Cuisine: International
Location: Hard Rock Hotel, Batu Ferringhi, Penang
Halal
RM40 - 70 per person
It was 20th September 2009, It was the night following the opening night of this brand new hotel in the famous Batu Ferringhi stretch. It was already 8:30pm and we thought of having a late dinner at the famous Hard Rock Cafe.
Crikey! The car park was full and was closed off for public access, All of the sudden we were looking high and low for a parking space and we had to turn into a slip road to a PBA facility opposite the hotel and had to park on dirt at a 30 degree slope. It was a good thing we did not drive the Bimmer, otherwise will would have been difficult to park on such a narrow lane.
We were turned away from Hard Rock Cafe staff as it was packed and were told to try the Pizzaria by the beach. HR hotel has 3 restaurants. The other is called Starz Diner. We made our way to the Pizzaria. The beach was only accessible to hotel guest but the security was lax that eventually we found The Pizzaria by the beach.
The Pizzaria had a traditional pizza oven and we knew the chef was from QE2 (another great place for pizza), so we knew the pizza there had to be good. The large pizza was RM35++. We ordered a seafood pizza and an open calzone and antipasto, all to share plus 3 beers at RM15++ per pint
The food was OK but expensive as the portion is smaller than average. However the service can be improved upon. We did not get our beers until after the last dish came and that's after reminding the service personnel twice. The order came out wrong. We order an open calzone but we got a calzone instead and we waited for our bill. I think the problem was that the staff are new and still getting used to the system and also the bar and cashier is located 50M away at the lobby so that staff have to meander around he pool several trips per table. The total damage for 3 persons was slightly below RM170.
After dinner, we went a walkabout and got to explore the hotel and cafes and took some pictures. Some shots were shot during my revisit because I wanted some sunset shots from the hotel. Overall, I found the hotel decor contemporary and stuck well to the musical theme with memorabilia of Micheal Jackson, The Beettles, Rolling Stones, Elton John, Elvis, The Supremes and many more. The last stop was the Rock Shoppe. Amanda bought a tee-shirt and a cap which cost RM160 (last picture).
For more information/reservations visit http://penang.hardrockhotels.net/promotions.php or email: info.penang@hardrockhotels.net or call +604 8811711