Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen — Restaurant in Goodyear

We visited this Cheddar’s location in Goodyear on 7/9/25 around 8PM during our weeklong stay. It was our last dinner with family before heading home to Texas, and unfortunately, we left disappointed. Out of our party of nine (including three kids), only four people enjoyed their meals. This experience was especially disheartening because Cheddar’s is a restaurant we frequent often back home, and we’ve never had a negative experience—until now.

Let’s start with the positives: The honey butter croissants are always incredible—soft, warm, and sweet. Two of our kids enjoyed their meals (the chicken tenders and grilled chicken with rice), but the pasta with parmesan our 7-year-old ordered was overcooked to the point of being mushy. I tasted it to be sure, and it was definitely not up to standard. I informed our server, Morgan M, who offered to replace it, but it took so long that my daughter fell asleep at the table. I had to track Morgan down myself to cancel the dish.

I usually order the Dijon chicken and mushrooms, a longtime favorite—but this time, the chicken had a rubbery texture and off flavor. Not only was it unappetizing, but I actually ended up getting sick and vomiting after we left.

My husband tried the spasgana, a limited-time item made with spaghetti noodles layered like lasagna. After just a few bites, he pushed it aside—he couldn’t finish it.

Others in our group had similar complaints. My in-laws (on a separate ticket) didn’t enjoy their sirloin steak (it was heavily over-seasoned) or the ribs, which had decent sauce but dry, flavorless meat—not at all the fall-off-the-bone ribs we’re used to in Texas. The only ones who seemed happy with their meals were my husband’s grandmother and aunt.

Now, regarding the service: Our waitress, Morgan M, left much to be desired. We had to repeatedly flag her down for drink refills, and she only checked on our table once throughout the entire meal—toward the end. When bringing out the food, she ignored the kids completely and placed all their meals in a corner of the table, well out of reach. I tried to let her know which dish belonged to which child, but she cut me off and walked away.

To top it off, when it came time to pay, I noticed I’d been charged twice for the kid’s pasta. When I asked about it, she said, “Yes, because you ordered a replacement and then canceled it.” Yes—I canceled it because it never arrived in a timely manner and my daughter fell asleep. Rather than argue or involve a manager, I let it go—but I did not leave a tip. Her attitude and lack of hospitality made it clear she’s not suited for a customer-facing role.

Overall, this visit was a major letdown. We had high hopes for our last night in town, but from the food quality to the service, it just didn’t measure up to the Cheddar’s experience we know and love back home. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t return to...

I was not prepared for this place! Understand: this restaurant is a place to go at 4pm on a Saturday after you skipped breakfast and lunch. The amount of food you get for a good price is almost self-shaming. I wanted a small dinner salad with my meal, and what came was gigantic and both my wife and I could barely finish 30% of them. We felt terrible to discard it since we wanted to try our entrees. It was not a small salad.

There is a pre-meal delivery of Croissants. They are very good.

We ordered the Onion Rings appetizer: it was Very good.

Anything fried was Very good. One of us ordered shrimp and chicken fried, and he enjoyed the little bit of spice in the breading.

We had the fried cheese curds and they were Very good.

BUT: we also had some menu item ordered which were just OK.

So that's the 4* here. The service was really good. The atmosphere was a little loud, but nothing more than a busy restaurant. I forget my servers name, but she was really on it and we felt like a priority.

But - I would just recommend hitting fried foods and safe menu options. You may not enjoy every taste, but my gosh it comes by the truckload and you will feel full for hours after. I brought a family of five, bill was $100-ish so nothing shocking compared to other similar choices.

I guess I'd recommend nailing down some appetizer and small plate options, just because what you get for the price is generally more than a family of 5 can consume in one sitting.

And for reference: oldest son is 6'5", probably 300, and even he couldn't finish his plate. I'm not small either, 6'2" and I had like 3 bites of my entree and had to get a box.

Plan ahead. Come hungry.

We will come back another time to try more of their menu. Definitely value for your $$ as a family, and if you don't leave full you did it wrong :)

Edit 2024: came back, service was not good, food was still good and plentiful, but my experience was 100% worse due to what I have to assume was me not communicating properly that I preferred a salad before my meal and that rare steak meant not cooked...

Knowing that this place is new, I am aware that these things may change as the place settles in and they move the five young people on greeter patrol to things like building new tables and inventory control. We've been here twice.

The first time was just two of us. Platter of food came out with a side order of coleslaw that was, without exaggeration, less than 2 tablespoons of product. The server, who was generally inattentive, did bring out a replacement for me when I pointed it out. Not sure why it even left the kitchen like that.

Our second visit was with 8 people. These stores, as if it is some 1980's timewarp, don't accept reservations or call-ahead seating. We had a one-hour wait and a party of seven was seated before us for reasons™ or something like that. In my opinion, this store is not equipped for groups larger than 4 people. When we were finally sat, they gave us one long booth (seats six?) and then one smaller table...across the aisle from each other. All booths in these locations are extremely tight fits (for the average adult) between the table and the seat, but we crammed most of us into the one booth with an extra person on the end in a chair. Happily, our server was Vanessa and she was terrific + attentive. Sadly, part of this server's job was telling us that a bunch of what we ordered wasn't in stock, so our $200 bill was full of food that was second-choice. Yikes.

Our next visit will be some time away, with only a small group, to see if things get better. I can't see us there with a large group again.

This location is probably okay if you are just a couple of people and some old-fashioned waiting is like a tonic or discipline for your soul or something like that.

I am glad to see new places in the west valley, but Cheddar's either failed their research into the area (not accounting for young families, thinking everyone is just a couple in Pebble Creek?) or are really having bad growing pains. By the way, I don't think we've once seen management in...