The Cheesecake Factory

Reviews 4

KI

Kimberley Smith

My family has been visiting the Cheesecake Factory for years. It "was", up until today, our favorite restaurant. Restaurant experiences are not just about the food and the atmosphere. The most imperative reason that our family visits particular restaurants, is and always has been, customer service. Today is my daughters birthday. Her favorite restaurant is The Cheesecake Factory and we planned to eat dinner and celebrate her birthday last night. I was aware of the fact that this restaurant doesnt take reservations, but thought Id call to inquire in case they had changed this absurd rule. I called the West Hartford restaurant at approximately 2:30 to double check the reservation rule. The girl who picked up was curt and seemed annoyed as soon as I asked about reservations. She told me that they took no reservations and "absolutely no reservations on Saturdays". I asked her if parties of 8 or more had to call ahead as a courtesy. She answered with another snippy reply, of "nope". I then asked her if there were 14 of us, wouldnt that be helpful to all parties involved to prepare in some way? Once again, she dismissed me. She told me that Saturdays were extremely busy. (no kidding... thats why I called) She added that we should come in about a half hour before we were expected to eat and when we arrived, there would be about a half hour wait. She asked me if I wanted anything else and I replied, "no." I thanked her and she replied, "yup". My family arrived at about 6:30 and spoke to the hostess regarding the wait. We were told that there would be a 3.5 hour wait. We were stunned. We expected to wait, but not for three and a half hours. The food isnt THAT good. I couldnt believe that the girl I had spoken to in the afternoon didnt give us a heads up on what the wait would really be. We all traveled from different locations in CT and now told to wait until 11:00 to eat. Seriously? Maggie McFlies in Glastonbury was where we ended up and we couldnt have been happier; fantastic customer service, beautiful atmosphere, friendly faces, and absolutely spectacular food. Our large family ordered several cocktails, an enormous amount of appetizers, 14 dinners, and 14 desserts. We spent about $700 and will most definitely be visiting this establishment again. My family wont step foot in The Cheesecake Factory ever again. Thanks for nothing.

---

BO

Bob Shagensky

"We Dont Have Anymore of That" I already contacted the Cheesecake Factory directly from the drop-down menu on their web site to provide some feedback from two recent visits. Back in February 2017, my friend and I drove to the West Hartford, CT location. Upon ordering, we were told that the restaurant was out of two items that we wanted. Poor planning. Bottom line. Then in March 2017, the same friend and I drove to the Stamford, CT location. I ordered the white chicken chili. Then, the waitress returned a few minutes later to tell me that the restaurant was out of that item. So, I had to settle for something else. Once again, poor planning. Bottom line. I found it weird that in back to back visits, these two locations ran out of food that we were planning to order. So, I decided to contact the restaurants just to let them know of my experiences (essentially so that maybe this can be prevented in the future). A few days later, I received a phone call from a "Stephen" who was a manager at the Stamford location and asked for me to give him a call back. I did the next day, only to be told that there wasnt a "Stephen" who worked there. Another manager, named Andrew, told me it was a "David" who called me. I swear the message says, "Stephen" but no worries. Andrew initially seemed disinterested in chatting first, but was polite by the end of the conversation. He told me that he was sending me a gift card (which I didnt expect or even ask for, but it was a nice gesture on his part). To my surprise, the next day, I received an apology letter and a $25 gift card from the West Hartford, CT location. No one called me via phone, but the manager was nice enough to contact me via mail. She earned my respect. Andrew did send an apology letter and a gift card for $10 in the mail as he said he would. The $10 gift card would have almost covered the $13.75 bowl of white chicken chili that I would have ordered had it been available that evening and I drove 45 minutes for. Now, there are distinct differences on how the situations were handled. Neither is incorrect, but there is a slight contrast. Bottom line is that the corporate offices need to get these locations on the same page.

---

R

R M

The waitstaff were prompt and polite, we arrived at a half full restaurant so we were seated immediately. I noticed the tables are showing their age though. Our waiter was "Shawn B.", he was fairly busy but kept checking with us for anything we needed. Now on to to the food. The appetizer was their "Meatballs, ricotta, and garlic cheese bread," very tasty and didnt seem over salted. The meatballs werent all that great but the ricotta filled in that gap nicely. Id have liked it if the ricotta was a little thicker but that might be my personal preference. The garlic cheese bread was nice, although it depends on what type of garlic cheese bread you like. This one was more cheese than garlic. Very good white chicken chili, Id recommend it. For those who dont appreciate or enjoy the taste of cilantro, Id advise you ask them to not include it. The flavors mesh well, and arent bland. Definitely not a spicy chili, but those who are tender to spicy foods might still taste the heat. One thing that bothers me is the description states "generous" yet the actual bowl of chili wasnt all that much. If I hadnt ordered an appetizer, Id be wanting more. Definitely not a bowl to be eaten alone. The Monte Cristo sandwich was excellent, However, the home fries that came with the dish were burnt to the point where they became tough and tasted like charcoal. Thank goodness they came with ketchup. It was ordered without the sugar or jam, instead we requested a side of maple syrup. They were more than happy to oblige. The syrup was "faple" but I dont feel that it significantly impacted the overall flavor. Overall, not a bad place to eat. Id say the prices are a little much for the quality, but not extremely so. Meatballs, ricotta, and garlic cheese bread - 13 White chicken chili - 14 Monte Cristo sandwich - 13 I rated four stars because of the waitstaff, not the food. The food alone was three (3) stars at best.

---

NI

Niicke Nic

I recently visited CCF during the time of college graduations. Due to the large parties that were dining this day, service was aweful. I was a party of 2 coming from a college graduation myself. I was told the wait was 15 minutes but that turned into 30 minutes. Once we were seated, NO ONE ever came to greet us and take our order. The waitress in our section kept eyeing us and assisting everyone around us but never approached us. Our final straw happened when the waitress came over to the table next to us with another waitress and said she would be going on break and this new waitress would be assisting them. We called for a Manager right away. The young inexperienced Manager was no better. She just asked what section we were sitting in and said "Oh, Im sorry". So here we spent about 1 hour and 15 minutes in the restaurant and walked out the way we came in, starving. Thank God Whole Foods was across the street. There hot food bar and wide variety satisfied us. I did put in a Corporate complaint on the CCF in which they gave us a $25 gift card for the lack of service. I was still disappointed. Dinner on them would have been nice. $25 is just an appetizer and drinks for 2. I will never visit this location again.

---

---

Other organizations