About us

A Vision Born from Passion. A Business Transformed Through Adversity.

I’ve always believed that some of the best business ideas come from the things we genuinely love.

For me, one of those passions has always been aquatic life.

I’m Rene Temblador, an entrepreneur, businessman, and lifelong aquarist from Iloilo. For years, I collected and cared for different freshwater and saltwater species—from beautiful ornamental fish to giant arapaimas, catfish, and other incredible river monsters.

Anyone who is serious about this hobby knows that maintaining large aquariums and exotic animals requires tremendous time, dedication, space, and resources.

Eventually, I asked myself a simple question:

Why keep this experience to myself when I can share it with everyone?

That question became the beginning of Aquarium Café & Lounge.

Turning a Passion Into a Destination

My vision was to create something Iloilo had never experienced before—a place where people could enjoy good food and coffee while being surrounded by the incredible beauty of aquatic life.

Aquarium Café & Lounge became one of Iloilo City’s unique themed dining destinations, featuring massive aquariums filled with giant freshwater fish and other fascinating aquatic creatures.

But I never wanted it to be just another restaurant.

I wanted families to come here and create memories. I wanted children to walk through our doors and become fascinated by animals they had previously only seen on television or online. I wanted people to appreciate nature while enjoying good food with the people they love.

Then the pandemic happened.

When the World Stopped, I Chose to Build

COVID-19 changed everything.

Businesses closed. Streets became quiet. Tourism disappeared. The restaurant industry faced one of the most difficult periods we had ever experienced.

There was uncertainty everywhere.

I had two choices: wait for things to return to normal—or use the time to build something better.

I chose to build.

Instead of allowing the pandemic to stop the vision, I used that difficult period to rethink Aquarium Café & Lounge completely.

If we were going to reopen, I didn’t want to simply reopen the same business.

I wanted people to come back to something extraordinary.

So we expanded beyond aquariums.

What began as a marine-inspired restaurant gradually evolved into an indoor zoo café and wildlife destination featuring animals from different parts of the world.

We developed a dedicated Reptile Gallery, bringing guests closer to fascinating snakes, lizards, tortoises, and other reptiles.

We created an Aviary featuring beautiful and exotic birds.

Our collection continued to expand to include rare mammals and some of the world’s most magnificent big cats—including lions, tigers, and leopards.

Aquarium Café & Lounge was no longer simply about aquariums.

It had become an experience.

Turning Adversity Into Opportunity

Looking back, the pandemic could easily have become the chapter that ended our story.

Instead, it became the chapter that transformed it.

That’s something I’ve learned throughout my years in business: you cannot always control the challenges that come your way, but you can control what you build from them.

Entrepreneurship isn’t only about succeeding when conditions are favorable. It’s about having the courage to adapt when they aren’t.

Where others might see limitations, entrepreneurs must learn to see possibilities.

Where there is uncertainty, we look for opportunity.

And when circumstances force us to change, sometimes the best response isn’t simply to survive.

It’s to reinvent.

More Than a Restaurant

Today, Aquarium Café & Lounge represents much more than my passion for aquatic animals.

It represents years of imagination, hard work, calculated risks, and the determination to create something different for Iloilo.

It’s a place where food, wildlife, education, entertainment, and family experiences come together under one roof.

Families can dine while their children discover extraordinary animals. Friends can gather and create memories. Visitors can experience aquatic creatures, reptiles, exotic birds, rare mammals, and big cats without leaving the city.

And every corner tells part of the journey.

From the first aquarium I built to the giant tanks, from the Reptile Gallery to the Aviary, and from aquatic creatures to some of the world’s most fascinating wildlife—every expansion started with the same question:

What can we create next?

That’s the mindset that continues to drive me as an entrepreneur.

I never wanted Aquarium Café & Lounge to simply follow what other restaurants were doing. I wanted us to create our own category and give Iloilo something it could proudly call its own.

We started with fish.

We built a restaurant around that passion.

A global pandemic challenged everything we had created.

But instead of allowing adversity to close the doors on our vision, we used it as an opportunity to open bigger ones.

And we’re still building.

We’re still evolving.

We’re still dreaming bigger.

Because for me, entrepreneurship has never been about being satisfied with what already exists.

It’s about imagining what could exist—and having the courage to build it.

Rene Temblador

Founder
Aquarium Café & Lounge