Rainforest Cafe: A chain in decline?

[HickTownBarnaby]

On Friday Aug 22, I had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Nashville TN. The person I was traveling with wanted to go to the mall and the Rainforest was her choice for dinner.

I was amazed by the number of empty tables in that restaurant---on a Friday night---and located so near the Grand Ole Opry stage. I estimate they were way less than 10% booked.

Is the Rainforest Cafe in decline as a brand nationally, or is it just the one in Nashville that's struggling?

It seemed to me that whole mall (forget the name of it) was put together for tourists, and with the closure of the Opryland theme park everybody there is suffering.......

[Bobby Hill]

The waitstaff, at least at the Burlington Mall in Massachussetts, leaves a lot to be desired as well. My wife recently took my two year old daughter for lunch and arrived just after they opened for the day. Twenty minutes went by and not one person came to the table. Not to take a drink order, not to say someone will be right over. Nothing. She did see waitstaff walking around and there was only one other party in the whole place so they were certainly not busy. She then notified the hostess that no came to the table and that they were leaving, to which she received some sort of indifferent response. So up to the food court they went (some might say a culinary upgrade.) Previous visits have also resulted unattentive staff leaving drink glasses empty and long waits to order, waiting for the food, and getting the tab. I'd happily stomach the food so that my daughter can enjoy the sights and sounds, but with service like that I'd be better suited cooking her lunch wearing a gorilla suit.

[TampaAurora]

I've only seen them at and around Disney. As a kid, I would beg my parents to go because it looked so fun! Then, I saw the insane line and a menu and no longer wanted to go. No one I've talked to that ever ate there made a repeat of it.

[swissgirl]

I think this type of heavily themed restaurant would only do well long-term at a very busy, touristy place such as Downtown Disney where repeat business isn't really a factor. In fact the Disney location is the only Rainforest Cafe I've been to and we only went when it was the only Downtown Disney restaurant open the day after Hurricane Floyd blew through and caused the theme parks to close. The wait was atrocious. To this day, I still hear the hostess saying over and over" XXX party of 5, your safari is ready to leave without you" or something very similar.

[ferret]

Do people without little kids actually eat there? More than once? I've gone with visiting nieces/nephews (10 and under) but would not even consider going there under any other circumstances.

[aurora50]

My sister and I went to the one in Downtown Disney once, late, for drinks (we are both single, 50ish, and have no children). We sat at the bar, ordered two glasses of wine, and my sister promptly got her glass doused on her by the bartender. No apology. I asked to be comped for the wine, and didn't get anywhere until I asked to see the manager.

[pemma]

I never thought Rainforest was a place anybody would go without kids.

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

Even speaking as someone with more of a fondness for chain restaurants than the average Chowhounder, I have never had the slightest desire to even step into a Rainforest Cafe. The name is unfortunate: it makes me think they serve, like, pythonburgers or piranha and chips, and who wants to eat that?

[Thefoodczar]

I think most people, particularly those with kids, were entranced by the really neat rainforest special effects. Unfortunately, you have to have really good food to keep the customers coming back.

[James Cristinian]

Rainforest Cafe is part of the infamous Landry's chain controlled by Tillman Fertitta out of my hometown Houston. Landry's was a local chain owned in part by Louisianan Floyd Landry that came about around the time of the Cajun food craze. It was a very good, not great, local take on Cajun food. When Fertitta took over he dumbed it down for the masses, sort of a Cajun Red Lobster. Unfortunately, with few exceptions, the other restaurants in his empire such as Rainforest, Joe's Crab Shack(now sold I believe), and too many others to mention do not aspire to anything approaching high expectations.

[dpan]

The buzz wore off very quickly for Rainforest Cafe. Their restaurant in the Tysons Corner Mall in Northern VA (one of the busiest malls on the East Coast) closed a year or so ago. They were busy when it first opened, but people just got tired of it.

[mojoeater]

I've eaten at Rainforest Cafe's in a few cities, and each time it has been disappointing to say the least. But there was always a line out the door.

[mr.entertainment]

To say that its a chain in decline implies that its been successful at one point in time. This is a chain that never was.....