I recently went with my girlfriend and a variety of her family members to The Cheesecake Factory on the 16th Street Mall in Denver, CO. It was an interesting experience, not only because I was with a large group whom I don’t usually go to dinner with, but it was also the eve of Christmas Eve, so we were expecting to wait a while for a table. The mall itself wasn’t busy at all, but the restaurant definitely was - it took a while just to edge our way through the crowd of people to get up to the hostess podium. The hostesses gave us an estimated wait time of 60-70 minutes, which seemed just about right for a group of eight. Unfortunately, all of the big groups before us ended up eating for much longer than expected, and our actual wait was 90+ minutes. By the time we were finally seated, each of us knew exactly what we planned to order off of the very expansive menu, because we had such a long time to decide before being seated.

The restaurant was very large, moodily lit (making it very hard to take good pictures with a camera phone) and decorated nicely. There was nothing incredibly impressive about the atmosphere, but it was welcoming and roomy (if you ignored the huge crowd in the waiting area). Our table was somewhat secluded by light-up glass dividers, but we were still next to a busy hallway.

None of us had ever eaten at The Cheesecake Factory before, and we really had no idea what kind of food to expect (besides cheesecake) - my guess was that they mostly served Italian food (based on the style of the decorations), but as it turned out, they had a full range of dishes, spanning from pizza and burgers to chinese and pasta. Basically, they had americanized versions of all the most popular and favorite dishes from all genres of food. Because of this fact, it took me utterly too long to finally make a decision on a meal - but I was glad to have the selection.

As we waited for our food, I explained to the group that I planned to write this review, and I asked for everyone’s input. It was observed that the butter served with the appetizer bread was very cold, making it impossible to spread. Crystal’s uncle explained that if he ever ran a restaurant, his butter would be softer and much easier to spread - a good tip for any restaurant that doesn’t want to frustrate it’s diners right off the bat. The appetizer bread was tasty and had a good variety of 3 different breads, but wasn’t anything amazing. Also noticed during the initial survey of the restaurant was the cold temperature in the dining area, I left my jacket on during the entire meal because it was quite chilly.

Our server didn’t do a great job, she forgot minor things including refills on bread, and a few people who asked for water did not get it without asking twice. I got the general impression from her that I often get from servers who are serving a large group - she didn’t seem to pay as much attention to us as she should have, and she didn’t care, because she knew her tip would be automatically added to our bill. This kind of attitude always makes me angry, and I wish restaurants would discontinue the stupid policy of an automatic tip for large parties, just for this reason alone. I expect a certain level of service from a server, and if I don’t get it, they sure as hell should not be getting a decent tip.

I ended up ordering pasta, because that’s what I expected at the restaurant, and that’s what I was craving at the time. I got the fettucini with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes, in a garlic-parmesan cream sauce. The first thing I usually do with any meal is salt my food, so I was once again frustrated by a minor detail - the salt shakers on the table barely released any salt, and I spent at least a minute dealing with the salt shaker, instead of diving into my food. Once I actually started eating, I enjoyed my pasta. The chicken pieces weren’t the best quality, quite a few of them had gristle and fat that I would have rather avoided, but for the most part it was edible. The sauce was delicious, but could have been more garlicky. The fettucini was cooked perfectly, and added a good color variety to my plate (there were white and green noodles). The sun-dried tomatoes were very flavorful, and juicier than I am used to, but at the same time, they were a bit too chewy - almost giving the texture of raisins to my meal. Overall, it was an average pasta dish.

The rest of my party enjoyed their meals, the teriyaki chicken (which was tried by nearly everyone) was especially good. Of course, the thing that everyone was really waiting for during the whole meal, was dessert. Eating at The Cheesecake Factory basically ensures the fact that you need to eat cheesecake for desert, and most everyone at the table ordered a slice to try. I opted to share with 2 other people, trying the godiva chocolate and brownie sundae flavors. The godiva chocolate was my favorite, it was an incredibly rich chocolate that tasted wonderful. The brownie sundae had sundae toppings on it, including whipped cream, hot fudge, and nuts. The brownie was baked on the bottom and tasted pretty good, but I would have enjoyed more brownie, and less nuts.

Overall, The Cheesecake Factory had good food, especially dessert. It was a bit pricey, but that was expected, and we picked a horrible day to go to dinner, which is probably what accounted for the extremely long wait. We also got mediocre service, and had a lot of small gripes about our experience, but it wasn’t entirely bad by any means.

The Cheesecake Factory (Denver, CO): 3/5

Have you ever eaten at The Cheesecake Factory? What did you think? What’s the longest you’ve ever had to wait for a table at a restaurant?

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