Hard Rock Cafe — Restaurant in Washington

We were looking for a nice place to eat for our last day in DC (after riding a bus for 15+ hours to arrive here.) and that’s when we came across the Hard Rock Cafe. We were going in with high hopes because we had to accommodate everybody’s food preferences and this looked like the perfect place! Newflash- it was NOT. We were approached and seated right away and this is when things went downhill. As soon as we sat down, I had to use the bathroom. Dealing with a severe knee injury causing me to have ACL surgery, I was beyond myself when I found the 2 flights of stairs I had to embark down to enter the Loo. After spending a long while trekking down those stairs, I finally arrived at my destination. Out of breathe, I throw the door open. Only to feel WAVES of heat. And no music. Thought this was the HARD ROCK cafe. I was not rocking. I locked myself in a stall and took care of my business. finally. When I went to wash my hands, the soap dispenser made a weird sound and did not dispense anything into my hand. I had to use 4 different dispensers before finding one that worked. Then, there were no paper towels. Luckily, there was toilet paper. I’ve seen some others have unfortunately had issues in that regard before. I did not. When I arrived back to my seat, I immediately went to the drink menu after my bathroom experience, only to remember I forgot my ID. This was not the restaurant’s fault; however, added to my experience. I ordered a water and sat quietly. 2 of my friends ordered soft drinks and the waitress asked us if we were ready to order. We replied “yes”. As we began our orders, we were met with disappointment. 2 of my friends had wanted kids meals as they were not as hungry. We were faced with aggression when the waitress replied with “THATS ONLY FOR KIDS UNDER 12”. This forced my friends to pay 20 dollars for chicken tenders they didn’t even want. They simply just did not want to waste extra food, as we have a 15+ hour bus ride in the morning and don’t have time to eat leftovers!!!!!!!! My other friend ordered a chicken sandwich (she wasn’t sure why the fried sandwich was 100 less calories than the grilled… this is weird). And I ordered the appetizer of nachos as my meal. When she returned with the drinks, she brought 3 waters and 1 coke. Forgetting that one more of us had also ordered a coke. She said she would bring it out in a minute and then came back and somehow still did not have it. She apologized and came back again with the coke. We had a few moments to reflect as we waited for our food to arrive and we talked about how EXPENSIVE the prices were. I mean, 20 dollars for basically a kids meal and 23 dollars for nachos is just ridiculous. We were thinking how it was probably going to be the most high end food ever for those simple items to be that expensive. We were WRONG. Should have just gone to El President and spent 50 dollars on a real meal. Our food arrives. Chicken tenders look weird. Floppy, shaped weird, and the breading just looked WRONG. The nachos looked weird because I didn’t realize they came with pink onions. I try my first bite. EWWWWW. Why is it gritty, spicy, peppery, and more. My friends also agree that their meals taste weird. However the fries were good. What was the textured white sauce? I thought it was cheese, but definitely not. This was shocking considering the waitress was RAVING about how good the nachos were and how we should get them as an appetizer when we first arrived. The waitress finally came over after we were well into our meal and asked how everything was. Me and one of my friends said “good” because we felt bad. My other friend said “no.” and the waitress goes “awww.” and leaves. All of us are also parched at this point because our drinks were empty and not refilled once. As I was picking fries off of my friends plate, we began to yearn for the checks. According to online, this place had closed at 9. It was around 9:10. We had gotten there WELL before closing time and it was...

My friends and I decided to have an early dinner here. We got sat down immediately only because we had a reservation, but it took 15-20 minutes just for them to come over and ask what drinks/food we wanted. Obviously they were a little busy and we didn’t mind the little wait. We didn’t get our food for maybe 35-40 minutes after we ordered. My one friends food was still raw and not cooked. Our server was no where in sight to talk to her about our food. Our server was super nice but when we paid for our food my friend and I were supposed to get cash back. We received no change which means our waitress just pocketed our money. We weren’t going to get maybe a couple dollars back, but that’s not the point. You don’t just take someone’s money. Plus, we had already tipped her. Was it a massive tip? Absolutely not, because the service wasn’t that great. Again, she was nice but rarely came to check if we needed refills, etc. Not only that, but we went to the bathroom and there was no toilet paper in the stalls. Two girls walked in after us so we warned them and they proceeded to tell us they were there earlier and they experienced the same thing. I went to purchase a sweatshirt and was met with disrespect. The girl at the register had a rude attitude when she seen that I wanted to purchase something. After I realized the service had been horrible, I decided that I wasn’t going to support their business by wearing their merchandise. When I went to return the hoodie I purchased, again, I was meant with disrespect and an attitude. She proceeded to walk away after I gave her the receipt and didn’t even let me know what she was doing. Turns out she came back with a manager, who she was obviously complaining to him about me, and he seemed like he had an attitude as well. Usually, when someone returns something they ask if something’s wrong with it etc. but nothing was ever said besides the girl giving snobby remarks. I understand everyone has bad days, but if you can’t handle working customer service and faking a good attitude then it’s definitely not the job for you. I would 100% never come here to eat again and the food was definitely not worth the price. I’m not supporting a business that promises good service when the staff...

We had a party of 16 people. We went to Hard Rock Cafe because my previous experience at other HRCs was exceptional. Great customer service, but not at this location. We only had one server that rarely attended to our table. Drinks were empty most of the time. I asked 4 times for artificial sweetener and still never got it. I asked 3 times for a ice tea refill and it was refilled only once. Others in our party had the same experience. Tables around us were messy with food on the floor around us from previous customers and it was never tended to. The experience was so disappointing that I spoke with the manager on shift. All she said was that every restaurant was under staffed and service everywhere was impacted. Rather than take responsibility, she only verbalized excuses. Without even attempting to make the situation right. My hamburger was satisfactory, but the French frys were ice cold. I informed our waiter and all he did was say that due to our party size, some food had to sit awhile while waiting for other orders to be filled. Absolutely ZERO customer service. I even apologized to each member of our party for the poor experience they received because it was that bad. Saddens me that a HRC would allow it's service to get to this degraded level.

Update: Connected with Sara Lester, Hard Rock Café Sales and Marketing Manager. Sara reassured me that all the issues I brought to her attention would be immediately addressed. As with any business or organization. There will be times a product fails or a process / service does not meet expectations. It happens to everyone. But what they do next is what really matters. Sara detailed the steps they would take to correct the situation to ensure future customers receive “Best In Class” service and food. Sara has regained our confidence in Hard Rock Café and we look forward to...