112 Trans Canada Hwy
Gander, Newfoundland
Ph. 651-3444
I may never want to hear Happy Birthday sung again. We pulled off the Trans Canada around 6 pm and walked into the Gander Jungle Jim’s. It looked very much like the other twenty-two Jungle Jim’s across the province and on the mainland. Almost as soon as we slid into our booth a swat team of bad singers - wearing Jungle Jim tees and packing cake with icing - swarmed a nearby booth trapping its diners while singing the most annoying version of Happy Birthday. Poor helpless souls. Poor bewildered and embarrassed birthday guy. It was less song and more hockey chant than anything. “Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Bir. Bir. Bir. Bir. Bir. Birthday!!! To, to, to, to, to, you, you, you, you, youuu!!!!” For the next hour and a half that same jarring ritual played out four more times. It was as if I had become caught in some bizarre dream or an episode of the Twilight Zone. I was expecting a black suited Rod Serling to appear any second.
A large square bar at the centre of the room defined the restaurant. Several of those birthday singers doubling as servers buzzed around inside the bar area mixing drinks, filling coolers and tabulating bills. Bordering the restaurant were large wooden booths that could easily have accommodated six. We had four in our group with lots of room to spare. Individual tables were grouped in the windows at the front of the restaurant.
In case you’re wondering about the “jungle” theme, the place felt like one big bamboo jungle hut minus Tarzan and Jane. Well, a decorator’s version anyway. In addition to tons of bamboo I saw fake vines, fake ferns, fabric plants, rubber iguanas, hanging lanterns, coloured Christmas lights and Venetian blinds. The beat of African drums was absent but the musical beat of Brittany Spears bouncing off the tropical walls seemed oddly appropriate.
We began with a primer to get our stomachs nicely coated before the main event. Jungle Jim’s Buffalo wings sounded good so we went with a basket of the barbecued and the dry spiced wings. The barbecued were sauced and mildly spiced as ordered and the dry spiced were crunchy and tender. I loved both versions and could have finished off another basket all by myself.
Jungle Jim’s seemed like the sort of place where you might get a decent grilled steak so one of us ordered surf and turf. It was served with baked potato in foil and a corn salad. The surf part was a skewer of grilled shrimp. They were tender and succulent. The turf part – strip steak - was ordered medium rare but arrived well done.
Another member of our group couldn’t resist the lure of a meal of fish and chips. Despite his cholesterol count he had to have some. I was hesitant since Jungle Jim’s was not known for its fee and chee. However, although the two pieces of fish looked like they’d come straight from a waxy Captain Highliner box, they were actually quite tasty. The fish had been frozen but sometimes frozen fish can be good. The fries were crispy, brown and filled with rich deep fried flavour.
One in our group tried the lasagna. She liked it. However, I had a spoonful and found it to be too pasta laden. It contained minimal sauce - that tasted bottled - and minimal beef. A Caesar salad, coated with freshly grated Parmesan, was crispy and pungent with garlic.
My seafood platter had the same uniform, battered frozen pieces of cod as the fish and chip dish. But it also featured a skewer of fresh shrimp and scallops in bacon and fries.
All of the seafood was tender and moist, especially the shrimp. The corn salad was crunchy and fresh and the French fries were perfectly cooked. The serving was quite ample, enough to fill the stomach of the hungriest traveler.
We tried Jungle Jim’s newest dessert concoction called chocolate chip chimi cheesecake tortillas. They were small tortillas filled with a warm mixture of cream cheese and chocolate. It wasn’t high cuisine but after taking one look at the presentation of the chimi cheesecakes on their red platter decorated with freestyle squirts of white and chocolate sauces - reminiscent of a Jackson Pollock painting - I came to a conclusion. The plate was everything that Jungle Jim’s represented. It was colourful, energetic, carefree, uninhibited and loud. Just remember to take some earplugs with you for those Happy Birthday moments.
Meals for two people at Jungle Jim’s - including four beers and gratuity - came to approximately $80.00.
Jungle Jim’s was wheelchair accessible and the noise level was high.
Best Points:
It’s a fun times restaurant.
Areas for Improvement:
Singing lessons for your servers.
Ratings Category:
Jungle Jim’s gets 7.5 out of 10 points.
7
points = satisfactory, 7.5 = good, 8 = very good, 9 = excellent, 10 =
perfection