You'd expect the Hard Rock Hotel's premier restaurant to be over-the-top. Luckily, China Grill's excesses are in the energy, enthusiasm and flavor departments. From the moment you walk in, service is brisk and charming; as long as you have a reservation, you'll be seated pretty much instantly. The flashing neon-lit bar indicates there's nothing subtle about this place, and that includes the size of the portions: Order with the knowledge that every main dish can easily feed two or three.

The "duck two ways," skirt steak and drunken chicken excel. Vegetarians have leaner picking for entrees, but the baby lettuce salad with goat cheese is splendid, and you'll find great meat-free choices among the side dishes, like the wasabi mashed potatoes and five-vegetable fried rice. Desserts are even bigger than the entrees, so watch out. The chocolate seduction consists of five different kinds of chocolate confections; as for the bananas-in-a-box, trust us, it's a gigantic sugary wafer box.

Those in a rush (or diners who find set-course meals alluring) will enjoy the pre-theater prix-fixe menu, which offers groups of two an appetizer, two entrees and sorbet for a reasonable $35 (larger groups can go this route as well), with a blackened double-cut pork chop and grilled barbecue salmon as just a few of your choices. Should you be heading to the Goodman, show your ticket stub for a free saketini.

The atmosphere is very scene-y, that is, loud. Don't come for an intimate, romantic dinner for two, but if you're in a group of four or more and in the mood for the raucous and delicious, this is your place. And if you have the luck to get a server named Wesley Jackson, be sure to ask him for the story about the heiress who ordered shots. It's the best story we've heard in a long while.

Centerstage Reviewer: Abigail Derecho