Summary: A 90 minute wait for subpar food and service and an injured child.
I had never been to a Cheesecake Factory before. I had heard it was good, so we decided to check it out. The wait time on Friday evening was 90 minutes. This is understandable. What is not is watching tables be vacated and then seeing them sit dirty for 15 or more minutes before being flipped. On a busy night, that should be done within minutes.
We were seated in their 'outside the restaurant but inside the mall area' without being given a choice of where we'd like to sit (in or out). We had our 2 1/2 year old son with us and put his order for corndogs and fruit in right away. In the meantime, I had water,my husband ordered a mocha, and our son had chocolate milk. Our drinks took about 15 minutes to get to the table, as did the basket of bread. The waitress dropped off the drinks and the mocha was lukewarm, not hot. It took so long for us to get our drinks, that when the waitress finally dropped them off and took our order, my son's food was done and delivered to the table.
This is important if you have children: do NOT get the corndogs, or if you do, remove the sticks before you let them have them. The sticks they use have pointy, sharp ends inside the hot dog. My son bit into his hot dog and ended up cutting the inside of his mouth. We didn't realize the extent of his injuries until we were home and he started crying while brushing his teeth. (My husband waited 15 minutes on the phone for a manager before he hung up and called back and demanded to speak to one).
Another aspect of the kid's meal we didn't like is how they did the fruit for the side. It was chopped up into teeny tiny pieces. Many little kids are picky eaters and won't eat something unless they can see what it is, which is why my son wouldn't eat it even though he loves all the fruits that were in the side. I would prefer larger chunks that are still manageable.
As for the adult food. I had the Skinnylicious Turkey and Avocado sandwich with a side salad and my husband ordered the gumbo. I expected a warm sandwich, and instead I received cold turkey, on a very cold bun, with cold bacon. My husband said his chicken and shrimp was overcooked. I tried a bite and the gumbo itself was pretty bland.
At the end of our meal, we had all our dirty dishes stacked at the end of our table for a good 10 minutes before our waitress came to check on us. This was pretty thematic throughout the meal. Our waitress was pretty scarce. We wanted some cheesecake, but since there was no wait staff around, my husband went to the wait station and grabbed a menu for us to review. When our server returned, it took 15 minutes to get 1 slice of cheesecake to go. Let's be clear, this is a pre-sliced cake that's been sitting on a plate in a display case. It should not take that long to put a slice in a to go container. We had our bill paid and were sitting and just waiting for our cheesecake to go.
The service was abysmal. Our waitress looked like half her section was in our 'outdoor' area and half indoors. This meant that she wasn't around much. Not once did a bus boy or other server stop by while we were waiting to check on us or clear our dirty plates. We did not see a manager during our entire time there.
TL;DR - skip the hype. The food is not worth the wait or the price. Check your kids food order if you do decide to risk it to ensure no dangerous, pointy items hiding in there.
The cheesecake was decent. So maybe call in an order for cheesecake to go, stop in and pick it up, and enjoy it in the comfort of your own home. Trust me, the service will be quicker and friendlier that way.