Look Inside Mad Rex, the Post-Apocalyptic Restaurant

Back in July, Eater took a peek around Mad Rex, the post-apocalypse-themed bar/restaurant/entertainment venue on Frankford and Delaware Avenues in Fishtown. There was a helicopter, ready to be painted and hung from the ceiling. A plane sat on the floor, waiting to be positioned for a "just crashed through" look. Machetes decorated one wall; a silver skull adorned another. Now that Mad Rex is officially opening this Friday, October 6, after a week of test runs with small crowds, all those pieces, and much more, are in place — and they’re not quite as jarring as you’d expect.

It helps that the restaurant, at 8,500 square feet, is big enough to not feel claustrophobic, despite the excess of unnerving decor. It’s broken up into different spaces, with seats for 225 at regular tables and high-tops, a long bar, lounge areas, a virtual reality room, and not-yet-installed outdoor seating. The decor in the dining area, set along a glassed-in kitchen, is almost medieval.

Hillary Messman

Eminently Instagram-able touches, like mannequins dressed in post-apocalyptic costumes, splashes of graffiti, skull light fixtures, and a pilot’s ejector seat for selfies, are scattered throughout. Guns set up in one display in the lobby area when Eater first visited have been swapped for weapons with more of a movie-prop feel, like a crossbow and a bat wrapped with barbed wire.

There’s an open lounge for the virtual reality, with couches and chairs opposite the dining room and bar. If you don’t want people at the bar to look at you in your headset, there’s also a closed-off VR room where cushy seats are arranged in a circle and drinks are consumed through a bag-and-straw getup made to look like an IV.

Hillary Messman

Those drinks, including 12 beers on draft, come in glasses at the bar and in the dining room, where chef Peter Rule (Brigantessa, Fork) runs the kitchen. The new American menu includes an option to cook your own meat, chicken, or fish on a slab of black rock heated to 500 degrees, post-apocalypse style — it’s listed on the menu as the Survivor section.

Hillary Messman

TVs above the bar will show a mix of sports and post-apocalyptic movies.

Draft beers are $4-$6. Cocktails are around $10 and wines start at $9. Sandwiches are priced at $10-$14, while entrees and the hot-rock option are upwards of $20.

Mad Rex will be open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to midnight and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Take a tour:

Hillary Messman

Hillary Messman

Hillary Messman

Society Hill Films

Hillary Messman

Society Hill Films

Hillary Messman

Hillary Messman

Hillary Messman

For the cook-your-own hot-rock options, choose from the Wastelands sauce selection, with hot pepper relish, horseradish creme fraiche, and barbecue sauce, or Guts and Glory: hot sauce, tzatziki sauce, and romesco.

Hillary Messman

Hillary Messman

Hillary Messman

The menu also includes burgers and sandwiches.

Hillary Messman

Pan-seared scallops are in the entree section.

Hillary Messman

And for dessert, ice cream comes in a pink Himalayan salt bowl.

Hillary Messman