Seth Kubersky, author of The Unofficial Guide to Universal Orlando, takes us on a tour of the Hard Rock Café.
This is the biggest Hard Rock Café in the world (or in the Universe, as they like to say in this part of town). Shaped like the Roman Coliseum, the two-story dining room is a massive museum of rock art memorabilia. The circular center bar features a full-size pink 1959 Cadillac spinning overhead.
If you need to be told that this is a noisy restaurant, you’ve never been to a Hard Rock Café before. Everyone, however, should visit a Hard Rock at least once.
House specialties are the barbecue pork sandwiches, charbroiled burgers, barbecued ribs, grilled fajitas, New York strip steaks, hot fudge brownies, and milkshakes.
This Hard Rock Café is home to a rock ’n’ roll records and memorabilia collection that’s the biggest on display anywhere in the chain. Ask at the check-in podium about free guided tours of the restaurant; if you’re lucky, you may get a glimpse of the VIP-only John Lennon Room upstairs.
We enjoy this place best when we order only appetizers or desserts, plus drinks. The entrées are average, and you’d be hard-pressed to differentiate them from anything you’d get at, say, Margaritaville.
Hard Rock Café offers a 15% discount on food for Preferred and Premier Annual Passholders and military personnel with ID; 10% AAA discounts also apply. You can sign up for a Hard Rock Rewards membership to get additional offers and earn points on purchases (including alcohol). Be aware that admission to the adjoining Hard Rock Live concert hall is completely separate from the restaurant, though you can sometimes order food from the venue’s bar.
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Copyright
Interior of Hard Rock Café: By Rennett Stowe from USA (Hard Rock Café) [CC BY 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons
Exterior picture: Liliane Opsomer
