Local restaurants serve sides of ‘eatertainment’ with your meal

Western New York’s renowned restaurant landscape ranges wildly in culinary focus, price points and aesthetic choices of dining rooms. Beyond the basics of food, drink and vibes, there are places offering sides of extras that turn a visit to a restaurant into what some refer to as “eatertainment.”

It’s a simple recipe: equal parts food and fun.

Bobby J’s Italian American Grille is home to Desiderio’s Dinner Theatre; families are joined by animatronic jungle animals in the Rainforest Cafe in Niagara Falls; The Cove Seafood and Banquets in Depew is a tropical oasis for people looking to eat, drink and be entertained; and in Rochester, the Old Farm Cafe puts a down-home spin on things.

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Bobby J’s and Desiderio’s

204 Como Park Blvd., Cheektowaga

As diners enjoy the Italian-American menu at Bobby J’s in the front dining rooms, behind closed doors in another part of the building people are being served a helping of theater, too.

Jay and Bobby Desiderio are the principals of Desiderio’s Dinner Theatre, that has been at their Como Park Boulevard location in Cheektowaga for eight years. The brothers – Bobby is the dinner and Jay is the theater – have been thriving since 1984, putting out solid Italian fare and staging theatrical productions throughout the year.

Brothers Jay, left, and Bobby Desiderio have been entertaining patrons with the dinner theater concept since about 1984; the last eight at Bobby J’s Italian American Grille. Jay runs the theater with Desiderio’s Dinner Theatre and Bobby is responsible for the food as the name behind Bobby J’s.

Joseph Cooke / Buffalo News

“Our family has always been in the food business and I’m the lone soldier in theater,” Jay Desiderio said. “As the years progressed, Bobby has helped to build sets. We will be working on set-building, go to check the lasagna and then get back to getting ready for the next show.

“Coming here is a celebration of the senses – you taste and see the food that you’ve ordered and then after you experience other sensations by laughing, crying as you watch the play. To me that’s a perfect celebration of life,” Jay said. “I believe that’s why people leave here happy and return. It makes life fun, adding to the quality of life. In our area we can have so many gray days, and you can make them more wonderful and add light by having a good dinner-theater experience.”

At Desiderio’s Dinner Theatre, you can choose your meal from a select group of entrees and then settle in and watch the performance. Pictured is Ashlee Hicks before the play “It Runs in the Family.”

Joseph Cooke / Buffalo News

The experience begins with guests at reserved tables arriving about 90 minutes before the show starts to enjoy a meal of their choice from a special menu. The food is freshly cooked from the kitchen just like you are eating in the main dining room. Once the actors take the stage, guests can finish dessert and continue to order drinks.

Jay Desiderio said that a reservation for two means a two-top: “You don’t have to sit with people who you don’t know, you sit with your guests, and you don’t have to move. It’s a big place so, depending on the configuration and the production, the room changes.

“We do four or five shows a year, and are dark for about a month between to rehearse and build sets for the next show and I use all professional talents, the best in Buffalo,” he said.

Currently on stage is “It Runs in the Family,” directed by Jay Desiderio. It continues with matinee and evening performances through March 12.

Palm trees greet visitors to The Cove and set the scene for what they’ll find inside.

Joseph Cooke/Buffalo News

The tropical experience at The Cove starts right from the parking lot where the faux palm trees of its façade provide an unexpected pop of greenery on a winter day.

You will become immersed in the tropics inside the expansive space that has several dining options, banquet rooms and two stages for live music. One banquet room is being transformed into a speakeasy.

There are multiple entertainment options inside the tropical-inspired Cove as seen in this photo of Luau Room which includes arcade games and a large stage.

Joseph Cooke/Buffalo News

Co-owners Bryan and Janet Page opened The Cove in 2005, purchasing the 27,000-square-foot building that once housed a gym. Bryan also brought his experience from working as a bartender and manager at famed lakeside Sunset Bay Beach Club from 1995 to 2000. Palm trees, some chairs and other tropical features were purchased from the late Kahunaville tropical-themed restaurant and arcade in Walden Galleria.

“When we first opened we were a family fun center and pivoted to become a place with multiple restaurants and several party rental rooms. We are a destination and every room has its own feel,” Bryan Page said.

The Luau Nightclub has palm trees, a corner water feature with two life-like flamingos, and an impressive stage where diverse bands play. Some nights, Page said, two bands are booked providing customers with constant music. “When one band finishes, the other starts.”

Flamingos are displayed by a water fountain at the Cove in Depew.

Joseph Cooke/Buffalo News

About that flamingo feature Page said, “I’m a fan of conversation starters and eye candy, a couple on a first date can talk about that.”

The tropical Luau Nightclub space feels like an outdoor beach bar under the stars with attention to detail with natural materials. Page points out tables that were built by a friend from reclaimed wooden palettes, burnt and stained to look beach-aged. A padded ceiling and overhead speakers keep music at non-ear-splitting decibels: “You don’t have music blasting in your face,” he said.

Cute animal headbands and specialty cups are some of the fun extras for the kids at the colorful Rainforest Cafe in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Courtesy Rainforest Cafe

Inside Sheraton Niagara Falls, 300 Third St., Niagara Falls

Twin resin elephants that one might describe as “baby elephant-sized” from knowledge of the animal kingdom gleaned from visits to The Buffalo Zoo, greet families and groups of friends at Rainforest Café, inside the Sheraton Niagara Falls. It’s part of a chain based in Houston that has 23 locations worldwide including one in Niagara Falls, Ont.

Visitors will eat in the colorful circular dining room under the canopy of leaves on the faux trees with “animals” watching from the lush greenery. Every 30 minutes lighting is programmed to dim for a lightning storm that riles the wild animatronic beasts around the dining room. Every 10 minutes animals spring to life: The wild cats roar, apes sway in trees and elephants trumpet. One orange cat with a sizable ruff has a creaky shoulder, audible as he menaces a table of guests nearby.

Tigers, elephants and zebras are among the animals in the brush at the Rainforest Cafe in Niagara Falls, N.Y. Every 10 minutes, the animals spring to life.

Courtesy Rainforest Cafe

Surprisingly, children did not bellow in fear. And there are plenty of children: A small boy charges about with a balloon sword, and a toddler girl leaves cradling a balloon doll in her arms. A young diner did attempt to quiet the wild cats during their noisy stint by brandishing her large red balloon flower on 2-foot-long stem.

“People who are traveling and locals come here for the ambiance and the food,” said manager Craig Kitchen who has been working at this location since it opened in 2015.

When asked if little kids are ever frightened by the animatronics, he said, “It happens, but we can re-seat them away from the animals, near the fish tank or another, quieter area.”

The menu has burgers, salads, seafoods and steaks, plus a children’s section with items like Jurassic Chicken Tidbits, Python Pasta and Castaway Kids Pizza. Adult beverages include drinks with tropical twists.

The balloon artist working the room on Thursday evenings, Bradley Mock, does his inflated and twisty thing from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. delighting kids and adults. Mock, who is from Buffalo and now lives in Medina, works during the day as a manager of a woodshop, and describes his Rainforest Café gig as a “blessing.”

“I love working here, and I’ve been making balloon creations here for five years. Jetpacks, princesses, unicorns are some of my specialties, it’s a privilege to help people reclaim something happy from their childhood – balloons.”

It’s a dinner theater and musical experience with a down-home feel at the Old Farm Cafe in Rochester

Courtesy of Nic Samper

3450 Winton Place, Rochester

Located within a plaza in suburban Rochester, The Old Farm Café is decked out as a faux barnyard doubling as a theatrical venue. Don’t try to refill your water glass at the old green pump along the wall painted like a springtime meadow – it’s a prop. The long café counter where you may be greeted by a barista in a cowboy hat is not. The Old Farm Café serves breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner – as well as productions throughout the year. Merch on hand includes T-shirts, coffee mugs and stickers emblazoned with upbeat theater messages and logos of past shows.

The walls at the Old Farm Cafe in Rochester are painted with pastoral scenes.

Courtesy of Nic Samper

Each wall of the café is meticulously painted with pastoral scenes so that both the café crowd and ticket holders for shows produced by OFC Creations (the theatrical company in residence that also performs in the more traditional theater next door), feel as if they are lounging in a small town’s gathering place. Stage action happens in a gazebo in the corner of the large space; a hefty fake chicken keeps watch amid barnyard gear. Upcoming productions are listed on the café website, theoldfarmcafe.com.

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