My dad and I are huge fans of classic rock bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Lynrd Skynyrd, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Doors, etc. Combine the memorabilia of such bands(ranging from band photos, to even parts of drum kits!) with classic, lip-smacking, American style cuisine and you have, in my opinion, created the perfect restaurant!
I spent a wonderful evening on my 28th birthday, with family at Hard Rock Cafe, located on St. Marks Road. It was a Wednesday night. The place was packed to the rafters and much to my delight, upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted with one of Jimi Hendrix’s most famous songs’All Along The Watch Tower’! It was also’karaoke night’! I had to call the restaurant about a day before my birthday, using the phone number provided on the website: https://hardrock.com/cafes/bengaluru/ in order to book a table for three, in the large dining hall.
From the get go, the waitresses were very polite and patient with us. I say this, as within minutes of us entering the restaurant and after securing a table for three that was carefully tucked away at the end of the large dinning hall, due the rather overwhelming crowd that night, my poor mom who is claustrophobic and who suffers from breathing difficulties, started feeling breathless and two waitresses, on seeing my mom’s difficulties, wasted no time in finding us another table, situated instead, at the entrance to the large dining hall, rather near the air conditioner and also gave my mom some water to drink, just to make her feel better! I was really touched by the gesture! Now this is what great customer service, should be all about!
Everywhere we looked from the comfort of our table, we found intriguing memorabilia adorning the walls of this cafe. My dad and I could(from where we were sitting) spot memorabilia and photos of The Doors, Black Sabbath, Kiss, The Grateful Dead and Led Zeppelin!
As far as our meal was concerned, my family and I settled for the scrumptious Memphis style Hickory Smoked Ribs, some melt-in-the-mouth, gorgeous mashed potatoes and mouth watering garlic bread! The portions served at this restaurant are fantastically large! Enough to fill an entire family up and keep everyone happy! This is so different in comparison to the small and pretentious portions served at certain overly priced, gourmet restaurants! We didn’t even have to order any desserts! Such great value for money, in my opinion!
Karaoke night was the icing on the cake, as far as the enjoyment quotient was concerned! I personally, enjoyed listening to some fun renditions of songs by artists such as ABBA, Taylor Swift and was astounded by a very bold and cool rendition of the classic Green Day song’21 guns’!
The grande finale came, when I was able to capture a photograph of not only two iconic photos of the legendary Robert Plant and the late great John Bonham, framed beautifully on a wall of the cafe, pretty near the bar, but also of a part of John Bonham’s drum kit! Ladies and gentleman, I literally got to feast my eyes on rock’n’ roll history that night! As a lifelong music lover, that was one of the great moments, in my life, so far!
All in all, it was a fantastic evening and in my humble opinion, Hard Rock Cafe, is one of the best restaurants in Bangalore! It is my favourite hang out spot in Bangalore! Cannot wait to drop in again, very soon!