In recent weeks I have had the chance to eat at one of Fairfax County's Cheesecake Factories. For years, I would see throngs of people waiting in line to eat at this place. I always heard great things about it.

Well, after eating there for about the fifth time, I've decided this is one of the greatest frauds being perpetrated on mankind. Not only is its food mediocre and way over-priced, even the CHEESECAKE is nothing to write home about. Add to it that the service is slow and you got yourself one over-hyped place. The food truly is not much different than what you would get at Planet Hollywood or the Hard Rock Cafe.

Agreed. Food and service are average at best. May as well call it Bennigans with better decor. -§

It should be called the Lardass Factory. All that fat broads I see waiting to stuff their piehole with that fatty greasy shite....

I'm not going to sit here and defend the place, but I do really like some of their dishes and I think it's one of the better corporate chain restaurants around here (which actually isn't really saying much). At any rate, it's WAYYY better than Hard Rock or Planet Hollywood, those places are like a prententious version of TGI Fridays. In fact, the Planet Hollywood in DC was one of the worst meals I ever had. But I could seriously eat the chicken madeira at Cheesecake Factory every week and never get tired of it. I haven't had the cheesecake from there in over ten years, but I remember thinking it was pretty fuckin good at the time.

However, I agree with your point about the huge throngs of people and long waits, it's pretty ridiculous, and it creates alot of unnecessary and exaggerated hype.

I always like these restaurant threads, so if you know of a better corporate chain here in NoVA, let's hear about it.

I like Macaroni Grill. THeres one in Fairfax by CompUSA, one in Dulles Town Center, and one in Reston that I know of. They have good sized portions for on the cheap. (between 7-12 dollars/entree) and the food and service are excellent.

Cheesecake Factory is trash, i never understood the hype around it either. I like Maggiano's Little Italy in Tyson's a lot, family style is amazing although it is kind of expensive.

TheMeeper Wrote:
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> I'm not going to sit here and defend the place,
> but I do really like some of their dishes and I
> think it's one of the better corporate chain
> restaurants around here (which actually isn't
> really saying much). At any rate, it's WAYYY
> better than Hard Rock or Planet Hollywood, those
> places are like a prententious version of TGI
> Fridays. In fact, the Planet Hollywood in DC was
> one of the worst meals I ever had. But I could
> seriously eat the chicken madeira at Cheesecake
> Factory every week and never get tired of it. I
> haven't had the cheesecake from there in over ten
> years, but I remember thinking it was pretty
> fuckin good at the time.
>
> However, I agree with your point about the huge
> throngs of people and long waits, it's pretty
> ridiculous, and it creates alot of unnecessary and
> exaggerated hype.
>
> I always like these restaurant threads, so if you
> know of a better corporate chain here in NoVA,
> let's hear about it.


The Great American Restaurants (Sweetwater, Coastal Flats, etc) located here in NoVA are 10 times better than Cheesecake Factory in both service & food quality. I know its not a National Chain, but i do consider it somewhat of a chain restaurant since there are multiple locations of some of the restaurants.

Coastal Flats

Yeah, that place is great, they have that Sauteed Shrimp & Creamy Grit Cakes dish that is so awesome. The Tysons location usually isn't that full either.

Agree with Coastal Flats. The whole Great American Restaurant chain is in an entirely different league than Cheesecake Factory. I do like the menu at CF though. It might not be all 'super', but they have a huge variety. However, the wait, especially at Fair Oaks mall, make it completely unappealing.

Pars on route 29 in FX city is really good. As in Anitas.

I do not know if this is still the case, but in the mid 90s, Cheesecake Factory would locate in dying or underutilized malls. They would negotiate for cheap or free rent since the fact that a CF was there would be a draw to the mall and people waiting an hour for a table would shop while they wait.

White Flint Mall was one such location. They signed e a 10 or 20 year lease Free RENT. A token percentage of the overall sales had to be paid to the mall - but not much more of a percentage than the other merchants were paying on tgop of their rent.

CF is like George Plimpton. Famous for being famous.

.
>
> White Flint Mall was one such location. They
> signed e a 10 or 20 year lease Free RENT.
nah come on. no landlord is giving up their space for free for 20-30 years!

I ate at the Cheesecake Factory for the first time about 6 months ago because the wait was much shorter than Maggiano's. Since then I've made two or three more visits. I like the ambiance and the wait hasn't been too bad (I usually go fairly late). Also their salads, while not necessarily healthy, are quite good.

I also know someone that was very fond of their Linda's Chocolate Fudge Cake before undertaking a month-long project to eat an entire cake (thank goodness for freezers).

The Cheesecake Factory may not be in my top 5 restaurants, but I'm quite happy to eat there.

ferfux Wrote:
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> .
> >
> > White Flint Mall was one such location. They
> > signed e a 10 or 20 year lease Free RENT.
> nah come on. no landlord is giving up their space
> for free for 20-30 years!


No Rent at White Flint when the lease was signed. I do not remember whether it was a 10 or 20 year lease. Probably 10 years - the morons at White Flint could not be that stupid. The fee was six point something percentage of sales. Other mall merchants were paying between 1 and 4 percent of sales on top of their rent.

The above is what I heard from multiple sources who I believe to be reliable ie merchants who were told it was a good thing and would drive traffic into the mall. Do not sue me Cheesecake Factory.

I got kicked out of the cheesecake factory in fiarfax, my idiot friend brought leftover fireworks in there with him and we ended up setting off two bottle rockets in there before our waitress came, it was hilarrious, the manager came out yelling and we started to run away, he was shouting that he was calling the cops and that we were banned from that stupidass place. Im still not scared to back in there though

Never been in coastal flats but I hear it has some good eye candy at happy hour. Anyone that can advise?

The one in Fair Oaks sucks. The tables are about 10 inches apart from one another and they cram you in like livestock.

I personally have never disliked a dinner or dessert here. I however continually receive shitty service at the Tysons, Fair Oaks and White Flint locations (being as those are the only locations I have every been too doesn't say much for the staffing). I use to be a waitress and I understand how they find themselves in the weeds at such a busy restaurant but maybe they should be less greedy and have a smaller server to table ratio. With drinks, appetizers, entrees, dessert (and more dessert for later :) my bill for just myself is a good 60, and depending on how many people i'm with the table can top 200$, no excuse for bad service.

Genevieve Wrote:
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> Linda's Chocolate Fudge Cake

Damn, that stuff is rich. The month long in not an exaggeration! Well worth the 7 bucks for a slice. However, the CF's cheesecake is actually pretty small for the price (Outback's is cheaper at 4.99 and the slice is 3x the size) and nothing special.

myspaceaddict, you make it sound like they can just *presto* find waitstaff when they need it. It's hard as fuck to staff around here for those jobs.

RESton Peace, they can. They have more idiots than you can count lining up to fill out applications. They just need to be less picky, ugly people need jobs too.

I ate lunch at the Cheesecake factory in Fort Lauderdale during the last snowstorm here. I thought it was pretty good. I had a salad and it was very large. I did not know there was one in Fairfax.

Trickie

pretty, pretty bathrooms, very deserving of me urinating on the toilet seat, floor, and depending on how many beers I've had, the sink as well.

myspaceaddict Wrote:
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> They just need to be less picky, ugly people need
> jobs too.

Let's not get carried away here... Ugly people may need jobs, but there are many jobs that do not directly interact with the paying customers!

An UGLY waitress will not draw customers!

I think a lot of people here who say they like Cheesecake Factory are mistaking "large portions" for "good food".

If you have noticed with their salads, they cram a head of lettuce in there and barely put any meat, cheese, dressing, etc. on it. Sorry, but I'm not into paying $13 for a head of lettuce and two or three croutons.

+1 macaroni grill, the one in RTC is pretty decent, never been to the one at DTC.

Carrabas is also good but the clientele can get a lil rednecky especially on weekends.

I'm hitting the Cheesecake Factory for lunch today, all this talk about it gave me a jones for some of their food and I haven't been there in quite awhile.

Fairfax MF---er Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think a lot of people here who say they like
> Cheesecake Factory are mistaking "large portions"
> for "good food".
>
> If you have noticed with their salads, they cram a
> head of lettuce in there and barely put any meat,
> cheese, dressing, etc. on it. Sorry, but I'm not
> into paying $13 for a head of lettuce and two or
> three croutons.


I'll agree that the portions are very large. But I've been quite pleased with the amount of toppings, dressing etc on the salads.

And I agree with TheMeeper... this thread is making me hungry for Cheesecake Factory. Maybe I'll get a Santa Fe salad to go for dinner!

KeepOnTruckin Wrote:
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> I like Macaroni Grill...the food and service are
> excellent.

Macaroni Grill in Fair Lakes used to be OK, but the service has been in the crapper for over a year. We decided to give it another try on Saturday and our waiter was about the worst that I have seen in a long while. Not incompetent, but inappropriate with unneeded editorial comments on the food.

Cheesecake Factory is OK, but who wants to wait two hours on a Saturday evening when all that there is to do there is shop crummy Fair Oaks Mall? Seating at 4:30 is fine, but try eating at 6:30.

Great American Restaurants (GAR), especially Artie's and Coastal Flats, are far superior, cost about the same with outstanding food. GAR knows how to train a waitstaff and the menu is simple.

Sweetwater Tavern is da bomb. Great food. Fantastic service. Competitive prices. And, it's a good place to bring the kids.

As for the Cheesecake Factory, I think it is fine for you folks who like mediocre, over-priced food and shitty service. Next time I have a hankering for that, I'll go to Denny's and leave double the bill.

who like mediocre, over-priced food and shitty service

I was just there a 1/2 hour ago, and I disagree with your comments on mediocre food and shitty service. But I'll agree with your over-priced comment, I dropped 20+ on an entree and soda for lunch, which is pretty pricey.

Still good though.

TheMeeper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> who like mediocre, over-priced food and shitty
> service
>
> I was just there a 1/2 hour ago, and I disagree
> with your comments on mediocre food and shitty
> service. But I'll agree with your over-priced
> comment, I dropped 20+ on an entree and soda for
> lunch, which is pretty pricey.
>
> Still good though.


Apparently you don't get out much.

If you guys are looking for a good local restaurant, not a chain, we have discoved a wonderful Italian place in Fairfax City called Vespucci's. We have eaten there four times and had great food and wonderful service all the four times.

Trickie

"Apparently you don't get out much", Fairfax MF---er

Lol Meeper.

Well, maybe on the Macaroni's it depends upon the waiter. Now another benifte there is they put a huge sheet of paper on the table and the waiter will write their name upside down on it and give you crayons, and so you can draw all over the table with no wories. Thats good for if ya have kids.

Ffxmfer, you take restaurants so seriously... chill out brother. To each his own, right? Why have you got such a hard-on against CF? I don't particularly like Artie's or Coastal Flats, I've experienced shitty service in both and once again, the food is not any better or worse than anyplace else, but I would never call you a loser for liking it.

Clearly you had a different experience at those places than I did, so good for you. I've never had anything but a good meal and decent service at CF, so I like the place. It may be expensive, but I eat there less than every other month. It's called moderation.

And as for the wait, it's like that at any popular restaurant. I eat late to avoid the crowds, or I just find some way to enjoy the wait. You know man, going to a restaurant doesn't have to be a miserable experience, ever, if people just stop taking so fucking personally. This is why I hated waiting tables.

Yeah, you are real funny Meeper, you fuckin cocksucker niggerloving poser-fag, why don't you just go fuck your skank mother while your dad watches and then joins in, get a life you loser

FYI -

That last post wasn't from me. However, with the exception of the n-loving, I pretty much agree with it.

Spartans in Burke is good. No its not a chain so this comment is probably off topic but its good all the same. I always have awesome service and tasty food a descent prices. Of course they have a pretty small italian menu but their food is yummy!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2007 05:56AM by myspaceaddict.

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