The Cheesecake Cafe — Restaurant in Calgary

Quite possibly the worst service that we have ever had. We went in tonight for the cheesecake and left feeling disappointed with the lack of energy in the building, poor quality of food and service lacking any form of substance or engagement whatsoever.

The start was pleasant enough, our hostess took our name and did what she could to control the flow which was a minimal 10 minute wait. To be expected on a Saturday night. So far, so good. Upon seating we had waited until being informed that our server would be with us shortly (quite obvious a lie and more than likely was down a server for the evening and the floor manager had taken a section... poorly I might add). Rookie mistake instead of drawing up a temporary map and offering support for the rest of the floor. Very little hustle and can honestly say that we didn't see a single smile on a single servers face all night. (The bartender was very pleasant and did wish for us to have a nice evening with a smile, about the only personality in the building) Not much for motivation or excitement for the rest of the staff to be on shift. Also noticeable was how inefficient the serving staff was. No hurrying through for prompt service and most of the evening the floor was void of server presence.

When our appetizers came, the deviled eggs were loaded in salt and what tasted like pickle juice and the hummus had a nice and thick black hair on the bread. When we had pointed it out, our server (the manager in question that took our section... again...poorly I must add), had made the reference that it wasn't hers. I really don't care who's it was, it was there, and it wasn't ours. I have been in that position before, and yes, it is disappointing, but now isn't the time to prove to the world that you can do no wrong can try to conceal your insecurity that you are doing a very poor job at something that is clearly out of your element. During the time with the appetizers, we hadn't been checked in with to make sure all was good. We didn't have a chance to have the hairy dish taken away until our main courses arrived, in which case by this point, our appetites were quickly disappearing.

Fish and chips were small, heavily battered and bland.

Here's a tip, when a child has a sugar drink, ask the parents if it's okay to fill it before grabbing it and filling it up. We made it clear to have one glass before dinner as to not fill up prior to eating... as you may have noticed, he stopped half way.

By the end of the evening I had started to fill sick, it turn out there is heavy cream in the deviled eggs. This I will take responsibility for as I should have checked prior to ordering... but come on... put it on your menu like everything else that has cream and who the hell puts cream in deviled eggs. Use Mayo like a respectable chef. Now I'm going to say that I am positive you will know who we are, pretty descriptive on our evening, and I am also pretty sure that you noticed the tip you received (if it was a real server they would have at least gotten a 10%, but since you were a manager, you should have given your section to a server and spread out the floor instead of lining your own pockets... shame on you at the expense of your staff and the expense of your patrons) Now I'm going to say that I am positive you will know who we are, pretty descriptive on our evening, and I am also pretty sure that you noticed the tip you received (if it was a real server they would have at least gotten a 10%, but since you were a manager, you should have given your section to a server and spread out the floor instead of lining your own pockets... shame on you at the expense of your staff and the expense of your patrons)

Give your staff something to be happy about go to work for. Fire that manager and get someone in there that know's what they're doing and inspire your staff. They look like good people and would be willing to go above and beyond if they didn't feeling they were being dumped on...

The last time I was this early, Cheesecake Cafe still had a location at Sunridge and Northland. It was like the only well known Alberta wide franchise with locations in other cities like Edmonton and Medicine Hat. I have no idea what happened, really. They kept shrinking and closing more and more locations to the point there are only 2 left now, the OG Macleod Trail location near Heritage Station and Spruce Grove.

I have been living in this city for a little over a decade now and it has been a tradition of mine to visit at least twice a year.

This whole COVID BS was the only thing that broke tradition for me and I didn't get to stop by to grab 2 slices to take home for Mother's Day, like I usually do. That's a really heartbreaking fact to admit and share...

Although the cheesecake is their specialty, I have had some of their hot food too and the quality/service can be hit or miss.

There have been some really comical experiences as well. Like one of the more memorable encounters was: Why do you need 3 chicks standing behind the cheesecake counter to serve one customer? Why didn't that 1 chick just print off the bill and take it over to the register instead of trying to memorize it, forgetting the amount and walking back 2 more times? HAHA!!!

Of course these experiences don't define the restaurant, the quality of their food or their ability to serve the customers. I just thought it was funny...

I can't believe they recently realized they didn't have chicken wings on their menu since they first opened decades ago and only added it last year. That really was a much needed new addition, since chicken wings are very basic and mainstream... I have tried the honey mustard and teriyaki wings and they're both very good, but I prefer honey mustard since it's their own house recipe and you can't get it anywhere else.

Honey mustard itself is a troll condiment, it can vary from bitter, spicy, sour or some jumbled mess. The good stuff is very few and far in between, so it's definitely nice to get a sweet profile if you can. They absolutely have perfected it. I can't think of anything else that compares.

Of course their cheesecake is good, hence the name. It is obviously what I go there for. But I feel like the graham cracker base crust is old school and an acquired taste. I think more flavors should have the chocolate crust since chocolate is neutral and can go with pretty much anything, like orange for example. Terry's Chocolate Orange, anyone? That's a classic pairing and it didn't have to be ruined by giving it the basic graham cracker crust... Yuck!

I think they could mess around with a wide variety of different cheesecake recipes and bases, since Millennnials like diversity and change. Even Red Lobster and M&M Food Market experimented with a sugar cookie cheesecake crust a few years ago and I found that lovely and enjoyable. But that was obviously a limited time offer and once in a lifetime experience.

The other major complaint is the seasonal winter flavors I never get to try because it's a like over an hour and a half bus, train, walk 20 minutes journey to get there and for only 2 slices of cheesecake to take home? Not with our Alberta winters!!!

I am not sure if they will survive the apocalypse or not. But at the speed in which it has dwindled over the last few years, I feel like it won't be long until Cheesecake Cafe will just be a "distant memory" and I would feel like I didn't do enough to support them... 😥

I think branching off with their cheesecakes in the frozen foods section at the grocery stores could be a good way to get recognized by people who don't know about them yet. It would also benefit those of us who don't want to go all the way there just for 2 pieces...

We were at the resturant on Friday September 10, 2022 at 6:30 PM. I called earlier to make reservations for seven people, and asked for a table not a booth. They confirmed the reservation said no problem, see you at 6:30, and once again before hanging up I said thank you and can you please ensure we have a table not a booth, the lady who answered the phone said yes absolutely.

We arrived at 6:20, and were immediately bought to a booth by young boy, I told him we reserved a table not a booth and he just said, ahh…OK You could tell he was very young and inexperienced so that is fine.

About five minutes later a lady approached our table, didn’t introduce herself, didn’t say if she was a manager anything and just said she wanted to apologize that we were given a booth not a table. I said thank you but I’m not sure what happened as I specified a table twice on the phone. She replied with, well maybe other people called in and asked for a table as well, and I said that’s fine, the person who answered the phone and is taking the reservations should ensure that there are enough tables to accommodate, or should have said to me that there are no tables available only booths. and she didn’t really have anything to reply with just said sorry and walked away.

Not sure as I say if she was a manager or anything because she did not introduce herself, and really did not handle it professionally or well at all. Very disappointed.

Being in the service industry myself, this was soo poorly handled. First off we should’ve been at a table not a booth, however I can understand errors do happen, when the lady approached our table she should’ve introduced herself, and along with apologizing, said that they will try and find a table for us quickly. When they couldn’t she should’ve come back , again apologize and offer us a drink on the house, a dessert, meals discounted, something to make us feel like we were important customers, and that they were actually sorry for the error they made, and some thing that would make me want to come back there because at this moment it does not at all.

Not a good experience at all!!

Food wise :, meals were good, however the lettuce wraps should come on noodles or...