Review: T-Rex Cafe

T-Rex Café is a dinosaur themed restaurant located in Downtown Disney.

Ambiance

The restaurant’s décor includes squawking pterosaurs, wooly mammoths, a massive octopus and life-sized animatronic dinosaurs.  The star, however, is the 15 foot T-Rex.  Approximately every 20 minutes or so, a meteor shower complete with rumbling and fiery “explosions” occurs.

We arrived about an hour before our reservation because we were starving and asked if there was any way we could move up our reservation.  We were told that we could and moved into the restaurant.  About a half an hour later, we were finally seated.  I was rather annoyed that we were told yes, we could go ahead and be seated, only to have to wait a half hour.  We were told that they were in the middle of a shift change and that was the cause of the delay.  The restaurant did not seem very organized to me.

My family was seated close to the front of the restaurant at a booth with a small T-Rex standing behind the booth.  At first my two year old was scared when the T-Rex would move and roar, but by the end of dinner she was roaring back at it.

Menu

This is a table service restaurant.  The American food menu consists of prehistoric names such as Saber-Tooth Salad with Grilled Chicken, Mega Mes-O-Bones (spareribs), Mammoth Mushroom Ravioli, Tar Pit Fried Shrimp, and their signature dessert Chocolate Extinction (similar to the Volcano at Rainforest Café).

Food and Drink

The food was much better than I had expected.  My husband and I each had the steak, shrimp, and scallops trio (a seasonal menu item) and loved it.  Because we were on the Disney Dining Plan, my 11 year old stepdaughter had to eat off of the adult menu.  Normally she cannot finish an adult sized portion.  However, she loved her ribs and fries so much she ate all of it.

Service

Our server came over right away and way very friendly and knowledgeable.  He was much quicker than the front of the house hosts were.  Our drink glasses always stayed full.  He also took the time to talk to us and find out where we were from, which surprised me since I was expecting the same type of service that we received from the front of the house hosts.

Overall

Although the food was very good, I’m not sure if I would go back.  As stated before, the front of house was very unorganized.  The restaurant itself is extremely loud and dark.  If I can convince my girls to try a new restaurant on our next trip to Downtown Disney, we will.

Alexia is a fan of all things Disney, especially the food!  When she is not helping plan magical vacations you can find her on Facebook or Twitter.