead of us. We walked back up at now 5:45 to see where we were on the list and there were now two groups ahead of us. Very disheartening but again to have to wait so long, but whatever. In a piece of irony, towards the end of our wait, we were solicited to join their restaurant club thing for $ 25/​year and one of the perks was «priority seating.» Maybe we would have only waited thirty minutes after our reservations instead of fifty!
Next, we had two babies with us. We could not bring the strollers in which was fine. However, they have no slings or a way to flip the high chair to set in the car seat. They said they have no way to accommodate us with the babies. Huh? You could at the old place that was there for twenty years! And you are a restaurant conglomerate with more than 450 restaurants and can’t accommodate a baby at your most family friendly chain you manage? My mind was blown.
Now for the atmosphere. The best feature of the old place (the fish tanks) are gone which sucks but whatever, but this place’s layout could not have been created by someone who knows a thing about restaurants. There are two ways onto the main floor. One is the main through way to go to your seat, leave the restaurant, and get in and out of the bar, and you can not get two people next to each other. All of the main walkways were very narrow. We saw servers bumping each other or trying to maneuver around guests. I had one grab me on the shoulders to warn me she was coming around as she was running to get to the bar. The kitchen and the bathroom share the same intersection which is also just brilliant. Finally, the main walkways were already narrow. Between tables was nonexistent. We saw one table that was trying to sit down and could not because they could not get to their table until the group photo next to them was done. Our daughter in the high chair (which we tried and failed since she couldn’t sit in her car seat), got bumped multiple times by the table next to us and other servers who are again running everywhere. These cheap bastards need to get rid of a table or two so people can breathe and it’s not a safety hazard for their wait staff.
This leads me to service. The service was at its best from the bottom up. Our server was doing the best she could considering she was working in pure hell. We asked for a manager and got a floor manager. We were missing a few things, but not due to a lack of effort from our server. Again, they were all literally running with smiles on their faces. The floor manager was not wanting to listen to us at all. When asked what she can do for us, she said she can get our refills, when that was the least of our complaints. We were then told another manager would be over in about 10 – 15 minutes to talk to us! Huh? I was really hoping to be out of this pure hell by then! The manager then came over and essentially asked what our problem was. We told them about all of our issue so far. Also, by then a few of the meals were cold or obviously had been sitting out. We all had complaints about the food. We sent two back since they were cold. We asked for one of them to be delivered later since our friend was walking with the baby while mom ate first. He ended up not coming back in the restaurant and wanted nothing to do with it. They still delivered the burger despite saying we did not want it. The second manager said she would discount the bill for each of us. We had a split bill. They comped the two meals that were sent back but no other discount, when the meals again were not the biggest issue. Both meals were on the same bill, so our bill was not given any discount despite being told it would. We also witnessed another manager yelling at a server and they all seemed to be very condescending to the wait staff.
Stay far away, especially with a baby!

I could write a lengthy narrative of our awful experiences, but I think I’ll just leave it at this.
1.TERRIBLE service (our server had no time to actually serve us, but he did find time to come over and complain to us about his co-​workers)
2. Over-​priced mediocre (at best) food
3. Poorly designed restaurant (bathroom and kitchen access use the same hallway)
After waiting for over 20 minutes for my kid’s birthday dessert and our check (and asking for someone to get our server multiple times), we finally threw some cash on the table and walked out with my 7 year-​old daughter in years.
DO NOT EAT HERE!

We almost did not stop at the RFC for dinner, because most of the reviews were not good. However, I am very glad we did, because it was amazing! The food was delicious. We shared an appetizer of spinach and artichoke dip. I ate the guacamole burger with a side of fries, my mother ate the shrimp tacos with rice, and my daughter had the macaroni and cheese and fresh fruit. My burger was cooked to perfection; absolutely no complaints about the food.
The staff was very friendly. We had approximately a 20-​minute wait, in which we browsed the gift shop. When we arrived at our table, the wait for our main dishes was around 30 minutes, with the appetizer coming about 15 minutes after we were seated. We were well taken care of, refills on drinks given frequently, and many employees asking if we enjoyed our meals.
All in all, a great experience that I would highly recommend.

Went to the new location that just opened up on the third floor above where it used to be in the mall of America, the quality for the price is not what it used to be and the service was horrible. I will not be going back.

How much is this?
Been wanting to go to the Rain Forest Café at the Mall of America since I was a kid. For some reason it never happened until later.
During a family vacation to Minnesota we decided to try this place. The décor is fun and exciting for the kids. The place is basically a large store full of the same cheapo animal toys every gift shop at every zoo you’ve been to has. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but the random kids running around bumping into tables was.
After a wait at the bar we were seated about a foot away at the table next to thr aquarium. This appeared a good spot but with the proximity of the bar stools we sat back to back with other patrons. This could be worked out but with how much kids move around I wish the staff would have picked a better location for our needs.
The server and the menus arrived and we quickly ordered smoothies for the kids as our waiter raved about them. I skimmed through the menu of festive and carribean inspired dishes. Everything looked good but real expensive. I settled on the shrimp sampler as it looked most appetizing, however no price was listed. Figuring price was based on market cost I asked the waiter, who smiled and said only 15 dollars or so. My sister in law got a similar entre.
The food was decent and the atmosphere entertaining. I was put off by the crowding of tables full of gift shop items.
Got the check and couldn’t understand why it was so high. Turned out the 15 dollar shrimp turned out to be 26. Didn’t appreciate that but settled on the waiters mistake.
I don’t recommend this place for large groups or the money conscience patrons. This place is good for kids but cramped.
Food is ok to decent but way over priced.

I’m writing this review because I just watched Fish Tank Kings and one of the top managers continuously balked about quality and perfection in his café. Obviously somewhere along the line, the food staff missed the memo. I wonder if the owners and CEOs have ever eaten at one of their restaurants? Obviously not or they have the food tastes of a 2 year old… which this place is totally geared for.
Yes, it is a wonderful place for kids. It is full of animatronic animals, fish tanks, and robotic jungle scenes. But here is a hint, take your kids into the shop and walk around, it is totally free and then leave and eat somewhere else because THE FOOD IS AWFUL!
Worse, the food is severely overpriced for what you get. The thing that I hate most is paying for poor quality and this restaurant is one of my top five most hated places for that.
You get drawn in because of the cool atmosphere and then you see your money burn right before your eyes… a good compliment to your burned french fries. This is like a human Venus fly trap, it looks pretty but once you get inside you realize you are trapped and paying $ 16 bucks for a hockey puck burger. YUCK!

The food is decent, normal American style grub. Getting a table for 5 near a fish tank is challenging, even with a reservation. It’s fun for the kids and R.C. Staff is trying, you have to give them that!
The sound level is relatively loud, but normal for the MoA and not a problem.
When you get a table in the back you’ll (the kids) enjoy tropical thunderstorms and ‘rain’…
Just go, get a nice cocktail and enjoy… It’s all good.

This place is all about the kids plain and simple. They have food for adults but that is about it.
My nieces and nephew sure enjoyed this place it was good entertainment for the little folks.
We went there for lunch and it was busier than I thought it would be for a Monday however there was really no excuse for the length of the time it took for our whole party and how cold everything was when It finally reached our table. My meal was rather bland: cold and bland! That was the general consensus by the six adults at our table about their meals.
Our server was great though. She is the only reason the two stars were given on this review rather than one. She was put in a tough situation with getting sub par performance from the back of the house. She really did the best she could with what she had to work with

I’ve been to the RFC in Vegas so I knew what to expect. The food would be delicious and a little on the pricey side. My cousin and her kids had not been, so this was a really big deal for them.
Our server was great, but the fruity drinks are over-​priced for as weak as they are. I was bummed because the server said my brandy and pineapple drink had serious kick, but it didn’t taste like anything but juice.
As for my cobb salad; it was packed full of nummy-​goodness (huge chunks of chicken and lots of cheese) and I go to choose which dressing they toss it in (or you can get it on the side).
My cousin’s eyes bugged out like saucers when her Philly cheesesteak sandwich arrived — because it was a foot long and far too big to squeeze into a mouth; anyone’s. That bad boy needed a fork and knife.
The kids got chicken strips and fries and mac and cheese. Both looked really tasty. Mac and cheese is hit or miss but this bowl looked super creamy and like it was made with real cheese.
The best part of our experience is the jungle noises and mechanical animals. They kids knew none of it was real, but they got really excited about it all anyway.
After dinner, our server took some group photos of us in front of Atlas holding a giant gold ball that says something to the affect of «Save our rainforests». Unfortunately, Atlases head was cut off and so were the words. Wish we’d thought to check our digital camera before leaving. Oh well, he was paid to serve us food not to be a photographer.
As we perused the gift shop, I saw a sign that said the RFC was part of the Landry’s chain. Forgetting my card, I ran back to our server to have him re-​print out our receipts so I could send them in and get the points. While he didn’t have that capability, the manager did, and he rushed out to do that right away.
The kids also loved the gift shop and their mother went a little overboard on buying souvenirs. In my opinion, the photobooth was the best deal. For $ 5 you get 3 strips of photos that say Rain Forest Café. Long after they’ve tired of their t-​shirts and key chains, the photos will serve as a wonderful memory of our road trip in their scrapbooks.
While the RFC may be a tourist trap, it’s one you won’t mind getting stuck in.

I want to like this place. I’m the kind of adult who thinks that massive aquariums, bar stools that look like animal butts, and periodic simulated thunderstorms are awesome! Why wouldn’t you want to eat at a place that’s so much fun?
Well, I’ll tell you why. The food is terrible and it’s totally overpriced. I wouldn’t mind paying a little more for the fun theme, but not as much as they charge. I honestly can’t tell you a single thing I’ve ever eaten here that’s really delicious — except maybe the massive Volcano dessert, and they’ve totally pared that down.
I’m also thoroughly annoyed by the tourist trap garbage they pull here. They try to take your picture and sell it to you! I mean, hello, this isn’t Disneyland! And they try to upsell you like crazy. So, sadly, I don’t think I’ll be returning, not even if they increase the number of simulated thunderstorms.