Hard Rock's Valentine's Day Menu Is Uncharacteristically Decadent
Hard Rock Cafe, as its name implies, is a chain not exactly known for its quiet, intimate ambiance. So perhaps it may not be everyone's first pick for a Valentine's Day dinner. While people differ in their ideas about what makes for a romantic restaurant, generally soft music and candlelight probably play into it somewhere, and the Hard Rock typically doesn't offer such amenities. Still, V-Day is one of the nation's biggest dining-out days, and despite people's pandemic fears of being unmasked in enclosed spaces, Morning Consult reports that there are still some 20% of Americans who do have plans to celebrate the holiday by eating in a restaurant.
Well, naturally the Hard Rock Cafe wants a piece of that gâteau au chocolat, so it is willing to change things up a bit to accommodate the hearts and flowers crowd. It may not be able to do much about the ambiance, but the eatery can switch up the menu for a short while, offering a list of Valentine specials more romance-friendly than the typical bar food fare of nachos, wings, and sliders.
They call their V-Day menu "Hearts off the Charts"
According to the menu Hard Rock posted on Facebook, its "Hearts off the Charts" offerings will be available up through February 15th, though you should of course check with your local restaurant to confirm which items they offer and how long this promo lasts. Having gotten that disclaimer out of the way, we can now talk about the fun stuff: the food! And yes, it is rather atypical for the Hard Rock.
For starters, the appetizer menu features a lobster flatbread, presumably because lobster is expensive and therefore romantic. This pricey crustacean occurs again on the main menu in the form of a Cobb salad, while other entrees consist of a bacon/bourbon-sauced steak (NY strip or ribeye, since you wouldn't want to cheap out with sirloin on this special day) or a surf and turf entrée where the steak is topped with lobster thermidor sauce. The dessert option is a "Be Mine" brownie with strawberry sauce and whipped cream, plus maybe a mint leaf (unless that was just for the menu photoshoot). There's also a special Valentine cocktail, an espresso martini made with Kahlua, vodka, and cold espresso.
While Hard Rock may not top a lot of people's lists of restaurants for an evening of amour, it at least wants customers to treat their dates to something a bit more upscale than beer and a burger.