The Cheesecake Factory — Restaurant in West Hartford

Update: Following this review, CF replied and asked me to contact them via a generic form website page. Instead of reaching out to learn more about the experience, they made me spend time searching their site for how to contact THEM. Very disappointing. Suggested that they make table tents that say "THIS AREA SANITIZED FOR YOUR SAFETY AND ENJOYMENT" as part of their table cleaning/prep policies. CF offered a $15 gift card to be used in the future. I refused the offer and will not be returning to this location and suggested a donation to a local food bank instead. No additional reply or contact from CF. 02/02/21

It's the COVID era, so restaurants are reaching for customers at every opportunity. With COVID comes responsibility, too. Generally speaking, this Cheesecake Factory location was like many others -- reliable and familiar foods, consistent service, and of course, dessert. Unfortunately the visit was marred by two incidents at the open and close of a two-hour meal...the most disturbing part of the experience was sitting down to a table (that should have been cleaned and sanitized) and discovering after several minutes (due to greasy food crumbs stuck to my Note 10+) that it had not been cleaned between guests. The waitress, Marta, was the most sincerely apologetic and concerned staff member, because neither the hostess, nor the managerial member who waltzed by the table seemed too concerned in the lapse of COVID sanitation procedure. Honestly, I was freaked out wondering who had been seated there prior and would not have even been at CF if not for a special occasion. The 'ho-hum' attitude was almost enough to turn our party away and forego dinner after an hour drive and hour wait. Someone needs to have a training on customer service, and Marta should be the one to lead it. The food was rote CF fare, so what heightens the experience is positive energy -- which we had in abundance each time Marta checked on us, added to our order, or delivered a course. Anyone can paint on a smile from table to table, but only the best servers can carry the energy through a bad situation that could have ruined the entire evening. Marta was friendly, engaging, and should be commended, because dessert ended on a sour note, too. (And again, she addressed and corrected an error that was not hers). It involved a piece of wax paper embedded in our cheesecake -- which one of us ate a portion of and nearly choked on. I can't imagine going to this location again on a busy non-COVID night if they can't even get the little things right at...

This is the only Cheesecake Factory in my area so I try to make it a point to come here, however after my most recent experience I’m not sure if I’ll come back. As a party of 4, we only had to wait 20 minutes to be seated, which I found perfectly reasonable since it was a busy Sunday afternoon, but the service for the rest of our time here was terrible! After we were seated, it took a super long time for anyone to come over and acknowledge us/ask if we wanted anything to drink, at which point the woman serving us told us our actual server was not feeling well and would be back to take our orders shortly. I’m not sure why they had someone working when she was not feeling well? After finally having our order taken by our actual waitress (who was seemingly in a very bad mood) we still had to wait for anything to be given to us until an hour later, when they brought the drinks and one appetizer. We had to request silverware to be brought to our table multiple times so we could eat our appetizer, and then by the time they brought us any, the food came as well (after over an hour). I ordered one of the lunch combos and wasn’t given the salad with it, and it took a while for me to even tell anyone about it since our waitress (who was then literally crying to someone at a table next to us who appeared to be related to her/dating maybe and wasn’t eating but was taking up space at a table while there were people waiting to be seated) left in the middle of serving us and we had to be given a third waitress. Since we were pretty much done eating at that point, I asked if I could get the salad taken off the bill and was told no. All in all we were there for two hours, with mostly all of that us sitting there confused as to why the food was taking so long. In the end, my friend couldn’t even really eat her burger because she ordered it medium and it was pretty much raw on the inside. It’s a shame that this is the only Cheesecake Factory in the area because they definitely have some issues which need to...

My family & I had our emotional support puppy with us & was turned away from dining at the Cheesecake Factory, we was hungry & feeling a little frustrated since we had called prior and spoke with a "Scarlett" to confirm that they allow service dogs - we got the OK but upon arrival was told that without proof or a vest that we had to leave. I walked over to the refrigerator to check out their cheesecake selection and overheard the hostesses talking about my family & I and how we were in their way and that they couldn't wait for us to leave because of my daughter's carriage (which was folded and placed under our table) and our service dog. I usually LOVE the cheesecake factory and frequent here often, but this was honestly the worst experience I've ever had and sadly I will not be returning to this location and wouldn't recommend for anyone dining with small children or a service dog to dine here either. To our surprise, we noticed Rosa Mexicano next door so we asked if we could enter their establishment with our service pup & they said absolutely! The staff was so kind and gracious to my family and I. The food was delicious, the service was fast, the ambiance was so peaceful yet fun. The BEST part of our experience was our server, Peter! Peter went above & beyond to ensure our experience was a pleasant one, he was courteous, professional, knowledgeable and catered to us. He is definitely an asset to this establishment as he takes pride in his job which is not something common these days I look forward to returning and being serviced by him again. 10/10...