The Cheesecake Factory

This location sucks. I applied a long time ago (well, about a year ago), and they refused to even interview me (most likely because I was in my 40’s at the time). I tried to re-​apply, and they didn’t allow me to do that. They are ageist and sexist, and their service isn’t very good. The food isn’t that bad, but I don’t think they deal with their employees very well.

This was my first time going to a Cheesecake Factory, and I was impressed! I was just by myself, but I ordered the hot spinach and cheese dip as my appetizer and it was enough to feed 2 people. I had the fresh Grilled Salmon for my entrée, that came with mashed potatoes and broccoli. This dish was equally as delicious. For dessert I, of course had cheesecake, which is obviously a signature menu item for the Cheesecake Factory, and one of my personal favorite desserts. I ordered the Oreo Dream Extreme cheesecake, is wow! was this delicious! I love cheese cake, and Oreos, and this was great!
All of the dishes where well priced, and she sizes of the dishes were huge, and definitely enough to feed two people. I ended up taking some leftovers from each dish home with me.
My waitress, Heidi was nice, and was there when I needed her. When it was time or me to go, she put my leftovers in take-​home containers and presented my with my bill.
I certainly enjoyed coming here to eat, and will dine here again!

Great service. Avacado egg rolls bere fantastic. I just eat the insides… pure avacado heaven. Chicken picatta was very good with plenty of big freshly sliced and sauted mushrooms. Love the dark bread in the basket too. I’m stuffed! No cheesecake tonight.

Cheesecake Factory is a great place to eat but the service is a little slower. The people are very nice there. It is very fancy but you don’t need to dress up and that’s what I like about. It is kind of expensive but that’s okay because the food is great. there whenever I eat the cheesecake it’s like eating a little piece of heaven. It is a great restaurant to go to.

This was my first visit to a Cheesecake Factory location. I typically try hard to avoid restaurants in shopping malls. But today, I figured life is short so wanted to give it a go to expand my horizons. We enjoyed it pretty well.
This location is in West Town Mall. It faces the parking lot so there is plenty of parking and big signs to identify and where to enter the restaurant. I was surprised at how beautiful the restaurant is. It is upscale’ish with white linens but casual. They have outdoor seating, a very nice bar area and a variety of different types of tables.
We were greeted and seated promptly by our hostess and our waitress followed close behind. We were there for lunch and the menu given to us was large and extensive. Nice! Another nice touch was a basket of warm sourdough and whole wheat bread which came out with our drink order.
Being my first visit, and still being on a quest for the best burger in town, I had to order their standard cheeseburger and fries as a litmus test. Dining partner had a Cuban sandwich. Frankly, I was not expecting much figuring everything must come out of the back of a Sysco truck. But I was pleasantly surprised.
My burger seem to be hand formed, was cooked to my requested medium doneness, and served on a sourdough baguette with grilled onions and tomato. The beef could have been seasoned more but it did taste fresh. The onions were cooked perfectly and the sourdough bread toasted just right. The fries were very good as well. All told, it was pretty good.
I am told that the Cuban sandwich was also very good, with the pickle within it being of particular mention.
For the prices, our entrées were smaller than would be expected.
We had to try a piece of cheesecake. As expected, their cheesecake selection is extensive. We went with the banana cream cheesecake which was also very good. (Note — — they have a bakery area where you can purchase baked goods to go). A nicely sliced banana garnished the cheesecake. I was impressed that the banana was perfectly sliced and perfectly ripe. Neither over nor underripe. I give them credit for that attention to detail. Good for them! It is appreciated.
Our lunch entrées were about $ 13 each. Little high for a burger and sandwich here in Madison. Although the food quality was strong, I’m not convinced it was quite proportionate to the cost per Madison standards. For our entrées, one slice of cheesecake and one soft drink, our bill was about $ 40, before tax and tip.
The space is beautiful, clean, with friendly and helpful staff. For me, a nice place to bring my mom or grandma for lunch or if I was from out of town and needed a safe and solid bet for good food in a relaxed but upscale’ish setting.
As mentioned, I don’t expect much from restaurants in shopping malls. But today I was pleasantly surprised and I’m indeed better for it. Now that I’m on a roll, on to The Red Lobster (ahem)!
For what it is, a strong Unilocal four stars. See you there!

For me, The Cheesecake Factory works. I like the big menu though I tend to stick to a few favorites. The food is always impressive and delicious. Yes, it is a little pricey and corporate is probably raking in a tidy sum, but I generally love eating out and the high prices just means I won’t be here quite as much, but I will make the pilgrimage a few times a year.
People talk about the high calorie entrees, but the «Skinny-​licious» menu solves all this. I usually order off of that menu to either save room for dessert or because I’m watching my calories and I have never been disappointed. Everything I’ve ordered off that menu is excellent and I can’t believe I’m eating a low-​cal meal.
Also enjoy the bread basket — the darker bread (rye/​pumpernickel?) rocks. The standard bread is good, but not as much as the other in my opinion.
I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone that the cheesecake selection is impressive. When we do treat ourselves, one slice for the two of us is all we need. Yummy!

See update at end.
This is a BAD review. I don’t like doing this but the customer service we just received (or lack thereof) from the Manager, Steve Shirvinski, was abysmal.
We just came back from dining at The Cheesecake Factory. This was only the second time I’ve eaten there. The first time we were there was when they first opened. The food and service were spectacular. We were so impressed, I ended up buying over $ 200 in gift cards as Christmas gifts.
One of the deals with the gift cards was that they came with a card that was good for a free piece of cheesecake. I had really been looking forward to that slice and was saving it for a special occasion. Tonight we were celebrating a big event, so it was finally the right time to use the card. Unfortunately, I hadn’t noticed the card expired ³⁄₃₁.
I knew there probably wasn’t much chance that I’d be able to talk them into honoring the card at this late date but I wanted to give it a try. I asked to speak to the manager so I could plead my case. I was shocked when the waitress came back to the table to tell me THE MANAGER REFUSED TO EVEN SPEAK TO ME. I pointed out to the waitress that this was really poor customer service on his part but all she could do was shrug her shoulders and apologize. The manager shouldn’t have put her in that position. I felt sorry for her. It could have affected her tip (it didn’t.)
I don’t know why the manager couldn’t be bothered to talk to me. I wouldn’t have been mad if he’d still said the card had been expired too long if he’d at least heard me out. His refusal to even talk to me is what has enraged me.
So, guess what Steve Shirvinski, next Christmas there will be NO gift cards purchased from The Cheesecake Factory. They will be purchased from your competitors. Oh, and the next time I have something special to celebrate? I’ll be doing it some place else. When people ask me for recommendations, I’ll make a point of telling them NOT to go to your establishment. You’ve permanently lost a customer, just because you couldn’t be bothered to give that little bit of customer service and hear me out.
Update:
I got a call at 9:30 this morning (the day after our dinner and my post) from Steve Shirvinski. He apologized for our experience and said he was never made aware that I asked to speak to him. He said he had recently honored some free slice coupons for another customer and that he wouldn’t have refused to speak to me about the issue. He plans to send me a written apology and a $ 25 gift certificate. I’ve changed my review from 1 star to 3. I’ll give them another chance.

They have decent food but as for the cheesecake I’ll have to stick with more or so the new York style. All the varieties are great and I’m a huge cheesecake fan but cheesecake factory cheesecakes are a bit under my taste.
The menu is also a bit over board for me. Like 10plus pages is just a bit to much. So overwhelming. All high price as well. Good place but a bit much for a place no exactly labeled as high end restaurant.

We went here with a large group for my brother-in-law’s birthday. We arrived around 1:30 & left around 4.
I walked in the hostess desk had just cleared of customers and the one hostess did not ask what I needed, I was ignored. Two groups came through the mall entrance and she spoke with them.
A woman customer behind me asked if I had been helped and I replied no. A minute later another hostess arrived and offered to help me, then a third hostess arrived and seemed puzzled.
It appeared no one but us was waiting, after 50 or more minutes of waiting we were seated. Drink orders were taken promptly, alcohol arrived first, water took 5 minutes, soda, coffee, and tea arrived 20 minutes after sitting. Tables were small 2 – 4 top tables.
The server did not ask of we were ready to order, she rushed off. There was a lot of waiting.
The portions were very large.
The Childrens Mac and cheese should have included a smaller portion of noodles & a large side of veggies. It needed less salt, no parmesan cheese, and no cheese chunks inside the noodles. This child whose favorite order is Mac could not stomach the mac. (Win for mom, got to share some delicious salmon, rice, and broccoli)
The kids mini corn dogs arrived with 3 corn dogs and an adult portion of extra salty fries. The corn dogs dos not classify as mini they were shorter and fatter but the same amount of food as one normal corn dog. The dog inside was greasy, and disgusting but 2 of the 3 were eaten by the child who ordered.
My sister and I both selected salmon from the lunch menu, priced about $ 15. My sister chose the herb crusted, accompanied by mashed potatoes and 4 sprigs of asparagus. The salmon which looked like a patty was on a mountain of mashed potatoes. She enjoyed the salmon, the rest was okay.
My grilled salmon lunch portion had an accompaniment of mashed potatoes and broccoli. The potatoes could be traded out for brown rice, the veggies could be replaced for an up-​charge. The platter it arrived on was full, half or more of rice 4 – 6 servings of rice. Less than a full serving of broccoli unlike the asparagus I received more than 4 flowerettes. And a good size, well seasoned salmon steak. I enjoyed the cooked broccoli and brown rice. For information purposes it was not seasoned at all.
My brother-​in-​law orders the Philly cheese steak & fries finishing half.
My father ordered the Cobb salad which should be equal portions of different toppings. It was a shredded lettuce salad with some tomato, some cheese, a few scraps of meat, and a chunk of avocado. They state tossed but they do not state the ingredient portions aren’t equal. –not a Cobb salad.
My uncle ordered the jambalaya which was in a very large dish as well. The flavors were great, a bit of a bite to it. My one complaint is that I didn’t expect it to have oil in it. Everything in the dish was covered with an oily film.
The lemon drop Martini was addictive
The regular coffee was good, I wouldn’t visit for the coffee though.
The decaf coffee was quite bitter, it’s flavor was a bit unpleasant.
I could only drink the water after eating, it had an aroma of chlorine and tasted odd.
Some flavors were spot on, portions were odd, ingredients were odd. Salmon & mashed potatoes for lunch. 4 sprigs of asparagus. Jambalaya in oil. Cobb salad 90% shredded lettuce. Kids mac loaded in cheddar, parmesan, and added salt with no veggie. 3 giant kids «mini» corn dogs with an adult sized fry no veggie option. Half a plate of rice.
We requested one Childrens Hot fudge sundae which was, not brought out, then after the bill was given we had a sad kiddo, requested it again as the bill was being paid, when it arrived it was enough for 2 – 3 children. Loaded with whipped cream.
Lots of waiting. Food was placed in front of the wrong people (by people helping our server)
The server was well informed of the menu and options and pleasant. More pleasant than the 3 hostesses.
**Three stars because if I were eating anything but my meal I would have been disappointed. But my food was good and the server was pleasant and able to answer my questions. This helped me receive something satisfying for my taste.**

Hmm, I’ve heard really good things about this chain from people I trust, but I am not buying what they’re selling. I went to the Bayshore Mall Milwaukee location and now this new one in Madison, and experiences were pretty similar.
I’ll be straight-​forward, this restaurant just seems like an overpriced mess of dishes with little to no direction on the overall experience. Walking in, they clearly had way too many employees, as most of them were standing around talking to each other or walking right by tables that needed attention but for some reason weren’t getting it.
Thankfully our personal server was extremely friendly and also quite helpful (I believe his name was Jeremiah). My Dad and I had no idea what to order as we paged through their Tom Clancy sized novel of a menu, but he had 4 – 5 recommendations that all sounded up our alley and answered questions as they came. I settled on the Teriyaki Chicken for a whopping $ 17. It was tasty and the portion size was agreeably large. I think for that amount of money I’d rather be wowed a bit, but I can’t complain too much because I did still enjoy the dish. Complimentary bread was also noice, and overall made up for the bizarro-​land atmosphere inside and equally crazy menu.
I think this might be the spot to go for large groups where you have potentially picky eaters, as there’s no way someone will go hungry, but I’d be hard pressed to find another excuse. Maybe I’m being too harsh as the food is reasonable (and was so in Milwaukee too) but I’d like to see them do something with the open space and show a bit more attentiveness to the tables as a whole (again, not our server but in general). It’s early in the going for them though, so time will tell.. .

Cheesecake Factory is not fast food nor fast casual. Complaining about a wait should not result in deductions! Friends, there are plenty of empty restaurants around if you want immediate seating!
Everything about Madison’s Cheesecake Factory was on point and comparable to long established locations — except for the hostess and hostess stand. There needs to be immediate attention here because the hostess doesn’t look up. Telling people to stand to the side for 40 minutes probably hundreds of times per shift seems ridiculous and could be why she is so surly. Post some signs or get some sort of dividers or something.
If you can get past the discombobulated mess that is the first piece of the experience, it gets better. Server (Briana, I think) was prompt, thorough, energetic, and friendly. She knew about the menu. That’s a pro who can answer as to what’s on the plate but not listed in the menu. That helped me. When my Asian dish came out it was better looking than any other Asian dish I’ve had. Yes, the rice was a little heavy and fresh pineapple a little light but that’s not the end of the world.
As you know if you’ve ever been to TCF before, portions are huge. You’re getting two servings whatever the dish is!
Cakes and pies are huge, pretty, and tasty!
TCF Madison doesn’t disappoint in the food. We will be back but hope some changes are made to the hostess/​holding area.

I was really happy finding out that they were opening a Cheesecake Factory in Madison. Being from CA, having this built made me feel super nostalgic. I’ve been to the Milwaukee location but too far for a casual last minute dinner decision.
Anyway, been at this location a few times, but our most memorable visit was a few nights ago when we celebrated my husband’s and father-in-law’s birthdays.
Dana was our server. She started off a little MIA (had to ask other servers for water refills and straws) but as the night went on, she was more attentive. My husband ordered the shepherd’s pie and to all our surprise, it looked really greasy. He ordered his usual BBQ smokehouse burger cooked to perfection and was much happier with his choice.
Out of nowhere, the manager (Quinn) came by to ask us how we were doing and to make sure my husband was satisfied with his meal. His words were: «I wanted to make sure you leave happy.» The gesture was much appreciated and very genuine. We definitely appreciated the service and the acknowledgement of our dissatisfaction.

I have always been a fan of The Cheesecake Factory. The sheer variety– I love. So many things to choose from and so many good things.
The lovely host that seated us came out with a little snack for our toddler. I thought that was so nice and thoughtful. Maybe they do that all the time. Either way, nice touch.
Food ordered:
Kids pizza– pretty good size for kids size
Chinese Chicken Salad– yum! Huge and tasted great. One of my favorite salads.
Shrimp Bang Bang (or something like that) pasta.
Service was excellent.
Kind of surprised at the low ratings.
No wait which was nice compared to the one closer to our home which always has a wait no matter the time.

Probably not going there again.
Prices are high but the food is hit or miss and there is always a wait.
The veggie burger I got was probably one of the best I’ve had and considering I’m a vegetarian — that is a high priority. The appetizer with the deep fried vegetable variety was quite good! I never thought deep fried avocado could be so good.
Unfortunately the next time I visited, they happened to not have Veggie burgers. On the fly I picked an Omelette and was fairly bored despite it having usual goto ingredients. Honestly, missing such a severe ingredient was a real let down considering the wait to get in and seated.

La hamburguesa estaba muy roja. Se hizo la queja pero no hubo una acción satisfactoria.
Después de unos minutos, ellos hicieron el descuento de la hamburguesa. Paso a

So I waited until the hoopla of the opening wore off before even considering a visit to the Cheesecake Factory. Even on a cold Tuesday night in February, there was a twenty minute wait for dining in the pretty and dim dining room at 5:30 pm. But there was immediate seating in the Indoor Patio. My guest and I were fine with that so we were shown to a table pretty quickly. The chairs were comfortable and it was kinda fun to people watch in the Mall.
So both my guest and I knew Cheesecake was on our minds so we each got appetizer. She ordered the Cuban rolls. Very good flavor with the mustard sauce on the side. I had the Ahi tartare. The fish was very fresh and the sesame dressing was incredible. I would have called it a Poke versus a Tartare but I loved it no matter what it was called.
My guest ordered the Dutch Apple Caramel Streusel and I ordered the Oreo Dream Extreme. Yeah! Both slices of cheesecake were out of this world. It would be easy to just come for the dessert alone.
we were given very good service from the host to the server to the food delivery servers. The calories and price will keep this place as a periodically treat. But a treat I will look forward to.

We came here as a large party of 10 at 1pm on a weekday and the wait was 1 hour! And they don’t take reservations.
I ordered their appetizer of chicken and mushroom lettuce wraps. I was not impressed. It was bland, one note, and had none of the lightness that I had hoped in ordering a lettuce wrap. Instead, it came on a bed of rice noodle puffs and with lettuce that was hardly conducive to actual wrapping. The lettuce was stalky and would have been better if I was eating it with a dip. Big leafy lettuce for lettuce wraps, please, like the kind that Vietnamese restaurants know to provide with their egg rolls. Moreover, the chicken and mushroom filling for my wrap looked brown and unappetizing. A bit of color would’ve made it more appealing, like some red bell peppers or green onions. Plus the chicken was dry.
The rest of my party seemed to enjoy their food though a couple of others also commented that some of their dishes were bland. Many of us ordered cheesecakes to go, but it took FOREVER. We even asked our waitress whether we should put in our to go orders as we put in our dine in order, and she said that we could do it at the end when we’re ready for the check. So we did that, but then waited another good 30 minutes after paying the check for our to go orders to come out. It’s no wonder the wait is so long to get seated here. Also, because we all ordered different kinds of cheesecakes, they brought it out to us but didn’t label them or tell us what they were. It took some deduction on our part to figure which ones went with whom.
The one bright spot was the key lime cheesecake I took home. Perfectly tart yet rich and buttery on the tongue. It was decadent. I savored each bite and wished I had also ordered the salted caramel cheesecake.
It seems that people were very excited about Cheesecake Factory showing up in Madison, so maybe the wait will die down after a few months and they will figure out to make the service more efficient. Personally, I would not come back.

I really enjoy this place. My wife has taken me a few times when she lived in CA and we’ve driven to the one in Milwaukee. She was excited when this location opened and I think she should be.
We went here on a Friday night for dinner with two other couples. It was not surprisingly jam packed. We came at 6pm and we were told it was a 2-​hour wait, but we were seated in one hour. Pretty impressive.
The atmosphere is pretty loud, which is perfectly fine for our group since we love a good laugh and have tons of energy.
Our server was Joe. He was above average and answered any questions and concerns we had, especially with our orders. Big points. He gave us enough attention and refilled water without ‘being in the way.‘
Our food was delicious. My wife ordered their special, which was salmon with mashed potatoes and broccoli in a lemon cream sauce with mushrooms. I ordered their BBQ burger which I’ve previously enjoyed in the past. I asked for it to be cooked medium and it was more medium-​rare, but better than well-​done like other establishments. No complaints, really. Everyone else enjoyed their meals: jambalaya, miso salmon, some other burger, and another chicken dish.
The cheesecakes were the cherry on top. My wife and I shared a Snickers cheesecake. Our slice seemed smaller than everyone else’s, but Joe explained it well enough that certain cheesecakes are made differently, etc. For instance, the Dream Extreme (oreo cheesecake) is pretty massive, but a big part of it is the chocolate cake piece. I had a taste of the Tiramisu cheesecake: my wife loved it, I could care less for it. It was too strong in my opinion. Our friend loved her vanilla bean cheesecake.
With their 400 page menu and delicious desserts, we’re planning to come back here again and explore their food some more.

Ah, so torn. I’m probably closer to a 3.5, but the insane calorie count convinced me to round down instead of up. While I enjoyed my meal, I don’t know if I could again knowing how awful it was for me.
While running errands on the westside my gent decided he wanted to try The Cheesecake Factory because he hadn’t eaten and wanted, in his words, «something heavy that will sit in [his] stomach for awhile.» We made our way to the packed mall and were told it’d be a 50 minute wait. That’s about what we expected so we took our pager and wandered the mall for a bit.
Somehow we managed to avoid many of the service issues that many reviewers seem to be encountering, but our server is also one of the better ones I’ve had in awhile at any establishment — shouts to Brianna J. if anyone from CF reads this. Our food all arrived in a reasonable amount of time, we (mostly) got what we ordered, and we were out in about an hour.
For a starter we had the Spicy Buffalo Chicken Meatballs. Not something I probably would have ordered myself, but I gave them a try and they were delicious. The bleu cheese dipping sauce was a bit ridiculous — the chunks of bleu cheese were so large that three of them took up the whole serving cup. I guess that’s maybe better than undetectable amounts of cheese?
Shortly before the meatballs arrived we were also given a bread basket — the bread was soft and warm and sadly taken away when a bus boy cleared our other plates. Our server brought us another basket, though, which we stuffed in our to-​go boxes later.
For entrees the BF got Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken and I had the Grilled Chicken and Avocado Club. I was bummed to find out that they don’t offer the Navajo Chicken Sandwich but this was fairly close in ingredients minus the bread choice. I ordered it with cheddar instead of Swiss, and when it arrived our server asked me if it had the correct cheese. I poked around and couldn’t see where it was in the monster sandwich and then we determined there was no cheese at all. Brianna was kind and apologetic and offered to take it back to the kitchen and I said that it wasn’t a big deal — it’s more that I don’t like Swiss than that I wanted the cheddar.
The sandwich itself was really, really good. Flavorful, perfectly toasted, fresh veggies, crispy bacon. It’s a towering beast — it was about four inches in height and required a good deal of smushing to get a solid bite. No complaints, though — I made three meals of the sandwich with the fries that accompanied it and the bread.
The unfortunate thing is that the sandwich comes in at 1400 calories. I don’t know what they do to it — grilled chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado on bread shouldn’t be that bad for you. There’s a similar sandwich at Panera where the only major difference is that it’s turkey instead of chicken that is 500 calories. Even if they used two full tablespoons of butter to grill the bread it wouldn’t nearly triple the calorie count. If the fries were included that’d make slightly more sense, but they’re listed separately on the nutrition chart so I kind of think not. Woof.
Both of us were stuffed so we opted out of ordering dessert (also…$ 8 for cheesecake that I imagine is mass-​produced somewhere is a bit steep), but the selections in the case looked good.
The food and service on our visit was good. The price and calorie count, not so much. We’ll most likely be back at some point, but if we’d have had poor service I probably wouldn’t feel the need to return.

Like several reviewers here, I have been to Cheesecake Factory restaurants in other locations, enjoyed my various experiences, and was excited to see one land in Madtown.
But…oh, boy…
The place was hopping at noon on the Monday before Christmas – admittedly one of the busiest times we could have possibly chosen. Lucky for me, my party was already seated in the bar when I arrived. The décor seemed swanky and modestly cool, but the first thing that struck me as I sat down was that the bar tables are far too small for a party of four to comfortably sit and eat lunch (amazingly, though, no disasters with water glasses or plates happened during our meal). The noise level was really quite uncomfortable. My party had ordered nachos as an appetizer, which gave me some time to peruse the menu and order. Quite a bit more time, it turned out, than I needed. 35 minutes later, the nachos arrived, followed shortly after (5 minutes) by our entrees. Our waitress, to her credit, was clearly annoyed that the food had arrived as it did.
Back to my order. It was foggy and miserable outside, so I was in the mood for comfort food. I am a sucker for Shepherd’s Pie, which I ordered despite the misnomer: SHEPherds herd what? SHEEP. Like, uh, lamb. (C’mon man, ground beef makes it COTTAGE pie! But, whatever.) When the entrée arrived, it looked fine, albeit with an entire parsley sprig plopped unceremoniously on top (I tore off some leaves and shredded them over the dish).
But my first bite revealed the insidious truth: hiding out beneath the copious mashed potatoes and gravy was… not ground beef. Not in the traditional sense. You see, my dish appeared to be a subterfuge for hamburger patties that had not made the cut at the grill (it didn’t take much for my imagination to slide to the slimy bottom of that slippery slope – GAAAACK!). Many of the huge chunks of torn-​up patty were burnt on one side or both, and all of them were quite bland. (Which made me wonder about the quality of the hamburgers – but I’ll leave that for some other hapless patron to review!) A few vegetables had been tossed in and the mix was slathered in gravy, then cleverly hidden under fluffy mounds of cheesy mashed potatoes. After a few bites of this vile concoction, I ate enough of the mashed potatoes to fill me up – as in, the part that was not in contact with the slop – and left the rest. There were no questions from the waitress when she took my almost entirely slop-​filled plate. It didn’t matter, because I would not have ordered anything else: I was too grossed out. The very idea of re-​purposed food makes me gag.
So…to recap. Long wait. Loud. Slow service. Expensive. Truly sub-​par food.
Sounds like a job for Kitchen Nightmares.
Need I say that I won’t be back?

5:00 pm Our party of 4 arrived at the Cheesecake Factory, located across from Sephora at West Town Mall. Was handed a buzzer and told the wait time was around 30 min.
5:15 pm Pleasantly surprised to feel the buzzer going off. We walked back and waited as instructed on the side of the hostess desk to be seated. We were greeted by our hostess and proceeded to follow her to the exterior dining patio area only to see the table bestowed on us was not cleared off and therefore not ready. We marched back to where the hostesses converge and given another buzzer on a cusp promise of a short wait.
5:20 pm We were herded to our real table now, conveniently 10 feet from the hostess beehive and in front of the Cheesecake counter area of the restaurant.
5:25 pm Our server appears along with another gentleman whom I cannot distinguish between a manager or a server-​in-​training. We were given menus and drink orders (three waters and an ice tea) taken.
5:30 pm Our drinks appear and we are asked if we would like their complimentary bread basket. We are agreeable. Our group ordered the Clam chowder soup of the day as well as the mini corn dogs to start.
5:45 pm Our orders are jotted and bread basket are served. We received two baskets of a crusty sourdough and a soft dark bread, which tasted like a honey wheat brown bread, this was the star in our group.
5:55 pm We asked for refills for both the drinks and bread. Our soup and mini corn dogs arrive. The corn dogs was one-​length hot dog at one time, cut into four sections, dipped in cornmeal batter and fried to perfection. Strangely this was served with mustard and it took another couple of minutes to try to flag a waitstaff (not ours) down for ketchup. The chowder was delicious, meaty pieces of clam and potatoes in a thick, creamy base.
6:25 pm As we waited with baited breath, a woman in a black blazer comes to our table to reassure us that she saw our food and it will arrive «within a couple of minutes».
6:40 pm Three of the four entrees grace our table. We are given a promise that the fourth entrée, Steak Diane and Shrimp Scampi would be arriving shortly. Alas! The fourth arrives three minutes later.
The Chipotle Chicken Pasta was strangely sweet, it had an aftertaste of chipotle, but was otherwise not spicy as the menu indicated. There were sufficient amount of chicken, that was again strangely soft, almost too tender.
Two people ordered the Steak Diane, one as the meal and one as a combination with shrimp scampi. This was a standout in our group. Succulent, flavorful, medallions of Angus beef steak were bathed in black peppercorns and a rich mushroom wine sauce. It was perfectly smothered in caramelized onions and baby portobello and shiitake mushrooms. Both arrived with mashed baby lusciously lumpy red potatoes. The shrimp scampi were not what we had in mind, as lightly sauté minimalist. Instead these were almost breaded and pan fried. I am not complaining, but again, just strange as expectations from the menu described as sautéed did not meet reality.
Another solid dish was their Shrimp and Chicken Gumbo. It came with Andouille sausage, juicy chunks of tomato, diced peppers, onions, and garlic, topped with a generous portion of white rice. I am having a hard time reconciling with the chicken, it’s again a little too rubbery for me. I did appreciate the medium sized peeled and deveined shrimp.
7:15 pm We asked for a to-​go box and the cheesecake menu (the variety is over a pages long). Since we were familiar with the pace of service, we asked for the bill as well.
7:20 pm The bill and boxes arrive, but no cheesecake menu. In hindsight, we could have just grabbed one ourselves, being seated so close to the hostess podium. However, in our mode of glutton, we simply could not be motivated to do so.
7:25 pm We flagged another waitress and she handed us a menu. I wonder if she saw the disparity in our eyes, as we metaphorically clung to her. We decided on the Sea Salt Caramel ($ 7.95).
7:30 pm Again, we are seated in front of the pre-​made, cheesecake variety display. We were once again told that our cheesecake is coming while nothing appeared in front of us.
7:35 pm The cheesecake makes its appearance like an overzealous celebrity. It’s what you dreamed of seeing, you have great expectations of this individual, you clearly overpaid for the privilege of experiencing this event live, but it disappoints you and even annoy you a bit by arriving late and have the appearance of their bad, ugly, meme. The cheesecake was the frozen version of what you can get at Sam’s, but on steroids, if steroids were a layer of condensed cake underneath the cheesecake.
As you can see it took well over 2 hours for the entire dinner. There were no adjustments to our bill for the tardy service nor any acknowledgement of the room temp Steak Diane, all in all, it was $ 104 for four people before tip.
We came, we conquered, and the hype defeated us.