I was driving in nearby Huntington Beach when I see two guys on a streetcorner, holding a large banner that read, “Boycott Cheesecake Factory” and in smaller letters “Unfair Labor Practices”. As a generous man, sensitive to the plight of the average worker, my immediate thought was, “We’re getting a Cheesecake Factory? Awesome! And they’re tough on labor to keep costs down? Double awesome!”
So, yeah, I’m a selfish bastard. But mainly, I love The Cheesecake Factory. MasterChief will vouch for this, we probably gave them thousands while we were in Pasadena. As the next closest one is 30 minutes away (without traffic) in a chick mall, I’m stoked. And this one is in a new, upscale shopping center with Century Theatres, Barnes & Noble, and Starbucks. If they can just build a food court for the takeout restaurants, they’ll be set. (Note to Bella Terra: outdoor mall in ocean town == freezing wind tunnel == crappy/nonexistent dining experience)
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I had a negative experience at the Pasadena restaurant. I was dining enjoyably with some of my JPL and Raytheon buddies when I noticed a six-legged unwelcome visitor crawling up the tablecloth. I immediately notified the waiter; he just swatted it and removed it. End of story. No free lunch, no apology.
I don’t mind the roach too much (after all, they are God’s creatures too, and much hardier than we humans) but the waiter’s cavalier attitude and lack of customer focus (a free lunch or a dessert would have made me a happy, satisfied bug-tolerator) really turned me off. Perhaps they were hoping to avoid an unpleasant scene by not dwelling on the incident, but I just wanted some consideration. I will never eat there again.
Ugh, I am sorry to hear that. In my many years going there, I never had such an experience. I’d be turned off and wanting a bit more attention to the matter. You’re probably right about them not wanting to cause a scene.
I’m curious what would have happened if you reported it to corporate – very easy to do nowadays via email (but that probably wasn’t an option then). Of course, that may not work, either. I sent a complaint to Taco Bell because I got cheated in their drive-thru 3 times, and I even included the store number and the time stamp from my receipt. I didn’t even get a response from them. Haven’t been back there since (probably around 4 years now). A complaint to Round Table Pizza was slightly more successful. They didn’t list BBQ sauce as a topping on one of their specialty pies – basically a smoked sausage pizza that they squeeze BBQ sauce all over (not like a BBQ chicken pizza where BBQ sauce replaces the red sauce). Pretty nasty. They sent what I thought was a coupon for a free pie, but when I tried to pay with it, I was told it was more like a REBATE for a free pie – I had to mail in a receipt to get reimbursed. REALLY lame, IMO. The store should be sending it in, not the unhappy customer. Needless to say, my lazy butt hasn’t done that yet.
Many of my favorite non-booby related memories from the 90’s involved a nice fillet minion served by a cute Cheesecake factory waitress. It pains me to run the numbers, but we EASILY spent thousands there over the years. If you count the movies and coffee shop discussions, we could have bought a car with all that money! Oddly though, I miss those times something fierce!
I must say that when I first read your commments about “The Cheesecake Factory” I pictured a large square building with three smokestacks and trucks drive in one side with ingredients while cheescake trucks drive out the back, making deliveries.
I’m assuming this isn’t the case?
I’ve asked around and nobody here in Howell, NJ seems to know what it is, but by looking at the website, I can see it’s a much bigger West coast thing than East coast.
I like Outback steakhouse. There I said it. The bloomin’ onion is awesome. Leave me alone.
(I’m so not “IN”, it hurts.)
Your imagining of The Cheesecake Factory is hilarious, mainly because thought the same thing the first time I heard about it (I think some relative went there in Boston). And in fact, they sell cheesecake in many supermarkets, even on the east coast, so there’s probably a factory just like that somewhere.
But we’re referring to the restaurant. It is a bit trendy, but has really great food, mostly in the $10-20 range. The cheesecakes (of which there are over 30 varieties) are awesome. To save typing, you can just go to http://cheesecakefactory.com and believe the hype. There are, in fact, 3 in NJ: Edison, Hackensack, and Wayne. Yeah, nowhere close to Ocean or Monmouth counties.
I also like Outback. Props to the onion, and Alice Springs Chicken. But last time I went there we noticed prices had jumped 30%! All you could get for under $14 was a sandwich, which wasn’t very good. The worst part is that we were excited when they put one in town, just to find they don’t serve lunch, which is typically priced much cheaper. I don’t care about trendy, but if I’m paying that kinda money I’m going to comparison shop.
Bottom line: if you’re gonna charge Cheesecake Factory prices, I want their level of ambiance and waitress hotness.