The Cheesecake Factory

Definitely a good cheese cake factory! I’m pretty sure everyone’s been here, and we’re trying to make sure we’re not going to a bad one but this one is just fine. They have the usual food, great service unless they’re busy don’t expect much haha. I usually get the guacamole salad which is always bomb, and the fried chicken wings which is really good haha. Definitley a good usual spot: D

Our 20 minute wait became 40 then at 40 they say 15 more minutes, but yet more than half the restaurant is empty.
I get that sometimes a business can be understaffed for one reason or another, but at this location it seems to be a constant.
So many groups of people leaving after waiting an hour and still not being seated.

Not the first time me and my friends get sick from eating at this restaurant! Yeah the food tastes good but not worth vomiting after an hour.

Food: 4 stars
Service: 1 star
OMG — what has happened to my once-​favorite restaurant? The service here is so poor! Our server last night could barely crack a smile — she got my son’s order wrong (no cheese please) and after apologizing, the burger finally showed up 25 min later. We had to continually ask for water refills (5 minutes later), ketchup (another 5 minutes), etc. etc. It was a terrible experience. Will not be going there anytime soon.
Management: PLEASE fix the problems with your wait staff! It’s inexcusable and such a shame — after reading many other reviews, it seems this problem is a common thread.

I LOVED this location when it first opened but lately, the service sucks, my order never comes out right, and the food is nothing close to what I expect when I’m paying $ 20 a dish. Not to mention, I FOUND A HAIR IN, and I mean WAYYYYY inside, MY CHEESECAKE. I understand how busy restaurants get, there is sooooo much pressure that falls onto waiters nowadays. But mess up my food once, and I’ll let it go. Mess it up twice, it’ll effect your tip. Mess it as many times as The Cheesecake Factory in the Hillsdale mall, and I give up hope on you.
The managers are super friendly but that DOES NOT make up for bad service almost every time I come in here (and I’m here at least once a week!). Every time I dine-​in, either my utensils are still dirty, the water cup has lip stains on it, the waiter puts chicken in my pasta that I ordered specifically because it’s one of the only ones without meat, or the table isn’t ready by the time I’m seated so I never actually receive napkins or silverware or small plates for bread.
I finally hit my last strike with them when I bought some cheesecake slices one night to eat at home (because I figured: «how could they mess that up??»). MISTAKE to even ask myself that question considering there was a looooongg HAIR that I didn’t even find in my cheesecake slice until I was more than HALF done with it. It kinda just popped out from under the whipped cream that sits on the slice of cake. The cherry on that vomit flavored cheesecake that I almost puked up after pulling the hair out of the slice is that all I’m getting in return is a $ 10 gift card TO CHEESECAKE FACTORY. And I won’t even get that until 10 business days or so.
To sum it all up, I’m a saaaaaaaaad panda that I can no longer come to this location without feeling totally grossed out.

Not sure if the Host staff are inexperienced or just like to give attitude, less than zero customer service. The hostess first indicated it would be ½ hour, not bad for a Saturday night but then told me I would have to come back in 15 minutes to get a pager. When I would return (I tried twice) she indicated they were out of pagers again. She would roll her eyes and take a deep breath when she spoke to me as well as others, like we were doing her a favor being there.
There had to be six or seven «hostess» running around behind the desk, two of them were on their phones texting, one of them just stared at the computer screen and Miss Personality that I was dealing was slinging attitude.
Dozens of open tables, so either poor scheduling or no staff, we found a place at the bar and received excellent service from the bartender (that is the only reason I gave them 2 Stars) but it is a miracle this place stays open based on the initial experience at the hostess desk.
The food is generally good and it was again today and I am equally as sure they could care less about a bad review given folks were four deep waiting inline to get in. Still sad to see a place with such poor customer service at the hostess desk get rewarded.

This is not my first time going to the CHEESECAKE FACTORY. This might be like my 5^th time eating at this particular one since I moved to San Mateo 11 months ago. Actually, it is one of my favorite restaurants. I’m not typically crazy for chain restaurants but I think CF has a massive menu, the service is beyond good, and the ambience is relaxing and on point.
I was recently having dinner at the CF with four of my best girlfriends. It was Bonnie’s special birthday, and whenever it’s any of ours birthday, we really have a good time.
Since no reservations are allowed, we luckily only had to wait a mere 15 min for a party of 5 on a weeknight at primetime.
We each started with a cocktail. I won’t bore you with what everyone ordered… just mine. So here goes…
I had a. Cosmopolitan in a fancy glass. It was really tasty! We ordered a couple of appetizers, since we each were ordering our own Entrée. One appetizer was the Avocado Eggrolls, it’s Avocado, Sun-​Dried Tomato, Red Onion, and Cilantro Fried in a crisp wrapper. Served with a Tamarind-​Cashew Dipping Sauce. That was to die for!!! One of the stars of the evening. Our second appetizer was the Crispy Cuban Rolls, Crispy wrappers Filled with Slow roasted Pork, ham, Melted Swiss Cheese, Pickles and Mustard. That was tasty as well, however just a little burndt on the ends. Our third appetizer Warm Crab & Artichoke Dip, a blend of Crab, artichokes, and Cheese Served Warm with Grilled Bread. That was Excellent! Our group can make a meal off the Appetizers Menu alone.
For my entrée, I had the Pasta Carbonara. Excellent, Excellent, Excellent. I always order that, because it is ALWAYS Epic!!! I just love it. The shrimp that’s added is perfection and the noodles are done just the way I like it. The gals loved their entrees as well. Whoops… forgot to mention we had a couple of bottle of Pinot Grigio. Lol.
For dessert, I had the Tiramisu Cheesecake which was so elegant. Thank god I didn’t lick the plate clean. All the girls had different, various types of Cheesecake. After all, it is the CHEESECAKE FACTORY.
Our birthday celebratory dinner was perfect. CF did not waver at all. Excellence. Our waiter was a doll, so polite but not over the top.
Will I write another review when I go back? Maybe. Doubt anything will change however. Its rare to find a restaurant that never misses a beat.

Is this how you serve your customers? With burnt shrimps… very unprofessional and very disappointing! If you burnt the shrimps, don’t try to hide them in the pasta and serve to customers. We are not dumb and blind! I rather the chefs take longer to redo the shrimps than be served burnt shrimps.

You wonder why this Place had 3 star… seriously… our waitress have no energy… can’t get serve (we have to walk straight to kitchen to ask for)
Our plate dirty… got new one and dirty too… (wonder if they’re wash dishes)
Don’t know if we will come back here again.

Superlative — a word that means of the highest quality, supreme or above all; a word that does not apply to Cheesecake Factory. I came in with my family the day before Mother’s day. I have always been dubious of the Cheesecake Factory, but this visit will be my last.
SERVICE ¹⁄₅: We were served by a gentleman with glasses. Not so sure what his name was, but if he is reading this review, he will know. When we first sat down, we already notice that a set of utensils were missing — I asked the waiter and he quickly forgot about it. He would disappear for long periods of time without checking up on us. Whenever we had our waters refilled, received bread or butter, it was only because we asked him to. I understand that that the restaurant was busy, so that was not the biggest issue.
FOOD ¹⁄₅: If it were possible to give 0 stars, it would have definitely happened here. I ordered the fish and chips lunch, while my SO ordered a sandwich with sweet potato fries. When the dishes came, the dishes looked fine. However, after taking a bite of the fish, it was the exact opposite of fine. I am not even sure what I ate till this day — the fish tasted very off. I would rather order a filet-​o-​fish from McDonald’s at this point. The biggest issue was the sweet potato fries. We told our consistently absent waiter that the sweet potato fries were both cold and soggy, a very bad combo for sweet potato fries. He didn’t apologize for the quality of the food and disappeared for another 15 minutes. When he came back, he gave us the SAME order + more of the cold fries.
When he dropped off the check, our waiter never apologized or said thank you. Well, thank you for letting me know where to eat for next lunch — not Cheesecake Factory.
No tip.

Came in for dessert. Had a good time. It was right before closing and still had really good service. Also celebrated my girlfriend’s birthday. And the drinks were really strong and yummy!

Went here for mother’s day and had the worst experience in a long time. The reason for this review is an incredibly rude waitress named «danielle/​daniella» if I recall correctly and while the manager did a great job in trying to right the situation, I don’t think he understood how rude one of his staff members were. Here is a brief run down of what happened (I will shorten «Danielle» to D for the sake of brevity):
1) D starts off normally, we were all smiles and excited to eat after a long wait, which is normal at the factory. She takes our order, leaves and all seems well. Cool!
2) Comes back after a bit and says, «What did you order? I forgot.» Okay, no problem! I repeated my order and said it’s totally cool thanks for clarifying.
3) We ordered 2 drinks, one hot coffee and one iced coffee. She brings two iced coffees. We say, «sorry but we ordered a hot coffee and an iced coffee». She doesn’t say anything and just takes the wrong order back. She seemed angry about her own error and me being anti-​confrontational, I apologized to her when she came back since she had to go through getting the right order. «D» ignored this. Furthermore, we actually felt bad to ask, but she forgot cream and sugar so we asked for that too. At this point she seemed to be losing patience. She asks, «You two want MILK or CREAM?» we were like «ermm I guess both?» I mean, we must be pampered brats if we want cream and sugar with our coffees right?
4) She comes back with even more simmering frustration and drops the creams without a word. She never offered water so I had to wait to flag her down just to ask for a couple of iced waters. I asked almost timidly at this point b/​c Im assuming she’s having a REALLY bad day and I’m trying to give her a pass. She responds, «I’ll get to you» in an angry tone. At this point we are really questioning why D is so dismissive and angry at a mere request for water. She could have just said, «sure» and I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. Instead it was more like, «leave me alone, how dare you make me correct my orders and NOW YOU are asking for waters TOO?»
5) D waitress comes back with, surprise, only 1 water. She is teaching us a lesson that we were acting spoiled when we wanted crème and sugar with coffee. Now we need to make do with only 1 cup of water. She drops it off again without eye contact or saying a word. I’m still trying to be nice and said, «Thank you, I appreciate it» and this is met by a stonewall of silence and D walking away. Now we are moving from timid confusion into full fledged indignant anger at paying to be treated like an unwanted vagrant in this fine fine establishment that manufactures cheesecakes.
6) Manager comes in at our request and was very apologetic and polite. However, it seemed like he was just saying sorry in general and didn’t really acknowledge how poorly Miss «D» was treating us. He offered a glass of wine which we refused but appreciated as a gesture and said he will have a chat with «D». He did a good job based on how steamed we finally got at that point so he (I think his name was Chris?) has no bearing on this negative review. We appreciate him trying to make things right.
Conclusion: «Danielle or Daniella» was such a rude, resentful, and angry waitress that we are never coming to this branch again, despite our general favorable opinion of Cheesecake factories in general. If this particular waitress is fired, hopefully nobody will go through such a random episode of poor treatment.

I think three stars is accurate for this place.
food: 3 stars
Variety on the menu: 4 stars
Service: 2 stars
Wait time: 1 star
Cheesecake: 5 stars
For lunch I ordered Evelyn’s Favorite pasta. I got angel hair instead of penne. It was decent.
Our waitress didn’t come back for a while and when I tried to flag down someone else for water, we were told «that isn’t my job» and he didn’t even offer to flag down another waiter/​waitress.
I’m not sure if the food and the wait time (especially on a weekend) are worth it. This is the only option on this side of the mall though, so that makes sense. Plus the cheesecakes are well worth the wait or other food.
Overall, it’s a fine place if there are no other choices. Or if you’re just coming for dessert!

Huge portions, extensive selection, great atmosphere, and delectable food. What’s not to like?
Oh right… the line, long wait during peak times and sometimes the service.
I come to this location multiple times a month. Sometimes the meal goes by smooth and wonderful and other times there would be a deafening fire alarm, service charging 3x the tip that I wrote which the manager compensated with a gift card however that said gift card had $ 0 when I tried to use it, taking over 10 minutes for missing lettuce and the list goes on.
However every time the food really shines. I love their Miso Salmon, Thai Salmon, Fresh Basil and Tomato and Flatbread, Wild Mushroom Soup, Fresh Kale Salad, Pasta, Shepard’s Pie and lunch portioned items! It doesn’t hurt they also offer a Skinnylicious Menu since most of their dishes are quite excessive in terms of fat and calories.
I have to admit I’m not much of a cake person. I rarely ever eat cake or cheesecake for that matter. However if I really had to eat a cheesecake then I enjoy their Vanilla Bean Cheesecake. It’s one of the few that isn’t overly drenched in chocolate and has a very yummy vanilla flavor.
All in all, I will continue to dine here and make due with the service because I can’t be without their drool-​worthy food!

I’ve been here a lot of times. This place is super inconsistent. I’ve had a few good experiences, but mainly bad.
One year, I came on New Years Day. It was crowded as expected, and they ran out of a lot of food on their menu. They ran out of bread! They should be prepared especially if they know it’s going to be busy.
The most recent time I came here, we ended up waiting an hour. We were a party of six and they told us 30 minutes. The whole restaurant was cleared twice, and we still weren’t seated.
*The manager gave us some appetizers and was very friendly*
The food is good, but just be ready for terrible service.

Sadly, this was a rare not so great meal at the Cheesecake Factory. Our server was pretty slow and unattentive, and the new appetizer and cheesecake that I tried were just ok. My coworkers and I came in at 12:30pm on a Friday, and were surprised to find there wasn’t a wait for a party of 12. We tried:
–Avocado Toast (Grilled Bread Topped w/​Fresh Avocado, Marinated Tomato, Watercress, Radish, Red Onion, Drizzled w/​Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Lemon,
): Not very good. I didn’t like that the avocado and other ingredients were spread on top of the crusty part of the bread instead of on the sliced flat side– it made it difficult to balance the toppings while eating if you wanted to avoid scraping up the roof of your mouth. Skip!
–Barbeque Ranch Chicken Salad (Avocado, Tomato, Grilled Corn, Black Beans, Cucumber, Romaine, Barbeque Ranch Dressing, Topped w/​Crispy Fried Onion Strings): This is one of my favorite salads from here, but this time around it was very mediocre. I still love their barbeque ranch dressing since it has a nice zing to it. Part of the reason the salad wasn’t that great is that they forgot my crispy fried onion strings! Also, the chicken was really dry, and the black beans were undercooked and crunchy. I don’t think I’ll be ordering this again for a while.
–Adam’s Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple (Cheesecake Swirled w/​Caramel, Peanut Butter, Butterfingers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups,
): Definitely good peanut butter flavor, but so so sweet. This is one of their richer tasting cheesecakes, and not one of my favorites– I doubt I would order this again.
–Key Lime Cheesecake (Key Lime in a Cheesecake, Vanilla Crumb Crust,
): Definitely tart, and they don’t skimp on the key lime flavor. This cheesecake was actually too tart for me, and I’d prefer the mango key lime cheesecake over this one– skip!
Although this particular trip to The Cheesecake Factory wasn’t the greatest, I’ll still be back to try more cheesecakes (and their Strawberry Shortcake dessert!). Their menu also changes all the time, so there are always new dishes to try here. Parking was fine when I got there, but if they run out of spots on the ground level they also have the second level with a lot more parking available.

INCONSISTENCY is the only consistent thing about this place.
Like so many chain restaurants, the Cheesecake Factory has a hard time with consistency in quality, availability, and service. We’ve had some REALLY GOOD dishes here… only to return and be disappointed with REALLY BAD versions of the same dishes. Often items on the menu are not even available.
One of my favorite dishes is the lemon chicken served with carrots, greens, and mashed potatoes. When done well, it’s truly a work of art. But sometimes, it turns out to be a disaster with dry, overcooked meat and dried up lemon sauce. On one visit, I ordered it for dinner only to be told 10 minutes later that it was not available. Really?! By the time, the server returned to take my «new» order, I was 20 min behind schedule with the rest of my party and completely out of synch.
I’ve had similar highs and lows with plenty of other dishes on the menu.
The huevos rancheros used to be another favorite of mine… but they switched things up and no longer serve it on corn tortillas. Instead they use super greasy, fried tortilla shells and spiced up the dish a lot.
My wife introduced me to the coconut curry chicken and shrimp and it was heavenly. So, on my next visit I ordered it and it was over seasoned and disgusting.
Service is also very inconsistent. In a recent visit, they served my younger son a raw hamburger. So, we asked to have another one cooked for him. Our server told us he would put a rush order in. 15 minutes later after the rest of us finished our food and having not seen our server, I had to track down a manager and inquire about my son’s burger. We were told that the order had not been placed.
Oh, by they way, Cheesecake Factory when are you going to stop using transfats in your cheesecake?

Reviewing only for their cheesecake. We were hungry for dessert and wanted cheesecake, so decided to come here. We were not disappointed! The many choices they offered was a bit overwhelmed, but decided on two most popular cheesecake: Raspberry Lemon and fresh Strawberry. Both were very good. You can really taste the flavor of the raspberry and lemon in the cheesecake. As for the fresh strawberry, the cheesecake was so creamy and tasted great with the fresh big strawberries that were on top of it. Definitely hit our sweet spot!

Just came from The Cheesecake Factory to pick up a few cheesecakes for my girlfriend & I, then while trying to pay with a gift card (that was brand new and had $ 50 on it), the service clerk, Katherine S (at the pickup counter) claimed that it had $ 0 on it with an attitude and basically waited for me to pay with a different form of payment. I complied and paid with my credit card, then she decides to check the gift card after the transaction was complete and magically found $ 50 on it. The clerk continues with her attitude even after packing everything.
To the management of this location, I HIGHLY recommend you re-​train this person or let them go! She should have validated the card or went to get a manager, plus there was ABSOLUTELY NO NEED for her attitude. I’ve been a loyal customer of The Cheesecake Factory Hillsdale location for years, but after this experience, I’ll be more than happy to drive to Palo Alto or even San Jose before I ever drop a dime in this location again. I’m a huge fan of your food, but the service at this location STINKS!

I don’t know why I bother going to Cheesecake Factory when I know I am not a fan. The food is mediocre and pricey for what you get. The only thing that was really good were the avocado egg rolls which I guess you can’t go wrong with since they’re fried. Service was so-​so, I could tell that the server was getting annoyed with us and I do admit we are needy, but suck it up. I am sure you’ve gotten worse people. I accidentally spilled my soda and one of the employees took care of it super quick. The server sort of made it seem like it was a problem that it had happened. Oh well! Accidents happen… it wasn’t that big of a deal!..
For my entrée, I ordered a fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp and it was okay. Portions are big, but I still don’t think it is worth the amount they charge. I will not be returning.