The gift shop annex at One Campus Martius. (Photos from restaurant)
The editor of Detroit Metro Times surprised himself during a last-chance visit to downtown Detroit's Hard Rock Cafe.
It was the first time Lee DeVito dined at the global chain's 15-year-old Campus Martius site since last decade, and he was ready to "maybe have a bite and lampoon the whole thing" before it shuts Jan. 26. He considered it "a temple erected to immortalize the bygone youth of the Baby Boomers" -- a view now revised.
"Hopefully, they find a new home" locally, he writes in a review that tosses out stale beliefs as though they were spoiled beef.
"We had a great time."We figured Hard Rock was just another victim of the dreaded millennials' well-documented distaste for chain restaurants, and to us it seemed there was perhaps no greater symbol of the phenomenon. . . .
We stand corrected. We were wrong. We had a great time, and we will miss the Detroit Hard Rock Cafe.
DeVito and reporter Jerilyn Jordan Cook "found the Hard Rock Cafe's playlist to be refreshingly eclectic and unpretentious," he adds.
The farewell fondness doesn't extend to his meal ("a pretty forgettable corporate chain restaurant hamburger"), though Cook's "Buffalo-style cauliflower 'wings' hit the spot."
Look, we already admitted we didn't come here for the food. . . .
After our meal, we did a lap to check out the Hard Rock Cafe's trove of rock memorabilia hung on the walls, which included stuff from Detroit artists like a dress worn by Diana Ross, track pants and a bandana worn by Eminem, and a guitar signed by Kid Rock. . . .
In a statement, the Hard Rock Cafe said it hopes to open a new location elsewhere in metro Detroit.
Earlier coverage:
Stamm: Hard Rock, A Concept Past its Time, May Not Be Widely Mourned in Detroit, Nov. 28, 2018
