HOLLYWOOD — The new Hard Rock Cafe at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood is the first model of the company’s strategy to revamp its restaurants design. A grand opening, featuring Seminole Tribe leaders, was held Nov. 27. The restaurant debuted along with a finished area of the new casino floor, all part of the massive expansion project on the property.

The new 10,000-square foot cafe seats more than 250. The open floor plan puts the kitchen and its 7-foot artisanal brick oven in full view from almost anywhere in the restaurant. The walls are adorned with rock and roll memorabilia, a defining theme of Hard Rock that has been a tradition since 1979.

Hard Rock Cafe’s menu includes some new additions including steak burgers made fresh daily in a new meat grinding room. The triangle bar is the center of attention as guests enter the restaurant. A redesigned Rock Shop where customers can purchase Hard Rock souvenirs and apparel is adjacent to the cafe.

The grand opening marked another step closer to the completion of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood’s $1.5 billion expansion.

“We’re probably about 45 to 50 percent of the way up in the tower with the glass going on. We are on schedule. We will be opening the guitar tower in the fall of 2019, but because this is a commitment to a long-term business philosophy we’re going to simultaneously renovate the existing structure from top to bottom,” said Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International and CEO of Seminole Gaming.

Due to the renovation some of the amenities in the original hotel building will be closed.

The grand opening, which featured the traditional guitar smash, was attended by Chairman Marcellus W. Osceola Jr., President Mitchell Cypress, Big Cypress Councilman Mondo Tiger, Hollywood Councilman Chris Osceola and other Tribal members.