Personal Narrative: The Cheesecake Factory

The Cheesecake Factory, I once believed that the establishment would be a bakery that primarily sold cheesecakes, sweets and such. Although, I’ve never heard much about the restaurant, or what it actually was other than people are familiar with the establishment and only comment on the cheesecakes. Yet, I had not known that that was the place I was dining in, I only believed under presumption of its name that we were going to eat at some other random place when I walked through the doors of the restaurant. Now the reason I say random was the fact that this place was not like how I imagined the praiseworthy Cheesecake Factory to be at all. My expectations of this place was exactly how Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory felt and as colorful as Tim Burton’s remake of Alice in Wonderland was.
So with the details hidden and expecting to never actually eat there, it came as a surprise that I have walked passed the establishment several times in a particular area without ever realizing it at all because of how deceiving the name was.
I expected the place to filled with bright colors, sounds of happiness, the smell of cheesecake in the air, and pure enjoyment among other things, but that was not how I was welcomed passing through the door.
It was the opposite of what I had expected: the entire location was dark, involving as little color as possible. Despite the large area, it was very compact and crowded, leaving just enough room to comfortably walk through, which explains why our table was so small. The noise level was far louder than any other restaurant I had previously dined in. On the contrary to what you may think, I’m not implying that these characteristics are negative traits just because it did not live up to my expectations, but rather, it’s just that unlike what I had originally thought this place to be it was more of something else.
On the other hand, the food was better than I expected for a meal that costed $20 especially where they don't have a set standard of both culture and food. For a place that has a wide variety of the two they did not turn down the quality of the food. My Family, containing four members (one of which refused to order only because he did not have an appetite, he did, however, openly express his opinion) chose 3 entrees and one appetizer with rather bland bread served to us. Before we were even could decide what to dine on our waiter left us complimentary bread which took me by surprise that they didn’t nail the bread. It was dull and lacked flavor, hard crust with an incredibly soft inside, but no flavor! Other than that, we were all served Coke upon request for drinks. Shortly after our waiter left, I became displeased at how all of the ccokes were prepared as they all contained too much ice, and not enough of the actual beverage. This was a double edge sword because even though the drinks will remain cold, in the long run they would taste too watery. That’s my opinion prior to our actual meal, our server was great nonetheless, gave his best insight and advice on each dish, and although I can overlook the coke issue, I just can’t turn a blind eye to the bread.
I was not the biggest fan of what my dish contain, I believed the chicken would be dry, the mushrooms would have little flavor, hardly any taste from the mozzarella cheese, and overall I wasn’t expecting much from the mashed potatoes, all massively served “American”( big portion size, but I wasn't wrong there, just everywhere else). Still big, but wow the meal was delicious. I was doubtful at first and wanted to change it for a seafood dish as our server stated it was one of his favorite dishes which made me doubt my choice. Regardless, I was glad that I remained with the dish I chose which was the Chicken Madiera, great dish. Not the biggest fan of chicken, but this one was that rare exception that you’d have to love, the dish was warm although I was told to be careful for it being hot as our waiter claimed. The chicken itself was not dry or rubbery as other places would have prepared it, it was just right and the mushroom madeira sauce used was phenomenal, the mozzarella cheese did not drip heavily, the mushrooms smelled appetizing and you could actually taste them. The mashed potatoes caught me off guard as it was well and evenly seasoned. Everyone else’s dishes, however, did not live up to the standards as mine did.
Moreover, my dad, a harsh critic who instantly develops the rudest attitude whenever he is displeased, began to do so by openly expressing it to us, his children, of course.
Complaining that he couldn’t read because of the dim lighting (though I would’ve complained about the small seating area that was barely substantial enough to fit all of our meals with our large drinks), food being too expensive, and the bread did not tasting that good, our highly customer praised avocado egg roll appetizer was mediocre and only tasted good when dipped in the “green sauce” as he puts it. I ate the most of the appetizer, and I couldn’t necessarily agree with him about sauce as it made sweeter. He also split a dish between him and my older sister which although had flavor was not that good, I couldn’t give an opinion myself only because I was busy munching away at my dish. The Crispy Chicken Costoletta did not meet the expectations between the two of
them.
Overall it was a nice experience, doubt my father enjoyed too much of it, and by the end we were all too full to even consider dessert. Although, one dish wasn’t able to be commented, that blame goes to the slow eater that ordered it. It was a giant burger, but all of our meals were roughly the same size. I’d recommend this place, but be wary of some dishes as they may not live up to standards or are not completely worth the price.