In a nutshell:

Fully NJOYed our time spent at Hardrock Café Gurgaon, with some great music, excellent proactive unexpected service, superb drinks & some good to great food.

Address & other details: Hardrock cafe

Meal for 2: Rs. 1500 onwards (food). Beverages on top of that.

Cuisine type : Vegetarian & Nonvegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everyWe & thing & give a honest account of the same to you.

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.

Short description – in case u r in a hurry:

I have been to Hard Rock Café many times in different cities of the world. It being a chain, there is a certain commonality in them. Yet they r different.

What strikes as one enters is the ambience & the theme. Walls of the Café are covered with beautifully framed memorablia of musical instruments / other things used by famous rock stars from among the globe.

As we sat on our table after placing order, a guy walked up and said ‘u know whatever is on the wall is memorabilia with a history. I can explain each to u and tell their stories. ‘ I thought that was wow. Coz I have not encountered this offer at any HRC before, including the one in Select City walk saket, Delhi.

While we waited for food, another guy came and gave us a small product catalogue to take a look at.

The Café has a good square shape & hence has been able to pull off a good set up. Tables r placed all over. There is obviously an option to sit at the bar on high stools.

As evening makes way for night, the tables start dissappearing & the place turns to a dance floor. There is a cool first floor as well which they have not yet opened.

The stage in the center is the center of attraction. It has a large HD screen that constantly plays videos. The stage has a drum set placed in one corner thruout the day. B4 performances of course other instruments join the drums.

Food was good in general & some of them were excellent. Loved our drinks.

Detailed description – in case u have the time to njoy reading:

Note: We went to Hard Rock café twice in the same day – lunch time and evening. Below contains details of both meals but r not called out separately, in order not to disturb the flow of the read.

We started off with Santa Fe spring roll – unlike most other spring rolls served in india, this one did not have a hard and chewy outer layer. Thd layer was thin, Crispy and just right. The filling was very good. Bean, cheese and corn made their presence felt. Enjoyed it. Rate it 4/5.

Loaded Potato skins with bacon was excellent . A note oc caution – to njoy this item, just jump into it as soon as the non veg platter is served / in case some other dishes r served along with this. Coz it tastes 3 times better when eaten immediate vs 15 mins later.
The potato skins were Soft, perfectly seasoned, full of cheesy flavours, a base made of potato and juicy bits of bacon sprinked atop. I loved it and rate it 4.25/5

Onion rings were very crispy and perfectly seasoned but they needed help – they tasted great when dipped into the sauces. Else they were pretty flat. Rate the rings 3/5

Chicken wings were excellent. Chicken was as basic as chicken cud b but the sauces were great. Chicken was soft and somewhat juicy. They were hot and tangy. Reminded me of my eating out Tex mex food in southern most parts of the USA. Rate it 4.25/5

Crusted chicken had amazing crispy outer layer. The chicken inside was as flat a chicken cud b. This dish also needed help. With sauces it tasted very good. Else on its own, it was just ‘inches short of good’. Rate chicken strips 2.5/5.

Four sauces were tomato ketchup , mayo based sauce, sour cream , blue cheese based dip. I loved the blue cheese one the best.

Our first drink was Virgin mojito. Super loved it. Very good balance of bitter (lemon rind), sour ,sweet and flavor of fresh mint.Strong drink with powers to cleanse the palate as if u did not eat anything b4. Rate it 4.75/5.

Bahama Mama (Rum Malibu coconut, banana syrup, grenadine, pineapple and orange juice) was good but nothing extraordinary. Slightly higher on the sweet quotient. Banana did not make its presence felt. Coconut flavor was strong. The drink was good but lacked the punch / twist that cud have taken it to the next level. Rate it 3/5

We moved on to Horiatiki salata – Greek Salad was mind blowing. The veggies were super crunchy . The dressing was tangy and citrus. Feta cheese balanced the extreme sourness and gave birth to a balanced taste. The grilled prawns were outstanding. Super soft inside, charred in the outside. Rate this salad 4.5/5

Hickory smoked Pulled pork sandwich was a disappointment . The menu card said the meat wud b juicy since it is pulled by hand. However the meat turned out to b Non juicy, fibrous, sweetish in taste with sub optimal salt (basic balance of taste missing) , and slightly above average taste overall .This was served with marinated slaw. I rate it 2.5/5

The next drink was a special out of the menu one – bourbon and citrus fruit based drink. I asked the server if there was a whiskey / bourbon based cocktail. He called the chief bartender. I said make me the best cocktail that u can – he came up with a bourbon and Citrus combo drink. Excellent. Potent, flavorful, strong, superb to taste and refreshing as well. Too good. Rate it 4.5/5

My co-diner ordered a cosmopolitan . The bar tender said he made it the classic way – with smoked flavor, less sweet but optimally sweet and very very balanced . Great to taste. Rate it 4.5/5

Caprionshka was very balanced as well. A bit of bitter from the muddling of the lemon, sour and sweet from brown sugar. Wah. Very good. Rate it 4/5. We have had better at Hard Rock Select City Saket & the one in Hongkong Tsim Tsa Tsui.

I left my last drink to the bartender’s imagination. He again came up with a very refreshing , potent , tasty citrus based drink with Gin in it. Super Loved it and rate it 4.25/5

We tried Mediterranean Linguine. We had choice of Grilled tenderloin/ chicken/ shrimps. We chose shrimp. It was the grilled prawns tossed with crunchy beans, artichoke hearts, oven rasted mushrooms & capers in a light white wine based garlic sauce. This was garnished with roasted bell pepper , black olive & romano parsley. Needless to say the base was linguine. This was served with toasted garlic bread.

The dish was superb & we loved every element of it – the sauce, the crunchy bell pepper, the excellent shrimps, the crunchy beans, the artichoke – actually everything individually & overall. Rate it 4.5/5

The show stopper turned out to b a tenderloin steak. We asked the server to have it as juicy as possible – so it was medium rare. Super soft, enjoyably (slightly) chewy, bursting out with juices & YUMM to taste. Loved every bit of it.

The black pepper sauce was excellent. Love the steak with it & without it as well.
Super smooth mashed potato was just too good.
Rate this dish 4.5/5

For dessert we went for apple cobbler – not too much stuff in it but simple and excellent. Served warm. Soft, in layers , sweet , sour, tinge of salt in the baked part. Very balanced . Super loved it . Rate it 4.75/5.

Ice cream was plain vanilla – not really required. Sauce Topping on the ice cream was really good

Overall rating of food at Hard Rock café Gurgaon averages out to 4.1/5. To get that score with so many items is an acheivement.

Had a great evening. Look forward to more at hard rock café. What made a huge difference was the warmth of the people and the efficiency of their service. Hope that stays like this.