Do You Rock? I Hard Rock!

I promised you all a little more about the date night Mike and I got to have last week, and here it is.  I was asked to review the local Hard Rock Cafe in Phoenix by MyBlogSpark.  Date night and a free dinner?  WINNING!

I was really excited.  I had been to the Hard Rock years and years ago in Phoenix and Newport Beach and I remembered loving it.  The memorabilia, the food, the overall vibe.  It rocked!  {a little pun intended}  All those fond memories had me amped up for our meal.

When we arrived at the Hard Rock Cafe, we were greeted by Roy Orbison's Motorcycle.  Killer!  

And right next to our table was a custom bass drum head from Guns N Roses.  Mike LOVES GNR.  

Above the center of the room - an electric guitar fixture.  Very cool.  There was awesome music in the air (I pass on Brittany Spears, but the other songs were worth her three minutes).  

Our waitress was great.  She was perky, friendly, great smile, and knew her menu.  She recommended a drink off the summer cocktail menu - Watermelon Cooler - and I'm always up for a new cocktail, so I ordered it.

Now, let me preface the rest of this post with the fact that I worked in restaurants for 8 and a half years.  I was a bartender, waitress, expo, head wait, and trainer.  I've been around and I'm very forgiving when I go out to eat because I know sometimes things just happen.  And we tip well, for the same reasons.  Moving on...

The cocktail wasn't great.  So sips were good, others tasted more like cough syrup, and the "watermelon juice" was full of pulp (some seeds, but I can work around those).  The pulp kept getting stuck in my straw and I couldn't easily enjoy this cocktail.  I even tried using the sugared rim of the glass for some extra sweetness, it didn't really make a difference.  I'm not sure it was the particular mix of that drink that day or what.  The drink ingredients sounded wonderful which is why I went with the recommendation.  In the end, water for me and Dr. Pepper for Mike.  

The food.  I couldn't make up my mind over what to get.  I'd been eyeing three of the sandwiches...

the grilled salmon, fish & chips...

a couple of the salads...

I was all over the place with the way the food was described.

What was I going to pick?

The pressure was on.  Mike was ready to order and our waitress was coming back - I had already sent her away once, I didn't want to be "that guy."  I panicked and ordered the salmon.  I love salmon and it's pretty much always an easy win for ordering.  Mike got the New York Strip and added the shrimp skewer.  We each switched out one side for a Caesar salad.  We waited patiently for our food.

I imagine this going on in the back...

We figured the salads would come out first, but they were served with our meal as part of the plate presentation.  No biggie, just unexpected.  When dinner came I was ready to eat!

The grilled salmon came with confetti rice - yummy rice with peas, broccoli, green onion, and corn - the Caesar salad I switched out for, and the fish had a Merlot-garlic butter on top.

Mike's steak was a 21-day aged, center-cut, 12 ounce New York Strip.  It was topped with Merlot-garlic butter, and came with the salad he switched out for and garlic herb smashed potatoes with gravy.  And he got shrimp.

Mike's steak was really good.  It was cooked perfectly, the flavor was good.  His potatoes were SO yummy!  My salmon was okay at best.  It was fine, but nothing special.  It was on the done side for what I like, and the butter flavor took over the salmon with the fish being really done.  The rice was good, I really like it.  

The biggest draw back off our meal were the salads.  They were really over-dressed and warm.  All we tasted was dressing, and the bacon in the salad was a god send.  That bust of salt helped break up the monotony of flavor.  Totally bummer.  Our most ordered restaurant item is a Caesar salad, we look forward to it.  Mike's shrimp was good too, but it had the same butter as everything else and the butter flavor started to take over my palette.  All in all dinner was fine, but it didn't inspire me.

On a lighter note, dessert kicked butt!  We got the Sinful Hot Fudge Sundae.  "Three large scoops of Ben & Jerry's  vanilla ice cream, topped with out famous hot fudge, chopped walnuts, fresh whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles and a cherry."  Who wouldn't want to order that?!?  It was really really good!  We just about finished the sundae, dinner filled us up pretty well.

After dinner, we went to the concert and enjoyed the rest of our night.

To be honest, we haven't ruled out the Hard Rock Cafe.  It's rare that I let one experience (unless it's dreadful) completely determine my opinion of a place.  I'm sure we'll be back, I'm just not sure when exactly.

I'd love to hear when menu you item you would most interested to try.  I'm making my next menu choice from the Hard Rock Cafe based on suggestion, since I'm indecisive.  ;)

You can find out if there is Hard Rock Cafe in your area HERE.  Check out the menu.  Let me know if you go.  I'd love to here about you Hard Rock Cafe experience.  I had good meals there in the past, and I'm sure there will be a better visit in our future.

Want to know more about the Hard Rock Cafe?  Visit Hard Rock's Facebook and Twitter pages to keep up on the latest menu items, events, and happenings.  I "like" Hard Rock, do you?  You can tell if in the comments below and we can Hard Rock together.

Disclosure:  The promotional cards and information have been provided courtesy of Hard Rock International through MyBlogSpark.