Grape,Dennis, John, Mel, Moe, and the rest of the RAINy people,
Grape...I didn't know I had any thunder...actually, it was an appropriate word coming from the Aventura RFC. BTW, tomorrow is actually the 14th...I know how easily you get yesterday and tomorrow confused ;)
RFC Aventura is on-line as of tomorrow 9am(or at least the retail store is at that time!). Aventura is a shopping center in the North Miami area surrounded by lots of condos and generally well to do homes...very well populated area with good money supplies. The mall itself was a decently sized one before the new addition, which included adding a Bloomingdale's and whole wing connecting it to the main mall, which includes RFC, and will yet include a Crate&Barrel, FAO Schwartz(incidentally, just across from the RAIN), Cheesecake Factory(these 3 mentioned places are not yet opened), and by the spring will have the movie theaters opened(24 I believe). There are a load of stores already opened, and it is very crowded, especially with the holiday season upon us. You can hear the RAIN noises in the mall itself, attracting attention from passers-by, and many people were checking it out and upset that they couldn't get in today for lunch. Incidentally, the billboard off of I-95 in Ft. Lauderdale heading south now mentions Aventura along with Sawgrass, so they get 2 for the price of 1, as these suckers are expensive.
Anyway, the restaurant, as Grape said, is 2 floors, on the 2nd and 3rd floors of Aventura. The one thing I think I heard a bit differently than Grape posted was that the first floor is expected to get seating of 150-180 eventually(although it looks like this would be tight) with upstairs of 300. The first floor has just a few animatronics, with a few gorillas and a jaguar, and both floors have bars. There was a 2-story waterfall in front of the stairs taking you up to the next level(although there is an elevator of course for those where it's necessary). The gift shop is on the first floor and is very obvious and interesting for shoppers, so I would expect that the retail area will do very well here, especially with the capable people whom we recognized from Sawgrass now working there. In the front of the retail area are a large croc and python or boa(animatronic for both, and the snake looked pretty cool). There were many new retail items, such as frames with the characters, plush stuffed animals, new shirts with much more animated looking characters, and even shirts with glow in the dark Cha-Chas and Iggies, the described #1 and 2 selling characters. You can even buy the large Cha-Cha statue for only $90, for those who want to impress their dates with their stylish furniture!
The second floor seemed a bit more spacious than some of the other locations, as apparently they removed one of the aquariums to allow for more room. On the other hand, the animatronic animals were more spread out and easily accessible for all, as well as more lifelike, as Grape already described. There were also different animal heads sticking out of the walls, as my "little" cousin got to sit under a rhino. The aquariums still were a bit cloudy, but the fish all looked great...healthy with all of their fins, etc.(yes, I'm an old aquarium buff). A down side looks to be the upstairs kitchen, as the servers will have to be running up and down the stairs, and I expect this will occasionally interfere with service, as well as create a few more more headaches for them at times.
There were many of their "team" finishing with the final touches before heading out shortly to Las Vegas to cover the MGM opening, which I think they said would be thursday, and it was also mentioned by one that Palisades would likely be 1/17(but I forgot to ask of what year?!)
The only negatives today were one cold espresso and one wet person as a result of rain which was not totally simulated inside...luckily the only person getting wet was Grape, so it actually was quite amusing. He was having so much fun that he refused to move to the other open chair at the table...guess the staff must have smelled him on the way in!
The people running this place, such as Tim, Gary, Rob, and Tracy, are all as friendly and helpful as can be, while at the same time quite obviously working their rear-ends off. I expect that this location will do extremely well.
It will be intesting to see where else they yet go in south Florida, such as further south in Miami, West Palm Beach, etc.
As they say on the MF side, RAIN on all...or should I say:
np, np , np, np, NP, NP NNNPPPPP!
Regards,
Marshall |
