The Cheesecake Factory

Reviews 3

ZA

Zachary Hlavinka

Short version: Overpay for your meal somewhere else, or risk a ruined evening. Long version: My wife and 6 year old daughter went to this La Cantera Cheesecake Factory location an hour ago. First, we were seated outside by the lovely water fountain wall at a large table with wrap around cushioned seat. It seemed nice for about a second. Then we noticed a fly. No problem. Then another one. Then more. Then even more. I lost count after the first 8. The spacey waiter returned with our drink order and asked if everything is ok, even though he clearly saw all three of us swatting at all the flies. He gave us an insincere apology for the flies and offered to sit us at another table, knowing full well that we had just waited 30 minutes for this one. We were tired from a long day at 6 Flags (please read the other post I wrote about that experience too) and proceeded to make our food order. The manager is doing her hollow "Hows everything?" routine and arrives at our table. When I complain about the fly problem, she says, "Oh, yeah. I think theyre attracted to the water fall, but I dont know. Do flies like water?" (Idiotic and unhelpful.) Then she actually says to me, "Well, you are sitting outside...Is there anything else I can help you with?" I thought to myself, "You could help us all and quit, you twit." But I held my tongue. If it had been just me, I would have left right then. But I knew my family was hungry. Second, the food comes out about 10 minutes later. In the meantime, I had covered our bread with a large napkin and tried to make a game out of swatting the flies away with my daughter, even though I was not happy about the sloppiness that had attracted so many. A male food server is holding my daughters dinner plate. I motion that it is for my daughter. It has a grilled cheese sandwich and fresh fruit on it. He tries to put the plate right in front of her. I noticed that he was holding the plate with a thick towel. Realizing that it may be hot, I reach for it to prevent it getting to her fingers, and it BURNS my fingers!!! I say, "Ouch!" and immediately drop it. The plate falls an inch with a hard thud. I reach to grab my cup of iced water to cool my fingers. The server gives me a blank look WITHOUT ANY APOLOGY and proceeds to hand my wife her hot plate. He never gave any of us a warning. He just walked away. I asked the other server to get the airhead manager back to our table. Third, Nancy Nitwit returns 3 minutes later with an even less sincere, "Im back. How can I help you?" When I tell what happened, she gives us an apology that was less than fitting. She takes the now-cool plate away and brings it back. She claims that she swapped out the plate with a cool plate, but the food on it looked EXACTLY THE SAME AS IT DID BEFORE. She ended by saying what I was waiting for her to say -- the right thing to say at this point. The thing any smart restaurant manager says when something like this happens. She said, "Ill of course take care of the ticket." This doesnt make me happy about my burned fingers, but at least there seemed to be some glimmer of decency in her. (To be clear, do not appeared to be severely burned. But maybe thats just bc I got them to a cold surface fast enough. And they may show more signs of being burned tomorrow. idk) Fourth, the food is mostly bland, which was definitely a surprise. As much as I dont like the CFs prices, the food is typically excellent. Fifth, the waiter brings the check. The check!? I tell him what the manager said, and he says he has to verify that with her. Nancy Nitwit Manager returns to our table yet again and apologizes for MY confusion. She says that she offered to comp only my daughters plate. I say, "You realize that if the plate hadnt burned me, it would have burned my daughter." The manager actually has the gall to tell me, "Well, sir, I took the plate (which, recall, had already cooled down by the time she had come to our table) and it didnt burn ME. What would like me to do?" Rather than waste another word on these idiots, we just left. You decide.

LE

Leah Smith

Pros: Nice atmosphere, clean. Cons: Customer service, quality of food, wait time, management and prices. I had heard a lot of good reviews towards the Cheesecake Factory. I decided to take a party for my birthday (close to 30) on a Saturday evening. I knew it could get pretty packed, so I tried to get reservations before. After being told reservations are not accepted on Saturdays, I decided to get there around 5:15 pm. (I told my party dinner would start at 7:30 pm.) I continued to walk around La Cantera to pass the time, with a few of my guests. Around 7pm, I was told it would be one more hour. I assumed they were busy and agreed to wait. My guests did not seem to mind the wait and continued to shop nearby. At 8pm, I was told we had to wait ANOTHER 45-60 minutes due to high demand and my large party could "only be seated in one of the two areas big enough to accommodate". The parties of 6-10 that arrived after us seemed to have already gotten dessert. Luckily, my guests understood how busy the CF could be and were in no rush. I was upset because I was told a certain time to wait from the manager but ended up waiting longer. The manager gave me the go-around, offered no consolation and seemed to shrug off my party. My party was not seated until 9pm. The two waiters taking care of my large party were seemingly polite, but had poor customer service skills. Rather than split up responsibility between the two of them, only one waiter took care of drinks, bread and seating arrangements. The other waiter tried to help him, but did not seem to be in a hurry to help. (Both did receive a hefty tip due to the large volume of my party, but if it were up to me, they would not have received that much.) Many guests of my party needed silverware, refills and bread but did not receive them in a timely manner. CF has a ton of meal options and great meal plate looks, but no extravagant taste. My guests complained about the portion compared to pricing and even wanted to leave at certain points due to the waiting staff. The dessert is their only specialty at CF. The location in North side SA is much better.

JA

James M

This was the final straw for my family. We liked this place as a spot to take the whole family as there is something on the menu for everyone but the service and meal quality have been declining with each visit. The last visit the other day we were abandoned by our waitress for roughly 30 minutes and when she finally returned there was no explanation or apology even though we needed refills and were wondering where our entrees were. It wasnt a full house either. When our food arrived, the three of us that ordered salads wondered if the grilled chicken was some sort of experimental chicken jerky. Those that got burgers and fries had cold fries and overcooked meat. When it came time to pay the waitress that really paid 0 attention to us tried to make an apology but it came out as "if you were dissatisfied with the service in any way" but she failed to realize she was the service provider. All in all the place is a shell of what it used to be. You used to get a higher class environment with food better than what Olive Garden can provide. Now youd be better served by trying one of the other restaurants in the area. Id recommend Chik-Fil-A over this.

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