Despite the cacophony, this was just another weekday lunch at California’s last Rainforest Cafe, tucked inside a fluorescent-lit Inland Empire mall, about an hour east of downtown Los Angeles.

It’s 5:30 p.m. on a late-summer Friday. The warm afternoon air cools as you walk through the heavy double doors of Gurnee Mills mall. To the right, a jungle-themed mural guides you down a hallway ...