Rainforest Cafe at Niagara Falls ~ Review & Experience

This year we celebrated our Gubby's second birthday with a Jungle Safari theme. Everything was all jungle-jungle from the cake to her birthday decorations. She enjoyed it because her giant monkey and giraffe were also invited. The week following her birthday celebrations we traveled to Canada and Abbie was struck with a fabulous idea. We could go and eat Gubby's birthday dinner at the Rainforest Cafe! BRILLIANT!

Back in my childhood I'd eaten at the Rainforest Cafe in London and to this day I hadn't forgotten what an experience it was. Let me tell you something important first: I love themes. I love it when anything has a theme, be it a party or celebration, a restaurant, or a craft project. Themes make everything all the more exciting and a well executed one blows my mind away. I go crazy! The Rainforest Cafe is a craziness inducing place. The restaurant is authentic rainforest. Like, THE rainforest. You step inside and you instantly forget where you came from because hello you're in a rainforest now!

The location we visited this time was the one at Niagara Falls. It was just as cool as the one my childhood memories kept reminding me of except that I thought the one in London was a little more darker (or more rainier) and more spacey (or maybe I was just too small?). Upon our arrival a massive 'Your adventure begins here' sign and two friendly faces greeted us. We asked for a table of five plus our adorable baby and waited only a minute before we were asked to head inside.

Right before we were seated came the super cool rainforest shop where they were selling all kinds of stuffed animals and some other cool merchandise. We enjoyed taking photos with my baby Gubby here, who was fascinated by the giant orangutan. Unfortunately, we were sort of in a rush so I couldn't explore in thorough detail what else the shop withheld.

Once we were shown our table, which was right in the middle of an absolutely real rainforest setting and covered with a leafy table cover from top to bottom, the server arrived with some activity cards for Gubby. All the employees at the restaurant are dressed up as safari guides which is super cool and whoever gives something nice to Gubby instantly wins my favor. Gubby was really cranky that evening from teething and running a slight fever but the crayons and coloring sheet brightened up her mood for a while. While Abbie and the rest decided and placed our order I walked around to get some beautiful pictures! 

The restaurant has a number of huge displays like these. This one had these moving elephants and Gubby loved them the most. She would laugh when they flapped their ears around and blinked at her. They're actually pretty real looking! Plus when it rains and storms in the restaurant, which happens after every little while, they become all fussy and move faster than normal. It's all really cool! There's also a similar display of huge apes to enjoy. They go wild when it rains in the forest too. Oh and when I say it rains or storms I mean you hear the sound of thunder rumbling, animals becoming restless and fussy, lightning, rainfall, and all kinds of stormy stuff. Even the lights in the restaurant blink and go crazy to create the perfect ambiance of stormy rains.

I absolutely LOVED this ceiling display. It was so pretty that even my camera couldn't do it justice!

Other than the giant animal displays there are numerous animals poking their heads out of every possible space in the walls. From zebras to monkeys to parrots to ... you name it!

Meet this cool dude. This extremely real looking snake was wrapped around a tree right above our heads as soon as we walked inside the place. It moves too and it's pretty awesome because it looks REALLY real! It gave me the feeling that it'd unwrap itself any second and jump right down to scare the hair off my head. Yep, this place is really cool!

Yes yes, then the food arrived! Time to talk about the deliciousness now!

In addition to our entrees we also ordered fries and onion rings. The onion rings were crispy and hot and oh my Goddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd. I love onion rings, you have no idea how much, so obviously I fall in love with a restaurant if they do a good job with their onion rings. The fries were really tasty too with the crispy salty bite to them and served super hot ... MY MOUTH IS WATERING! I need a bucket.

OZZIE'S NATURE BURGER

We eat Halal which means we don't have non vegetarian at restaurants where Halal isn't served. Usually a vegetarian burger can turn out bland or dull but this was so delicious. It is an all vegetarian option but that doesn't mean it lacks flavor. In fact it is full of flavor and honestly speaking I had no idea a breaded eggplant patty could taste so amazing. It was moist and juicy and tasty to the last bite!

PLANET EARTH PASTA

Okay now my mouth is really really watering up. This vegetarian pasta was oh so delicious. The pasta was cooked to perfection, the marinara sauce was on point, and the Parmesan cheese on top was .... it was such a creamy and such an extremely delicious pasta! Oh and that baked breadstick that came on the side was mama's favorite too! I think I am hungry all over again right now!

Our overall experience at The Rainforest Cafe was super cool! One minute you're enjoying and marveling at everything you see around you and the next there is a scrumptious explosion of flavors happening inside your mouth. We also asked the safari guide servers to celebrate Gubby's birthday. It's super fun because they bring you a free birthday ice cream - more whipped cream than actual vanilla ice cream but VERY delicious - and sing/announce the birthday for you. In our case the server skipped the song/announcement because he said babies sometimes get scared away, but it was really fun nevertheless and Gubby loved the ice cream! If you have the time - and I advise you keep some extra time when you visit the place - the shop outside the restaurant is a pretty awesome place too. The next time we visit we'll make sure we can hang around and look at all the cool stuff they're selling too! For now we came back home with a beautiful set of souvenirs, in fact my most favorite kind ... PICTURES! Yes, while we sat there a photographer came to us, snapped our pictures, and then brought them to us all framed up and pretty. They give you a free gift postcard version and if you want the rest of the pictures too you can buy them. Awesome!

Right before we left look what we spotted. A SHARK! They have a shark in their aquarium. I mean ... a shark ... how cool is that! Gubby enjoyed looking at it as well as the other fishies.

If you love themed restaurants and especially if you have a bundle of adorableness like Gubby in the family this place absolutely has to be on your itinerary. Actually this place just has to be visited no matter what! It adds to and enhances the experience of visiting Niagara Falls! Oh and good food. That's reason enough!