Staycation in RWS! (Part 2 of 3)

This is a continuation from my previous blog post. And is part 2 of 3 of a series of blog posts of my staycation in RWS. 

Hard Rock Cafe

After a nice long bath and a nap in the hotel room, we were ready for a night out! We approached the concierge as to how we could get to Hard Rock Cafe where our dinner reservation was made as we wanted to check if there were other ways of getting to and from places to our hotel other than bus 11 (colloquial tongue-in-cheek way of referring to walking). And sure enough, Equarius hotel provides shuttle services to the other hotels and this shuttle services came in the form of either small buses or buggies.

Within 5 minutes, a buggy arrived and we informed the driver of our dinner reservation and sought his advice as to how to best get there. He thought for a minute, then looked at my 4″ heels, shook his head and thought a little longer, seemingly trying to think of the most heel friendly route. So here is a shoutout to the driver, thank you for being so considerate and observant. He drove us to Festive Hotel and gave us instructions on how to get to the restaurant.

Hard Rock Cafe Singapore, as with all its other branches in the world, is a themed cafe whose theme is centered around rock and roll. I may not be a big fan of rock and roll or anything but stepping into a themed cafe, especially one that is so elaborately and thoughtfully put together, makes for a unique and refreshing dining experience. We were 10 minutes late for our reservation but the restaurant was thoughtful enough to give us a ring before giving out our table.

That being said, despite the extravagant over the top decorations, dining at Hard Rock Cafe was comfortable. This was probably in part due to how friendly the servers were. The servers seemed genuinely happy to be working at Hard Rock Cafe and they were doing their job with a passion and not doing it for the sake of doing it.

They were also enthusiastic with the birthday celebrations and performances so in general there was this happy positive vibe in the restaurant! The servers were very approachable and all requests were met with a smile on their face and in a speedy fashion. 

We ordered a portion of a hickory BBQ bacon burger and twisted mac, chicken and cheese. The food was unremarkable; It was nice but not exceptional. Portions were big and we finished 3/4 tops of both. Prices in my opinion was reasonable with our total bill being under $60. 

Note, there is a credit card promotion for DBS cards and Hard Rock Hotel guests would also receive a discount.

Festive Grand Theatre

The Festive Grand Theatre is a theatre located in Festive Hotel and is where musicals, concerts, plays and other performances can be hosted. RWS has a thing with poor directions, I find that I am constantly lost and had to rely on google to look for directions. Festive Grand Theatre can be accessed from The Forum at Basement 1. 

In my opinion, Festive Grand Theatre is more like Festive “Grand” Theatre to me. It is definitely not one of those overwhelming, imposing theatres as it has a sitting capacity of merely 1,600. There were no circle seats and they only had stall seats. Definitely not one of my favourite theatres, in fact, one of the worst that I have been to so far.

It pales in comparison to the Mastercard Theatre in Marina Bay Sands and the Esplanade and Star Vista. I purchased category 1 tickets yet faced the issue of having a restricted view. I was not informed at all of the restricted view and would have expected to have a good clear view of the stage seeing how much I was forking out for my tickets. 

Theatre etiquette, even if the audiences are unaware of it, should have been imposed by the management of the Festive Grand Theatre, after all it is basic manners. There was a snack shop just outside the doors of the theatre, I mean there is nothing wrong with catching a quick bite before a show and during intermission but that is where all the munching should stop.

Audiences were actually bringing in their snacks to their seats to consume during the musical and no one stopped them. This is a breach of theatre etiquette and is a sign of disrespect to the musical and an annoyance to other audiences. 

The acoustics and lighting of the stage were average and unremarkable. I do not base my decision to watch a performance or not on the theatre that it is being hosted at so my decision to return to the theatre or not depends solely on the productions there. That being said, I doubt that the Festive Grand Theatre is the prime choice for production companies. 

The next blog post would cover the musical The Addams Family as well as the Breakfast at Equarius Hotel and checking out.

To be continued…