Hard Rock Cafe — Restaurant in Florence

My experience at the Hard Rock Cafe Firenze was one hell of a rollercoaster ride. During our first visit, we were blown away by the tasty food, delicious drinks, great music and awesome vibe. But mostly of all we were impressed by the exceptional service provided by our waiter Giovanni. In fact the level of service left such a lasting impression that we decided that we would return one last time before our early morning flight back to reality the next day. However, our second visit turned out to be a complete disappointment to say the very least. I left the HRC feeling irritated and disrespected.

Upon arrival, we had to wait for a while to be seated with 3 waiters passing us, this didn't bother me too much and we waited patiently expecting another great experience from the staff once we were assigned our table. Unfortunately, my expectations were shattered.

Firstly when we were seated it took a while for our waitress, Lucy, to take our order, despite the restaurant not being at all busy. We watched as she polished tables and chatted with customers in a casual way.

When she came we ordered the same drinks as a few nights before but without the glasses included. Our new waitress Lucy, failed to inform us that the drinks would come in much reduced portion sizes when not paying the extra charge for the glasses. This was so odd as the price without the glass is incredibly high (only a few euros extra to upgrade to a free glass and a larger portion) When our drinks arrived, we were confused by their smaller portions.

Another waitress, who noticed our perplexed expressions, kindly intervened and rectified the mistake by allowing us to upgrade our drinks to the higher volume version which includes the glasses so that we would have better value for our money. This correction was much appreciated, especially considering the scorching 37°C heat in Firenze that day.

However, we wouldn't see the original waitress assigned to us, Lucy, for the entire duration of our meal. She didn't ask if everything was satisfactory and failed to bring the additional sauce that we had ordered. Her attention was solely focused on the table next to ours, whom she giggled and chatted with often whilst completely ignoring us by quite literally walking past us each and every time she finished an interaction with them.

Upon finishing our dinner, Lucy was once again no where to be found and we found it impossible to flag down any waiters to request the bill. Frustrated by the lack of service, we had no choice but to approach the bar ourselves. A waiter told Lucy to serve us the bill immediately, she came running to our table, but again didn't get us the bill, she started clearing our table away instead, again keeping us waiting even longer than we already had to pay the cheque. To make matters worse, as a member, I did not receive any points for my meal.

This entire experience left me truly disappointed, and it managed to spoil what should have been a memorable ending to our vacation, just hours before our departure back to everyday life.

I would like to express my gratitude to the Hard Rock Cafe Firenze for an exceptional first visit, but unfortunately, my overall experience was tainted by the unsatisfactory service...

Came to the hard rock as we always do visit each one in the city we travel to. Waiter was not interested in us in the slightest. Took 40 mins to come back after we first ordered. We tried to order more drinks and was told a waiter would come back, 15 mins later someone arrived not our original waiter! Our food, our new drinks also brought by different people. The restaurant was not busy! Our combo starter arrived and all was well until we tried to eat the bruschetta which was so hard you couldn’t eat. We got refills of drinks both drinks came 3/4 filled and slammed down on table. We spoke to our waiter he arrived back to see us and wasn’t expecting the unhappy customers. His manager arrived and apologised and asked us if we wanted desert as we weren’t eating main course, again they arrived by different waiter who didn’t look at us or say hi. Our waiter only arrived back to ask if it was ok. When we ordered more drinks he looked disgusted again more 3/4 filled drinks arrived. The full experience had been a nightmare and one of the West hard rock we have ever been too. We had been to Rome a couple of days prior while the World Cup was on which meant they were super busy and they were on point. How can some where that’s not busy dissapoint so much and no one care about their customers. I certainly won’t be back. Staff need trained and it needs to recognise that they are part of the hard rock family not a sub zero restaurant that it’s barely getting by as. Unhappy is an understatement. I always look at reviews and think why are they complaining about little things but I felt I had to post. Only good point was that the manager cleared our bill of the food that was bad. At...

The Messi Meal… Without the Magic, Just the Scam

If you ever wanted to show your kids how marketing hype can turn into heartbreak, Hard Rock Florence is the perfect classroom. We ordered the “Kids Meal with Messi” — you know, the one they promote with a special gift? Spoiler: the gift is about as real as Messi personally bringing it to your table.

We ended up paying €16 for a very basic burger, a few fries, and a glass of water, all while trying to hold back my 8-year-old’s tears when he learned there would be no promised surprise. Not because it ran out that morning, not yesterday, but because — as the waiter casually admitted — they’ve been out of the gift for over a week. Apparently, telling families about that before they order isn’t part of the service here.

And here’s the best part: the waiter had all the time in the world to recommend “the burger he likes best,” to oversell when we ordered just one plate of nachos as a main, and to push branded glasses as souvenirs. But when it came to mentioning that the Messi gift no longer exists? Suddenly, selective amnesia kicked in. What a coincidence.

So yes — it’s “cool” to keep advertising a Kids Meal with a Messi gift, charge full price, and leave parents to explain to disappointed children why marketing sometimes feels like a con job. A truly disappointing experience, flirting with the kind of “hospitality” you’d expect from a cheap tourist...