Located just north of MGM Grand next to the Showcase Mall, this outlet outshines its sister at the Hard Rock Hotel in many ways, not the least of which is the size. The three story facility features a big retail shop on the ground floor, a restaurant and bar on the second floor, and a concert venue/nightclub up at the top. It's a gorgeous space complete with the requisite music memorabilia (Britney's dress!) but also with a bunch of high-tech wizardry including a touch-screen wall that allows you to pull up photos, information, and back-stories on more ephemera than they could ever pack into the place. The tables also have touch-screen panels that allow you to request music videos, read trivia, and much more. It's fun.

If you've ever been to a Hard Rock Café or any other theme restaurant, the food here won't surprise you a bit. It's basically a grab bag of everything burgers to BBQ, sandwiches to steak, salads, pastas, and more. Walk into it with your expectations firmly in check - this is not haute cuisine - and you will probably walk away satisfied.

We visited at lunch and tried some of the pulled pork BBQ (in sandwich form) and one of their signature burgers. Both were very well prepared, flavorful, and huge. Seriously, we really need to work on our portion control in this country, but that's more our fault than the restaurant's.

Prices are moderate, which is to say more than you should be paying for a burger, but not at all out of line for a Strip restaurant. Figure $20 per person at lunch and a little more if you go with some of the bigger main courses for dinner.

Although certainly not wowed, I couldn't come up with any serious complaints about the place other than the most obvious, which is that the place is really loud. Sonic in its loudness. Of course you probably wouldn't come to the Hard Rock expecting anything else would you?