The Cheesecake Factory

Cheektowaga, New York, United States

The Cheesecake Factory is a chain of restaurants in the United States. This visit was to the location near Buffalo, NY just in the Walden Galleria mall. I had heard good things about this restaurant, but the items ordered today (with the exception of the cheesecake) were fairly disappointing. The food we ordered was really no better than bar food.

The restaurant tried to portray a higher-end image. The interior was very nicely decorated, and combined with the lighting it had a fancy feel, but the low quality of the food and plain tableware (we were brought water in plastic beer mugs) certainly detracted from that goal.

Cost

Meals are priced between $10-$25. Cheesecake is around $7 per slice.

Dress

Cheesecake Selection

Fairly casual - jeans and a t-shirt are certainly acceptable. There were some people who wore dress pants and nicer shirts, and they fit in as well.

Reservations

I'm not sure if they're accepted, but it could be a good idea to try. There was a 15 minute wait for two people when we visited.

Items Ordered

Traditional Tossed Green Salad

Traditional Tossed Green Salad

This salad was actually surprisingly good. It was served with the dressing on the side. The salad contained not only tossed greens, but also grated carrots, beets, and a few pieces of tomato and cucumber. It also came with delicious croûtons covered in toasted Parmesan cheese.

Quesadilla

Quesadilla

The Quesadillas were disappointing. They were very plain, and consisted of a lot of low quality cheese. They were also a little too greasy for quesadillas. They felt almost deep fried rather than grilled. There was perhaps one or two pieces of pepper inside the quesadillas, and the rest of the bulk was cheese. The guacamole and salsa had a bit of an odd taste.

Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich

Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich

The Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich wasn't all that spicy (it was ordered with the spicy buffalo sauce). The fried chicken itself was pretty good, but nothing extraordinary. It tasted like typical bar food. The french fries were cut fairly thin, and were crispy on the outside, but were mostly tasteless and possibly overcooked.

Caramel Pecan Turtle Cheesecake

Caramel Pecan Turtle Cheesecake

The Caramel Pecan Turtle Cheesecake was delicious. It was served with a generous pile of whipped cream on the plate. Although this cheesecake was full of chocolate, caramel and pecans, there weren't any actual chocolate Turtle's present - that was slightly disappointing. The cheesecake was definitely one of the highlights of this otherwise disappointing meal.

One minor criticism of the cheesecake is that it was very icy in the middle. It was clearly frozen, and had not been given enough time to thaw.

Factory Hot Chocolate

Factory Hot Chocolate

This hot chocolate was certainly good value. For only $3.95, we had a fairly large glass of hot chocolate. It was too large for one person to finish, and could easily be shared. It was a nice complement to the cheesecake. The hot chocolate was tasty and very chocolatey.

I did think it was a bit strange that it was served in a drinking glass with a straw, rather than a mug.