This is going to be a review that will melt your heart! Â My daughter and I arrived here late on a Friday night after flying into Chicago from San Jose. Â We were headed to a place down the street when we saw this Hard Rock Cafe on the next block. Â We walked up and found out there was a $10 cover charge because there was live music. Â We did not recognize the bands, so were about to walk away when the hostess was SUPER nice and waived the cover charge. Â We sat down and were treated to a wonderful meal. Â I had the cajon spiced shrimp and pear salad. Â It was a great mix and one of the best salad I have EVER had. Â My daughter had the salmon with fresh vegetables, which was apparently delicious. Â In the middle of our dining, we were treated to a wonderful guitar playing young woman with several original songs. Â My favorite was the one she dedicated to her brother upon his graduation from high school. Â Her whole family was in the audience - proud dad taking pictures and video, and mom sitting up front, looking like she was in heaven! Â This girl had TALENT - Â playing the guitar, writing out songs and singing with a beautiful voice to top it off! Â My daughter and I both loved it , but also understood why they waived the cover charge. Â This was a local, brand new artist - just starting out. Â My hat goes off to the manager or owner who reached out and helped the new, local talent get the experience of performing on stage LIVE in front of a fairly large audience. Â The next band was also good, but did not have quite the charm as the lovely, young soloist! Â Back to our feast - we did indulge in dessert! Â My daughter ordered some sort of chocolate pudding that melted in your mouth! Yum! Â This was a fantastic way to start our weekend in Chicago, and memories to last the year! Â This restaurant has a big heart, character, charm, delicious food, comfortable seating and my rave reviews because they HELPED people out, and didn't look at artists in terms of the money, but as a way to help the young people and brought the community together as a result! Â This restaurant deserves all FIVE stars!! Â We will be back!
Review Source:This is a good place to see bands perform, and the bartender is really cool and friendly. Between performances, they play music and videos that don't suck. Yeah, it's corporate and touristy and overpriced and all that stuff, but, come on, you knew that going in, didn't you? Overlook all that noise and sit back, eyeball all the rock and roll photos and memorabilia all over the place and enjoy the music.
Review Source:My fiancé and I went here on a Thursday at 12:30pm for lunch. We live down the street so we're not the typical tourist crowd that usually goes there. We walked in, greeted right away by the hostess and seated among the other 4 tables that were there. We sat for about 5 min, looked around, saw the server getting drinks for another table (who were sat after us), no big deal. We waited another 5 min, looked around, and saw the same server chatting at the bar, probably waiting for his drinks. In the 10 min that we sat there though, no one came to our table. Not even a busser. No one. Needless to say, we got up and left. On our way out, the hostess, WHO HAD JUST SAT US, asked how our meal was. Really? The staff is so oblivious to the 15 people in the entire restaurant that she really thought we had came in, ordered, and ate in 10 min? We couldn't even get a server to come over and talk to us in that time frame, hence why we left.
Review Source:Food is terrible and over priced. Service is poor. I took my kids there while shopping downtown for Christmas and other than the atmosphere, the only positive thing was that the french fries were relatively decent. If you are interested in a good tasting burger, go to the restaurant across the street with the golden arches and the huge guitar outside...your wallet will thank you. Â Then you can go to the Hard Rock for a drink in the bar.
Review Source:Attended a networking event here on the second floor balcony. Â Great service from both the bartenders and the servers, with passed apps and a hot buffet. Â The chicken tenders had a healthy spice and were a true representation of their name - tender. Â Judging from my lack of hangover headache this morning, their wines were also of decent quality. Â One small hitch, there was no restroom on the second level, so battling alcohol induced clumsiness could be an issue. Â Other than that, the decor is dark and modern, with musical memorabilia abound. Â I did have a bit of a preconceived notion in my head that Hard Rock was super touristy and would therefore be super cheesy inside, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Review Source:Better than average food, great atmosphere, reasonable prices for the large portions that are served, terrific service.
Any time I am in an area with a Hard Rock, I generally find a way to eat there, at least once. The food is never terrific, but it is dependably better than average and served in large quantities. Fair prices and a nice variety of selections, both for a lunch or a dinner, characterize their menus, and I enjoy both the climate and the wonderful and always unique music artifacts and memorabilia as well as the many screens of music video that are always playing. In all the times I've eaten at any Hard Rock in many different cities, I have only once had bad service, and almost never service as great as the service I got from Michael at the Hard Rock in Chicago.
We were tired from our cross country flight, the long trip in from Midway airport to our hotel and the two time zone differences, so we only ordered appetizers and beers. As always, the food was great, served piping hot and in just the right quantity for what we were looking for that night.
Our waiter could see that we were from out of town, and found time to give us tips on what to see, where to go, and the best ties for going there. He also filled us in on the upcoming music performances at this Hard Rock. Outside of our hotel clerk, Michael was our first contact with a Chicago resident and he made a wonderful impression that we found was repeated almost everywhere we went throughout our stay.
When we travel, we like to avoid chain restaurants, but Hard Rock is always worth a visit, and this one in Chicago is particularly excellent.
I love Hard Rock Cafe! Â Great service and great food!
Of course you pay more for the average cheeseburger and soda since its corporate, but where don't you these days??
Servers are always on point and super fun! Â Food is great too. Â I wouldn't try anything too crazy, you may be disappointed. Â I'd stick with the Legendary 10oz Burger or the Classic Cheeseburger! Â Maybe the Twisted Mac & Cheese if you like spicy things. Â
Music is okay...the music is played off of a Hard Rock music hardrive thing so request music to hear what you want! Â They're always willing to put it on, or find someone that can try.
Hard Rock Chicago is one of my favorites...visit if you get the chance!
We try to go to the Hard Rock Café's in whatever city we are in. We have been to LA, SF, Cancun, Bali, Maui, Seattle, Orlando, etc.  So, we needed to go to the one in Chicago. Its like all the others. Memorabilia on the walls. The little souvenir shop. The bar, etc. We sat at the bar and the bartender came to us right away. She was really nice actually. We ordered wine and a beer. For food, I got the salmon and my husband ordered the burger. I was hesitant getting the salmon from here, since it is Hard Rock, but it was actually good. I was shocked. Usually the only thing good at the Hard Rock is desert. But this one wasn't bad at all. The bartenders were also really fun and we're cool to joke around with and all that. It was a good time. Obviously not fine dining (considering that you are in Chicago), but still good enough for a good time.
Review Source:I Love the Hard Rock Cafe..
I've loved it since I attended a Yelp Elite Party here
last year..
I cant help it.. I love this place from start to finish..
I Love the gift shop where you can buy all sorts of
Hard Rock Goodies..
All the music memorabilia on the walls..
And the Restaurant /Bar area itself..alive with people
and music..
Yes.. this place is high energy.. as am I..and thats
why I Love it..
Tonight I brought my good friend Michelle for her first
hard rock cafe experience and she loved it..
The Hard Rock was packed with a nice crowd tonight
and the music was blaring pretty loud..
But..alas, I am a party girl and love loud music so I
was happy..:)
The best Chicken Tender Appetizers in the City..
And.. a great menu with something for everyone..
Michelle had Chicken Marsala and I had this Grilled Chicken
with twisted corkscrewy noodles in a cheese sauce which was
da bomb..
Was'nt going to order dessert but we wound up with dessert
anyway..
Michelle had Ice Cream and I had a Chocolate Moussey thing..
we both liked what we had...
I would like to give a big shout out and Thanks to our server Adam
who is really cool and I think an Awesome Human Being..
And to Michael.. the Manager of the Hard Rock..Thank You
for everything..
The evening was great from start to finish..
Props to the whole Hard Rock Cafe Staff..
I wish you Continued Success..
But.. I have no doubt you will have that..
Thank You for a Great Night..
Still Lovin the Hard Rock..:)
I'm a fan of the franchise and history of the music. Â No other chain can claim the over 70,000 memorabilla items displayed worldwide for our viewing pleasure. Â It's also impressive that artists are willing to donate there instruments, which says a lot.
I've been to over 30 HRC and each one is different which can depend if they're a Corporate owned or Franchise. Â I don't put much emphasis on rating their food versus legitimate restaurants, I'd expect more from them. Â I view this establishment as a musuem with the choice to drink and eat reasonably.
It's only a matter of time before Planet Hollywood closes its doors ending a silly "copycat" attempt at HRC.
Meh..... Â Good description of this place. Â We went last night to see a friend's band play and have dinner. Â Band was great, food was lame (both my and my boyfriend's burger were overcooked, fries were LOADED with salt), service was terrible. Â Our party of 4 sat at our table for over 10 minutes before anyone brought us menus. Â My boyfirend had to walk to the bar to get us each a beer. Â Once the server FINALLY came to our table (BTW, we saw you at the server station standing, picking your nails, watching the musicians onstage, etc.) she ignored the empty beer glasses, and my boyfriend sat through almost his entire meal without ANYTHING to drink. Â No water, to offer to get another beer - nothing. Â
]The only reason to go here is if you've never been to this HRC location before. Â Otherwise, skip it and hit one of the many, many terrific restaurants there are in the neighborhood.
I only have one major complaint about this franchise: Â I have a hard time finding people wanting to go. They can't get over the fact that this is a tourist hot spot.
I don't care. The environment is perfect for somene with adult ADD. The memorabilla, music videos, surround sound and etcetera captivate my attention.
The food and service at the HRC Chicago are consistent with those I've been to (Hawaii, San Diego, Las Vegas, Cancun and counting... I hope).
I wish I could make this my go to place for an after dinner dessert. It offers the right portion at the right price and I don't feel guilty about my indulgence.
Not only do they serve Ben & Jerry's, they have these petite desserts called Bites. For $3.99, it's a nibble, a morsel, a sample of chocolate mousse, strawberry cheesecake, creme brulee OR choco peanut butter pie. Â It's served in a large shot glass. It's just enough for myself. You can order all four and share a Bite for everyone to try.
Went here to see a friend's band play, otherwise I would not have. They had beer which gets them a star and his band was great which earns them another. However its predictably overpriced and you can  taste the work that went into opening the package of chicken and putting it in the microwave.
To sum it all up; I was drinking a beer listening to a live band and all the lights were on.
I really think people only come to hard rock because of the name. The food is nothing to write home about. I would avoid this place and go for small local restaurant.
I was here with 8 people and while almost everyone got the cheap 40th anniversary beer deal, that was probably the only good part of the meal. The portions are large but if most people aren't going to take anything home. After all you are in Chicago walk around and enjoy, and who wants to carry Styrofoam with them.
Went to the Hard Rock Cafe - Chicago for the first time yesterday to see friends play a show. (I had previously avoided it mostly due to the fact that it is insanely touristy...)
While my friends put on a great show, I was disappointed by their young sound engineer. It is a small, cafe-like venue, so not much to be expected acoustically... but with the top-notch equipment & speakers they are sporting at the Hard Rock, you would think they could have done a little more to make the sound more... um... professional.
Upon entering the Hard Rock, I was stopped at the door by a host who told me I could not have a table unless I was a paying customer. Of course I planned to buy a drink or two, but I resigned & just sat at the bar with my friends. I found this to be a tad on the presumptuous-side.
The bar staff were friendly & quick.
As a Chicagoan, this is not the place to go for a show (or heck, even food... way over-priced & as I mentioned, the Hard Rock is designed for the Chicago tourist.) However, as a Chicagoan, if you have friends performing here... by all means GO & support them.
As a tourist, I thought it would be fun to visit Hard Rock Cafe in Chicago since I rarely go to the one back home in DC.
The service was fantastic. Â I was immediately greeted by a host at the door. Â The waitress was enthusiastic and in full character as a hippie for Hard Rock's 40th year anniversary.
The atmosphere was wonderful. Â The layout of the space was open, so you could see all of the restaurant's lights, decorations, televisions pretty much from wherever you were sitting.
The food itself was okay. Â I ordered the macaroni and cheese with chicken and it tasted rather salty. Â Fortunately, my waitress was attentive to my always empty diet coke glass.
After finishing my meal and paying, I took a visit to the Hard Rock Cafe Shop. Â Honestly, it's nothing special, but it's worth a visit if you're a tourist. Â The staff there were quite friendly too.
Overall, I absolutely loved the place. Â However, it feels like it's only worth one visit since there are so many other unique restaurants to visit in Chicago with better food. Â With that said, it's still worth one visit.
I came here for a private event and here's my impression: if you're tourist, you'll love this place for ambience and style and if you're just dying to see a Hard Rock location. Plus the music is actually quite good. Â If you're a local, this really isn't worth your time if you're looking for good food and drinks. Total tourist spot.
Food:
-I had the Mojitos with Malibu Rum which were pretty good, but nothing mindblowing.
-Definitely do not get their spiked peach tea drink - it's like taking a shot of sugar and usually i'm willing to drink just about anything.
-Their fruit ceviche is ok if that's your thing- Â pretty refreshing.
-Don't ask me about their bacon wrapped dates - not good! I thought the brie wrapped with Salami was just ok tasting - the dish didn't really bring out the flavor and texture of the brie - maybe they need to add more brie per piece.
- The coconut encrusted fried chicken fingers were dry and crusty.
I'll just emphasize how awesome the ambience was. We were sitting on the second floor which look down onto the open stage on the 1st floor. The backdrop of our table was a glass encased outfit worn by madonna. Pretty neat rock n'roll paraphenalia that they've collected in this place.
I tend to think places like the Hard Rock Cafe are reserved for tourists in most circumstances so in all of my life living in Chicago, I'd never been here. As a recent maid of honor, it was my job to come up with a bachelorette party full of debauchery and menace suitable for a wild bride-to-be and her posse.
I figured Hard Rock would be a good option because I imagined most of the girls also being Chicago natives may have never been here. Plus, it's a party kind of atmosphere and we weren't looking to have a nice sit-down meal, just a foundation to absorb all of the night's festive cocktails.
This turned out to be the perfect place to start the evening and I would recommend going here again for appetizers and drinks to start out a fun night downtown. Everyone here is basically in for a good time so the servers make sure you are entertained and keep the drinks coming. Our bartender called the bachelorette onto the bar for some dirty shots and lots of crowd cheering. Plus she got a commemorative shot glass to take home. And all of us being huge music fans got a kick out of seeing some of the memorabilia throughout the restaurant.
Went to the Hard Rock for a private party. What a surprise to find out we had the whole place to ourselves! The staff was attentive and accommodating. Lots of space to move around. Food was okay, nothing too over the top but was prepared correctly.
Ambience was great. Loved looking at the decor and rock memorabilia.
I missed the whole HRC rage in the 80's, when it was cool to return from vacation sporting a t-shirt so everyone knew where you had been (and ate). In fact, I've only been to one other Hard Rock, the original in London, and that was many, many moons ago. Maybe back in the day it was really something or maybe I have much higher expectations and a much lower tolerance for tourist traps.
At the end of the day I really didn't have much of a feeling either way for this place; I didn't hate it, I didn't love it, it was just sort of there. I did manage to come up with some pluses and minuses:
+ My visit was free! I can't really complain about free appetizers and drinks.
- There was some confusion about when our free party ended and the hostess with the mostest had to be firm and asked them to re-check the details (she was right).
+ Our server was really nice and friendly
- There was initially some confusion as to whether we were allowed to eat on the patio (they knew this was the plan); in the end it was all fine.
+ The patio is really nice, there are tables, chairs and umbrellas, but my favorite part was the section we occupied with couches.
- The food is nothing special, definitely not destination-worthy. We had a few sampler plates with veggie spring rolls, onion rings, chicken fingers, wings and potato skins; they were fine, but frankly you can fry just about anything and make it taste good.
+ The beer selection is respectable (the wine selection is lacking)
I think the great time I had here was primarily due to our awesome weather, great companions and good server; otherwise I felt like this place was trying too hard to pull off the gimmick and definitely catering to the tourist, not the local. It's not a bad place to hang out, you just won't find me racing back.
Anyone who's ever been to a Hard Rock Cafe anywhere in the world knows that the food is nothing to write home about. Anyone who's been more than once has only done so for the atmosphere. I'm one of these people. I've been to several different Hard Rock Cafes and the food is pretty consistent from one to the other. Being a vegetarian, obviously the menu wasn't created to cater to me anyway. I always order the Twisted Mac and Cheese without the chicken, and I actually think it's pretty tasty, but from what I've heard most of their food is nothing special.
I've been to this Hard Rock Cafe (right across from the Rock and Roll McDonalds) twice now, the first time a couple years ago and the second time about a month ago. The first time the food and service were not very memorable, but the atmosphere stood out. You just have to take a look around at all the cool stuff around. Still, there are plenty of better Hard Rock Cafes in terms of the amount of memorabilia and how interesting it is. This one seemed rather small in comparison to the others I've been to.
Last time I went to the Hard Rock, I went with two friends after going to the auto show at McCormick Place. Our server was efficient and pretty polite, but sadly there seemed to be something wrong upstairs. This conversation took place:
Me: I'll have the Twisted Mac and Cheese without chicken.
Him: Okay, would you like to substitute the chicken for something else? Like bacon or something?
Me: No thanks, I'm a vegetarian.
Him: Cool, would you like it on the side?
Me: ...what?
Him: Would you like it on the side?
Me: Like what on the side?
Him: The chicken.
Me: Why?
Him: I dunno, so you can do something with it.
Me: ...No.
What was I supposed to do with it?! Take it to the movies? At least this absurd conversation gave me an interesting story to tell to my friends...
The service is so bad here, that I cannot even imagine giving it more than 1 star. Â My party of 8 showed up around 9pm on a Saturday night and were promptly seated in just a couple of minutes, which should have tipped us off that something was amiss. Â I'm guessing locals know better than to frequent this over-priced tourist trap with awful service. Â Our waiter (named simply "Q", he informed us) was friendly enough while talking to us, but then he just disappeared. Â I mean gone. Â Forget about refills or anything else you need. Â Kitchen staff brought our food. Â Q brought our check. Â Strangely, he seemed to have plenty of time for the two groups of hip, cleavage-bearing youngsters sitting near us. Â I can only guess he didn't care about us because he knew he would be adding 18% gratuity to the check since there were 8 of us. Â There wasn't much point in actually trying to serve us.
It is a shame because my food was actually okay, more or less. Â On the merits of the food alone, it should be a 2 or 3-star review. Â The soft drinks were completely screwed up and tasted awful though. Â That was another disappointment. Â And to top off the evening, the food was too expensive for what it was. Â If you give me top-quality food, I have no problem shelling out top-dollar for it, but this was just okay food. Â Not bad, but nothing special.
I'd suggest skipping this mess of a chain restaurant and finding one of the dozens of better restaurants just a short walk away.
Mmmmm...... This place always does me good! I had a great burger and some beer last night. I was pleased to be sent home with my large beer glasses. I didn't know that I got to keep them :-). The atmosphere is just fun. I've only been here with large groups, and they always accommodate that very well. Yes, I know it's a chain, and I don't normally get into chains, but I really like this one.
The guitars on the walls are very cool, but I guess you have to be interested in rock and roll in order to truly enjoy it there. I will definitely go back again. This is a place where you can be kind of obnoxious if you want to, and no one will even notice.
Here is another place you can not miss while in Chicago...
...and it is not because of the great food or good service...instead because it has a ginormous glowing guitar outside for all to see.
It is just another Hard Rock, but with worse service. They have comfort food and people love going to them, but I would rather spend my money on some great local Chicago dining instead of a glorified Burger King with a drum set on the wall.
I've only eaten here to use up gift certificates, and good thing... I think I would have felt a little used had I paid full price for my meals.
I was tempted by their shrimp Po' Boy the first time. Meh. It was unremarkable, save for the fact that there was way more bread than filling between the bread. I was still hungry so I violated my own rule about never eating coleslaw and ate their coleslaw. I was then reminded why never eating coleslaw became a rule of mine in the first place...
The second time there. I was then tempted by their BBQ brisket sandwich. I think there is a typo on the menu though... they say it's been smoked for 14 hours but I think they really mean 114 hours - the meat was really dry and tough, lost in a sea of bland barbeque sauce.
The cornbread they bring out is really good though. If there's a next time, I might just make a meal out of that...
For what it is, Hard Rock Cafe is in Chicago still decent, but  A FAR CRY FROM WHAT IT WAS say 10 years ago.  And I remember going there 10-12 years ago after high school homecomings and turn-abouts, when me and my friends and the girls were mezmerized with how things looked inside...
They remodeled about 8 years ago, and although the place still looks cool, gone now is about 40% of the memoribilia it was once able to showcase.
At one time, this place truly was a "Hard Rock Cafe" (pun intended). Â There were displays of DOZENS of memoribilia kinda stuff from the likes of all those old cool hard rock and metal bands. Â I remember huge glass displays for Judas Priest, Ozzy, Dio, Deep Purple, Manowar, Motorhead, one of Jim Morrison's necklaces, The Cult, guitars by AC/DC, Iron Butterfly, Blue Oyster Cult, and many more.
Nowadays, where the stuff I just listed is, who knows. Â None of it is still around. Â Probably thrown in some storage locker somewhere, collecting dust. Â Now, we get to see displays of Britney Spears' hat and stuff from Fall Out Boy (who nobody will even know existed in 3 years). Â
The collection of stuff displayed is still okay, but as mentioned above, has completely taken a nose-dive. Â Much of it has disappeared or been thrown in some locker somewhere. Â I emailed Hard Rock about this and they claim that the memoribilia "rotates" from Hard Rock to Hard Rock every 7 or so years. Â While this may be true, I have inquired with just about every other Hard Rock Cafe in the country (vie email) about 1-2 specific pieces I once saw at Hard Rock Chicago, and those other Hard Rocks claimed to have 'never seen or displayed those pieces'.
The food is okay to decent, a tad pricey, but you are in the heart of Chicago. Â Somebody mentioned Rainforest Cafe right next door. Â That place is just as pricey if not more pricey. Â I can't really comment on the wait staff. Â I haven't had a terrible experience myself.
Parking is okay, a bit pricey. Â It used to be $5 to valet park back in the day, now it was $10 last I was there. Â AND DON'T TRY PARKING ACROSS THE STREET AT WALGREENS OR IN ANOTHER LOT, BECAUSE YOU WILL BE TOWED. Â Happened to me and my friends in 1997. Â How they know your car was at Walgreen's more than 15 minutes I'll never know, but one of our cras was towed.
(Side note: Â Hard Rock is a good place to park at and then walk to House of Blues, if you are seeing a concert there. Â You'll also save about $8. Â The valet guys are usually cool with this, if you just go in Hard Rock for a quick drink or even bathroom run and then tell them you'll be back in a few hours...)
Hard Rock cafe is the kind of place to go say after certain functions (high school dances, college nights out, job parties, etc) rather than just casual dining, as if you would do going to Friday's or Chili's. Â It's a nice tourist stop, but if you remember the treasures it once held and go back looking for those, memories may be all you are able to have left, because the stuff isn't there...
Came to Chicago for a week long training. The last night there I was able to do a little looking around. I hadn't been to a Hardrock in years so I figured I'd give it a try....
The food was below average but the prices were better then expected. The staff was hit and miss. Some were very friendly while others were down right rude. Long on atmosphere short on dinning enjoyment...
The location is unbeatable, that is for sure. I've always had great service at this place and they make a pretty decent Mi-thai. Of course, they have the Hard Rock shop where you can buy the t-shirts and all of that tourist stuff, which is neat to see. The memorabilia they have is also pretty cool but my favorite aspect of this restaurant has to be the stack of tv's that make a cone shape in the middle of the bar on the center of the floor.
On your birthday, they do buy you a shot, too!
My sisters really wanted to eat here for some reason. Â I agreed to go for lunch, and it was almost completely empty in here. Â There were a bunch of servers standing around picking at their fake piercings, so it was no problem seating a tourist table of 8. Â
Our waitress said barely anything to us besides "is pepsi ok?" ...and it wasn't, so I knew they'd lose a star for that. Â Since we were the only people there, you'd expect it wouldn't take 20 minutes to get a few pops and waters, but it did. Â It gave us time to look at the rock memorabilia- oh wait- that was the people hovering over our table to take pictures of the "Fall Out Boy" jacket above us.
The menu was really random; it was like normal diner food but with a weird ingredient added in at the end. Â Almost all of us ordered flavorless cheeseburgers, which came with about 7 fries- for about $12 each. Â Yikes.
If you don't feel ripped off by your meal, there is also a gift shop on site trying to convince you that $30 for a hat is considered "on sale."
I just don't understand the appeal. At all. This visit was so underwhelming , I can barely muster the energy to Wittie complete sentences.
1) Its being remodeled but they will still serve you, open plaster, plastic Mylar , not so attractive,
2) 11 dollar potato skins , laughable , not enough cheese.
3) Merlot brushed garlic toast was HILARIOUS at 4.95 was two pieces of cold garlic stick , olive garden free bread much better.
4) 8 bucks for kids meal
STAY AWAY ,  if you are in th erough area to Grand Luxe or really anywhere else, the only larger tourist trap i Can think of offhand is the Rain forest Cafe. My girlfriend is on  mission to GEt ta free dinner by using open table reservations , gonna have to triage this agenda if this is where we end up eating.
They're renovating here now, so I guess my first visit to the hard rock was a bit of bad timing. Â the burger was pretty good aside from the cold onion rings (that were horrible even when they replaced them with hot ones) and the nachos my date ordered were pretty good with huge chunks of steak on them.
The pop was barely carbonated, but what can you expect from a bar pistol right? Â When our lunch was served, the "service manager" crashed our table right as the food was set down to ask how everything is. Â I was like, cool place, nice hole in the ground, dude these onion rings are cold wtf. Â
All in all I learned a couple things:
this place serves 14.00 cheeseburgers - lame
shakira designed a bunch of goodies for charity - sweet
the hard rock cafes were transformed when the first guitar was delivered by Eric Clapton to "reserve" him a personal table in the UK - cool
I still don't like Marilyn Manson and do not want to watch the freak while i eat a burger - gross
You can see Hard Rock Cafe Chicago from a couple blocks away, as it sits beside a giant illuminated Schenker V guitar. They have valet parking but I've never taken that route. Finding your own spot is a little tricky but much easier than in other areas of the city (i.e. Wrigleyville). On my past few visits to the restaurant, I have had to wait about 15-20 minutes for a table. The lobby and gift shop are usually populated with tourist types.
Hard Rock Cafe is a literal rock museum. You will find guitars from Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and Paul Stanley among others. Behind glass are lot of clothes: John Lennon's pants, Cher's pants, Madonna's dual-coned corset, and Elvis's shirt. The walls are lined with pictures of musicians, gold albums, and other rock memorabilia. Occasionally the restaurant features live music, but this takes place much less often then it should. Usually the stage is used for additional tables and seats. Music videos play on a large projector that displays on the stage's curtain.
The food consists of meat entrees, salads, burgers, and sandwiches. In recollect, half of the menu has chicken as the protein source, so if you don't like chicken, then your choice is easily narrowed down. The food here is nothing to write home about--predictable and bland. The rock 'n' roll Mcdonalds across the street beats this place in terms of value, what you get in terms of what you pay for. One bright spot on the dessert menu is their excellent apple cobbler which is served with Hard Rock's in-house vanilla ice cream.
The center of the establishment features a circular, fully-stocked bar. A spire of LCD screens towers toward the ceiling at the center of the bar, showing the music videos that are simultaneously being played on the aforementioned curtain projection. There looks to be 64 of them, but don't quote me on that estimate.
The waitstaff are probably some of the best I have encountered in all my dining experience. This place does an excellent job in terms of hospitality. The bartenders are some of the best in the city. I could not stump them on any mixed drinks. Spark a conversation with them. The clientele ranges all age groups, but there is generally solid representation from the 20-something crowd. Every time I go there, I always encounter some good eye candy.
I have continuously returned to Hard Rock Cafe Chicago because of the rock 'n' roll environment, the excellent service, cool bar, and the fact that I love to watch rock music videos. The mediocre-at-best food and loitering tourists are undesirable but bearable.
I remember when so many people were wearing Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts from many of their different locations around the world. you don't see that too often these days.
I of course like the guitars on the walls and the decor. It is a little better dining here than I thought it would be. It's a fun place. You gotta check it out at least once.
Many celebrities visit here while they are in town.
A friend of mine had drinks with Steven Tyler here.
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