I’d spotted a Hard Rock Café downtown earlier in the week, so tonight decided to have my last dinner in Nassau there. I walked from the hotel to the Hard Rock Café and didn’t see another person all the way. It was only about 7.45 pm, but downtown Nassau was completely deserted. All the shops and restaurants were shut – in fact the Hard Rock Café turned out to be the only establishment that I could see was open in the whole city.
The Nassau Hard Rock Café is pretty typical of most other Hard Rock Cafes around the world – a shop selling Hard Rock souvenirs downstairs, and a bar and restaurant for about 100 people upstairs. On the walls were all the usual entertainment industry memorabilia (I noticed one of Cher’s sexy lingerie outfits in a frame walking up the stairs) – but that was where the similarity with other Hard Rock Cafés ceased. The Nassau café was almost deserted – just like the rest of the city. There were three people in the bar when I arrived and four in the restaurant. The three in the bar left after about 20 minutes, and the four in the restaurant disappeared about ten minutes later leaving me as the only customer in the whole place. I’d taken a seat on the verandah section of the restaurant, but there was nothing to see except an occasional car passing down the main street.
I finished my meal about 8.40 pm (the food was nothing special but at least it was a change from the hotel fare) and I walked out of the deserted Hard Rock Café into the deserted street. I walked back to the hotel, and again didn’t see a single person the whole way. I’d always thought that Vientiane was the quietest capital city in the world, but at night time, Nassau must surely take that honour. And the Nassau Hard Rock Café must be the quietest Hard Rock Café in the world. Perhaps at lunchtime it does a reasonable trade when the cruise ship tourists are in town, but at night this is one Hard Rock Café that definitely doesn’t rock.
The Nassau Hard Rock Café is pretty typical of most other Hard Rock Cafes around the world – a shop selling Hard Rock souvenirs downstairs, and a bar and restaurant for about 100 people upstairs. On the walls were all the usual entertainment industry memorabilia (I noticed one of Cher’s sexy lingerie outfits in a frame walking up the stairs) – but that was where the similarity with other Hard Rock Cafés ceased. The Nassau café was almost deserted – just like the rest of the city. There were three people in the bar when I arrived and four in the restaurant. The three in the bar left after about 20 minutes, and the four in the restaurant disappeared about ten minutes later leaving me as the only customer in the whole place. I’d taken a seat on the verandah section of the restaurant, but there was nothing to see except an occasional car passing down the main street.
I finished my meal about 8.40 pm (the food was nothing special but at least it was a change from the hotel fare) and I walked out of the deserted Hard Rock Café into the deserted street. I walked back to the hotel, and again didn’t see a single person the whole way. I’d always thought that Vientiane was the quietest capital city in the world, but at night time, Nassau must surely take that honour. And the Nassau Hard Rock Café must be the quietest Hard Rock Café in the world. Perhaps at lunchtime it does a reasonable trade when the cruise ship tourists are in town, but at night this is one Hard Rock Café that definitely doesn’t rock.