The Cheesecake Factory — Restaurant in Honolulu

Split in Emotions + While the atmosphere and the food were really nice and the location convenient to reach if you are in Waikiki, the service and the general admin setup is catastrophic. Let me start at the beginning: While we dropped by the reception around 21:00 and tried to make a reservation for 22:00 we were told, that it is not possible to make a reservation for a specific time, but we could be placed onto the waiting list, with a waiting time of around 45 minutes. This did suit our plans and we returned after fleshing up, just to be informed, that we were send an SMS on our international mobile phones to advise us that our table was ready and we missed out slot. Checking the SMS, it was received 11 minutes after we left the reception. A firm dispute at the reception about their unacceptable practices led that I was about to cancel completely as I was getting more than annoyed. Pure luck caused a table to become available and we were seated. My next surprise was the menu barely showing prices on dishes and drinks and upon clarification I was told that this would be due to various vendors supplying products... really??? The overfriendly and oversharing waitress wasn't able to provide us bread and butter as starter while waiting for our main dish and again, we had to remind her. While enjoying our main course, we were interupted several time by the same with the words "Hey guys, how are you enjoying so far... Hey guys,... Hey guys...". C'mon show some respect towards your guest and address them properly! She pushed it by placing the menu on the table recommending us desserts and especially her favourite desserts, while we were still with full plates during our main course. The cherry topping her completely inappropriate service was to ask only my partner for her dessert choice and removed my dessert cutlery. I was neither asked if I would fancy a dessert nor if I would like a coffee. After serving a very tasty red velvet white chocolate cheesecake (highly recommended!), I asked for a second dessert spoon and she still didn't click, buy dared to place with the spoon our final bill onto the table with the words "Hey guys, whenever you are ready." We took our time to finish and enjoy our dessert and dinner and it seemed that she was keen on settling the bill. I mentioned to her, that I would like to pay with my digital credit card in my mobile phone, which is something normal we do in Europe and apparently there is only one machine in the restaurant to make these payments like this. I waited around 10 minutes for her to process the payment and even had time to use the rest facilities while still waiting for her. Her face and reaction was just one of a kind, when I politely informed her upon her request to pay her a 22% tip (!), that there is no reason at all for me to tip her, as her service was unacceptable and regardless if it was her fault that bread and butter were delayed, the entire service experience was poor and doesn't deserve any recognition. She mentioned that the amount of the tip will reflect her service quality and I processed the payment as stated on the bill with no tip and the words "exaclty, thank you very much and have a nice evening". She was furious and even while clearing up the table after us leaving, her...

Do not order anything with chicken. I will not be back after giving this a chance to my own disappointment.

I've been avoiding Cheesecake Factory for a while after this initial incident but they must be struggling to as I've never had such horrible GRISTLEY chicken in all my life. I don't know how to describe it but it's... unnatural? And sickening. It's now happened to me three times and this was the last.

The first time was over a year ago through Uber eats. I had ordered a pasta dish and it came with slices of the grossest most chewy/crunchy gristle-y chicken I'd ever eaten. It was like this chicken was glued together in layers and I was chewing through multiple bands of glue or snappy cartilage or something but it was terrible. It wasn't just one strand of whatever it was. It was all throughout the entire pieces of chicken.

The second time was months later and unfortunately because we order so much Uber eats that I had forgotten what company this incident occurred with. I had a hunch but I was willing to find out if it was C.F. so I'd know for sure to avoid it. This time I ordered the cajun pasta dish with chicken. This time the chicken was more cubed than sliced for some reason. But to my dismay, I was still chewing/crunching through "layers" of some kind of gristely substance. It is absolutely gross. We got an Uber credit.

Last night was the last straw. It's been another stretch of months since last time (which was last year). My partner really wanted C.F. and he never orders chicken so he's fine but I'm not. I agree to give it one last shot bc it's been a while and maybe their chicken has improved. I'm hoping. As a local tita I've gone to Cheesecake Factory since I was in high school here and always get chicken in my pasta. This has never happened all those years until recently.

And to my dismay last night it happened -again-. I ordered the chicken picatta. It comes with two breast pieces. And it was gristley and tough and chewy throughout its entirety.

I will no longer order from or be back to Cheesecake Factory, ever.

If anyone is thinking "it can't be that bad" imagine a Coney Island hot dog with that outer layer of intestine meant to "snap" when you bite. Now imagine that's doubled in thickness. Now imagine there are multiple layers of that spaced throughout this chicken. You don't just bite through one, your teeth snap through 20 of them on their way through the bite. My mind can't even wrap around how this happens to chicken except that it's some kind of crazy unnatural chicken pumped with hormones to beef it up and to compensate, its body creates layers of WHATEVER that is that I'm chewing through.

At this point, it's happened enough times that I'm sure C.F. is deliberately ordering from cheaper chicken suppliers who knowingly do this.

And I have a feeling that it happens less in the restaurant than it does through Uber Eats bc they could be using the cheaper chicken for takeout orders only? Whatever it is, it's absolutely unacceptable, it's honestly horrifying to bite through, and at three times, shane on me for giving...

We're true CF fans!

ATMOSPHERE: Busy and noisy, this is the highest-grossing location in the USA. Seating capacity is big, with plenty of indoor seating options, outdoor lanais, a big bar, and bakery counter.

FOOD: Caesar Salad The appetizer portion was huge. Pretty to look at, but the dressing was too tangy for me. CPK does a better job.

Fried Mac & Cheese Big breaded balls of mac & cheese over a marinara sauce. An app that's a meal in itself.

Ahi Carpaccio Super thin ahi with a wasabi pesto drizzle (couldn't taste the wasabi which is awesome to me,) sliced avocado and a togarashi aioli for dipping. Good taste.

Shrimp & Chicken Gumbo My favorite dish here. I absolutely LOVE gumbo, and I love rice. It's like a chunky soup, full of flavor with a kick.

Chicken Madeira This dish is better than the marsala IMO because it has more depth than the overly sweet marsala. Comes with mashed potatoes.

Pasta Carbonara The ratio of spaghettini pasta to sauce was 70% pasta, 30% sauce which resulted in a very bland dish. Pass.

Cajun Jambalaya Pasta The linguine was al dente and the chicken and shrimp plentiful, but overall very underwhelming. CPK does a way better version. Pass.

Salisbury Steak Great flavor with a nice crunchy exterior. Mashed potatoes were okay but could've used some flavor or more gravy.

Bistro Shrimp Pasta I had high hopes for this 1,900 calorie dish. What a disappointment! The breading of the shrimp had the consistency of breakfast potatoes, and fell off the shrimp in chunks. The shrimp had no flavor. Not being not a fan of arugula, I couldn't taste them, thankfully.

Shrimp Scampi & Steak Diane Combo After seeing pics of this, I had to try it. I thought the scampi came with pasta underneath but didn't. The 3 shrimp were deep fried and nicely seasoned in a tomato-onion drizzle. The steak was tender and tasty, in a slightly sweet brown sauce and topped with a few mushrooms. A wall of mashed potatoes separated the two down the middle. Highly recommended.

Factory Meatloaf Too sweet. Pass.

Shepherd's Pie Very flavorful with a generous amount of protein.

DESSERT: Red Velvet Cheesecake It looked delish in the pic, but I didn't care for the taste of cheesecake together with red velvet cake. Pass.

Strawberry Shortcake Not too sweet which is great.

Banana Cream Cheesecake Bananas + cheesecake = OMG.

Strawberry Cheesecake Same yum as the banana version.

Original Cheesecake My boring favorite! Super light and creamy.

Celebration Cheesecake The colors are so festive and happy!

SERVICE: They do not take reservations. Be prepared to wait up to 2 hours on weekend nights.

Wait staff are consistently friendly, even in the most hectic of environments.

OVERALL: Generous portions, some subpar selections, weak pasta dishes, but they do have the best...