Hard Rock Cafe — Restaurant in Atlantic City

Review (Part 1 of 2 - part 2 is attached under pictures)

This is the story of what happened this past Saturday, when I took my family and friends to dinner at Hard Rock Cafe.

This is probably one of the worst restaurants in the world. If I could give 0 STARS, I would. I don’t even know where to start (hopefully this review page will allow the entire review to be posted). Ok, here goes.

I went down at 7 PM to make a reservation for 8 PM for 11 people: 5 adults and 6 kids. There was no problem making one; I got a text message confirming the the reservation for 8PM (11 people), and figured we were good. When 8 PM came, we showed up not knowing it would be the start of 3.5 hours of the worst service I have ever had.

When we got there, I needed to help the host find my name because he was not able to find it in his tablet. Yes, this might sound crazy, but the host was just able to find my name, after I pointed it out on his tablet. We still had to wait 30 minutes after I checked in to be seated.

When the host finally came to seat us, they tried to give us a table in an area where we would not be able to watch the show: Dueling Pianos (which was also a fiasco. ANOTHER STORY that I am covering at the end of this review. Ok, sorry, I am still very hurt from what happened, even 3 days later still bothers me).

So now, we had to wait another 20 minutes to be seated. We ordered our drinks and had to wait another 20 minutes to get them (no lie). Once we got the drinks, the kids lemonades were served in an adult glasses (which was a heavy glass, not kids cups like apple juice). As soon as one of the kids picked it up, he lost it and spilled it everywhere. The server left to get napkins, and by the time she came back, we had cleaned up the mess already. Then server said we’d have to pay for another one (What?!! Ok, whatever, we’ll pay. Fine, just bring it.) So, the server was gone for what it felt was another 45 minutes (it was a looooong time), we still did not have all the drinks, we finished the drinks and were still so thirsty it was uncomfortable.

By the time we were ready to order the food, we had to add another round of drinks. Because we had a big party, I went ahead and gave the server the order, to make it easier by reading off our order list: for the children we ordered: 4 Mac & Cheese, 1 burger, 1 chicken strips.

Food took so long—at least an hour. We started asking where our food was, but no waiter could be found (I think they were covering another area). Finally, the food came after seeing the server only twice in 2 hours.

When the food came, the kids order was served on heavy plates, the server was barely able to manage the plates and almost dropped them. I had to hand the food out (where’s my tip for service?). They came with 5 Mac & Cheese orders (not 4, as ordered) and no burger. The server insisted we ordered that, but we didn’t. Then she realized the mistake and brought the right thing. I asked the server where the plastic guitar plate was, and they said they stopped that (it’s a trademark, what were they thinking?). It took so long that one kid passed out, and the others were getting very tired. We ate our food, and again we had no drinks.

Finally, we just wanted our bill and to get out. We got it about 30 minutes after we wanted to leave (we saw the server maybe 4 times in the whole 3.5 hours). We paid our bill and gave the server 18% (I wanted to give 0 because that’s what I think it was owed, but the ladies in my party are...

I was extremely disappointed by the Hard Rock Cafe.

Not only did they walk us all the way over to the drab part of the restaurant but there was no wait staff. Only one girl that was tending bar and seemed to be overwhelmed.

After I went to ask someone if anyone was going to help up she finally came from behind the bar and then proceeded to attend a table that came in after us.

After too long a wait we finally get waited on. And by wait. I mean WAIT not served as it took very long to get our order. The drinks were terrible. As if they were made by a highschool kid that learned to mix drinks from a book.

Then.. the piece de resistance... Our meal arrived.

I am not one to complain unless absolutely necessary but this food was the worst I have ever had. So yes. The following was absolutely necessary.

I ordered shrimp and what I got was a TV dinner which was under cooked. Then seemingly overcooked somehow..

I know.. I know... it seemed like someone ordered this dish.. didn't want it and it was sitting somewhere until someone else ordered it and they had the nerve to give it to me.

My wife ordered wing that were definitely undercooked and no variety. All drummettes that seemed more like turkey wings than chicken wings

I called the waitress/bartender over and told her politely yet bluntly that this food and service is terrible and that I would like to discuss the experience with the manager to see what his determination would be.

At first her was standoffish but I cut right thur that by saying.. waited too long .. served after other that came after me... Drinks were like Kool aid... And the food itself was not only disgusting in taste but also looked old and terrible.

I asked....How would he feel if he had such an experience?

I was only in AC for a few days. An escape for my wife who is dealing with some health issues so we needed a break.

We were going to just walk out.. pay and everything but the way the staff was so obtuse and I polite just had to be addressed

The Hard Rock I knew from years ago was never like this. I went to the one in Time square NYC and I was AMAZED of how much fun and energetic it was. And the food was great.

I insisted on going there only to be utterly disappointed.

I told the manager that I was willing to pay for the drinks and the glasses and I still have my original Hurricane Glass from 30 years ago and wanted to get the 50th anniversary one.

The manger I guess was trying to save face somehow by only offering to discount my shrimp and said basically too bad my wife didn't like the wings.

Such poor service. I would've been embarrassed and ashamed and made sure the customer was taken care of.. I was not rude but very realistic.

Hard Rock AC felt like a fake chain restaurant.

If you don't have great food at least make up for it with great service.

0 stars is more appropriate.

PS. I asked to eat at the nice and fancy part of the restaurant. But we were walked to the back. The table wobbled and turned.. very uncomfortable. A high chair of which I asked NOT to be seated in because again, My wife has health conditions... and..Yes. By the boardwalk where we can see all the ghetto that has become AC. So sad really.

The only saving grace would've been if there was a live performance but I guess it just wasn't in the stars for us...

The whole time we were there, it felt like we were in a hidden camera show, a "what-would-you-do" type, where everything went wrong.

We came in to celebrate a 21st birthday in hopes that great memories would be made. I came and approach the hostess and asked how long the wait time was and she promptly answered it would be two and a half hours. We decided it might be worth the wait so we put our names in while we gambled for a bit. An hour and a half later, we received a text saying our table was ready. We were surprised and excited that we didn't have to wait that long to be seated, but little did we know, the worst were yet to come...

We were seated in the back of the restaurant; the area that had the boardwalk view. It was a nice spacious area with a nice view and wasn't as loud as the front of the restaurant. Here's where everything went downhill:

After being seated, we waited for at least 15 minutes to be greeted by our waiter who brought us three glasses of water. Mind you, there were four of us there. We thought maybe three was all he could carry so we just brushed it off. He then proceeded to take our drink orders (we also put in our food orders) and didn't come back until 20 minutes later. At this point, we were all just frustrated by the time everything was taking. It's hard when you're surrounded by tables who were seated after you and they were already finishing up their meals. Now, I don't know how the restaurant works, but those other tables had different waiters and I believe our waiter had tables at the front of the restaurant also. But that should not be an excuse to practically "neglect" a table because that is exactly how we felt: neglected.

45 minutes after we were greeted by our waiter, our food finally arrived, and sad to say, we were disappointed. It's Atlantic City and it's the Hard Rock Cafe so we came in knowing that the items would be pricey, but the serving size and the quality of the food didn't exactly match. Add to that the wait time that caused the food to get cold. AND one of the orders didn't exactly match the way it was ordered. ON TOP OF THAT, we had to flag someone else down so that we could have utensils to eat the food with. By this time, we were too "hangry" to complain so we made the best of what what was in front of us.

Not one time did the waiter asked us how the drinks or the food were. With everything going on the world, we felt we didn't want to be "one of those people" and there wasn't anything he could do even if he did ask and we voice our true opinions. We had one dish that wasn't touched so we asked for a to-go container and a bag, and surprise surprise, we waited an additional 10 minutes for it (and the station where they were was literally five feet away from our table.) To top the night off, the bag that was given had a missing handle. There was nothing I can do but laugh out of...