Rainforest Cafe

Reviews

• SM

  Shannon Morgan

  5 days ago
  3.0
  We were coming in for the Vikings game , made reservations, got there and got seated at our time. The waitress walked by us and said "I will be with you shortly" 4 different times. We waited half and hour just to get our drinks. The steak was amazing!!! Drinks were yummy! When we went to leave, we couldnt find the waitress to check out, then we went back to the front to get our cups that we got for our drinks, and the hostess was the RUDEST person I have ever met. She acted like we were bothering her to get them.
• DW

  Dain Vossar (Galaxy Wanderer)

  Aug 20, 2026
  1.0
  When the upsells are more memorable than the food (not in a good way), something has gone wrong. I really wanted to like this experience, but between the mediocre meal, awkward photo sales pitch, and a few questionable policies, the Force never quite came together. We were especially looking forward to the chimi cha chas, only to learn they’re only available as part of the $26 Awesome Appetizer Adventure. We were told guests frequently ask to order them separately but they purposely only put them in the combo appetizer, which made the setup feel more like an upsell than a menu choice. The food was mediocre at best. The salmon was badly overcooked, the chicken strips were rubbery, our kiddo didn’t like the mac and cheese, and none of the shrimp were peeled — even the ones sitting in sauce. Wrestling shells off saucy shrimp was not the adventure we ordered. The restaurant is also extremely dark. Atmosphere is one thing, but needing your phone flashlight to read the menu means the dark side may have become a little too powerful. The photography experience was another miss. We agreed to a free souvenir postcard, but the photographer returned with three additional photos already printed and tried to sell them to us. The lighting and flash weren’t great, and I can only assume unwanted prints are eventually discarded. That feels wasteful and also raises a privacy concern when physical family photos are printed before you decide whether you want them. A better setup would be a dedicated photo spot near the entrance with a neutral background, then let guests preview themed backgrounds digitally and choose whether they want a digital copy or printed photos. Better experience, less waste, more privacy. Food delivery also felt rushed, with plates seemingly dropped at the table rather than presented. Lastly, at the end of the meal we were informed to leave a review and mention our server by name. Our server said that positive name mentions benefit servers by getting them better scheduling times. Looking through other reviews afterward, I noticed an unusually high number specifically naming individual servers. We even got a QR code with the servers name on it to make sure we remembered their name. However, I’ve intentionally left our server’s name out of this review because I don’t want anything here to negatively affect them. They actually did an excellent job and were friendly and helpful throughout our meal. There are fun ideas here, but between the mediocre food, upselling, awkward photo process, dark dining room, rushed food delivery, and uncomfortable review request, this visit missed the mark. Potential there is. Balance to the Force, however, this experience still needs.
• HF

  H Fischer

  Aug 16, 2026
  2.0
  We made reservations ahead of time and asked to be seated inside as we had young children and chose to eat here for a celebration. We were seated by the exit near the bar. We were approached about free pictures at our table and then when came over with the printed ones and asked if we liked them and we did she proceeded to say we had to pay $30. Had we been told we had to pay we would have declined, I can take a group selfie with my family on my phone. I think for the crazy prices the restaurant can afford to give you a picture for free. Then our server, who seemed frazzled and confused, tried to sell us a Landrys dinner club membership. Am I here to eat or get bilked left and right for money? The cheese curds were wet and soggy, my daughter's turkey club sandwich wasnt even on toasted bread so it smashed down and fell apart, my youngest daughter jurassic Park chicken nuggets seemed to be cooked in a microwave and could have broken a window with them. Server was no where around to even attempt to rectify the situations. My family doesn't splurge often on dining experiences and for $245 plus a tip I will go elsewhere in the future. Rainforest used to be known for providing a great family experience and not for bilking customers left and right providing subpar food and service.
• MA

  Mia Anderson

  Aug 16, 2026
  1.0
  Was there on 8/14 , for my daughters 8th birthday . When we were seated we were sat at the front next too the exit not very exciting for a birthday . We received our food an my food was undercooked an i now have food poisoning from eating the coconut shrimp an the jerk chicken & shrimp pasta . We also were approached about free pictures than told after it was 20$ for them but the postcard was free the photographer was livid that i was informed of this storming past us as we loaded our kids in the stroller saying “ that we are messing up her sales “ i was flabbergasted at the level of open disrespect an also grossed out at that fact i was served undercooked food
• MD

  Maggie Dalke

  Aug 9, 2026
  4.0
  A really cool experience and worth trying! Rainforest Cafe was definitely a really cool experience! We made a reservation ahead of time, which I would recommend doing. We only had to wait about 5 minutes past our reservation time to get in, while I heard some walk-ins being told the wait was around 30–40 minutes. So if you know you're going, I would definitely make a reservation instead of just showing up. The whole restaurant is very immersive, with animals all around you, including moving monkeys and other animatronics. It's quite dark inside, which is obviously part of the aesthetic, but something to be aware of. There are also thunder and lightning effects throughout your meal. The thunder is a pretty good volume, to the point where a lot of our conversation was one of us asking the other to repeat what they had just said. The lightning itself wasn't too intense, but there are some flashing lights, so that's worth being aware of if you're sensitive to that. The food was good! I got the steak and shrimp and enjoyed it. Our server was friendly and did a great job making sure we had everything we needed. I did get the vibe that they were a little over the novelty of working at the Rainforest Cafe and was ready to go home, which honestly, fair enough. But it didn't affect the service at all. One slightly annoying thing that had nothing to do with the restaurant itself was people pulling out their phones and turning on their flashlights because it was so dark. I ended up getting quite a few phone flashlights directly in my eyes throughout the meal, but that's obviously more of a people problem than a restaurant problem. They also had someone going around taking professional pictures of people at their tables. She took our picture and then came back later with a small postcard version that we got to keep for free, as well as a larger version that we could purchase. The free postcard was a really cute little souvenir! I did find it a bit weird that they had already printed the larger picture before we'd even said whether we wanted to buy it. It felt a little like it could be easy to get pressured into buying it, so just know that you don't have to. Overall, I enjoyed it and I'm glad we went! It's definitely worth experiencing, especially if you've never been before. I don't think I'll go back the next time I'm in Minneapolis, but that's more because I feel like I've had the Rainforest Cafe experience now and would rather try something new next time.

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