Jungle Room — Restaurant in Vancouver

My wife and her friends went there for b-day dinner cele. Limited menu options. Cod was not available (stuck at the border). Everyone ordered chicken. The chicken was dry and the rice was cold. My wife's description was "at least rice at food-court is warm." They also did not have any eggs.

The service did not make up for the lack of well, food, at a nice pricey dinning venue.

This review might sound a bit harsh, but you would agree that there are so many options in Vancouver. This was certainly an unforgettably bad evening for my wife and her friends. I will not be trying it myself. I would not want to chance it.

Just calling a spade a spade. I hope they can do better.

Also, I cannot find a contact to email them at. Website has an email posted to make reservations. I thought of emailing that but decided not to.

Good night and good luck with yal' next dining experience in this great city. They can't be all hits - that's just life.

Update Jan 24, 2025 0706 See response below. I think the response illustrates a few key elements about dining, and also how feedback is received.

1. word of mouth is important - my wife's bad experience at this establishment is the exact reason for me to NOT try it, would you not agree? Let say if your spouse take her car to a garage to change the oil, and the garage RAN OUT OF OIL, will you want to tempt fate and go to the same garage tomorrow?

2. if the establishment truly cares about feedback and strive to do better, I think the response would have been crafted with more tact and constructiveness. Instead, it feels quite defensive, and passive-aggressive. "We apologize, but..." If you look at my other feedback, I have given out tons of positive and negative reviews - that's just how life is. The good, the bad, and there's the ugly. Restaurants that receive feed back either IGNORE such feedback, and carry on, or they respond with GRACE and POSITIVITY.

3. the best way to respond to negative feedback, is to fully acknowledge what happened, and do better next time.

4. if an establishment cares about receiving feedback, they should really leave contact information on their website - as I stated in my review, I would have emailed them privately first before posting on Google. In fact, I have done that many times to other restaurants in the past.

In conclusion, it was FACTS that this was a horrendous meal for a special occasion. But hey it could be a one time time thing. It is quite possible that they will do a better job tonight, and actually have food to serve you. My wife and her party's experience is just 1 of many. There's 500...

Went here with friends. Love the greenery! It really does look like a “grown-up” version of the Rainforest Café. Food: Truffle fries were good, but not especially different from other places. Also had the sambal corn, which was fine. The sauce tasted a bit like that Chinese plum sauce you get with bbq duck, but with spicy chili. I got the sable fish, which at first was way too spicy for me. For reference, I enjoy spicy kimchi, but I wouldn’t say my spice tolerance is high. BUT the yuzu foam SAVED ME. I have to say that I really enjoyed this after chasing it with the foam. It tasted more exciting than the curry fish dishes I’ve tried at other restaurants. I could taste the lobster flavour in the curry bisque, which was delicious despite the spiciness. It would have been nice if it came with rice or a starch like a plantain. I did not see rice as an add-on on the menu or I would have ordered it. Also tried the Indonesian chicken taliwang. The sauce tasted like satay sauce from Banana Leaf so I would probably prefer the chicken satay there rather than here since the Cornish chicken is harder to eat than the skewers at Banana Leaf. But that’s preference. It would be nice if they had more interesting-sounding vegetarian options (other than a tofu salad and miso eggplant). I’d order the sable fish again. Cocktails: Good variety of drinks and some creativity here. The jungle boogie looked pretty with the sorbet. The hurricane beach, which is a non-alcoholic drink, came with the umbrella pulled out (windblown) and I so appreciated this cute detail from the bartender! The soursop juice is not something I come across often in Vancouver restaurants so that was nice. It was a light drink, not too sweet. The toucan dance (another non-alcoholic drink) was just okay. It tasted like that Dole orange, pineapple, banana juice, but with water. A bit underwhelming in taste and presentation considering it’s amazing name. Wouldn’t order that again. Overall, it was good. Cocktails were fun. A bit underwhelming because it looks like a cool place, but it was kind of empty inside (maybe because it was the night of the fireworks) and the dishes weren’t incredibly creative (except the yuzu foam with the curry sablefish). I’m curious to find out how the vibe will play out considering it’s in the West End, which is more of a family area and this restaurant doesn’t really seem like it fits the neighbourhood. The back patio looks neat though and might be worth checking out if I’m in...

5 Stars++ for drinks!! We tried 5 different cocktails (plus ciders and beers). Both their featured cocktails (using El Gobernador Chilean pisco) are excellent though a little of the sweeter side. The San Cristobal is worth a try.

Impeccable service and atmosphere. They've done a great job transforming the space into a lush jungle with giant birds of paradise everywhere. We were a group of 5, got a nice cozy corner and spent about $85 per person on average.

We went there specifically to try the Indonesian-inspired food, but unfortunately it was a miss. We didn't get the flavourful spices and herbs expected from Indonesian food. We ordered the nasi goreng arancini, rendang tacos, ayam Taliwang, milk bread, jungle fries, and uni soba.

Nasi goreng arancini - comes with 5 balls per order. While we could taste the traditional nasi goreng flavour, it was quite muted and missing the complex herb and spices usually found in indonesian nasi goreng. PS: this comes in a serving of 5 arancini balls. Just in case you have a bigger group, you can't add arancini balls (ex. You can't ask for an additional arancini balls if you're in a group of 6). Some restaurants allow this, but our server informed us it's not possible.

Ayam Taliwang - Taliwang chicken I've had in Indonesia usually has a stronger galangal and shallots flavour (and I think sometimes candlenuts). Jungle's ayam Taliwang was well balanced but tastes like regular rotisserie chicken and missing the galangal & shallots flavours. Jungle's Ayam Taliwang also comes with some kind of a peanut sauce, though traditionally I don't remember it being served with any sauces.

Rendang tacos - tasted more like pork carnitas tacos with a light hint of rendang. Wishing for the rendang flavour to be the highlight of this dish but that just wasn't the case.

Uni soba - this was the best dish of the night!!!! Soba was well done, and the sauce was so flavourful. We highly recommend this dish!!! ❤️

I heard that Jungle Room updates their menu all the time, so I'm planning to come back and try their new menu...