Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen — Restaurant in Chandler

I allowed myself a good night sleep before posting this so I could calm down and look at it again.

We have only been there once before, years ago, for brunch. Nothing bad stood out about that visit, but nothing memorable either. We decided to try it for a family birthday dinner last night. We saw how popular it was and, going at 5:30, expected to wait 20-30 minutes.

When we checked in at 5:20, we were greeted nicely and told 10-15 minutes for our party of 5. That was good news. We provided our cell phone and name and went outside to wait. At the 40 minute mark and seeing people that arrived after us be seated before us, I went in to ask. I was apologized to and told that it was only an estimate when we arrived and they didn’t know how much longer it would be. When I questioned the lack of an estimate, all of the people at the podium (4-5 employees) all started to try to tell me their reasoning about why they couldn’t do that. I wasn’t argumentative, they were defensive, bordering on rude, but we waited some more.

At the 55 minute mark 6:18, we decided to go inside to wait, hoping that our presence would keep us on their minds. At that moment, the cell phone told us that our table was ready. We checked in at the podium and were told they didn’t know why it notified me, there wasn’t a table ready for us yet. No new estimate.

At 6:35, we were escorted to a table. We were greeted by a server that obviously was OVER his job. If ever a person wasn’t meant for a customer service position, this server was them. None of the attitude was directed at us personally. We heard it at each table he visited around us. Sighing, eye rolls, shoulders down, Eeyore in human form.

The famous honey croissants were set on the table, no napkins, no plates, no comments.

Drink order was next in 10 minutes. We were ready to order both appetizers and our entrees, and he seemed grateful for that. Appetizers came in a reasonable time, still no small plates. But we were starving at that point. We ate communal style from the serving plate and repurposed the plate the croissants came on.

At 7:20 I commented to my party that we had now been on the property for 2 hours. Still no dinner. Tables around us were served, to mixed reviews. There were orders that were incorrect, people waiting for their adult drinks decided to just go get them at the bar instead of waiting.

Finally the food arrived at about 7:45. They were mostly correct. We did have one side that was missing, but I wasn’t told until we got home later, so we didn’t address it at the time.

However, overall, the food was adequate but not good. The pork chops were dry and overcooked, though the sauce was yummy. The sides were cafeteria quality. The broccoli and cheese was mostly cheese, no chunks of broccoli, just the tiny greens specks of the tops. The mashed potatoes were dry and not seasoned. The portions were good.

Finally, our server returned to ask about dessert and apologize about all of the issues and delays. Right before tip was going to be calculated, we saw our first glimmer of “happy”.

I don’t know where to put this next comment, so at the end will have to do.

When I went to check in after the initial arrival check in, the smell of weed was strong at the podium. With so many employees standing there it would have been hard to determine which employee(s) it was coming from. I know weed is now legal in AZ, but smoking it at work, or on your way into work doesn’t seem to be helping their customer service skills at all. It also could be that impaired individuals can’t properly operate the notification system for the waitlist. Or it could be completely unrelated to our experience. But if you can smell the weed on the employees that greet you, THAT is a first impression that a family friendly restaurant probably doesn’t want.

I hope they can fix their issues, I hope that this was not a normal experience for their guests. But, WE will...

We’ve been to this restaurant many times and have never had an issue however yesterday I called (2:15pm) to see if I could get on the waitlist for 10 people 8 adults 2 kids. We were going to celebrate my husband’s 39th birthday and after much deliberation of where to go we chose Cheddars. Hostess says yes but it would be about an hour (3:30pm) until we could come in, I let her know that was totally fine. My brother and sister in law get there about 3:15-3:20 to check in for us. They are then told by the hostess that they just sat a party of 10 and that we would have to wait another 45min before they sat us. I called the restaurant directly and spoke with the hostess and asked to speak to the manager because I was definitely not being heard speaking with her. I speak with the manager on duty (maybe Jonathan was his name not sure though) and I tell him I understand that you don’t take reservations, but you have a waitlist, and I got on the waitlist at 2:15 and was told 3:30pm now you’re saying we can’t be seated until 4:15? He explained that the waitlist was for them to “plan as best as they could” for bigger parties to be seated. But if a large party comes in before our party they would have to be seated. I asked “What’s the point of the waitlist?” Again he said “so we can plan to seat bigger parties but he can’t guarantee we can get seated at that time. Again sir “what is the POINT of the waitlist….?” Why give us a time to show up? Why not just say walk in only? Or maybe give us a call and see how far out were we?

Texas Roadhouse does their waitlist great, I don’t understand what happened yesterday at Cheddars. Did I miss something?

We had PLANNED to go to Cheddars and celebrate but never again. What Cheddars doesn’t understand is the aftermath of POOR PLANNING on their part. We ended up at Cheesecake Factory who couldn’t accommodate, Olive Garden who couldn’t accommodate and finally BJs Brewery who could, (which reminds me to go and give them 5 stars). All the while my 6 year old autistic non verbal son screaming because he doesn’t understand why we’ve driven to 3 different restaurants and haven’t been able to get out of the car because he’s hungry.

Now that I’ve read over these past reviews about big parties, Chandler Cheddar's is definitely not the place that can...

I visited here based off of the ratings, but if you look into each rating people that seem to look different have had bad experiences. We also had a terrible experience. I would not go back to give away my hard earned money to this food chain or establishment. Treat everyone fairly. Visitors beware if you look different from the entire staff. The waitress had unpleasant, had an unwelcoming attitude, and starred into my soul as I spoke (there is a difference in communicating and passive aggressive body language). To end the night the hostess said have a good night as she was looked down at something else, I guess she may have been talking to the podium. Food: Ribs were dry, not fall of the bone as other reviewers stated, so try I could barley swallow them due to being overcooked The fried white fish- ask in advance, it is Swai Triple platter- would have been a better choice if it was hot Sprite: taste as if the spout needed to be cleaned on the machine Baked potato: if you say loaded that means cheese and sour cream (ask for bacon - if you don’t the waitress will tell you that you didn’t ask for it if you inquire and the waitress will bring you the bacon bits that go on a salad) - but your receipt will say baked potato and will not list loaded although that is what you specified, the waitress said that is loaded and will point to your potato, very defensive over an order If you ask for a potato then state can you add bacon - it will come without sour cream but your receipt will state loaded Worst experience ever and worst $53 spent in a very long time. I would have cancelled the entire order and walked out if my child wasn’t with me. Know that everyone should be treated EQUALLY and being a passive aggressive waitress is not something to be proud of. This establishment would have received a zero if possible. People who have melanine in their skin stay away, save your money, go where you are celebrated not tolerated, this Chandler location will be treat you as if you should walk through the back door not...