The Cheesecake Factory — Restaurant in Orlando

My friend and I came into this location to have a meal and It took about 7 minutes and we were heading to our seats. The room was crowded and especially in thr area we were seated. Our server Alena G seemed overwhelmed and her attitude seemed uninterested in giving quality customer service to our table. May because it was just 2 patrons. Most of her other tables were between 3-5 patrons. So she seemed to give them more attention even knowing we were seated before them. She finally came with menus and immediately walked away. When she finally came back she took our drink order. That took a while to get a cucumber lemonade and a strawberry lemonade. She walked away again not asking if we were ready to order or even leaving us the complimentary bread and butter. It was prpbably 25 minutes since we were seated and she is bringing appetizers to tables around us and chatting them uo wirh a friendly disposition. She comes to us and finally brings the bread and takes our orders for two different pasta dishes. Plus I advised her I would be ordering another one to go for my husband. She states she will put that order in halfway through our meal so we dont overload our small table. Which i was ok with that. We are not an hour at the restaurant and have only had the bread and the lemonades. The waitress has not checked in with us, not even to advise the kitchen maybe running a little slow or whatever excuse she needed to use to keep us from getting aggravated for the slow inattentive service. But now we are an hour plus into our wait. Watching other tables getting different courses as we havent had anything bit bread and lemonade. So when I finally got her attention I asked her to change our orders to a to go ootion because we were pressed for time. She actually gave push back as if she didn't want to accommodate this request. She replied, "let me check with the cook!" Instead of say she sorry for the long wait, let me check on your orders or anything to show her compassion would have been better than her attitude and nonchalantly making me feel like Im disturbing the cooks by wanting my food and my desserts to go. It took another 30 minutes for us to finally get 2 pasta dishes plus the additional pasta dish originally requested as to go and 4 slices of cake. To add insult to injury none of the pastas were even hot upon delivery and 2 of the cakes were just tossed in the containers like trash. It took another 10 minutes to get my bill because instead of her dropping it off to my table she walked right past our table to give customer service to the table beside us since the guest spoke her same language so she was happier helping them instead of giving me my bill. She almost walked away again until I asked for my bill. She dropped the billfold on the table and hurried off to another table with 4 patrons. Even with this unprofessional and unacceptable service I still gave a tip. I wanted to speak with a manager on duty before I left the establishment since I was so unhappy. The same gentleman who checked us in was nice enough to go and get a manager for me to address my concerns. What made this even worst was this young lady was no help. She made excuses that she (the manager) was new. And if I would have let her know earlier she would've been able to do more for my situation. I felt as if she wanted to dismiss my valid concerns and as if I had asked for a free meal. I never wanted a free meal, i wanted accountability to the poor service me and my friend recieved. She made me feel like all she wanted to do is say she'll talk with the wait staff and would I want a piece of cake for my trouble!!! My bill was $144.57 plus tip for 2 people to basically be neglected and have a bread basket and a lemonade. That is outrageous and as I told the on duty manager I bought my cake so no I dont need a free slice. I need better service. I will as I always do submit my experience to yelp, google and the company survey to put this establishment on notice for the horrendous service I recieved at the Mallenia...

I ordered my take out at 8:35pm. My order was supposed to be ready in 25-35 minutes. When I arrived, there was no clear directions to the order pick up area, so you have to wait in line with the diners to get upfront and ask where do you go to pick up your order. So that took about another 5 or so minutes. Once I finally reached the front of the line, the host just pointed to an area and said that's where you pick up your online order. Still no signs or anything, so I confirmed by pointing to the area where she pointed and headed that way. When I got over there, everyone was busy preparing drinks, carrying food to tables, ringing up orders and no one even looked my direction. So I just stood there. I looked at my Fitbit and it was after 9pm, so I was thinking if I could just get someone's attention and let them know that I'm just here to pick up my order that should be ready and I've already paid for, so I can be on my way (cause there's nothing worse than cold food and warm cheesecake). But no one liked interested enough to interrupt. So I did another 5 minutes or so until a woman who had nothing in her hands walked by and said, "Excuse me ma'am, can you tell me where I'm to go to pick up my online order?" She said that I was in the right place and walked off??? Again maybe it's me but how am I supposed to know what the protocol of the restaurant is regarding how to retrieve my pick up order without signs or someone's assistance. So I look at my Fitbit again and it's now 9:16pm. So I decided that I should go to the counter where people are buying desserts and let someone there know that I have been waiting to pick up my outside online order and to ask them to flag down anyone who knew where my order was and could bring it to me. So I'm in that line for about 5 minutes before I get to the front and explain my dilemma to the cashier. She begins to point to the area I just left as if to say just go over there but I refused... You see I've already paid my money, drove from my home to the restaurant, circled the parking lot aisles a few times just to find somewhere to park, stood in that area for over 20 minutes already and I'm still clueless as to if anyone even knows that I'm just here to pick up my order...so what I ain't gone do is leave this counter. So she called a manager. When he came over, he listened to what I had to say, something she had not taken the time to do and said I'll go look into it. When he came back he said your order will be ready in the next 10-15 minutes and if you stand over there, a server will bring it out to you. So I did end up going back over there and I did get my order within that timeframe but the whole moral of my story is this...I love Cheesecake Factory but I WILL NOT ORDER ONLINE TAKE OUT from this location ever again. I'll drive a little further and go to the one on Vineland where they will bring your to go order...

What to say about the Cheesecake Factory at the Mall at Millennia?

I have been several times to this restaurant and, overall, I have had a good experience there.

Things you should know, wait is always long because of its location and the other ones are more of a drive, as well as the fact that Millennia is a highly populated area of Orlando. So be prepared to wait or get there early, as we've been told before that you cannot make a reservation when calling so we haven't even tried after that.

Service is usually good. You can go in only to shop for cheesecake without having to ask for a table or anything. There is plenty of seating, but again, it's always packed with locals and tourists.

This last time we went kind of ruined it for me a bit we went super early for dinner and a bit after 4 pm asked for a table and there was a 30 minute wait already. We know how busy it is so we were not surprised and walk around the mall in the meantime. When we were seated we were the only ones in that row, but ok, maybe they just had opened that section. Next, our server greets us, asks for drink order, doesn't even ask if we have been there or not and already expected us to know our order. He comes back with drinks, I'm deciding and instead of offering to answer any questions to help me decide, he runs along again. Once we ordered we waited a while for the good, which is fine, we were there to talk with our friend we hadn't seen in a while due to covid-19. When the food comes someone else brought it over but not once did our server worry about stopping over to ask how it was, to refill drinks, or at least say hi. Once we finished we decided on cheesecake, naturally, and he did listen to our request to get it to go just in case we didn't finish. We then ordered a coffee mocha, and while he brought that quickly, then I wanted a latte I asked a manager that was walking by our table. Coincidentally our server walked by a bit after, and the manager approached him and told him that he ordered it for me and for him to ring it up on our tab, which he did, but then the simple latte didn't come while my friend's more elaborate mocha came within 5 minutes. And because he wasn't checking in on us as normally a server would, once he did the first thing he said was, the coffee hasn't come yet??

Overall, this last experience was less satisfactory than others and it's not the norm. Management, check on your staffing levels. It does seem like your server was under a lot of stress due to how quickly he was going around and...