Hard Rock Cafe in Puerto Banus review

July 24, 2010 by admin
Filed under: puerto banus, restaurant

The Hard Rock Cafe in Puerto Banus

Our second visit to the Hard Rock Cafe in Puerto Banus, eight months apart and some things haven’t changed.

The front of house at the Hard Rock Cafe in Puerto Banus are the same as the restaurant name – hard. Hard and surly. They were the first time and they were today. The young lady who we dealt with had magnificent fingernails which suggested to me that she wouldn’t get stuck in at the kitchen should she be needed and she also found it extremely difficult to greet us with a welcoming smile. I don’t care how stressed you are in a restaurant, your job is to make the customer feel relaxed and welcome. A smile does that and more. The waitresses were no better. No smiles.

The restaurant was busy but not heaving, to the left of us were plenty of empty tables but we were told there was a 30 minute wait and gave us a pager, suggesting we go to the bar for a drink. We opted for El Corte Ingles and its cool air conditioning instead and came back after 15 minutes to find they were ready for us.

We sat down and were given 3 adult menus. I had to get up to ask if they had a children’s menu…they do. 7.50 euros for a choice of food, drinks and an ice-cream. I think they may provide children with colours as the back of the children’s menu had a colouring page, but we never received any colours. Once Erikita received her meal the waitress whizzed off. I waited expecting her to come back and say “any ketchup, any vinegar, anything else.” She didn’t. I had to go and find someone to get some ketchup.

My son ordered spare ribs for just over 15 euros and they were magnificent. Huge portion and very tender. I opted for a 10 euro burger, which was ok and Erikita ordered the children’s burger. One burger on a small plate with a handful of fries. It was big enough for her. The restaurant is about meat and the chips and any salad on the side are just that..on the side.

Huge choice of cocktails, if you are driving and want a non boozy one, you’ll have to pay around 12 euros, but you get to keep the glass. In fact you have to keep the glass, you are paying for it.

We couldn’t talk. The volume back in November last year was so loud you could hardly talk and it was the same this time. My children were grunting “huh?” everytime I tried to talk to them so if you are on a first date and like the guy/girl, don’t go here. If you are on a first date and can’t stand the guy/girl, go here.

Before my son had finished his meal my daughter was asked would she like her dessert. She was sorted but we were never asked if we wanted a dessert menu. We had been waivering but this just tipped us to say “no, let’s finish and head home.” Erikita’s dessert arrived and it was the head of house that saw we had no spoon. Another wait and the spoon arrived. After a few minutes another spoon arrived. A smaller one more suited to her mouth. She stuck with the first one. The kiddies menu says dessert is an ice-cream sundae but this was much better for her, plain ice-cream, no frills and she enjoyed it.

All in all I have to say it wasn’t a great experience and mostly because the front of the house just come across as so jolly snotty nosed and the waitresses whilst not rude just seem hassled and unfriendly. The Hard Rock Cafe isn’t cheap and so I do expect a restaurant experience, otherwise I could have opted for McDonalds. There are some excellent food items on the menu and the children’s menu is good value.

Sadly that’s it for me. I have been there twice, found it all very lacking in atmosphere ( think some low lights over the table would have helped, it reminded me of an airport lounge today) and the lack of hospitable friendly staff puts me right off.

I’ll stick to places such as Terra Sana on the Golden Mile where the staff are just in a different league and the place has plenty of atmosphere, a kids menu, cocktails, live music nights and cheesecake and carrot cake to die for….