The best themed restaurants in the U.S.

Few other tiki bars, if any, in the nation show as much obsessive dedication to the form as Nob Hill’s classic watering hole Tonga Room. Located inside the iconic Fairmont hotel, the Polynesian-inspired bar-slash-restaurant has been pouring mai tais since 1945, but in 2010 benefited from a $1 million renovation and facelift. While we love the balanced drinks and mango panna cotta, the ambiance at Tonga Room is unparalleled. Be prepared for a man-made rain, thunder and lightning storm to hit the “lagoon” that was once the hotel’s swimming pool.

The “Greatest Restaurant in the World” gained international fame thanks to a memorable episode in season seven of South Park. It was the show’s creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who rescued the formerly floundering restaurant to the tune of $40 million. Since it reopened in 2023, diners join a mailing list that allows them to purchase tickets to wander Black Bart’s cave, view cliff divers and crunch into sweet sopapillas. Once known for its abysmal cuisine, the new Casa Bonita boasts James Beard Foundation award-nominated chef Dana “Loca” Rodriguez in the kitchen. The ticket price includes supping on her dishes, such as chicken mole, beef suadero and shrimp ceviche.

Leave it to Vegas to host this over-the-top restaurant where waitresses dress as nurses and the kitchen serves the most unhealthy, widowmaker-inducing food chefs can dream up. Customers don hospital gowns as they await towering, loaded burgers that range from Single Bypass (one patty, five strips of bacon) to an awe-inspiring Octuple Bypass (eight patties, 40 strips of bacon). Fries are cooked, unsurprisingly, in pure lard, and shots are served in plastic prescription pill containers. Customers weighing over 350 pounds eat for free and, if you dine here regularly, that goal becomes easily attainable.

What started as The Mandarin House in 1950 has grown to become one of New England’s most beloved dining landmarks. When it’s busy, the restaurant packs in 1,200 customers at a time for its gigantic Peninsula Pupu Platter. But the menu goes beyond American Chinese food. Thai and Japanese options (including a sushi bar) draw in suburban Boston acolytes, too. The Wong family, which has owned the restaurant for three generations, plans to make it smaller in the next few years, so see the quirky Luau Room and Tiki Lagoon sooner rather than later.

There are chocoholics, then there is chef Santosh Tiptur. Trained as a pastry chef and chocolatier, he uses his favorite ingredient in practically everything at his Northern Virginia restaurant. Diners can order crispy calamari in cocoa beer batter; Caesar salad with cacao nib brittle and cocoa-infused, cured yolk; and short ribs in chocolate-Burgundy reduction to go with their Moussetache cocktail, which is even more decadent than it sounds. Watch chocolate being made in the pastry kitchen while you take in the edible spectacle that is the flame-fueled Conche Entremet.

Only in Texas, folks. This perennially packed spot combines a state-of-the-art laundromat with a gourmet burger joint and craft beer bar. Tote your whites and colors to the 80-machine washing room; toss them in a high-efficiency washer; then grab a seat in the dining room next door where you can chow down on oversized, juicy burgers like the That’s My Jam!, which combines melty Brie and onion-red-pepper jam with bacon and baby spinach on a sourdough bun. Don't worry about your laundry while you sip local suds—a light board will let you know when it’s time to transfer your clothes to the dryer.

Founded in 1931 as a pay-what-you-can cafeteria, Clifton’s is reopening for its third time in July 2024. The forest theme is intact, but is now more drinking den than purveyor of soup and sandwiches. At the center of the space stands a 40-foot-tall fake redwood tree; its base is located near the Monarch Bar on the second level, and it reaches up to the ceiling with reinforced branches designed to hold aerialists. The other sections include the Gothic Bar—built around a repurposed 19th-century altar—Forest Glen and the tiki-themed Pacific Seas.

This railroad-themed restaurant (with additional locations in Shawnee and Kansas City, Kansas) has delighted diners since it opened in KC in 1954. At cherry-red vinyl booths among railroad memorabilia like wooden train sets and crossroads signs, visitors order tried-and-true burgers, crinkle-cut fries and thick milkshakes, then wait for a ceiling-mounted “train” that runs on tracks to deliver the order right to the table. It’s an old-fashioned good time that kids, in particular, are sure to love.

Located within a stone’s throw of Colorado Springs’ small, city-owned airport, the Airplane Restaurant is housed within a converted KC-97 U.S. Air Force tanker. Diners can sit at small tables within the plane itself or in “the terminal,” an attached dining room. While the food isn’t anything special—don’t expect much more than burgers, steaks and a few straightforward salads—the fun involved in eating non-airplane food while inside an airplane is, well, totally worth it.

This small chain, with locations in Nashville, Denver, Kemah, and Houston, combines an aquarium visit with a seafood restaurant. Diners are seated around a 200,000-gallon tank, where they can view tropical fish, sharks and stingrays. Though guests can’t partake in the rare species on display, fish is at the center of the menu, too. Ahi tuna nachos, sautéed redfish with a topping of lump crabmeat, and gator-and-shrimp tacos all appeal to guests who crave edible enchantment under the sea.

Anything goes at this San Antonio classic, open in 1973. The Addison location is almost as storied, having opened in 1979. The theme is broad, embracing everything from Marvel comics to Pirates of the Caribbean, and the dining room is a hodgepodge of seating areas, including the attic, a tiki hut and even an old refrigerator. Servers are dressed as all kinds of characters: Spider Man, Robin Hood and Jack Sparrow. The fun is clearly aimed at kids, though the menu’s Roman Orgy, a “conglomerate” of smoked brisket, chicken and fresh fruits, might require some explanation.

Tombstone should be considered a compulsory stopover for any true Wild West enthusiast and part of the history to be absorbed is Big Nose Kate's Saloon. The establishment is reportedly haunted and features an underground level where a worker spent years tunneling a secret entrance into a nearby silver mine. Visitors are encouraged to dress up in period-style attire, and they can freely snap selfies on the bar or draped across the piano if they are so inclined. The Wyatt Earp-esque experience is accompanied by nightly live music and the themed menu includes the “Kate’s Breast” sandwich and both the “Topless” and “Big Ass” Burger. Naturally, the movie Tombstone plays on an endless loop on screens behind the bar.

This LAX-adjacent spot began life in 1967 as an aviation-themed restaurant but was reborn as a modern food hall in 2017. It now features six stalls serving salmon teriyaki bowls, barbecue brisket and mushroom-truffle pizza layered with fontina cheese. The aviation theme has been preserved: Giant model planes hang from the ceiling and the lingo echoes travel language ('Arrival' is where you place your order, 'Departure' where you pick it up). Don’t forget to visit the Mile High Club bar and lounge to pick up a cocktail or a glass of wine and admire the view.