The Cheesecake Factory — Restaurant in Allen

I have never left a negative review on an establishment as far as I can remember. I know everyone has off days and I tend to be more gracious, flexible, and forgiving than 99% of most people. This time was just so frustrating and really unacceptable for so many people involved.

Our ladies have visited this location numerous times over the years and have never experienced this issue. We called at 11 am on 10/28/23 and informed the hostess that at 5 PM we would be arriving with a party of 15 and asked if they could accommodate. We were told they could, however they could not take any form of reservation for parties over 6. We were also told if we made separate reservations we couldn’t request to be seated in the same general area. She instructed us to have a member of our party arrive 30 minutes early to place our name on the waitlist.

We arrived at 4:00 PM and were told it would be a 2 hour wait—which we expected. After waiting about an hour and a half and seeing some equal sized parties seated that seemed as though they came in after us, I kindly went to check our status and was snapped at by one of the hostesses who stated “We have 45 more minutes to seat you because you were told 2 hours.” I was only asking for a status. She would also yell out names so quickly and turn around so no one could hear then get upset when anyone asked her to repeat the name. We let her know that outdoor seating was fine (it was a rainy day but had stopped raining completely and wasn’t terribly cold). She didn’t respond to that. 45 minutes came and went—I went back to check on our status and was informed they simply had no place for us and we needed to just wait. I asked if we could split up our party at that point so we could all just sit down to eat and she said she would work on it. I watched for 20 more minutes as 5 different parties varying from 2-6 people who had arrived long after us were seated ahead of us, yet again. A member of our party went and found the manager on duty who essentially walked up to the hostess stand, checked the list, and said that the only place he could seat us would be where another party who has already eaten and paid are still sitting. We let him know we were willing to sit separately and that apparently didn’t matter at all. We decided to leave and his response was nothing more than an “Okay, have a good day.” We ate dinner at the food court in the mall and 15 people wasted 2.5 hours of the evening.

I am well aware of staffing shortages, especially in the food service industry. I also understand that weekends require a wait, especially here. I, however, do not appreciate the unapologetic attitude of this staff and being told after waiting 2.5 hours that according to their timer “it had only been 2 hours and 10 minutes” and that they just didn’t know if they could seat us anywhere or give us a timeframe as to when we may be able to sit down. We tried to offer various options that were simply ignored. We were sent off with shoulder shrug. It makes zero sense to refuse reservations for large parties. If you know ahead a time, even just at opening, that a large party will be arriving at a certain time, you have the opportunity to staff your restaurant accordingly. We don’t expect special treatment, but kindness and honesty go a long way. When they realized they could not seat us within the given timeframe, we should have been informed. We tried to approach each person with grace and understanding but we were met with impatience and hostility. Overall it was a terrible experience with the staff and I don’t think we will ever return to this...

I’m extremely disappointed with our experience at both the Stonebriar and Allen locations of Cheesecake Factory.

We had a 9:00 PM reservation at Stonebriar and arrived 30 minutes early. The host told us they were cleaning a table and we’d be seated shortly. We waited patiently, but as it got close to 9:00, we checked in again and were told they were busy and we’d be seated after 9. We were finally sat at 9:20 at a small two-top table right next to the POS system. Once seated, we waited 15 minutes for our server to greet us. When she finally came, she laughed and said, “Sorry, friends, I’m guessing we’re ready to order.” We ordered the fried mac and cheese balls and said we’d order our entrees later, but 15 minutes later, she returned to tell us they were out of that appetizer. Since that was the main reason we came, we politely asked to leave.

We then called the Allen location to check if they had a wait and asked if they had the fried mac and cheese balls. The host checked with the kitchen and confirmed they had plenty, so we drove there. When we arrived, we waited 20 minutes to be seated, no problem. After sitting down, we ordered quickly, but 10 minutes later, our server told us they were out of the fried mac and cheese balls. We asked her to double-check, and the manager confirmed they were unavailable.

At this point, we were beyond frustrated but ordered orange chicken to share and got an Oreo cheesecake to go. Now that we’re home, we both have stomach aches.

We’ve been regulars at Cheesecake Factory for almost every weekend and, despite receiving poor service consistently, we never complain and always tip at least 20%. However, it feels like we’re treated differently. We are a mixed-race couple—my wife is Indian and I am white—and we wonder if that has something to do with the lack of attention and priority. If the host at Stonebriar had seated us when we arrived or if our server had taken our order sooner, we might’ve been able to order the mac and cheese balls before they ran out. The same goes for the Allen location. The delays at both locations made the experience even more frustrating, and it honestly felt like we weren’t being treated as well as other customers.

This experience was unacceptable, and we’re very disappointed in how it...

Extremely Disappointing Customer Service Experience

I am a local business owner and have been a loyal patron of The Cheesecake Factory in Allen, TX for many years, often holding lunch meetings there (visiting 20–30 times annually). Until now, I’ve always enjoyed the food and service, which makes this incident all the more shocking and disappointing.

On my latest visit, I ordered food for myself and a plain burger with fries for my daughter. After a long day, we brought the takeout home only to discover that my daughter’s “burger” was literally just a meat patty with cheese – no bun at all. It was baffling that such a simple order could be so completely messed up. I had to inconveniently drive all the way back to the restaurant to get this corrected.

Instead of a quick apology and a remake of the burger (which is the bare minimum expected for the restaurant’s mistake), I was met with an incredibly dismissive manager named Alex. He outright refused to remake the order despite it being clearly the restaurant’s error. Alex’s lack of professionalism and unwillingness to resolve a simple issue was astonishing. I have never been treated so poorly here before – he made me feel as if I was the problem for expecting the meal I paid for to be prepared correctly. No customer, let alone a regular, should ever be spoken to or treated the way Alex did.

As someone who has chosen this location repeatedly for business lunches and family dinners, I am extremely disappointed to see my loyalty means nothing when a mistake occurs. This experience has completely soured my opinion of this Cheesecake Factory. If a long-time customer can be dismissed so rudely and denied a basic fix for a clear kitchen error, I worry how other guests might be treated. Beware: double-check your orders before leaving, and be prepared for indifferent management if something goes wrong. I sincerely hope upper management addresses this issue with Alex, because this is not the level of service I expect from The Cheesecake Factory. Until then, they have not only lost my business, but I will be cautioning friends and colleagues to think twice before dining at the...