Hard Rock Cafe — Restaurant in Porto

Terrible experience! Terrible management! I went to Hard Rock Porto on a Saturday, 21st August with a small group of friends, we were celebrating one of my friend’s birthday. At arrival we had misunderstandings about the time of the booking, which we had a confirmation by email, but the manager, Luis, insisted in arguing with us, including that we should have to consume and pay at least some amount of money, which was never said before, not even on the booking. Second we asked for the second flor, which was asked on the booking, and the manager was arguing about it as well, and he did not want us to go up, but we insisted and we went to the upstairs floor. Note: there was 3, 4 tables occupied in the whole place, almost empty, for a Hard Rock on a Saturday the bad management might explain it! And the worst, we had taken a birthday cake to celebrate, and when asked for the waiter, he dropped the cake on the floor, total disaster!!!! We asked for a proper knife to cut the cake, it was not provided by us, we had to ask for plates and alternative silverware to try to cut the cake! And when paying the bill, downstairs with the manager, Luis, he did not believe in what we were saying, that the staff had dropped the cake, he asked one member of the staff to confirm it, he was doubting on our word, it was awful, he did not even apologise for the inconvenience! Such a terrible experience! I’ve been on Hard Rocks in several places, several countries and it has always been a blast, but in Porto it was a...

Very poor I’m afraid, staff were welcoming but when ordering drinks we were asked what we liked, I said caipirinha, not an uncommon cocktail but they had no cachaça so he suggested a mojito with Bacardi. I will not drink Bacardi on principle. The waiter offered me a mojito with dark rum and said he was sure I would like it. He then took the order of a beer for my friend but my friend didn’t think he took the order because he didn’t ask what beer or size etc.

He returned with the ordinary beer, we do not know which, the mojito was ok but nothing special and I would have preferred white rum (they had Havana Club I believe but this was not offered). When the bill came I found we were charged €2 extra for the dark rum on top of what was already a very expensive cocktail. I questioned the waiter who said cheekily “oh, didn’t I tell you it was extra?”

After waiting 5 minutes for him to find the manager, he then returned and declared it was all sorted and he had made it right and would not charge the extra €2 as if that had been the only thing needed. I decided against buying one of the expensive t-shirts as a souvenir of my holiday which I would usually do so the establishment lost out at least another €30 and we left feeling customer service is not at home in HRC Porto.

In every other bar and restaurant I have been in in Porto service...

This place has such a potential with its entourage and history of the franchise, but it lacks a good service and is super overpriced. And it's not like the food or drinks are any special: for example, I would gladly pay for a glass of craft beer the same price that this place asks for the most average Portuguese beer. It's just ridiculous. I was here for a pub quiz, those quizzes are held here every week, and are attended by lots of people. Yet all the waiters looked utterly LOST when they were serving the orders: and with the number on each table for them to be able to navigate! It's like it was THE first time the place was crowded (which obviously isn't true). Not to mention the fact that our cocktails were given to us almost immediately, yet the person who ordered a glass of Coca Cola waited for it almost for an HOUR and had to remind the waitress about it. I mean, what is actually going on with this place? It's so cool and has so many precious belongings of music stars, but everything else is just meh. It's rather...