Theme restaurant

Jekyll and Hyde Club

Horus East Cafe, New York

Theme restaurants are restaurants in which the concept of the restaurant takes priority over everything else, influencing the architecture, food, music, and overall 'feel' of the restaurant. The food usually takes a backseat to the presentation of the theme, and these restaurants attract customers solely on the premise of the theme itself.

Popular chain restaurants such as Applebee's or Bennigans – despite having a distinct and consistent style throughout their locations – would not be considered to be theme restaurants by most people. Theme restaurants have an instantly recognizable, easily articulable concept that can be summed up in a few words at most, an almost cartoonish exaggeration of an idea. The popular Rainforest Cafe restaurants have the obvious theme of a "Tropical Rainforest". Medieval Times has its theme of "Medieval Europe". The Jekyll & Hyde Club evokes an atmosphere of Jack the Ripper and Victorian horror novels. Some theme restaurants use controversial images, contexts, or ideas. The most notorious of them was Hitler's Cross, in Mumbai, India which was renamed to Cross Cafe in August 2006.

One strange but famous theme restaurant in Berlin, Germany is called "Das Klo" (German for "The Toilet"); it depicts the insides of a toilet.

Origins

Chains of tiki bars started opening in the United States in the mid to late 1930s.

In the late 1950s, David Tallichet began opening restaurants decorated as Polynesian islands, New England fishing villages and World War II era French farmhouses (barricaded with sandbags to protect against German bombardment). His Proud Bird restaurant at the Los Angeles International Airport had headphones at each table so that diners could listen to control-tower chatter. Almost all of his restaurants were in Southern California. His company, Specialty Restaurants, grew to revenues of $185 million at its peak in 1980.

Trends

The early 21st-century closings of several Planet Hollywood, Jekyll & Hyde Club, Wilderness Cafe, and Bugaboo Creek locations suggest a decline in popularity. Theme restaurants often depend on tourist business, since the theme soon becomes stale to locals, and the focus is not necessarily on good food and service. Certain tourist destinations such as the Mall of America or Orlando, Florida have better chances of supporting theme restaurants. Theme restaurants are commonplace at theme parks, such as Universal Studios.

List of theme restaurants

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Ellen's Stardust Diner

The facade of the Jekyll & Hyde Club at its Times Square location

"Jiangnan Gongshe" ("Jiangnan People's commune") in Yangzhou, one of China's several upscale Maoist-themed restaurants

The Rainforest Cafe at Disney's Animal Kingdom

• The Airplane Restaurant – Boeing KC-97, Colorado Springs, CO
• Anaheim Packing House – Citrus packing house, Anaheim, CA
• Apple Farm Inn – Millhouse, San Luis Obispo, CA
• The Barn – 1861 barn, in Sauder Village, Archbold, OH
• Belle of Louisville – Steamboat, Louisville, KY
• Bubba Gump Shrimp Company – The film Forrest Gump (the first theme restaurant inspired by a film)
• The Buckhorn Exchange – Wild game, oldest restaurant in Denver, CO
• Camp 18 Restaurant – Logging camp, Elsie, OR
• The Cannery – Waterfront cannery, Newport Beach, CA
• City Tavern – Colonial tavern, Philadelphia, PA
• Clearman's Northwoods Inn – Log cabin in the woods, Covina, La Mirada and San Gabriel, CA
• Cold Spring Tavern – Stagecoach stop, Santa Barbara, CA
• Colonial Inn – Colonial tavern, Concord, MA
• Colonial Williamsburg – Several colonial taverns in a restored colonial city, Williamsburg, VA
• Delta King – Steamboat, Sacramento, CA
• Delta Queen – Steamboat, Chattanooga, TN
• Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede – American patriotic
• Ed Debevic's – 1950s diner
• The Edison – Powerplant, Los Angeles, CA
• Ellen's Stardust Diner – 1950s diner
• ESPN Zone – Sports bar
• Five Crowns – English Tudor, Corona del Mar, CA
• Hard Rock Cafe – Rock music
• Heart Attack Grill – Hospital
• [http – //www.thehellfire.co.uk The Hellfire] – A 'haunted' restaurant in Manchester, UK.
• Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village – Various historically themed restaurants, Dearborn, MI
• Jacob Wirth Restaurant – Historic building, Boston, MA
• Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville – Tropical beach
• Johnny Rockets – 1950s diner
• Jekyll & Hyde Club – Victorian English
• Longfellow's Wayside Inn – Colonial inn, Sudbury, MA
• Mike Fink Restaurant – Steam towboat, Covington, KY
• Michie Tavern – Colonial tavern, Charlottesville, VA
• Mining Camp Restaurant – Mining, Apache Jct., AZ
• Moshulu – Four-masted bark (sailing ship), Philadelphia, PA
• Mystic Seaport – Nautical-themed restaurants, Mystic, CT
• Natchez – Steamboat, New Orleans, LA
• 94th Aero Squadron Restaurants – World War I-era biplane and relics, Van Nuys and San Diego, CA
• The Olde Ship – English pub with a nautical theme, Santa Ana and Fullerton, CA
• Oliver Wight House – Tavern at Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA
• Orange County Mining Company, Orange, CA
• Pacific Dining Car – Railroad, Los Angeles and Santa Monica, CA
• Planet Hollywood – The film industry
• Pomona Valley Mining Company – Mining, Pomona, CA
• Portillo's Restaurants – 1920's Chicago and other themes
• Proud Bird Restaurant & Museum – Historic aircraft, Los Angeles, CA
• Rainforest Cafe – Rainforest
• Safe House Restaurant – Secret agents and espionage
• Tam O'Shanter – Scottish, Los Angeles, CA
• Union Oyster House – Historic building, Boston, MA
• The Warehouse Restaurant – Warehouse theme, Marina del Rey, CA

See also

• Lists of restaurants