Rainforest Cafe

[speedymama]

DH and I are planning a day out to central London on one of the Saturday's in April.

Just been looking at Visit London website and noticed the Rain Forest cafe. It looks intriguing but I'm wondering if it is just a tacky, gimmicky, over-priced eatery or will we have an enjoyable experience?

Our DTS are 3yo so I don't know if they are too young to appreciate the environment.

Has anyone been to this and if so, how do you rate it wrt to

atmosphere
service
suitability for 3yo
price
Value for money
food (quality and volume)
satisfaction level from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent)

TIA

have only been there once when my two were about 3 and 2 (I think)

It's expensive (I thought it was taking the piss a bit, even for central London), it was very VERY busy

Every time the thunder came, dd practically wet her pants

service was good - it was v loud and quite dark

the kids loved the fish tanks but I wouldn't say the experience was enjoyable
(you can see the menus on their website)

I don't know how I'd rate it but we've never been back (if that's any indication)

Awful!

Dont do it.

food is frozen and reheated and expensive.

Ds2 was terrified of the rainstorm and it was just a big gimmick.

Can recommend much better places.

Go to Carluccios instead.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions.

Collisions, recommendations would be appreciated.

what are your plans for the day?

We want to go to one of the big parks (thinking about Battersea as it has a zoo) where we can stroll and the boys can run around safely. We don't have much experience of eating out with them so we thought we would try to find a suitable venue before or after the park visit.

We went on Sunday and were disappointed. We had been to the rainforest cafes in Florida and Disneyland Paris and our dc's really enjoyed them, but the atmosphere in the London one just wasn't as good. The food was reasonable, but overpriced. It wasn't busy when we went so we didn't have to wait for a table, the service was okay, there were 7 in our group (4 adults and 2 children) and the bill was £127. We only had main courses and drinks.

We have always found TFI Friday's in Leicester square to be good and it is very child friendly.

Dont know Battersea but would recommend Pizza Express or Zizzi or Carluccios. Good food, great for kids and you dont feel you need to be quiet.

Thanks. We worry about the boys making a noise and annoying other patrons - that's why we have not taken the plunge yet.

Trying to reason with two 3yo is hard work and I don't want to put up with the tuts and disapproving glares that we are bound to get.

atmosphere - rubbish for us as my DD hated the noisy grollia and was terrified at the thunderstorms so we sat round the corner on our own!

service - ok

suitability for 3yo - mine was terriefied at the noise and dark etc

price - massively expensive

Value for money - there is none, hugely overpriced burger.

food (quality and volume) - satisfactory but not worth the monmey

satisfaction level from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) - would never go again

battersea park is fab.

You could go to somewhere like Giraffe on Battersea Rise to eat. V child friendly and not too far from the park.

giraffe

Battersea Park is great, and has a lovely playground inside the zoo gates. However, do check that it's open on date you're considering, as I don't think it is open year 'round.

RainForest Cafe isn't wonderful, but kids would enjoy novelty when they are a bit older I think.

battersea park zoo is deffo open already. Took the DCs last week.

Thank you for tips about Battersea Park. Not been there before so all comments gratefully received.

I'll give the Rain Forest a wide berth.

it's a park of many nooks and crannies. And just had a lot of money spent on it, although not on the main playground unfortunately.

There is a large peace pagoda alongside the Thames, a subtropical garden, a very big lake to walk round with cafe, some very rare trees along the way.

Yhe zoo is kind of small but probably ideal for your 3yos.

Thank you!