One of Disney Springs’ most popular restaurants is The Rainforest Café. The restaurant’s themed decor, gift shop, and atmosphere are what bring in hundreds of guests every day. Although the restaurant has an appealing atmosphere, is the food worth the top collar costs found in areas such as Disney Springs? I recently visited the Rainforest Café to see for myself what all the hype was about.

When I arrived at the restaurant with a few of my friends, there was a long line to be seated. Once we reached the hostess we were told there was going to be a 30 minute wait to be seated. This was expected, considering it was a Friday night and we were happy to have some time to explore the restaurant gift shop.

The gift shop was covered in vines and mechanical animals such as snakes and elephants. It was like walking through a jungle with a shop inside. Separating the restaurant seating and the shop was a beautiful arch fish tank.

Once our table was ready I received a text and we were seated. I ordered The Rainforest Burger, which was a classic cheeseburger with tomatoes, onions and a side of fries. Once everyone ordered it took 40 minutes for us to receive our food. This was an unusually long time for food to be served, which the waiter apologized for.

I ordered my cheeseburger rare, and to my pleasant surprise the burger was cooked perfectly to my liking. The burger was juicy and tasted good, but it was a bit plain and lacked something special for being a $20 burger.

A friend of mine, Krisha Nagpal, ordered shrimp tacos. “It was seasoned nicely and it had a kick to it but the shrimp itself had too much of the fried coating on it,” says Nagpal. Nagpal’s tacos were $24 and she felt that they were not worth the price. She states: “The overall service was decent and the atmosphere and decor were the best part.”

Another friend of mine, Tanvi Patel, ordered a cheese quesadilla. “The cheese quesadilla I ordered was about $19. I think it was worth the price even though I did not enjoy the food because the presentation was good and it’s a good price knowing it’s a popular restaurant in Disney Springs” says Tanvi. Presentation goes a long way in food service and can tremendously make up for lack of quality in food. “The environment is so calm. It feels like a real rainforest with things like a waterfall, animatronic animals and your server was a tour guide.” The rainforest atmosphere of the restaurant turned our visit from just a place to eat, to a whole dining experience.

In addition to the cafe’s beautiful interior, the entire cafe exterior is designed to look like a volcano which during the day has fire coming out. This makes the cafe stand out tremendously more in comparison to other restaurants with less extravagant exteriors. This is what attracted my friends and I to dining at the restaurant. Although, the wait time we experienced and quality of food we were served made us come to the conclusion that our visit was not as worthwhile as we had hoped for.

Overall, The Rainforest Cafe is a great restaurant for a positive atmospheric experience, but lacks good food and timely service. As far as food experiences are concerned, The Rainforest Cafe is not the place to go. Although for a cute gift shop and place to take pictures in Disney Springs it makes for a wonderful stop.