Do you really need an intro the Cheesecake Factory? If you are from the US, and have visited any US city ever, you likely have heard of it. Notorious for many things, including having an epically huge menu (250 items!), insanely high calorie counts on their dishes (not just cheesecake, many, many entrees over 2,000 calories each), and, of course, a slew of cheesecakes.
I've sort of reviewed the Cheesecake Factory before, when I tried several of their "At Home" branded products (bread, ice cream), and of course I've reviewed some of their cheesecake (both from the restaurant and wholesale), but, uh, I haven't actually ever reviewed a proper meal at The Cheesecake Factory.
Partially, I haven't reviewed the restaurant dining as, well, I haven't been in many, many, many years, despite there being a location not that far from my house. In fact, I think I've only actually been to a Cheesecake Factory maybe ... 3? 4? times. I remember being overwhelmed by the menu length, surprised at how seemingly expensive it was, and not being particularly enamored by the food. That said, I did have one very fond memory of the Cheesecake Factory, my first visit ever, and, as much as I've wanted, I just haven't been able to get this one dish out of my mind. And thus, when I was recently in Orlando for a conference, and I needed an easy option for dinner, delivery from the Cheesecake Factory it was. A year later, in the DC area, same thing. I needed easy hotel delivery, and Cheesecake Factory was close by and reliable.
Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services? Here are some codes for free money!
- Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
- Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
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- Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
- Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
- Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
- Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
- Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
- Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
- Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]
Ordering online is easy, and the Cheesecake Factory is clearly accustomed to lots of takeout, everything packaged in appropriate sized containers (include, some *mega* ones!). Of course they have the largest takeout containers I've ever seen. Very on brand.
I'll admit, that yes, the menu is insanely large (really, how can they possibly make all those dishes? I can't imagine being a line cook there, so, so many dishes to know), and yes, the prices are kinda high for a chain, but, I think the food is fairly consistent, and while you won't be blown away by anything, you likely won't hate it either. And, there really is something for everyone there (Asian? Italian? Mexican? Burgers? Salads? Classic American comfort food? They've got it all.) If you want an easy, reliable option, particularly one that will suit ~everyone, it is not a bad pick.
Food
I'm not going to enumerate the menu, nor even the categories, to you here. There is just too much. 250 items. Yes, for real, 250 items. More categories than I care to count. Every mainstream cuisine is represented. Some locations even serve brunch. Zomg, the menu. And, a few times a year, they introduce new things too. It is mind-boggling really.
Small Plates & Snacks / Appetizers / Appetizer Salads
The menu has multiple categories of dishes that you may consider starters, including I truly don't understand how they pick which category to put dishes under, as there are smaller salads under the "Small Plates & Snacks" menu along with those in the "Appetizer Salads" menu, and other items on that same first section seem no different from appetizers, e.g. crab wontons are "Small Plates & Snacks", yet chicken pot stickers are appetizers .... cheeseburger spring rolls are "Small Plates & Snacks" yet Tex Mex or Avocado Eggrolls are appetizers (and all three are fried and look to be the same size portions ...), etc.
I'll just call all those categories, along with the complimentary bread, "Starters".
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| Bread (complimentary). Sourdough & Whole Wheat. (October 2022). |
I have had the "At Home" version of their brown (whole wheat) bread, and did like it (but not love it, as you may recall from my review), so I was curious how the restaurant version would compare.
The brown bread was ... ok. I did like the slight sweetness/maltiness to it, and the oats covering it. But it didn't taste particularly fresh, didn't have that great of a crumb structure, didn't have that great of a crust or chew. Better once warmed up, but, yeah, not particularly great. I'm not sure why people rave about this bread so much. ***.
The other half a baguette was sourdough. I still tried it, even though I don't like sourdough. It was soft, didn't have a good crust, didn't have a great chew either, and, was slightly sourdough. Meh for me. **.
The generic butter pats were not interesting either, I'm not sure if they serve something better in the restaurant.
I didn't really care for this bread, but its nice that they include for takeout, as many places do not.
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| Bread (Complimentary). (October 2023). |
Both of the breads were served at room temperature, and both were fairly hard and a touch stale. I used to really like the Cheesecake Factory brown bread, but this was really a letdown. It still had a decent malty flavor, and I liked the oats coating, but, it was just too dry. The baguette was similarly dry, the crust was very hard, and difficult to break into. They just didn't seem fresh. *+.
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| Appetizer: Thai Lettuce Wraps. $17.95. (October 2022). |
Ok, story time! This is the first dish I ever had at the Cheesecake Factory. I also think it was the first thai (or, Thai inspired) food I ever had. I most certainly didn't order it myself, but, when I tried it, my very sheltered mind was blown.
So how did this come about? Well, my family lives in rural New Hampshire. We didn't even take day trips to cities like Boston that were just 2.5 hours away. I had zero exposure to dining out besides our regular lineup of Subway, Pizza Hut or Papa Ginos, and Taco Bell. I certainly didn't know Thai food, I certainly didn't know big flashy places like The Cheesecake Factory. The same was true for most of extended family, except for one aunt and cousin, who had, gasp, moved to California. California! The other side of the country! To me, they were an enigma, and I thought they were so hip and cultured. And one time, said cousin came to visit, and we had to pick her up in Boston. She wanted to actually spend time in Boston, at least a few hours, before heading to the countryside. And she wanted to take us to the Cheesecake Factory. I remember being in awe of the place, the sheer size, the marble poles, the menu ... and being totally overwhelmed. My cousin took to ordering for us when she saw my mom and I as deer in headlights, and I think she enjoyed showing us her ways. And one thing she ordered for the table was the Thai Lettuce Wraps. I had never had anything like them before. A create-your-own dish? Food you eat with your hands in a restaurant? And, zomg, the the sauces! The curry noodles! Such flavors! So unlikely anything my rural taste buds had ever experienced before.
And that was my memory. Sure, some of the memory is certainly just being in awe that such a fantastical place existed in the first place, and some of it was thinking my older, urban cousin was super cool, but, I also remember genuinely liking the dish. And yet, I never had the dish again. I was probably 13? 14? when I had it, and, although I visited the Cheesecake Factory at least one other time with my mom (I think when we were touring colleges) and one time when I moved out to California, I didn't get it then. And yet, the memory came back to me, suddenly, when I was browsing menus on Door Dash a few months ago, and, well, I just couldn't stop thinking about the dish. It also seemed perfect for takeout, as it is a cold dish.
There is one problem though - um, I don't like chicken. These are the Thai *Chicken* Lettuce Wraps. And I don't like chicken. At all. The dish does have a vegetarian version too - but it is made with grilled avocado in place of the chicken, and I'm allergic to avocado. My chicken aversion is likely why I didn't try it again when I did visit Cheesecake Factory after that initial time, or perhaps because no one else wanted it, and this dish, like all appetizers there, is meant to share between 3-4 people. So what was I doing, alone, ordering it? Yeah, it didn't make sense, but, I really wanted to see if it lived up to my memories.
And so I ordered it online, putting in the special requests "no chicken, just add extra veggies?". The restaurant called me to follow up, making sure I really didn't want chicken, suggesting that I get the avocado version instead, but when I explained I was allergic to avocado, and just really wanted all the goodies and sauces, they went along with my plan. I asked about subbing shrimp, but I was told I'd need to just order shrimp a la carte. And thus, I asked for just extra veggies.
I gasped when I opened my takeout bag. Well, I gasped when I saw the bag itself, as it was like a comically large shopping bag people have at Christmastime, not like any food takeout bag I've ever seen before. Yes, I know Cheesecake Factory portions are jumbo sized. Yes, I know I asked for extra veggies, but, um, I had two platters, legit *platters*, full of the makings for my wraps. I have no idea what this looks like when ordered normally for takeout, I suspect it is just one container like this, and one with chicken and the lettuce to wrap? But for me, I had two, identical, platters loaded up with all the fillings: fresh crisp carrots and bean sprouts, sliced cucumber salad, and the curry noodles. And two each of the trio of sauces. I was pretty excited to dive in.
The veggies were all good - I liked how crunchy and fresh the carrots and bean sprouts were, they were quite refreshing. The knife skills on the carrots could definitely use some work, all different sizes, some not cut all the way through, but, I didn't really mind. The large hunks of red cabbage that were sorta used as bowls for each component were equally fresh and crunchy. Freshness seemed legit. ***+ all fresh veggies.
The cucumber salad was lightly marinated, with a bit of acidity from red onion too, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. Slightly mushy, sorta half-pickled it seemed, in a way that kinda worked. The other veggies were so fresh and crisp, these served as a bit of a softer textural balance. A good compliment to the other veggies. I quite liked it, I think my favorite component. ****.
And then, the coconut curry noodles. Here we start to get in to the Thai flavors that were so new to me back when I first had it. Curry. Coconut milk. I remember really loving those noodles. These are things I know now, and I wondered what I would think, particularly as I've had actually legit Thai food (mostly in Sydney, not as Americanized as in the US). Like the cucumber salad, it came sprinkled with sesame seeds. The noodles were good - not mushy, slight chew to them, lightly coated in coconut curry. The coconut curry flavor was good, although I'd love even more of it. These were good chilled as served, but I also tried heating some up just for fun, and they worked well as a warm noodle dish too. And even better? Thrown into my panini press to make them crispy. ***+.
And lastly, the thing I remember the most, the sauces. Three of them: Peanut, Sweet Red Chili, and Tamarind-Cashew. Every one of those was so very new to me back then. Would they still be as magical? Actually, yes! I loved every one of them, but, I do realize they are pretty far from authentic Thai flavors, really lacking the heat, lacking the complexity that often comes from sour components and fish sauce, and are, um, heavily sweetened and tuned to appeal to the palettes of the masses. But I still quite liked each of them.
The peanut sauce was the easiest to pick out, very thick, with bits of peanut. Slightly sweet, but good peanut flavor. Basically, American-ized peanut sauce. Good enough with the wraps, likely good to use with any spring rolls, or as I discovered later, pretty good just on shrimp too. I think this one was the most boring, the most pedestrian, but, it was good, and a rich sauce if you were looking for that. ***.
Next up, the darker brown one, which turned out to be the sweet red chili. Emphasis on sweet. It looked like a slightly thicker soy sauce, but, when you tasted it, it was clear it was more like a reduction, and definitely a sweet one at that. I didn't really taste any heat to it, but, there was some complexity, it did seem to have some soy, and it was tasty to dunk into as well. A little of this went a long way though, due to the sweetness. I used some leftover on Asian style pancakes, and it worked great for that too. ***+.
And finally, "the green one", the tamarind-cashew, definitely the most interesting. It was kinda herby, kinda funky, actually some depth to this one, and far less sweet than the others, although, still really quite sweet. It too went well with the wraps, and I think would be good with any dumplings or spring rolls. I think my favorite of the sauces, but, really, they all were tasty, in their own ways, and combined together well too. ***+.
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| Lettuce Wraps. |
I had to laugh at the giant container used to house the lettuce wraps themselves. I think there was 6 (maybe 8?) large pieces of lettuce, all quite fresh. Another huge platter-container. The lettuce was also quite fresh and crisp, although fairly wet. They did work well to wrap up whatever I wanted.
So, overall, very fresh components, and I liked all the elements. The sauces were all enjoyable, and I was happy to have leftover for other Asian food I had later that week. Yes, my wraps likely would have been better with some kind of protein (shrimp would be a nice option), but I still enjoyed them without, and would get this again if I were ever back at the Cheesecake Factory with a group. It was a bit much for one person though, again, designed to share with 2-4.
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| Appetizer: Thai Lettuce Wraps with Chicken. $13.95. (Smaller Portion. No Chicken). (October 2023). |
As you read about last year, I have very fond memories of this dish from the Cheesecake Factory, and I really just sometimes really crave the sauces. They are all so excellent. Sometime in the past year, Cheesecake Factory introduced a new version of the dish, dubbed the "Smaller Portion", which I love, as normally it comes as a huge appetizer platter designed for sharing. While still on the menu in the appetizers portion for sharing, the small portion would be great for a meal for one, or to share with just one other person as an app. I'm thrilled they added this option, although it does come with only one each of the trio of delicious sauces, and the large version comes with two of each.
As always, it came plated on hunks of red cabbage, with shredded carrots and bean sprouts, cucumber salad, and the noodles. The veggies were all as expected, fresh, crisp, vibrant. The cucumber salad was lightly pickled, good acidity, refreshing. The letdown for me was the noodle, which are supposed to be coconut curry noodles, but mine seemed plain. They didn't have any visible coating, nor flavor. This was unfortunate, as the flavorful curry noodles are a key element. ***+ veggies, ** noodles.
Of course, plenty of flavor was to be had in the trio of sauces. My review of these is unchanged from past reviews: I like them all, although all trend a bit sweeter than you'd expect.
Overall, still a good dish, but a slight letdown due to missing curry. I'll continue to get it, and I'm glad they added the new portion size. ***+.
The larger portion is available for $19.50.
Since I don't like chicken, and I'm allergic to avocado (the other version of this dish), I asked for just extra veggies instead, and was provided what I assume was the extra in a second container. When I had done this at another Cheesecake Factory location, they called me to talk about it, and it took some convincing to do, but this one did with no problems.
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| No Chicken -> Extra Veg! (October 2023). |
The fresh crisp butter lettuce for the wraps was also included in this container.
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| Small Plates & Snacks: Street Corn (No cheese, Mayo on the side). $9.95. (October 2023). |
In the summer of 2023, I discovered Trader Joe's frozen corn ribs, and immediately became addicted to them, and to the concept in general. I knew the Cheesecake Factory version wasn't the same at all, in particular, as they take a sorta-Mexican street corn spin on it, and use regular size corn cobs, but, I was still quite curious. For context, the Trader Joe's version is smaller cobs, and coated in vegan butter and insanely delicious seasoning. The Cheesecake Factory version attempts to channel Mexican street corn vibes, but, they oddly use Parmesan instead of a cheese like cojita (Italian street corn)?.
I don't actually like Mexican street corn though - I love cheese and mayo, don't get me wrong, but I don't like it on my corn. So I asked for no cheese (easy to do when ordering online, it is an option to leave off basically any ingredient in any dish there), and for the mayo on the side. Both requests were honors.
The corn was ... interesting. Well cooked, nice char on it. But it really was just normal corn on the cob, with some cob left on. You would eat it with your hands, and discard the cobs, not consume them. Like, well, ribs. The Trader Joe's ones I love you can actually eat the cobs, as they are more petite. Anyway, the corn was fine, not too mushy, decent corn flavor.
It was aggressively buttered/oiled however, far more than I was expecting. Even not smothered in cheese and mayo as intended, it was a very heavy dish. It lacked any real seasoning besides the oil, but I think that makes sense given that it usually has the other toppings. I wanted to add copious amount of pepper and a touch of salt.
And finally, the "chile-lime mayonnaise" ... tasted like regular mayo. I detected no hints of chile, nor of lime. Just mayo. Creamy, fine mayo, but just mayo. Not really what I wanted on my corn anyway, but I was surprised by this lack of flavor. I wonder if they gave me plain mayo confused by my request for mayo on side?
Overall, I'm glad I tried it, and it was well cooked, but, I wouldn't get it again as it was just too greasy for me. ***.
Side Dishes
Both times I ordered, I skipped the pages and pages of entrees, broken down into flatbread pizzas, "Glamburgers", sandwiches, entree salads, Specialities, pastas, fish & seafood, steaks, and Factory Combinations, and moved straight to the sides, where the more simple veggies and carbs (fries, sweet potato fries, mashed potatoes, rice, mac and cheese) were.
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| Side: Green Beans. $6.95. (October 2022). |
I had some leftover bolognese in my hotel room, and one thing I always like with my lasagna, bolognese, etc, is a side of green beans. I rarely eat green beans otherwise, but with bolognese, or other red sauce based dishes, I'm all in. I threw I side order of them on to use with my dinner later, even though I can't say I've ever seen nor heard of anyone actually ordering side dishes at the Cheesecake Factory before (why would you, with the massive portions?).
I can safely say I've never thought to order a side of vegetables at Cheesecake Factory given how massive their dishes are, and how all the entrees already come with sides, but, when I wasn't ordering an entree, and was really craving asparagus, I was quite curious to see how this would be. It was October, so certainly not asparagus season, so I didn't have particularly high hopes.
"Serves 2. 11% ABV. Our Signature Recipe Featuring Cabernet Sauvignon Marinated for 12 Hours with Lots of Fresh Pineapple, Orange & Granny Smith Apples."
The green beans were absolutely fine. Not mushy, not amazingly snappy, but cooked fine. A few did have stems still on them though. The portion was reasonable for a side for 1 person, or 2 if you were sharing other things, but looked a bit small just due to the container size, that was Cheesecake Factory sized (and likely their smallest container?). I can't say it was an amazingly $6.95 spent, but, the beans were absolutely acceptable, and did go with my other leftovers quite well. So, if you want green beans, they are fine.
***.
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| Side: Grilled Asparagus. $7.95. (October 2023). |
It was decent. Well prepared, not too soft, slight a slight snap to it. Nice grill marks. A touch oily/buttery, but that is somewhat to be expected from the factory of decadence. Reasonable amount of seasoning, although I wanted more salt and pepper. It wasn't the most flavorful asparagus, or remarkable in any way, but, no issues with the execution, and it really met my cravings. ***+.
The portion of 10 spears for $7.95 was fairly reasonable.
Drinks
The Cheesecake Factory has an extensive cocktail menu (like all parts of their menu), with a fair number of them available to go as well. Cocktails that are available to-go come in sealed containers, so I think they are packaged elsewhere, not freshly made cocktails?
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| Red Sangria. $20. (October 2022). |
I'm not really sure why I picked the sangria. I think I wanted wine, but only cocktails were an option, and this was the closest thing to wine. After all, it did have wine in it ...
But, um, it tasted like fruity grape juice. The pineapple made it kinda tropical, the rest just made it, well, fruity. Like I said, fruity grape juice. Easy drinking if you wanted fruit juice, but really no taste of alcohol that I could detect.
A poor order on my part, but fine sangria. ***.
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