Hard Rock Café New York

"HArd Rock cafe"(HRC) is a chain of restaurants across all major cities and toursit attractions across the globe.HRC is infact one place I usually never miss out if its present in the city i visit.This to describe in short is a "restaurant cum rock 'n roll museum rolled into one ".This review is more generally on HRC that I have visited in many places(NY,Paris,Rome,Berlin,Niagara Falls) and not exclusively on the joint in NY.
...somewhat a standard fare acorss all HRC joints.My usual choices ,which is an all veggie affair,but non-veggies ,no problems you have almost equivalent and even more varied choices,as always:

Starters:
My fav and the one that i recommend not to miss are the Mexican Nachos.They are the best I have had so far with lots of corn,beans,Mexican chillies,Cheddar cheese 'n cream dippings.Absolutely yummy !!!!!!!! Other one wud be usually ... more

"HArd Rock cafe"(HRC) is a chain of restaurants across all major cities and toursit attractions across the globe.HRC is infact one place I usually never miss out if its present in the city i visit.This to describe in short is a "restaurant cum rock 'n roll museum rolled into one ".This review is more generally on HRC that I have visited in many places(NY,Paris,Rome,Berlin,Niagara Falls) and not exclusively on the joint in NY.

Food :
The menu is somewhat a standard fare acorss all HRC joints.My usual choices ,which is an all veggie affair,but non-veggies ,no problems you have almost equivalent and even more varied choices,as always:

Starters:
My fav and the one that i recommend not to miss are the Mexican Nachos.They are the best I have had so far with lots of corn,beans,Mexican chillies,Cheddar cheese 'n cream dippings.Absolutely yummy !!!!!!!! Other one wud be usually smoked potato skins or crispy Onion rings.
The usual choices of my non-veg frendz wud be chicken wings etc.

Natural Veggie Burger:
So coming to the main course,this is the only one thing that I opt for .These HRC burgers r really very unique in the sense that they r equivalent to nearly 2-3 McD burgers and the filling is very tasty with a variety of nuts,crisp thick filler,sprouts,tomoatoes,onions,lettuce,cheese etc and dont ask me what all ,but all i can say is, its very unique and hearty.On top of this ,you have 2 portions of baked potatoes, finger chips and a kind of sauce!!Todate I 've never devoured this burger completely and i 'm up half way through.This is one big complaint for HRC,the quantity of anything you order here is more than fullfilling!! (I 'm supposing that you are the kind with normal appetite!!!)Infact those starters,nachos is suffeceint for nearly 2-3 ppl. Most of the times I satiate my hunger pangs by the time I nibble at those starters.
Okay for non-veggies ,you have lots of options when it comes to burgers and sandwiches!!

Salads:
Again very special to HRC.I usually detest cold salads,but once I was accompanied by an anti-coke,anti-fastfood,anti-etc kind offa friend who can have salads whole year and whole day long.So when he was dragged into HRC much against his wishes he was delighted to see his favorite salads on the menu ,which thankfully put some glee on his face.I remember he picking on some Italian salad and after givign a detailed do's 'n donts instructions to the tongue tied pretty waiteress like to remove tuna(u have to tell that explicity else in italy they may confuse it be veggie),remove that add this ,and after a lots of delimma ,chose some dressing (he was hearing all those long names for the first time ).Fianlly he was served with a huge bowl of salad dressed with cheesy+etc dressings ,which made someone remark that even cows wud be bored by the time it finishes it.Anyway me and my frendz in the name of tasting it , finished half of his salad which was really very tasty ,and for the first time i realised that salads too can taste good!!

Deserts and drinks:
Again my reserved fav drinks here is usually tequilas/margaritas .For non-alcohols,dont miss those thick slushy ice-cream milkshakes,I absolutely relish them.(I never miss out a chance on tasting what my frendz order and i usually force others to order a differtn one than mine so that I can taste many on the menu) !!! When it comes to cocktails the menu is very similar to TGIF,so lots of option .DEserts is very typically American with fudges,choco cakes and lots of ice-creams etc
I even remember seeing pastas and some specialities depending on the country in which the joint is loacted in the menu .

I usually reserve my visit to HRC at the end of the day ,else it mabbe very difficult to explroe the city after a heavy outing here.As for cost comapred to the quantity and the place ,its dirt cheap.
But one major problem is the waiting time ,you can be guarantied its no less than half to nearly an hour.

Ambience:
More than food ,its the upbeat ambience for which this is quite famous for and each one of the HRC is more of a dedication for rock and roll hall of fame.The wodden walls are completely decked with memorabilias of rock and roll artsits ranging from guitars, dresses worn by them, posters, handwritten scribbled lyric sheets ,record creating Platinum's etc etc. For eg in Rome I remember seeing that famous black dress worn by Madonna shown in the video of Papa dont preach and scribbled notes of some famous songs by "The Doors",in Paris the famous guitar of GNR's Slash,Jimi Hendrix, many things related to Scorpions in Berlin , the trademark gliterring dress of M.Jackson and many things realted to Elvis in NY, etc .But the joint in Niagara falls (on US side ) had me surprised ,because there is a big mosiac of Lord Ganesha(an Indian diety) gracing a complete wall and when we enquired the waitress regarding it,she told us that the one who designed this place is quite influenced by Indian philosophies ,so that expains it and another one that catches ur attention here is a cadillac crashing out of the roof at the entrance .
As inline with the ambience, its charged up with loud music which is typically MTV bubble gum pop mixed with rock in sync with videos played on TV screens placed all thro' the cafe and soemtimes even stage shows by artists.The only notable exception was Paris which had more of a clubbish feel with DJ's belting out techno remixes and I suppose it was probably different bcoz it was Saturday evening .

Memorabilias and shopping:
Another reason to visit HRC is, its a tradition to buy a T-shirt as a souvenier ,it doesnt matter even if u cant wait and catch a grub here.The famous and the most popular (bcoz its the cheapest one)HRC T-shirts r those plain white/grey ones with the logo of HRC and the name of the place in the front.Apart from this there r lots of HRC T-shirts,jackets,hats,pull-overs,denims in various funky designs .But the only flip side is its cost ,which I feel is really very expensive by any standards .(T-shirts -starting range is around $20) .Apart from this there are many other accessories like key-chains, teddies,mouse-pads etc .

There is another chain of restaurants ,dedicated to movies and Hollywood, viz Planet Hollywood's,but somehow this one doesnt quite raise to the standards of HRC. SO whenever you are on tour never miss to include this in your iternary,its a nice way to take a break.

 

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