The Cheesecake Factory — Restaurant in Boca Raton

I had never been to this particular location of the Cheesecake Factory. I've only been to the flagship location in Chicago. We had made a reservation for 6 people for 3pm on Saturday 9/21. We started arriving and were told the table "wasn't ready yet" even though the restaurant wasn't full at all. We waited until about 3:30pm to be seated. It took the server 10 minutes or so to even come by and get our drink order. We all ordered waters and a cocktail. The waters didn't come for 20 minutes! The cocktails didn't come until 30-35 minutes later! We had to ask the server where they were! In the same breath we asked if we could order our food since we were starving! At least we got one bread basket for 6 people. The server said he'd bring more once they bake more? Umm.... that's ridiculous and we never got another basket. He then took our food order around 4:15pm.

So then another server came by and said she was coming on shift and our original server left for the day. Thank goodness she took over because we actually got our food about 15-20 minutes after we ordered.

I then went to the bathroom and was completely nauseated at the condition of it: water/liquid all over the floor, paper towels and toilet paper wads all over the floor and full trash cans. I had enough at that point, I went right to the host area and asked to speak with the manager. His name is Mason and when I complained about the bathrooms he said he'd get someone right away to take care of it. I'm a manager too and my question is: why aren't they being monitored in the first place? Then when I complained about the super slow service he asked who our server was and when I described him he said, "Well, he's a special individual" I don't know what that means? Was that sarcastic or is he really a person with special needs? He said he'd do something to make it right.

Right away, Don (the GM I think) came to our table and offered everyone 25% off our meals but he said couldn't do it on drinks. That was a very nice gesture but my separate check came back WITHOUT the discount and I had to go back to the host desk AGAIN. I've seen restaurants just comp the drinks if they couldn't discount them---just saying.

As we were leaving we went to the bathroom again and they still weren't clean so I don't know what was done about my initial complaint. Other patrons were also complaining about the condition of the bathroom. So all in all, I will not be returning to this...

🍰Fun Times at Cheesecake High!!* Hold onto your forks, folks, because we're diving into the delicious origins of the Cheesecake Factory! Once upon a time in the 1940s, a lovely lady named Evelyn Overton discovered a cheesecake recipe in a Detroit newspaper. Inspired by this, she baked a cheesecake for her husband’s boss, and boom, it was a smash hit! This led her to open a charming little cheesecake bakery in Detroit in the late '50s. But wait—plot twist! She closed the bakery to focus on her family, while still secretly supplying cheesecakes to local restaurants from her basement. Talk about a *(M-WAP) Mom-With A Plan! Fast forward to 1972, the Overton family packed up and headed to the sunny Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles. That's where the Cheesecake Factory magic truly began! By the late '80s, their one-page menu had transformed into a smorgasbord of tasty delights. Now, with 348 full-service restaurants across the U.S., everyone can enjoy their legendary cheesecakes and scrumptious menu items. Wowza! 💫 Fun fact: Fortune ranked them #12 on their list of Top 100 Companies to Work For in 2020. Whoa! Zooming back to today, we decided to revisit this fun-filled place. Surprise! We snagged a table in less than 15 minutes, and the place was buzzing at about 70% capacity. The ambiance was a delightful mix of nostalgia with a few new tweaks. Mood lighting? Check! And what's this? A new menu with calorie counts?! Looks like the Cheesecake Factory is hopping on the health-conscious train. Who knew their indulgent reputation once had them labeled the "worst family restaurant in America"? Oh my! But hey, back in the day, the more indulgent, the better, right? Based on our guilty “silly shapes”, we had to count calories this time and ended up with a huge salad.. No dessert...dang!🫣 And about those portions—are they shrinking? We used to bring home leftovers, but this time, uhhh.. where is it? 🤭 Are we just just losing mwha marbles? In the '80s, portions were gigantic, and prices were reasonable while clothing was sky-high. Now, it's the other way around. 🤯Whoa, times have changed! As we wrapped up our dining adventure, the service was decent but could use a sprinkle of pizzazz. Maybe it was just our timing, but no worries—we’ll definitely give the Cheesecake Factory another whirl in the future! We'll...

To the Cheesecake Factory:

This is in response to your comment. I would have loved to tell someone about my dish. I did try to ask someone, including our waitress. Unfortunately, no one would stop, and our waitress forgot things for us about 2 or 3 times. Therefore, I just never finished eating my dinner. The pasta was way too hard, as if it wasn't cooked. I do know that restaurants cook it al dente, but this was terrible. I am from Vero Beach, FL and my niece attends FAU. I drove to Boca, with my mom, to visit with my niece and to see my sister who was in FL from NY, where we are originally from. Our trip was to celebrate my birthday as well. Unfortunately, this was my very first time to dine with the Cheesecake Factory, and my personal experience that day was not a good one. My sister tried to get our waitress' attention as well due to needing creamer for her coffee, to no avail. I understand that the weekends are the busiest days for restaurants, I too used to be a waitress in my lifetime. Tell you a quick funny story: When my friend purchased a bar/restaurant, the night before the opening, we were celebrating at the place in the bar area. Around 10pm, and a local baseball team of adult men came in to order wings, beer, and other finger foods. The bar area was too small to accommodate them. Since I was going to be the waitress, I took them into the dining room area and took care of them, as I was a bit inebriated. I took their food and drink orders, spent about 2 hours with them, and left them with a lasting impression that even though the dining side was not open yet, we took care of them, paid attention to their needs, even though we were still celebrating. Point being, I was in my early 30s, and was able to handle the situation, not ignoring the table. I don't know if I will return to this particular Cheesecake Factory location, because it is not near me, but I will try the restaurant in the future.

Original post: Our waitress never came back after we got our food. We were a table of 4; she also had a table of 20 who were next to us and made sure they all were well taken care of. My dish was 4 cheese pasta, the macaroni was so hard that I never ate my food. She did take it off the bill, however I had...