T-Rex Restaurant: A Prehistorically Good Time at Downtown Disney

It's no secret that Downtown Disney at Disney World is a mecca of shopping and food, and one of the more recent additions to the dining options is the T-Rex restaurant, the prehistoric answer to the Rainforest Cafe. T-Rex, also owned by Landry's, has been open at the Downtown Disney Marketplace since October of 2008 and is just as well themed, if not better so, than the average Rainforest. In place of the monkeys, elephants, and other jungle animals, diners can now eat among the roars of triceratops, woolly mammoths and of course, the tyrannosaurus rex.

When you first walk in, under the bones of an Argentinasaurus, the transformation to the prehistoric world is immediate. To the left is the shark bar (underneath the octopus), the far corner represents a portion of the ice age (complete with frozen dino skeletons) and directly in front of you stands the mighty T-Rex. On your right is the gift shop, featuring their Build-a-Dino workshop. It's the same idea as Build-a-Bear, except with dinosaurs that can be customized. Giant insects can be seen among the rest of the giant creatures, and instead of the storm that diners experience in Rainforest, the ceiling comes alive every 20 minutes with a recreation of the comet that hit the earth and is believed to cause the dinosaurs' extinction. A tiny bit dramatic, yes, but fun to experience nonetheless.

The menu at T-Rex is pretty standard fare, with only a few items that might be considered truly original or signature. However, everything on the menu has an interesting, prehistoric themed name (on our visit we ate brachiosaurus bruschetta, an artifact stack, and a bowl of lava tomato basil soup, just to name a few examples) and more importantly, everything was delicious!! Of the six items we tried, nothing left us disappointed. Food arrived in a reasonable amount of time, the wait staff were all extremely friendly, and despite the large number of people standing outside, we got a table without a reservation or any wait. And with the constant noise and movement, not to mention the sheer size of the building and number of things to see, boredom is not really an option, even if you do have to wait a short while to be seated.

The only downside to T-Rex, as is the case with most themed restaurants, is the fact that it is somewhat pricey, especially if you've got a family to feed. Add to that the cost of building a "souvenir" dinosaur (as I notice most children insisting on doing), and a meal could cost near the triple digits. However, even if cost is a huge consideration, don't automatically pass T-Rex over. My suggestion would be to stick to appetizers as meals or split an entree; portion sizes do make this a feasible possibility. The atmosphere and the experience make a meal here worth the time and a little extra money.

Overall, I would definitely recommend a meal here. It's a fun place with great food, and if there are any dinosaur geeks in the family, it can be an entire experience in and of itself. It may leave more of an impression than the parks!! (But I hope not!) Full menus, hours, pricing, and Build-a-Dino information can be found at T-Rex's official website- www.trexcafe.com