In the same vein as Cafe Jack and the long departed magic restroom cafe, comes another bizarrely themed dining experience in LA. Welcome to Jurassic Restaurant, California's (maybe the world's?) only Jurassic Park themed restaurant.
Located in the San Gabriel Valley— an East LA region known for its wonderful dumplings, dry hiking conditions and awesomely diverse neighborhoods— Jurassic Restaurant is your one stop shop where dinosaur fetishists and people who love mediocre noodle dishes can live in peace, harmony and cave-like conditions.
While not quite as bizarre and off kilter as some of the other themed dining spots before it, the Jurassic Restaurant still has its unique charms. There are pterodactyls hanging from the ceiling, neon koi ponds, tree stump seating and the centerpiece of them all: this giant Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton that stands proud, and very much dead, in the middle of the dining room.
All of the bones scattered around makes for quite the awkward dining experience, but I didn't come to a dinosaur themed restaurant to not feel weird and uncomfortable.
While the actual dinos who haunt the restaurant are long gone, the production design and aesthetic of the place is quite alive. The dining room has an intimate cave vibe, with long cavernous hallways and little nooks and crannies that make it feel like a ride at Disneyland. The ceilings are also pretty gnarly-- featuring a plethora of leaves and jungle shrubbery-- and the entire place is filled with tons of plants (both real and fake) to go along with some very cool lighting. If this is what the Stone Age looked like, sign me up!
The waitresses are also a thing to behold in these parts. For some crazy and awesome reason they're dressed like sexy devils, cave babes, maids and school girls. This sounds a bit off initially, but begins to feel pretty natural in a strange place like this. Adding to the confusion, I believe my waitress was dressed as a sexy Rambo (not seeing the dinosaur connection there, but...).
The food, like so many of these themed places, is always secondary. You've got all the standard Asian dishes: hot pot, grilled kebob items, noodles and a variety of fried rice options. Nothing too exciting, but we didn't come here for the world-class cuisine, we came for the opportunity to eat amongst fake dinosaur corpses.
Props to the owners for getting on the gravy train before Jurassic World made a billion dollars at the box office. It's almost like they had a crystal ball and thought: "We have to act NOW before the competition beats us in creating a dinosaur-themed food spot." My guess is that every time Chris Pratt dines out in LA, he comes here. I bet Jeff goldblum eats lunch here every day so he can relive sweet Jurassic Park memories. Laura Dern probably kicks it here all the time, as well.
Also, the website is pretty amazing and features one hell of an 'About us' section. Very informative stuff, indeed.
