Atlantic City: Hard Rock Cafe (July 2018)



My spouse and I dined at the Hard Rock Café (HRC) late on a Friday evening in mid-July 2018. The Hard Rock is open daily from early morning until early morning (when we visited, the hours were 8:00 am until 4:00 am). The Hard Rock company operates over 175 restaurants in domestic cities including Chicago, Las Vegas, New York, San Diego, and San Francisco, and internationally in cities including Bali, Cancun, Dubai, Ibiza, London, Macao, and Sydney (with anticipated openings in Chengdu, Innsbruck, Valencia, and Yangon). 

The Atlantic City Hard Rock Café is located inside the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (although its location has changed since it was part of the previous Trump Taj Mahal property). The restaurant is expansive (almost 23,000 square feet), seating up to 400 patrons at a time at the large multi-sided bar, in its surrounding lounge, or in the main dining space. The semi-open kitchen occupies one end of the space, and a live entertainment venue/stage is located at the other. On the main dining floor, you can sit at stand-alone tables in many sizes, shapes, and configurations, or at one of the booths that ring the space. The bar and lounge area is located a few steps above the dining room so that patrons there can enjoy the main stage entertainment. When we were there, some guests even made their way to the front of the café in order to dance in front of the stage. The bar area has many TVs to keep you occupied. A second live venue is located on the boardwalk that sometimes offers dueling pianos. As you would expect, music memorabilia (including from Bruce Springsteen, John Bon Jovi, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Prince, and Lady Gaga) features prominently in the upmarket decor; additional collectibles are located throughout the hotel. 

The Hard Rock Café serves upscale American pub food. We shared the cauliflower “wings” to start (Buffalo style deep-fried vegetables served with blue cheese, celery, and carrot sticks). Next, we ordered two burgers, one served with fries and other with green beans. For dessert, we shared the apple cobbler, topped with nuts and caramel sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The HRC provides room service for the hotel. 

We enjoyed ourselves at the Hard Rock Café – it was the perfect backdrop for a late-night burger while watching the live entertainment (Sonic 5, a party rock band).






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