Cheescake Factory at the House Of Mouse

Cheescake Factory, Orlando FL ~ 04.28.08

Ron Says –

Call it a not so local review…… Especially since noone else seems to want to post anything… So for site content purposes only:

Cheescake Factory – in my opinion one of the best places I’ve eaten – seems to be consistently great at giving you big heapings of food that are well cooked for a decent price when compared to other places. Think Outback, Longhorn, etc….

However, as is with everyplace down here in the vicinity of that famous “RAT”… it comes with an inflation price. $4.50 for 12oz of Bud Light (no lap dance included). Other meals seem to be inflated a few extra dollars.

The menu items in my opinion don’t suit me… as well there’s 1300 different cheescakes ($6.95 per slice mostly) wines and beers – and as with all places no prices on the beers. Why is that??

The menu as I was saying doesn’t suit me…. there is no stand out item that says I have to have it… a bunch of eastern style dishes…. “Spicy Cashew Chicken”, etc…. mixed in with typical Steaks and Burgers… But because I don’t have that standout meal doesn’t mean that the food isn’t good…. And like I said, great portions..

My burger was ordered medium rare – came out RARE… And for a first that you will not find in the West Virginia area – the server simply grabbed the meal and said, “I’ll get you another” – I wasn’t asked “Do you want another?” it was assumed…. in addition the manager promptly showed up and asked if I would like anything additional on the house, ie appetizer etc….. Grade A….

(course this standout service is also probably due to the rat inflation)

Other than the exuberant prices on beer… I can’t complain too much….could have given it four forks but because of the unnecessary markups… well I feel I paid for the three fork rating.

Now, for the seven year old and her 4 burgers that she had to have and said she could eat all of them? Well that’s a story for another day.

Susan’s Review:

My little girls and I love the Cheesecake Factory and we planned in advance to go there while in Orlando. On a side note, the restaurant is part of a nice mall called Mall at Millenia – it has “regular folk” stores and a lot of high-end ones that are so much fun for window shopping. But back to the restaurant… I usually prefer to eat at local places when out of town…no chains! I will visit the occasional chain restaurant if it is something that I cannot get near home. For example, Ron always hits a White Castle if we get near one. Keep that in mind when reading his reviews and apply the appropriate filters henceforth.

Thank goodness for the Cheesecake Factory because it was the best food we had eaten since we left Charleston. The last two times I ate there, I ordered the Bang Bang Chicken and Shrimp and it is delish. Don’t get me started on that. This time I promised myself I would try something else and decided on the lunch portion of the Spicy Chicken Chipotle Pasta. Boy am I glad I got the lunch portion – it was huge! And it was just as delicious as my ol’ favorite Bang Bang. The sauce was a little spicy but built as I ate through the dish. The presentation was pretty and made me excited to dig in. (Ron was in charge of photos and you can see on his post that the only thing he photographed was his beer bottle. Sorry Daniel.) There were peas and asparagus and green onions. The dish cost only $10.95 to boot. Man, it was good.

I did not have room for my $6.95 cheesecake selection but I didn’t let that stop me – there’s this thing called a to-go container! You see more Cheesecake Factory bags around the mall than you do those from Macy’s. And rightly so, the tiramisu cheesecake I ordered was worth every penny.

I have to give Cheesecake Factory FOUR FORKS because it is everything I want in a restaurant: pretty atmosphere, attractive presentation of the dish, lots of variety, delicious desserts worth blowing your diet and not too expensive to eat there on a day other than a special occasion. The reason they don’t get 5 forks is because they have no kids menu. I see this as a way to make you spend more money than you need to. Kids can’t handle those enormous portions.

On a side note for you parents out there…

As Ron eluded to in his review, the younger daughter ordered the Roadside Sliders – 4 small burgers – from the appetizer menu. They are about the size of a Wendy’s jr. burger. She also insisted on adding an order of fries. We tried to tell her she could never fit that much into her size 6 slim body but she was, in true redhead fashion, very stubborn. So we agreed and told her she wouldn’t get anything else to eat until she finished all of her meal and we would take the leftovers with us. Much to our surprise, we left the restaurant with only the four buns in her to-go box and she ate on them that evening and the next morning. The following afternoon she boldly announced she was “sick of eating buns”!