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Theme restaurant

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Jekyll and Hyde Club

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.

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 notable theme restaurants

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  • 94th Aero Squadron Restaurants – World War I-era biplane and relics, Van Nuys and San Diego, California

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Ellen's Stardust Diner

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

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  • Mad Mex Fresh Mexican Grill - Lucha libre themed, Sydney and New Zealand
  • Mai-Kai Restaurant - tiki themed, 3599 North Federal Highway in Oakland Park, Florida
  • Mars 2112 - aliens & space, New York
  • Max Brenner - chocolate addicted theme, New York
  • Medieval Times - medieval days, various areas
  • Michie Tavern – Colonial tavern, Charlottesville, Virginia, US
  • The Mill at Sonning – converted from an 18th-century flour mill, it's located on an island in the River Thames at Sonning Eye in the English county of Oxfordshire
  • Modern Toilet Restaurant – a bathroom-themed restaurant, Taipei, Taiwan
  • Montana's Cookhouse - a lodge/wilderness setting that tries to provide guests with an escape to simpler times, Vaughan, Ontario
  • Montana Mike's - Big Steak Country, (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Texas)
  • Moshulu – Four-masted bark (sailing ship), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • MS Normac - is a floating restaurant boat that was launched as a fire tug named the James R. Elliot. Port Huron, Michigan
  • MV Sydney 2000 - cruise ship dining, Sydney Harbour
  • The Murder Mystery Company – Headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan with shows in over 30 cities across the United States
  • Mystic Seaport – Nautical-themed restaurants, Mystic, Connecticut, US

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  • Natchez – Steamboat, New Orleans, Louisiana, US

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The Rainforest Cafe at Disney's Animal Kingdom

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See also

References

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