A Supposedly Good Restaurant I'll Never Eat at Again
It isn’t that the food is bad.
The drinks are atrocious — our capable waiter confessed that extra simple syrup is added to almost every cocktail, even the gin and tonic — but the food is always passably good, if slightly over-salted, so good in fact that it’s hard to understand how it can be so unsatisfying.
As a child I loved the strawberry lemonade, served in a glass rimmed with sugar, so no surprise there, but I hadn’t dined at The Cheesecake Factory for over a decade, and I hope I never go again. Would I rather eat at Applebee’s? Suffice it to say that I’m not sure. Certainly I’d rather go to Chile’s, where the food is decidedly less good, and Mimi’s Cafe is a theme chain restaurant whose food (read: chicken pot pie) I thoroughly enjoy, along with the possibly defunct Hamburger Hamlet (split pea soup, zuchinni “zircles” with apricot sauce) and The Hard Rock Cafe, where once in Europe I satiated a powerful craving for an American cheeseburger and a Caesar salad, thereafter pledging my eternal debt.
Perhaps it is unfair to say that The Cheesecake Factory pretends to be a better restaurant than it is. Hell, the simple syrup policy makes me want to be unfair. But by far the worst thing about the place is that you’re bombarded by advertising from the minute you walk in the door.
Above is the view from the cushioned bench in the waiting area. Why did it grate on me so much? Then the wireless buzzer rang, my party got seated, and I opened the menu only to find an advertisement on the inside cover. Is there anything less civilizing than trying to chat with dinner companions and deciding on a dish while someone tries to sell you shoes?
On the next page, I discovered that there is something worse:
How fitting to find my old nemesis there. What a soulless, mercenary restaurant. But it is one of America’s most successful dining establishments, so how come? What explains the phenomenal success? It isn’t that the food is better than what you can get elsewhere, or that the prices are especially competitive.
Even the Cheesecake, while passably good, is easily equaled. The location I visited, inside the Fashion Island “lifestyle center” in Newport Beach, is surrounded by restaurants with far better food, though less variety. Are there fans of The Cheesecake Factory among our readership? Do you not mind the advertisements in the menus?
And doesn’t this ad in particular cross some kind of restaurateur’s ethical code?
If you’re looking for a pairing that accentuates the taste, order wine. If you’re trying to kill the spice, get milk or ask for a teaspoon of honey. Only the Coca Cola company would pair jambalaya with Coca Cola! Let’s close with Conor’s Dining Out Dictum: If you’re paying more than $10 for your meal, you shouldn’t have to put up with advertising pitches while you’re trying to enjoy it.
I think the success of the Cheesecake Factory owes to that you can bring a diverse group there, and be pretty sure that everyone in the group will find something agreeable on the menu that they will enjoy.
They also cater to the lowest common denominator, that is, huge portion sizes.
I don’t generally drink cocktails out, so I haven’t been bothered by the syrup policy.
But I probably should be bothered by the ads more than I am, and it probably doesn’t say anything good about me that I am not.
— JohnMcG · Dec 28, 01:52 PM · #
Ads in menus? I’d never thought of it! God, I love America.
— PEG · Dec 28, 04:11 PM · #
Please, please, please don’t reference DFW … as if everything you write isn’t already tedious enough? Now you have to make a cute reference to your antithesis?
— paul h. · Dec 28, 05:05 PM · #
Cheesecake factories are in malls, Conor, so they have to do something to recoup those exorbitant mall rents.
I never eat at a restaurant that calls itself a “factory”, anyway. Complaining about the cocktails at a restaurant strikes me like complaining about the food at a bar. (Then again, I’ve had some incredible food at microbreweries.)
— Chet · Dec 28, 05:20 PM · #
Relatedly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLRPGJ8sDbU
— PEG · Dec 28, 05:46 PM · #
Step back from the ledge. I eat at CF once in a while. It’s not great, but it has a big menu and is open late.
I have never noticed the ads and can’t remember any product that was advertised.
— Jeff · Dec 28, 07:09 PM · #
Paul h,
Much as I enjoy this infinite jousting with commenters, if you don’t like my posts you should probably start skipping them.
— Conor Friedersdorf · Dec 28, 07:15 PM · #
I despise this place, for many of your reasons. The look of the place is alsoc confusing (much like the menu), with weird Egyptiany columns scattered about, and a bar area that contrasts entirely with whatever motif they’re going for. It’s a place that lacks an identity, or is in constant identity crisis.
Mostly though I am leery of places who try to do almost every cuisine on their menu, which always means they do none of it well.
It’s overpriced too, considering the lack of quality. The only time I ever eat there is when some dinner party ropes me into it. I’d rather have a Chili’s or Applebees, at least they’re only going for burgers and other two-bit americana.
— Geoff in DFW · Dec 28, 09:26 PM · #
I was in the middle of a great reunion with college friends at the Cheesecake Factory two years ago and suddenly found myself mulling over a lipstick ad in the menu. It suggested that to eat with lipstick on was essentially to poison myself—slowly—and I suppose die horribly at some point—unless I were to purchase the advertised lipstick, in which case I could smear it on and eat whatever I wanted. Heck, why not eat the lipstick while waiting for the entree? I was the last to order, having lost precious decision-making moments to advertising.
— Joules · Dec 28, 11:18 PM · #
“I’d rather go to Chile’s,”
I suggest you read David Kessler’s book for a analysis of Chili’s menu selections. I have never been to the CF so I can’t compare the two chains.
— Mercer · Dec 28, 11:34 PM · #
Every dollar they get from advertising is a dollar they don’t have to charge customers for the food. Some people like making that trade-off.
— right · Dec 29, 02:55 PM · #
People get the government they deserve, and the same is probably true with restaurants. What have Americans done to deserve Cheesecake Factory?
— BrianF · Dec 29, 08:51 PM · #
But who thought Cheesecake Factory was good in the first place?
— dth · Dec 29, 11:55 PM · #
“Cheesecake factories are in malls, Conor, so they have to do something to recoup those exorbitant mall rents.”
Clearly, the Cheesecake Factory is yet another failure of the free market to solve problems. Instead, it appears to cause problems – like the Cheesecake Factory.
— Ray Butlers · Dec 30, 01:08 AM · #
It’s a restaurant without focus. Yes, it’s got the cheesecake hook. But it’s also got a menu the size of a phonebook filled with entree’s that are below average by chain restaurant standards (Chili’s does burgers and ribs better, PF Chang’s does Chinese better, etc). The jack-of-all-trades problem might be passable since it’s somewhat accommodating of diverse groups, but it also takes modern restaurant design to it’s horrible limit. There are confusing stylistic details: what’s the restaurant supposed to look like or evoke? You can figure that out easily at an Olive Garden or Red Robin, but the interior designers of the CF just tossed everything in and hoped it fit. Worse, however, is the open-room + hard-flooring design that makes the place downright cacophonous. There are some other severe offenders in this category (PF Chang’s, Maggiano’s), but with mediocre food and ads in the menu, at least make the dining experience one where you don’t have to shout to hear your companions across the table. Chain restaurants serve their purpose, but The CF is by far one of the worst ones. If you really want cheesecake, just go to a restaurant nearby and then pop in to The CF for dessert.
— Urstoff · Dec 30, 03:35 AM · #
I have only eaten at the Cheesecake factory in Boston…I went on a Saturday night and had to wait over two hours just to be seated. With a wait like that, It is impossible not to expect a lot from the restaurant; however, I ordered the Shepperd’s pie and was not impressed. It was not horrid, but with all the waiting it would have just saved time by making one at home.
— Bryan Ens · Dec 30, 03:56 PM · #
Texas School Cheesecake Depository
— GCAW · Dec 31, 05:15 AM · #
I guess I’ll add this to my list of American cultural abominations. (If I can find space!)
I’ve never eaten at a Cheesecake Factory, I assumed it was a dessert cafe or something… Now I know I never will. Simple syrup in a G&T? And that’s probably AFTER they upsell you to Bombay Sapphire.
— thekingofcheap · Dec 31, 05:48 PM · #
The Cheesecake Factory is a Denny’s masquerading as a nice restaurant. It’s got a huge variety of kinda-decent food, and those ads in the menus are insufferable. But have you ever looked at the nutritional content? Naturally, the CF has been VERY reluctant to release that information. The only entree on the menu that has a reasonable amount of calories is the insultingly-named “weight management grilled chicken.” Almost everything you can order is 1000+ calories.
At least those weird columns look a bit like the Eye of Sauron atop his tower in Mordor.
— Ryan R · Jan 5, 11:40 PM · #