The Cheesecake Factory

We will not go here again. CAUSE: GM, Ben Pratola. I can see why the Cheesecake Factory stores are so poorly run. They are all corporately owned, no franchisees. Ben Pratola must be the most incompetent manager for a full-service restaurant, ever. God know what their lease must be. Yet, half the restaurant is always empty, regardless of the weekend day, both afternoon and evening. The downstairs is only used for the employees to eat on their shift break. That space must be THE most expensive employee break room on the planet. That space would probably be able to generate at least 4 million dollars a year. Yet, Ben Pratola will look you right in the face and decline your request to hold a party there. The Cheesecake Factory must be operating on the highest margins of any restaurant on the planet earth to turn away business. Makes you wonder how they can do it, considering I have never seen the restaurant at capacity. If I was an investor, it would definitely make me question their actual earnings. Nevertheless, this will be our last visit to the Cheescake Factory. Management has no clue on how to train their servers. Lousy service definitely affects how the food tastes. Maybe you should get your ass out of the back office, Ben, and learn how to train your staff. Oh yeah, I forgot. You are doing so well you don't need more business. Good for you.…

not worth the wait. My husband and I ate dinner here after a quick stop at the mall because I knew there were a few vegetarian options (I'm a veggie, he's not). We were seated quickly and our server was friendly. Had to ask twice for coffee, but whatever. We made the mistake of ordering a heavy appetizer (fried mac and cheese, which is really good here), so we both felt pretty full by the time his plate was brought out. Mine had encountered some sort of accidental dropping, so they left his plate on the "warmer" while they rushed my dish. Our server was very apologetic, and both he and some kind of managerial type offered soup or salad on the house. Since we weren't that hungry, we didn't take them up on it. The total wait for our food was long enough that I got an appetite again, but the food was really disappointing. I ordered the portabello mushroom burger, and the bun was sopping with mushroom liquid. The whole thing was really oily and almost made me feel sick. In the rush I think they forgot I requested no onions, which I picked off. My husband got "the Navajo," a chicken sandwich on fry bread. The bread was a little too greasy, the chicken a little to dry, and the overabundant sauce was basically runny mayo. Just not too good. We didn't complain, and are typically very easy-going people, but the meal was wholly unsatisfying.…