I have a ritual of visiting the Hard Rock Cafe wherever I travel so I know to expect them to be busy. But the one in Roma is so famous that there's a 20 minute wait to be seated. It's 4 in the afternoon and the restaurant is packed! With the same HRC menu, the loud music, the colorful lights and collectables decorating the walls, dine in an American ambiance that takes you to Route66 and back.
Wooden tables, yellow lights, a low ceiling with Baroque style murals, a dozen televisions, a long bar and couple hundred collectibles, musical instruments and photos to decorate all the walls. Choose to sit inside or in the terrace's glass box.
On the menu: starters, salads, burgers, smokehouse, sandwiches, entrées, sides and desserts.
The jumbo combo is a must to start: a huge combo of anything you might want to whet your appetite. Extremely tender and moist fried chicken with a crunchy envelop, tomato bruschetta, non oily and non smelly onions rings and firey buffalo wings! A yummy mix served with four kinds of sauces. Despite all being fried, I enjoyed the whole plate!
Now for the mains: a pulled pork sandwich with crispy onion served next to French fries and the famous burger with bacon and crispy onion rings. The food is good but not great...only a tiny effort more would make it excellent. The bun is soft, but the burger patty needs a bit more salt and pepper - if any was added in the first place. The meat quality on the other hand is very good. The pulled pork could be softer and more tender, pulled better and infused with more barbecue sauce. I was happy and enjoyed my meal; this Hard Rock probably has the best food out of the last three I've visited.
The chocolate brownie comes in a big martini-like glass with three scoops of ice cream and whipped cream. Too fatty for me, an icy ice cream, a warm and dry brownie and too much sweetness. I could have skipped the calories.
I'm not sure why I'm having American food in Rome but I don't regret it: the Hard Rock Cafe is famous for a reason so why not see for myself!
