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The Cheesecake Factory
Rating Details »
Category: Restaurants [Edit]
Neighborhood: Winter Park520 N. Orlando Avenue
Suite 100
Winter Park, FL 32789
(407) 644-4220
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good for:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
13 reviews for The Cheesecake Factory
My mother and I went here for a birthday party last night. We had a nice spacious table for a large group with a few extra seats. My Mom and I ordered the calamari appetizer to share, it was a few dollars more than other restaurants but tasted the same as other places (EXACTLY THE SAME) and was the same portion size. We also ordered drinks which were good, however I noticed a man down the table and I both ordered pina coladas, but he had a larger glass and strawberry, cherry, and pineapple around his cup whereas they gave me a smaller glass with only cherry and pineapple even though we were presumably paying the same price. I did not appreciate the inconsistency. I also noticed that they didn't ID me, something every other restaurant has done, thanks for saving me the inconvenience of pulling out my ID, but I guess it's on them if I'm underage (I'm not).
Moving on to the main course, chicken madeira. It was delicious and for $15.95 it was a large portion size. I ordered mashed potatoes with mine. I had an issue with the MASHED potatoes because they weren't really MASHED. There was large chunks of potato inside the mashed potatoes and they were really thick. They had good flavor though. After dinner, we ordered a delicious and fair priced key lime cheesecake to share. It was really nice and the key lime covered up the sweetness of the cheesecake.
Our service was okay, however being a large group we had two servers. When we got our bill they had already added in the 18% tip which we felt was unfair because none of the servers deserved an 18% tip in our opinion and we didn't really even know who we were tipping. That brought our bill up to $96.00 for appetizers, drinks, dinner, and dessert.
Oh yeah, and the restaurant was extremely cold. Like, hospital cold.
The more I eat here, the less i like it. it's the same old, really.
Their coffee was clearly maxwellhouse. They try to fancy it by serving it in a glass but I know my coffee. Boo! (i'm a coffee snob).
good cheesecakes though.
Can't ever say anything bad about Cheesecake Factory. Always good service, great menu, great food. And of course awesome cheescake.
I'm going to review Cheesecake Factory a little more favorably than some of my distinguished colleagues ... because I recently discovered their happy hour.
My main beef with CF has always been the portions are too big. They're just insane. But at Happy Hour they offer tapas sized plates for $4 or $5. Perfect!
Or you could do like me and order the Roasted Artichoke appetizer as a meal. Yes, it's just a big vegetable, but honestly I could eat it for days.
I have an unnatural predilection for the Strawberry Martini (Ketel One strained through strawberries with a sugar rim.) Dear Lord Baby Jesus please don't let me become a diabetic.
And come on ... the Cheesecake rocks. Again, HUGE portions. But I don't mind eating Cheesecake for 3 days. Especially when it's the Adam's Peanut Butter Ripple. Don't mind that at all.
Oh, and girls - the floors are super slippy. Maybe it's the Strawberry Martini's but I always come thisclose to busting my ass.
Stick with apps, drinks and dessert and the Cheesecake Factory is great. It's too loud and not so great for an actual sit-down dinner. It really should be a big bar.
(And WAY better than Brio or Beluga. And when you're looking to get happy before or after a movie, CF is your best bet).
I've been here for several business lunches, and I will say that this location has always been able to accommodate a group of five or more at lunch - without reservations.
I have had "the Navajo" a couple of times, and I keep forgetting to ask them to NOT grease the bread before they make the sandwich. Oily bread is sure hard to hold onto.
I don't understand why this restaurant has such a following - I've haven't been bowled over by anything on their menu. When I tried to order a cookie dough cheesecake slice, they didn't have any more. I ordered the carrot cake instead. It was good, but I can't say that I've ever had a bad piece of carrot cake.
BTW: the inside of the place reminds me a lot of the Mythos restaurant from Islands of Adventure, so maybe I was put off from the start.
This place is okay. It's not better or worse than the other locations. There are much better options within walking distance, so I don't eat here often. They do serve this chicken biscuit on a mountain of mash potatoes that is pretty damn yummy. My kids love it. Plus the portions are so huge you can feed the whole tribe. My only complaint is they don't take reservations. We had a party of 8 for Sunday brunch and they wouldn't take a reservation for parties less than 10 or 20.
CCF has an awesome lil' bar menu from 4p-6p prices are all around $5 or less. My personal faves include: Thai lettuce wraps, Cuban sliders, cobb salad, and the deep fried tempura sushi that was very tasty. =)
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
2/22/2008
Went to CCF with hubs just for the cheesecake and drinks. The waiting area is very overwhelming. The… Read more »
I do not understand the fascination with this restaurant. I have been here on a number of occasions, as well as their location in Milena and I simply do not understand it. It takes forever to be seated and ten another eon for wait staff to come to your table, they take your drink order and then vanish for at least 20 minutes--without even setting the party up with water glasses.
The atmosphere is dim and cozy--if only their menu and service were as well done.
Service here is by far the worst I have ever had. Slow is an understatement. It took 30 minutes for me (out of a table of four) to get a drink from a racist waitress (it was noted by everyone at the table, two of which were also African American), and another 15 after she finally had someone else bring it out because she screwed up an order for a Pepsi w/o ice. At the end of the meal our server had the audacity to blame her one other table because it was a large party--as if handling two tables was too much for her to handle.
The food is mediocre at best and definitely not worth the prices they charge. Quite honestly, I've had better pasta at Olive Garden and out of my own kitchen. Their steak dishes are decent but again overpriced. They give you enough food for a small army so beware if you're trying to monitor portions--you can always leave with a doggie bag...too bad the food is even worse reheated.
Their drinks are sub par, though I have friends who love their specialties. Personally, the strawberry daiquiris are FAR better at TGI Friday's.
Overall the only good thing about the place is Cheesecake. I say that only because I hate cheesecake but a couple of their many varieties actually appealed to me to try and I actually liked it. Not enough to become a lover of the desert, but they were good. However, I can't see paying that much and waiting that long for a desert.
The Winter Park location is nice,decorated with some art deco style.we had to wait a little bit to be seated....but the place wasn't even busy and many of the waiters were just hanging around here and there and the hostess was not useful,finally we got a table and the waitress( I think her name was Sarah) was really nice and friendly and she suggested some of her favorite cheesecakes. my friends and i tried just cheesecakes, the first one was the original strawberry chesecake, i had tiramisu cheesecake and the other one tried macadamia caramel cheesecake wich was really good,the place is a little bit pricey
the menu is huge here, never a shortage of choices, thats a plus. the food is tasty but nothing spectacular, just average american style food. the pecan crusted fish was nice and as always i'm a huge fan of their Vanilla Bean Cheesecake its like a dream in your mouth, if that makes any sense at all..
Good food for a good price and great service.
There is good and there is bad about Cheesecake Factory. I've been going to one in Coconut Grove, Miami since I was a kid. I must have been to Cheesecake Factory about 100 times by now. It's much better than Houston's. Houston's doesn't have anything special but Cheesecake factory has some great dishes and some averages dishes. Examples of great dishes: Louisiana Chicken Pasta (I prefer to sub the fried chicken with grilled chicken), Chino-Latino steak, baja chicken tacos, chicken n dumplings, and ANY cheesecake you order. The one thing I wouldn't recommend are the burgers. I don't like the burgers at all. They're huge, but not juicy, and way overpriced. The negative thing about Cheesecake Factory in Miami is the wait. It's always packed. The benefit at this Cheesecake Factory is that the wait isn't nearly as bad usually. On a weekday, you're pretty much guaranteed a no wait situation, on a Friday and Saturday night, just go past 9 PM and the crowds will have subsided. Another negative thing is that the service is inconsistent. It's basically the luck of the draw depending on which server you get. What I hate about this Cheesecake Factory in Winter Park is that the food can go downhill when you get close to closing time. They won't hesitate to serve you stale bread because they don't feel like cooking more. Don't let that happen, demand your hot bread because the bread is wonderful when it's hot and fresh. In Miami, the Cheesecake Factory keeps up high quality all night long, but this one will slack off at certain times. That's why I consider this a lesser Cheesecake Factory. I love some of their cheesecakes though. The chocolate chip cookie dough, the godiva chocolate, the vanilla bean, the peanut butter cup, they're all delicious. They even have this monstrous slice of chocolate cake that can only be consumed by serious cake-eaters. Positives: good food, great portions, decent atmosphere, excellent desserts.
This review is for the Millenia Location. I haven't eaten @ the Winter Park location, so no offense to them if they have a 180 when it comes to service compared to Millenia.
I have essentially banned this restaurant from my "I dunno, where do you wanna go?" choices on a friday night. OR any night for that matter. As much as I do enjoy the lettuce wraps, and the cheesecake is amazing. And I must say I like the fresh lemonaide, although they never bother to re-ring your glass with some fresh sugar after your first refill, I can't STAND this place at all.
Possibly the LAST place I attempt to eat any night of the week, primarily because I have nearly NEVER had half-way decent service. Wait wait wait from when you arrive. Then wait wait wait to be greeted. Wait some more for bread (if they bring both breads and havent ran out of either. or butter) Then wait wait for your drinks. Wait for a refill, and then the big wait for your dinner (which hopefully comes out how you ordered it)
Then wait for your server come back so you can give them the unnecessary tip that they don't deserve for their lackluster service.
Maybe this restaurant will pick it up one of these days, b/c the food is good and the menu has a TON of variety to it.. But as is my golden rule of thumb, I can compensate a lttle for a restaurant with exceptional service and a little less amazing food. But a resturant with terrible service is UNBEARABLE. Often that is what makes cheesecake unbearable.