Reviews of Rainforest Cafe

Reviews

57

Rating

4.91 / 10

Recommended By

47%



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Rainforest Cafe

Services: Table Service

Menus at Rainforest Cafe

Reviewed by brittniqueen Review Date: 02/08/2013

Rating: (3)
Not Recommended

It was a good meal we ate here on Jan 30 2013. I would not come back though. They had a special shrimp trio that me and my DH both got which was really good. But our dinner started out waiting 10 minutes for our waitress to even come to our table and another 15 minutes before our drinks arrived, and they arrived by another waitress. Then the meal was good. We were on the dining plan and shared the chocolate volcano dessert which was amazing! And I am not a big cake person! Then again, we asked for the check which took 10 minutes for her to bring. My parents were done and paid but we were waiting on my check which took the waitress 25 minutes to finally bring to the table. We had to get the manager involved which all he did was say I'm sorry. The worst part about the service was that they were completely dead!

Pros:

chocolate volcano!

Cons:

Atmosphere, waitress
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Reviewed by mrsfarrellhob Review Date: 02/11/2013

Rating: (1)
Not Recommended

I am never eating here again! The "natural" (aka vegetarian) burger smelled like feet and tasted worse. And it was served with what I'm pretty sure were potato chips from a bag.

The service was friendly and attentive, but it did nothing to make up for the terrible and OVER PRICED food! I paid $20 w/ tip for a sandwich and a drink. That night, I paid $26 w/ tip for a MEAL and drink at a sit-down restaurant.

Pros:

Bar seating, service

Cons:

Food, prices
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Reviewed by shadowpup Review Date: 03/05/2013

Rating: (6)
Recommended

It is great to go once to experience the atmosphere. Beautiful! The food was OK. Nothing special. If it wasn't for the dining plan, we probably would have been upset over the prices. The menu has a lot of choices. Server was horrible. He kept trying to talk to us over the animals instead of waiting a few minutes for them to be quiet. It was very hard to hear him.

Pros:

Atmosphere

Cons:

Service
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Reviewed by chrisfam4 Review Date: 04/11/2013

Rating: (2)
Not Recommended

My family dined here on 4/1 for dinner. It was a special request as a birthday dinner by one member of our party. We were about 15 minutes late for our 6PM reservation but that quickly turned into 30 minutes as we got in the wrong line for check in. There needs to be overhead signs for standby and reservations. We were seated an hour after our reservation time. Strike one! We were in the gorilla room in a back corner but really there are very few bad tables. Our waitress Valerie was awesome. She tried very hard to fulfill every request. She was attentive and offered to bring the kids meals ASAP which was much appreciated. Our meals however were severly delayed and we didn't eat for at least 45 minutes after we ordered. Strike two. We had a minor roach issue - on the floor, NOT the food - strike three. A manager was sent over. She appologized profusely and offered to comp our appetizers and give us a free Volcano dessert. By this time we just wanted to leave. It was our first night and thankfully we were too happy to be "in the world" to let it dampen our spirits. It is the LAST time we will visit this restaurant.

Pros:

Neat setting/atmosphere

Cons:

wait, food, prices
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Reviewed by Ldk72 Review Date: 05/12/2013

Rating: (8)
Recommended

Having the Landry's card allowed us almost immediate seating both times we ate here. Very good service and our servers always accommodated changes to the menu. The awesome appetizer is not only good, but literally it becomes an entree instead of an appetizer for up to two people. The atmosphere in the restaurant is very fun and vibrant in color. Its become a tradition to eat here every time we are @ Disney.

Pros:

quick seating

Cons:

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Reviewed by jdduncan Review Date: 06/28/2013

Rating: (3)
Not Recommended

We ate here for dinner on June 23, 2013 around 9:00 pm. We had 9:30 reservations and showing up early paid off, as we were seated within minutes. The animatronic gorillas and elephants were not right at our table, but they did put on a little show every five minutes or so, which our little girl enjoyed. That was the sum total of positives with dinner, unfortunately.

We love the Disney Deluxe Dining plan, and were using it on this trip. Rainforest Cafe seems like they would prefer you didn't though, because they limit both the appetizer selection and desert selection without any association with price. A $16 appetizer, for example, could be shared by two people, but their $18 sampler somehow can only be shared between four people. It isn't as if we wanted to pig out, but I have a real problem with this non-Disney location putting on heirs like they are too good to open their menu up for the dining plans. The food is simply not good enough to stick their noses in the air.

So we had cheese sticks and a dip for appetizers. Meh. I ordered a tempura dish with sticky rice as my entree, but they were out of the sticky rice so I had the option of choosing other rice (not a different dish, of course). Rice was way too dry, and my wife's steak was nothing special. Deserts again were limited, so we got plain old chocolate cake. Food was nowhere near on par with typical Disney-run restaurants.

Wait staff was lacking that Disney cheer, too. Our server seemed put off to have to explain how our meal plan worked, and even more annoyed when we needed refills on our beverages. Whereas Disney cast members at least act like they enjoy their jobs, this girl obviously wanted to be elsewhere. I can take this attitude at home, but when I go to Disney I expect a better experience.

If your kids just have to eat here, just know that you'll be spending the money on decor rather than actual food. We did it once, but won't make the mistake a second time.

Pros:

animals go nuts every few minutes

Cons:

limited disney dining menu & mediocre food
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Reviewed by jallears Review Date: 08/25/2013

Rating: (3)
Not Recommended

We just enjoyed 6 nights at the Saratoga Springs Resort with the dining plan. We were impressed by the customer service at the Coral Reef, Cinderella's Royal Table, Chef France, and the Turf Club. We had short but reasonable waits.

On our last night at Disney, we went to
Downtown Disney, for an 8:00 p.m. reservation at Rainforest Cafe. We were concerned we might be late and called. They told us that if we
were 15 or 20 minutes late they would put us in with general seating. (No one mentioned they were running an hour behind). We rushed and
we arrived just before 8:00 and were through the line posted "reservation check in" by 8:01 as noted on the white slip we were given, which also said call time 8:21. We were told they would just need 15 to 20 minutes to set up our table. We debated about taking our two toddlers to ride the carousel and do some shopping for souvenirs. We decided not to leave as they would be calling us in 15 to 20
minutes.

As 8:21 came and went and I was pushing a double stroller around the crowded store. I asked one of the employees if they were
running behind. She returned to let us know they were 11 minutes behind, which would take us to 8:32 from the time on our white slip; still not enough time to take our older son to the Lego store. At 8:30 my son asked about our name and was told there were 2 parties ahead
of us. At 8:45 and after hearing 4 names called, I asked again and they clarified 2 parties of 5 before us. I then asked a manager how the
reservation system was working and if they were honoring reservations. He said this is how it works at any Disney restaurant. I told him we had been here for six days and we had always gotten right in. There was no apology or customer service attitude.

We finally got called at 8:50 and were sent to another line where we were asked if we had a white ticket. I said yes, our girls were given frog hats, we were told to park our stroller, and again we waited. Four more parties were called. I noticed they were reading the tickets. I asked the employee who handed me the hats for the girls if she needed my ticket and if that is why we hadn't been called. She snapped back, "Yes I have been asking if you have white tickets" I explained that she asked me and I said yes. (We don't know all of the many systems at Disney. For example at the entrance to the fast pass line, they ask if you have a fast pass but don't take it until later in the line one, you show it and say yes, and another person on down the line takes the ticket. We need to know if you need the ticket.) I gave it to her and we finally sat down at 8:59 p.m.

I asked the server if there was anything they could do about an hour wait time after our reservation. She went and got another manager, who came and asked about the
situation. I told her we waited an hour after our reservation time. She replied, "You mean your preferred seating time?" I said no we had an
actual reservation. She said they don't take reservations and that they give Disney dining club members preferred seating over walk up
customers, but there's no guarantee. I signed in under a sign that said reservation sign in though. She said the wait was usually half an hour and that they were running behind half an hour that night. This was not what was told to us initially (15 to 20 minutes just to get to the
table ready) or after checking (running 11 minutes late). We could have spent that hour shopping in Downtown Disney buying the kids
souvenirs, or riding the carousel. The said she would buy us a dessert, which was already on our dining plan, but then we settled on a Childs
meal and was reluctant to do that. Management was very unapologetic and stated conflicting information and policies.

I will say that the server rushed our toddlers meals out and got our food in a timely manner. Maybe we were spoiled by Disney customer service the rest of the week, but this night was anything but magical on our last night at Disney.

After three separate emails to [email protected] I got am email from the General Manager of Rainforest Cafe. Here is my synopsis of that conversation that I sent back to guest communications. I spoke to their GM who emailed me yesterday (first contact and I called back on the same day). He apologized but also confirmed that they do not honor reservations (no answer as to the sign that says reservation check in) and they put Disney dining club members into "preferred seating." "It is a business decision and they would lose money if they held tables." It would have been nice to know this up front instead of the "15 to 20 minutes just to get the table ready" that we were quoted upon arrival and additional extensions of time each time we asked. I believe the treatment we received and one hour wait time with no communication is unacceptable, but I understand that they choose to run their business that way and Disney cannot do much to correct it. After the phone call, which was cordial, it was clear that the treatment we received was a result of the tone at the top. The only person who treated us with customer service was the server (of course they have the incentive of a tip).

If we want fairy dust, we will have to stick with Disney parks and resorts in the future.

Pros:

food was quick after ordered server was nice

Cons:

one hour wait after reservation time of 8:00 & rude management
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Reviewed by nursenita Review Date: 11/29/2013

Rating: (7)
Recommended

Just not for us. Did not enjoy the food, a lot of food but not good.

Pros:

did not have to wait long

Cons:

food,
0 Users found this helpful.

Reviewed by hello12345 Review Date: 12/05/2013

Rating: (6)
Recommended

We walked up on 12/01/13 at 4pm with no reservation and were told to come back at 5pm. We arrived back early at 4:45pm and we were called a few minutes later. The service was above average. I have ate at T-Rex before. The menu at Rainforest was considerably more limited when compared to T-Rex. We ordered some cheeseburgers, Chicken parm, and grilled chicken something. The food was above average to maybe good. Not worth the price though. The meal with no drinks or apps was over $90 for 4 people. The same stuff at Chili's or Applebee's would have been $50-60 at most. The atmosphere at Rainforest is boring compared to T-Rex, and I'm not really a fan of T-Rex either.

Pros:

Above average food

Cons:

price, limited menu
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Reviewed by angiem0217 Review Date: 02/19/2014

Rating: (8)
Recommended

We were on the DDP and ate here for lunch. My 6 year old loved all the animals and the food was really good. We had a good waitress and really enjoyed our lunch. We had ADR and still had to wait for 25 minutes. They have a cool gift shop so it was not a big deal.

Pros:

food, atmosphere

Cons:

none
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