A tourist spot that's not too hard to take

Robert Sampson and Grace Boyle, visiting from Dublin, enjoy a meal at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston in front of the wall of cymbals. (JUSTINE HUNT/GLOBE STAFF)

An early taste of what's new on the restaurant scene

To be perfectly honest, we didn't mean to go to the Hard Rock Cafe last week. Our original destination was J.A. Stats, the new place on Broad Street already being lauded (by this newspaper, at least) for its stuffed grape leaves. But the gas leak downtown foiled our plans.

On the night we stopped by, J.A.'s was dark, with a note about the leak taped to the door, so we quickly cobbled together a new plan. We'd been meaning to check out the new Hard Rock location since it moved across the street from Faneuil Hall last summer, but other new restaurants kept luring us away. Frankly, any other restaurant could have lured us away.

But last-minute necessity intervened. And actually, we're kind of glad it did. The Hard Rock Cafe has a reputation as a cheesy tourist trap, but at least it's an entertaining place. There's rock 'n' roll blaring and music videos playing (although not a single female artist popped up in the two hours we were there), and the Boston memorabilia was fun to look at, particularly the New Kids on the Block dolls still in their plastic cases - Jordan and Donnie come with cassette tapes! Behind the bar, 909 shiny Zildjian cymbals are stuck to the wall. And on the night we were there, Jewel was playing a country show in the cafe's Cavern Club. Apparently she's dating a bull rider these days and lives on a ranch in Texas.

There's so much to look at - ooh, Rob Zombie's jeans! - that it's tough to pay attention to the food. But there are some decent options. We couldn't resist Joe Perry's "Rock Your World" chicken quesadilla. Why Joe Perry's? "Because he thinks quesadillas have pineapple on them," our sassy waitress told us. We like his way of thinking. Across the room, bandmate Steven Tyler's amazingly small-waisted black-and-white striped jumpsuit hung on the wall.

The crispy Santa Fe spring rolls with spinach and black beans, which came propped up in a big sundae glass with a guacamole Chipotle ranch dipping sauce on the side, were strangely appealing. The slippery, curly pasta in the "twisted" mac and cheese was fun to eat, as was the creamy, spicy three-cheese sauce, although the grilled chicken on top was dry. Same with the barbecued chicken, which had a nice hickory-smoke taste but was tough to swallow, literally, as were the fries, which tasted like dehydrated potatoes.

The drinks, many of which come in take-home souvenir glasses, were like sweet nectar. "Whatever you do, don't order the Waborita," Gina, our waitress said, describing the "smurf-blue" shade it turns your lips. Gina, a young Fran Drescher type with a Boston accent, was our favorite part of the night, really. She told us about watching a policeman chasing down a suspect right outside the window and the guy who told her to get him a drink, "stat." Then there was the 10-year-old who tried to order a Jack and Coke. She has a lot of this kind of thing to deal with; on the night we were here, eight tables of preteens were sitting in a cluster near the entrance.

Gina was new on the job and kept throwing out facts about the menu from the 100-question test: "What's the difference between a malt and a shake? Malt powder and sprinkles!" she said, clapping excitedly. We tried to share in her enthusiasm, although the "thick malt" - a Hard Rock legend, according to the menu - turned out to be a weak, watery disappointment.

Still Gina kept us entertained, as did the rest of the place. Let's just hope the endless stream of tourists and "Happy Birthday" callouts and parties of 300 doesn't make her lose her spark.

Hard Rock Cafe, 22-24 Clinton St., Boston. 617-424-7625. hardrock.com/boston. Entrees $10.50-$24.50. Cocktails $6.50-$9.

Katie Johnston Chase can be reached at johnstonchase@globe.com.