Rainforest Cafe, Fisherman's Wharf (Restaurants in San Francisco in general)

Member Name: janeh

Product:	Restaurants in San Francisco in general
Date:	17/07/02 (318 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun atmosphere, Excellent food, Friendly staff

Disadvantages: none

The Rainforest Café is located at Fisherman’s Wharf and on entering from the street you walk straight into their shop. Here they sell all sorts of things, such as clothing, stationary, souvenirs and other general bits and pieces. Most of it with their logo on it.

If you are lucky, whilst you are in the shop you may experience a tropical storm which consists of thunder clapping in the background, lightening flashing etc although you are spared the rain. A couple of kids who were in the shop when we were ran out crying!

When you go upstairs to the restaurant you are basically entering a rainforest. There are trees and shrubbery everywhere, a huge waterfall in the centre and many animals dotted about the place such as elephants, tigers, gorillas etc. Needless to say these are not real but do come to life with the use of robotics and sound effects. It was very amusing watching kids go up to the elephants and suddenly the elephants coming to life shaking their heads, raising their trunks and roaring. Many a child and indeed adult was taken a little aback by this, (perhaps this was just my sick sense of humour). There are also quite a few marine and tropical fish tanks to view. All the tables and chairs were made to look like bamboo etc to give a tropical feel.

The menu is extensive ranging from burgers, pasta, Caribbean, fish etc. I had a pasta dish that was both huge and extremely tasty. My husband had a jambalaya which he said was really nice too. The desserts are huge too. I ordered a slice of chocolate cake and the dish that turned up looked as if I have the entire cake to myself - it was absolutely delicious.

Neither of us could fault the food and the ambience of the restaurant is certainly different. When you go to places like the Hard Rock, you are deafened by music etc, but at the Rainforest Café, you hear jungle noises, animals and the sound of huge waterfall – very nice. You also have the afore mentioned tropical
storm every so often.

We paid $65 for one three course and one two course meal with drinks which is about £45 which we thought was good value considering the quantity and quality of the food and atmosphere.

If you are in San Francisco it is definitely a place to experience, especially if you have kids. Most of the kids in the restaurant could hardly keep their eyes on the food as they were fascinated by all that was going on around them.

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