The Cheesecake Factory — Restaurant in Tampa

Last night my family and I went to the international Cheesecake Factory with my family of around 12. I would give them a zero if I could. I myself got there half an out late and when I asked where the rest of the family was they said they were inside eating because they were told they could not accommodate a family of our size. not only did we wait for about an hour outside to be seated, but when we called in they separated us . saying they could not accommodate a group of 12. in the meantime time there were several booths near by and more seating opened up where we could have been sat together and or near each other we asked to speak with a manager . we were aggressively approached by Laurie the manager with had no care in the world to help us. she was aggressive, loud, and very offensive. she did not care to work with us in any way to accommodate our family .she gave us no options. basically made us sit far apart from each other bother . meanwhile there was areas where we could have been sat and all she could say was no. she stated several times that she not accommodate a group of 12 nor do they make reservations for large groups for after I believe 5 or 6. it was about another 45 minutes before we sat down. now its been almost 2 hours that have gone by. while we were sitting at our table we saw Laurie accomadate a group of over 20 people. We were a group of black and Latino and they were a group of over 20 white people. I’m not saying she is racist, but she did discriminate against our family and when we brought it up to her she could not give us. straight answer. she said they waited 2 hours and we stated we waited over 2 hours. she said we were given the option to be broken up and we took it and we replied to her that that was the only option she gave us. we were not given the option to wait longer to be accommodated. we were told to separate us was the only option. she kept going on with no remorse, no empathy and not a care in the world. while our children, grandchildren, and aunts were all separated in different areas of the restaurant. she was very loud and sarcastic. we were just starting to eat our food while our other family that came with us had finished and had to wait outside for us to get done to go home. Laurie just walked away from our table without never giving us a valid reason for the whole situation and her behavior. we were so disturbed and disappointed that we couldn’t even eat our food. this is by far the worst experience. I ever had. she was so very unprofessional and rude . I will escalate this to the highest level and will also be calling ABC action news to let them know about our experience with Laurie And the Cheesecake Factory. Our server was great , but our Evening and appetite was quickly wilted by our unfair treatment. I have left a meager for the manage Mark to call and have not revived a call yet. Hopefully he will call me before I call corporate. Ms . Laurie needs to be retrained and needs to learn how to act as a manager and to own up to her behavior and learn to fix these mistakes and how to treat and be equal with all her customers . My family has spent thousands of dollars at this restaurant. As I always say .. it can take years to gain a customer and a split second to lose one. It was just a very disgraceful situation we went through and I hope no one will ever have to go through this with...

• THIS IS NOT A PET-FRIENDLY RESTAURANT*

First and foremost, I want to express that I'm a big fan of the Cheesecake Factory restaurant. Whenever I explore a new city, I make it a point to find one to dine at. I've journeyed with my husband to various places, including Hawaii, Mexico, LA, Las Vegas and Orlando, and we've always had fantastic dining experiences there. However, regrettably, today we decided to visit the Cheesecake Factory in our own city, Tampa, and it turned out to be the most disappointing and frustrating dining experience I've ever had in this restaurant.

I completely understand the rules regarding pets in restaurants, and I agree with them. Nevertheless, we were accompanied by our 8kg dachshund, securely nestled in a closed carrier. She serves as my emotional support animal and is an integral part of our family outings. To provide some context, it was September 24th, 2 PM, when my husband had made a reservation at the restaurant. Upon arriving at the host stand, we were greeted by a Japanese waitress who, unfortunately, communicated the restaurant's pet policy in a rather impolite manner. We respected the rules; however, it's worth noting that the restaurant wasn't crowded. There were plenty of vacant tables, and the option to sit in the outdoor section was available (in fact, if you don't know, most restaurants allow us to sit outdoors when we have pets).

While I was outside the restaurant, attending to our dog by providing water, I received the unwelcome news that we couldn't enter. I promptly approached the host stand and presented the documentation confirming my dog's status as a legally recognized emotional support animal. At that point, the waitress informed us that we could enter as long as our dog remained inside her carrier, which was already the case.

After a period of waiting on the sofa, another waitress escorted us to our designated table. It was at this point that she insisted our dog must remain on the floor if we wished to dine inside the establishment. Firstly, I had never requested indoor seating since there were numerous available outdoor tables, as I mentioned earlier. Secondly, my dog was already safely contained within a pet carrier, and yet the waitress insisted on having her placed on the floor beneath the table. This directive contradicted what the initial waitress had communicated after reviewing my emotional support animal documentation.

In order to spare our family any further discomfort, we made the decision to depart. It's genuinely disheartening that our dining experience on a Sunday afternoon turned out this way. The entire episode was extremely frustrating, and we've never encountered such poor treatment in a restaurant!! I'd like to emphasize that we aren't talking about a large breed like a Labrador or German Shepherd; instead, we have a small dog comfortably secured in a carrier.

Regrettably, there was no manager on duty, only a few young ladies at the host stand who treated us quite unfavorably. This visit marks our first and last at this particular restaurant. It's now quite clear why the restaurant was so sparsely populated. The establishment appears to suffer from significant staffing issues and staff members who are evidently inadequately trained to handle the public and situations of this nature. It's truly...

Would be nice if the servers knew what wasn’t available when folks order. And the manager needs to teach the staff NOT to ask if someone needs change when paying cash. I ordered Chicken Taquitos but was told 15 minutes after ordering they didn’t have any. That’s what I wanted because the calories are shown on the menu for everything and the taquitos had one of the lowest amount. I was asked what else I’d like and, nothing, that’s all I wanted. The kicker? I had a glass of unsweet tea and that stupid maybe 6oz glass was $5.32!!! I could buy a whole box of tea bags for that price! Anyway, I asked the server, who was very cordial to our group, for the bill for my tea. My assumption was on the line that because I didn’t have what I wanted for lunch that he would just cancel out the one glass of iced tea I had. That wasn’t what happened but whatever. The price for that iced tea was $5.32. I gave the server $10 to pay so I could get out of there and he actually had the nerve to wake me if I needed change! Do what?’ I cannot stand for any server to ask me if I need change and for any who does they aren’t well trained. A server should never ask that question. It makes me cringe. Anyway, I wasn’t very nice in my reply. Did he actually think I was going to fork out $10 for one glass of unsweetened tea when especially when what I ordered wasn’t available but not know until 15 minutes after ordering? I don’t care now but the nerve. And as a past server myself, I never asked if one of my patrons needed change. That’s just rude. In closing, the server should known what was not available ahead of time instead of coming to me 15 minutes after I ordered and then wanted a $5 tip for a lousy glass of iced tea. I won’t go back. Many better choices at this mall. The big business groups are such a turn off. I found a small business after that to actually spend good money at and wasn’t asked if I needed change. At that place, right down the walk from The Cheesecake factory m, bartender received a nice Christmas tip., 40% l. May be how life goes and I’m happier for the one who got a good tip from me later. Once I met back up with the crew I was with, it turns out that server asked everyone if they needed change. Even one of my friends with a $100 bill and a check for $25 dollars. Teach your servers rhat asking if one needs change is about one of the most annoying questions in the industry. Wrong wrong, especially when the food someone orders isn’t available and not know well after ordering. Not a happy customer at all, nor were my other friends when asked that...