The Cheesecake Factory — Restaurant in Pleasanton

After a long, blistering day at the soccer fields in Pleasanton my family and I opted for Cheesecake Factory. We were all pretty hungry and had two exhausted footballers ready to grub. The food here never disappoints and the cheesecake is heavenly. When we arrived my wife, daughter and her friend all had to use the restroom. The trash can had overflown, there was no toilet paper, and there were used crumpled paper towels left thrown about the floor. My daughter came out saying, “Mom wants you to tell someone about the bathroom. It’s disgusting in there!” I notified management right away, she apologized and was quick to let her staff know to address the issue. We seated ourselves in the bar area to avoid the wait and were greeted promptly by someone to clear the table for us. When our server appeared he was extremely courteous, got our drinks started while we decided on our orders. He came back quick with the drinks and, honestly, went above and beyond to accommodate us all. My daughter can be a bit choosy with her food as can her besty and between my wife and I, as I mentioned, with all their incredible menu options neither of us could make up our mind. Once he got us all figured out he left to put our food in assuring us the kids food would come out quickly. We wouldn’t see him again for another 20-30 minutes. We were served by someone else entirely, also pleasant, but with only my daughter’s friend’s, my wife’s and my food. The hungrier of the two kid’s food, promised to be quick and first, wouldn’t show up for another 15-20 minutes. Since our drinks needed refills we asked if server #2 could take care of it for us since we hadn’t seen our original server since he’d taken our orders. He came back quickly with the refills and we decided to ask about our daughter’s food. The interim server rushed off to check on it and we wouldn’t see him again for another 15-20 minutes. A third server finally came through with the bacon cheeseburger sliders my daughter ordered. By that time the rest of us had nearly finished our meals. So we sat by and watched the ravenous one devour her plate cause this kid was absolutely ready for bed. As she was taking her last few bites I finally saw our server taking care of another table and motioned him over to ask for the check. He at least apologized for the time lapse declaring he was, “Extremely busy,” and handling the bar area on his own. We weren’t leaving without a couple pieces of their amazing cheesecake but there was no way I was chancing placing that order in this poor guy’s hands. So I stood by to await the check while the three ladies went to the front to purchase the dessert. When the check came I had zero qualms about leaving the minimum recommended tip. Gratuity is an optional, voluntary payment given by a customer to an employee for good service, and the customer decides the amount. Now whether it’s a staffing issue, an absent minded server, or the stars just weren’t aligned for us that night is irrelevant. This was definitely a one-off for us and we’ll certainly bring our business back at some point. I felt this instance required attention and I’d be doing their store a disservice by not leaving an honest review so the powers that be can address it and make whatever necessary adjustments to prevent this...

Update Feb 2024: While the food at Cheesecake Factory was okey, the overall experience was severely marred by the unclean floor. So many Food scraps littered the floor beneath unused tables. The table that was assigned to us initially, was unclean and sticky with the previous guests' drinks. We had to request to move to a different table. And midway to our dinner I found that there were numerous food crumbs under this table too. The stark contrast between the upscale ambiance and the uncleanliness was disappointing, leaving a sense of neglect. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant until hygiene is demonstrably prioritized. For my dish I had specifically mentioned not to add plantains in my Jamaican shrimp dish. Although the server was cordial but he missed that part and served it as it is. I do feel that some of the wording in the menu card should be tweaked as it said that the Jamaican shrimp is very spicy but when I ate it it was just a tad better than bland. My wife definitely liked the vegetarian Thai lettuce wraps. Also, we have definitely noticed the size of the cheesecakes have reduced and the price has increased. And if you check the photos, there's a difference between the size of the slice of the cakes too taken from the same place at the same time. In the end, our latest overall experience was not worth the money I spent.

6 year old review below Cheesecakes are always good over here. Ambience is fine. I generally like the food. I have tried multiple items over here, but they are mostly on the expensive side. Among all the times I have visited this restaurant (at this location) I've always had mixed reaction about the attendants at the reception and the servers. I've visited this location multiple times. On Feb 4, 2018 I took my cousin, who was visiting US, to this place. We gave him really great hopes about the restaurant but it turned out to be a massive disappointment. We were seated after a wait of 30 minutes - which I do not mind at all. Once seated we kept waiting for more than 15 minutes just for a server to show up and offer us water, etc. It was totally unacceptable. Someone showed up only after we left the chair to find a server. After we placed the ordered the food arrived after some time. I wouldn't say that it took a lot of time for the food to arrive but it wasn't quick. Anyway, the food was good. We had ordered some cocktails, Cajun Jambalaya, Shrimp Dynamite and Thai Lettuce Wrap (veggy - chicken replaced with avocado). Later on we found that there was a mess up in the bill. We told the server and she corrected and brought it back to us. But we found that there was the same as before - we again had to find her to fix it. My last experience wasn't great at all and especially a poor 1st impression for my cousin on...

I thought the atmosphere was fine, and it Seemed clean enough. My server was a bit slow and it took a really long time for her to take our order, however, it was the beginning Of the dinner crowd . My main issue was with the food. There were three of us, and we each ordered our own appetizer and meal.

We ordered the chicken potstickers as an appetizer Which were OK- Not great, but OK. We also had the fried zucchini, which I was happy with. And we had the cheese quesadilla appetizer, which was terrible.

For our main dishes, we had the chicken fettuccine Alfredo, which was The most expensive meal that we ordered at $30 and was absolutely terrible. First of all, it was a very small portion for $30. Secondly, It was just a bunch of noodles with the cheese stuck to the noodles sitting in a bowl of oil. No actual Alfredo sauce at all. This is usually my daughter’s favorite dish at home, but she couldn’t even Eat it at the restaurant. And my other daughter had the orange chicken Which was also absolutely terrible. This dish was not eaten either. I ended up having the Asian chicken salad, which also was not very tasty. The dressing was terrible, and the chicken was almost in edible. I could barely bite through it. I don’t think I’ve ever had chicken quite like this. It was just very very chewy Like it was full of tendons or something. This was a very expensive meal costing us almost $200- Over 200 The tip, Half of it, we couldn’t even eat. I talked to the manager about it Before we left. If she had offered any kind of discount, I wasn’t going to take it. That’s not why I talked to her. Yet it was kind of surprising that she didn’t do anything to make my experience even a little bit better. Even though I wouldn’t have taken it, Any kind of offer at least, to balance all the money we had just wasted Would’ve been nice - Just to know, they had good customer service, at least. But nothing. The manager really didn’t have a whole lot to say except that she would try and talk to somebody but never really said who. She was definitely caught off guard with me talking to her so I have to give her that. I’m sure she had no idea how to handle the situation. Even though our service was pretty slow, the server was very nice And I did like her. Oh, and the bread was very good. It took quite a long time for it to get to our table, but it was very good. And the cheesecake and carrot cake that we took home was...