Rainforest Cafe Nostalgia Lives On: Texas Leads the World in Open Locations

For those of us who were children during some part of the 1990s or early 2000s, Rainforest Cafe was probably the coolest restaurant imaginable, and required eating on vacations.

Even though I grew up in West Texas, I am fortunate to have an aunt who lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex who loves me enough to have wanted to see me occasionally as a child/ young teen.

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To this day, I very strongly associate Rainforest Cafe with Aunt Who Loves Me, so it's a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling. I'm sure many of you have similar experiences. There are far fewer Rainforest Cafes than at their peak, and Texas remains the stronghold for the brand.

 A Brief History of the Rainforest Cafe Brand

The very first Rainforest Cafe opened in Minnesota in 1994, inside the Mall of America.

The concept of a family-friendly restaurant with jungle-themed animatronics and special lighting/ sound effects was a hit, and over the next few years, other locations opened up (primarily in malls) and even in London, England. Fancy!

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In 2000, the concept was bought by Landry's Restaurants Inc., the Houston-based restaurant and hospitality giant that owns hotels, casinos, and several chain concepts like Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Saltgrass, and many more.

At its height, Rainforest Cafe had nearly 60 locations worldwide; however, many of those locations didn't make it past the 5-year mark. Perhaps the novelty wore off, or the local tourism couldn't support the upkeep of what must be an expensive concept to maintain.

Why Texas Became a Stronghold for Rainforest Cafe

Texas has four locations of Rainforest Cafe, the most of any state.

They are very strategically located to take advantage of local tourism, situated near a beach, a river, and inside two malls that have managed to stay popular places despite the overall decline of malls in the U.S.

If you'd like an in-depth look at the Texas locations and all the U.S. locations, this guy ate at all of them in 21 days- he really liked the Galveston location (warning: some bad language).

Which Texas Cities Still Have a Rainforest Cafe?

Here are all four Texas locations of Rainforest Cafe, but I'd say if you can only visit one, visit Galveston!