August 15, 2006
The newly open T-Rex Cafe aims to make an impression. It succeeds in this. Unfortunately, the longer you stick around this prehistoric themed restaurant, the less favorable the impression becomes.
As you approach the T-Rex Cafe, which is located in [The Legends][1] shopping center within the behemoth [Village West][2] in Kansas City, the first thing you hear is the piped-in roaring. The next thing you see is the mist, then the gigantic reproductions of dinosaur skeletons, and finally, the robotic dinosaur standing under a waterfall. It is possible that this presentation will sacre the bejezus out of your children. This is entirely understandable. It is also possible that this presentation will give you the erie feeling that you are about to spend money you didn't plan on spending. This is also entirely understandable. However, the T-Rex Cafe places its bets on the fact that the average adventurous child, and the average optimistic parent, will see this display, and say "looks like fun, let's go in." Most families do just this.The T-Rex Cafe is a new "retail concept" restaurant that is brought to you by the same group that does [The Rainforest Cafe.][3] The Kansas City T-Rex Cafe is the chain's flagship store for the U.S, and there are plans to open another one in Orlando in 2008. If you aren't clear on the meaning of "retail concept", it basically means there is more to spend your money on than food at the restaurant. In fact, you don't even have to eat at the restaraunt to spend money. For instance, say you happen upon the cafe having just eaten lunch at another location. Or say you simply just don't fancy the idea of waiting in a long line so that you can sit in a dining room filled with loud robots while your child eats a $5.99 plate of microwaveable, dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets. No problem! You can just walk right in to the T-Rex retail store and take advantage of the more than ample opportunities to drop cash there. If none of the dinosaur trinkets grab you, there is also the [Build-a-Dino][4] workshop, and the "Paleo Zone" where, for $2.50 a head, you can unearth fake dinosaur bones and play with interactive touch screens. 
The T-Rex Store's saving grace is that it does offer a free peek of the impressive spectacle that is the T-Rex Cafe: countless animontronic prehistoric creatures of varying sizes, vast aquariums of tropical fish, a bar with a giant octopus hovering above it, and lots and lots of prehistoric sound effects. If you walk up and down the the giant staircase in store enough times, it is, in fact, possible to get a decent T-Rex experience without spending a dime. I suggest you do just that.If you ask my children about their recent trip to the T-Rex Cafe, they will tell you that they loved it. But the truth is, they loved walking up and down the stairs in the store, and looking at the aquarium next to the bathroom at the top of the stairs. They didn't love waiting more than an hour to get seated, they didn't love dining under moving, roaring dinosaurs, they didn't love the fake meteor storm that occured every ten minutes in our dining area, and they didn't love the cold, half-cooked pasta that we were served (although they scarfed down every single one of those microwavable dinosaur nuggets). At one point in our meal, one of my daughters said, "this was fun at first, but now I'm tired of animatronics."I simply replied, "I agree." [1]: http://www.legendsshopping.com/" target="blank [2]: http://www.wycokck.org/gen/wyco_generated_pages/Village_WestLodging_m1764.html" target="blank [3]: http://www.rainforestcafe.com/" target="blank [4]: http://www.buildadino.com/default.aspx" target="blank
Comments
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Shelby (anonymous) says...
we've come a long way since Showbiz Pizza.
Unfortunately, the side-effects of capitalism seem to have created a beast that looks to be as scary as the jaws of a T-rex.
August 15, 2006 at 2:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
OtherJoel (anonymous) says...
Wow. I didn't think they could get tackier and more obnoxious than the Rainforest Cafe. It sounds like they've topped themselves. That's quite an accomplishment.
August 15, 2006 at 4:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lazz (anonymous) says...
I hear dinosaur tastes sorta like chicken ...
Wow, this sounds like a house of horrors beyond all imagining.
Thanks for the intrepid reporting, Liz. I guess the bright side is, if your kids were properly horrified by the whole concept, you could be done with such field trips for good ... And I'll bet they'll really dig it next time you take them to the Natural HIstory Museum, where they can see actual specimens and real science and not have The Happy World of Brazen and Shameless Commerce shoved down their throats like so many dinolicious nuggets ...
August 15, 2006 at 4:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
liz (Liz Weslander) says...
Lazz, one would hope this to be the case, but they *were* impressed by a lot of stuff there.
Even so, I'm pretty sure they'll get the big picture one day. I remember going to Disney World as an older child and, even then, not understanding why my dad was so uneasy and cynical about the whole experience. I just thought it was fun. Now look at me.
August 15, 2006 at 5:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ladylaw (Terry Bush) says...
Thanks for the warnings - I don't think we'll be quite as keen on bringing the 2 year old granddaughter into be wooed by fake everything and high priced food she won't eat anyway. Too bad. I'd kind of hoped (optomist that I am) that there might be some REAL palentology (or however that is properly spelled).
For those who are really interested in digging up old things, the Kansas State Historical Society has a department devoted to just that type of thing. And they have field trips. for people of all ages. Just give state Archeologist Robert Hoard a call, or check out that agency's web site, if you are interested.
August 15, 2006 at 8:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Todd (anonymous) says...
Watch out JoCo 'cause LeggoLand is coming to town. Olathe is planning to build a billion dollar mess near K-10 and Ridgeview. They are tagging it the O-zone.
August 17, 2006 at 8:56 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SAHM2tylrnathan (anonymous) says...
My now-4-year-old still refuses to go in the orangutan and gorilla building at the Topeka Zoo after a traumatic animatronics adventure at the Rainforest Cafe when he was 2. I'm guessing we wouldn't even be in T-Rex long enough to even order the over-priced food...
At Legends try Ted's Montana Grill instead. Cool decor, kid-friendly despite the nice looks, and an interesting menu with well-executed food, including buffalo. The hot rolls were awesome!
August 18, 2006 at 8:39 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
thetomdotdot (anonymous) says...
I know this is old, but I have to tell you. We were thinking of your review flying back from Atlanta. I sat next to an Olethan who though our kids were the shiznet, and she was raving about the Trex.
"I heard it was noisy", I says.
"Oh my gosh, its fantastic. There's a meteor storm every 10 minutes", says she.
"I heard the food was overpriced and not very good", I says.
"The food is wonderful. A bit pricey, but not overly. Did you know they spent 15 MILLION DOLLARS on the place?", says she.
"I didn't know. I hate waiting an hour to get in a place", I says
"It's worth it", says she.
Ok, so my son had already heard about it, we are in the neighborhood, and it's dinner time. What the heck.
Apparently we picked the right time (about 5:00 on Sunday) because there was no wait. But noisy? Good god.
"fhakljslkjdfoiuousfds?"
"WHAT?", I says.
"Woodjewlfjsldkfjstink?"
"WHAT?", I says.
"WOODJEWLIKESOMETHINGTODRINK?"
"Sure, whatcha got?"...
The food was overpriced ($70 for four - and I only had 1 beer) and not very good, but the service was great, and the people were nice to my kids. The problem is, they had a great time. We took turns walking the around the place. My boy roared back at all the dinosaurs, and we had a contest to see who could name them all which he won. Then we moved on to the fish species.
On the way out, they got a couple of dinosaurs made. I mean, heck, we just spent 70 bucks on fast food we couldn't afford, so why not spend another 80 bucks on stuffed aminals [sic] we can't afford. Isn't that the American Way?
All in all, I'd rather eat nails than go back. But the kids are ecstatic, so there's always that.
November 13, 2006 at 10:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
DrScat (anonymous) says...
My advice in a nut-shell is this...take your kids somewhere else to eat, walk into the gift shop to browse, spend the $2.50 to go into the dino zone and go to the bathroom and your kids will be happy.
My kids (a First and Sixth Grader) have been wanting to go to
T-Rex since it first opened. So during spring break we went.
We walked up at about 12:30 and I saw the long line and thought hey lets go to look at the fountain and come back at 1:15 and the line will be shorter. At around 1:15 we came back and they said the wait would be 1 and a half hours! I asked the kids if they wanted to wait and they did but at around 2:45 we we're starving and my kids came to the realization that once we sat down we'd have to wait for another 1/2 hour for the food to get to the table, and they realized it probably won't be very good. I suggested we go somewhere else.....they agreed.
We went to Arthur Bryant's, got loads of great barbeque and all agreed that T-Rex was a cool place but you can see everything by walking up the stairs to the bathroom.
Save your money and your time and eat somewhere else. T-Rex is a time and money eater!
March 19, 2007 at 6:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
flooeyblue (anonymous) says...
I'm sorry, but all these negative posts about T-Rex Cafe (TRC) are completely wrong. We just got back from a trip to Kansas City and we totally loved TRC. It was a feast for the senses! Yes, the wait was long, but I expected that when we got there. Heck, we've waited just to get into local restaurants with average food and basic decor. After admiring the outside of the building, set with giant dino bones and such, we got on the list and headed into the gift shop for a while. Then we went through the restaurant looking at the themed eating areas: one room was decorated like an ice cave, another like a jungle where you can look out at the planets, one was like under water, etc. There was an area where you can Build-A-Dino which would be fun, but it was a little pricey and wasn't in our budget. No need to complain about it being there; obviously some people enjoy it. There was also an area where you can pay $2.50 per person and go into another area to "dig fossils", do interactive computer activities, etc. We didn't do that either, just because there was so much other stuff to see, but I was surprised it wasn't twice that per person like at most places.
About the food: I thought it was really good. I wish we hadn't been staying in a hotel because it was a huge sandwich and I wanted to take 1/2 of it with me! The rest of my family seemed to enjoy it as well. It was a little expensive, but not over the top when you look at what you can spend at ordinary restaurants around the country. We spent about $50 on 4 people.
The gift shop prices were not unexpectedly high either - they were about what you'd expect. Adult T-shirts were around $12, mugs were about $5-8, keychains were $2-5.
People were talking negatively about the noise in there, but that was just a part of the experience. Every 20 minutes or so, there was a "meteor shower", where the lights would lower, and the sound of meteors "whooshing" to earth could be heard over the incredible sound system. This would upset the animatronic (sp?) dinosaurs and they would begin to make their noises. But it was a wonderful effect! I wanted to dive under the table every time it happened, to protect myself from the meteors! And it was really fun having moving creatures next to us as we ate.
It's too bad some of the others posting here had such a bad time there when it is such a cool place. I have no idea what they were expecting. I guess if you want cheap food in a quiet environment, go to McDonald's. Visiting T-Rex is sort of like going to a mini-amusement park with good food and good service. The animatronics were as good as Disneyland. Perhaps our view is different because we were on vacation and weren't just out for a night on the town...?
By the way, my husband and I are in our 40's and our sons are 12 and 8. T-Rex was another great addition to a trip to KC for World's of Fun and Oceans of Fun.
August 5, 2007 at 3:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Tenna (anonymous) says...
Ha TREX.
I used to be employed there, working the gift shop area. It was really fun to see the kids going berserk and getting excited about everything.
Yea the foods pricey, but it's really not too bad. (I reccomend the waffle fries).
It's not too bad of a place, the decorations were nice. (The T-Rex skull up in the Ice Age room. When the meteor shower goes off every 15 minutes the ice turns red and you can really see it.)
The only complaints I have is that they refuse to send me my final paycheck. Even after calling their corporate office 10 times.
Good place for kids, bad place for working.
August 28, 2007 at 9:59 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Kris73 (anonymous) says...
I would agree with the minority on the T-Rex "experience." It is what it is, and it really wasn't that bad... prices for everything fell into our "expected" range. And the food - at least what we selected - was good. It was better food than your typical overpriced burger/sandwich/chicken fingers and fries; with about the SAME price. Better food for similar prices is good in my book. My 4-year-old daughter LOVES dinosaurs, so this was quite a treat for her!
I don't feel the same cynicism that some people do when it comes to themed restaurants, amusement parks and other various experiences. If people are shocked that things are over-the-top and expensive, well, then you are (at least) a tad naive. Different strokes for different folks... and there's nothing wrong with that. Experience things for yourself and form your own opinion.
March 29, 2008 at 6:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )