I’d say I’ve been to the Cheesecake Factory restaurant (different ones) at least a dozen times. Never was the service so bad as it was last night… I had to record this for posterity…
My family went out to dinner for my sister’s birthday… It was a Tuesday night, 6:30pm. We were told a 15-20 minute wait for our party of 8. An hour and 15 minutes later we finally got our table. We asked for 2 high-chairs and they were not present when we got to the table. We had to wait another few minutes for those.
Did I mention, that if my kids aren’t eating, they get cranky, which makes us cranky, and stressed out — no fun. I wanna go home.
I don’t even know the waiter’s name… it’d be nice to be introduced at some point.
Drink orders, fine. I had a Diet Coke with lime… Appetizer order, fine. Ordered our food, fine.
Drinks came… “I’ll bring you some limes” (which he forgot)…
At the table next to us, were some kids (maybe in college or high school) — who began a food fight and wrestling. Cheesecake was flying and smeared on a couple of the girls in that party. The commotion was enough to worry our kids. It’s not the restaurant’s fault (I know), but it just added to the fun of the evening.
Appetizer was done. We asked about the food… He said food usually take 12-17 minutes to come out (SO precise) — and yet we ordered at least 30 minutes ago… BTW — I HATE when waiters do that. It’s not cute. It’s not classy. It’s ANNOYING! As soon as we order, start cooking. Or at the very least, after our appetizer arrives, put in the food order. Do you think that people who’ve waited an hour or two to get a table are okay with delayed food service??
[Still no limes]
We rarely see our waiter helping us… mostly taking other people’s orders. Very strange.
[Finally, limes. Wait, no those are lemons. "I'll bring your limes right out"]
Food comes out. Limes come out. All should be right in the world…
At last, it’s time to be done. The kids have been cranky, routy, and wanted to get up and be held (started daycare this week and have been clingy ever since). Half the table is now out of their chair, walking the kids out in the mall to keep them calm and under control, etc. Where is everyone?
You’d think the waiter might notice… NOPE.
My mom requested some additional sauce for her meal. Kristin too.
30 minutes later, we see the waiter taking another table’s order. They seem to have much better service BTW, but sat down well after us. “Excuse me, can we get the check please?” [Time to go...]
“Yes, would you like some boxes for these” [our plates were quite full still between caring for the kids and a long run up to the meal] “I’ll be right back with those]
Now, mind you we have 6 adults, all with food to take home. He returns with 2 boxes and 4 hotdog sized boxes. I kid you not. Did he even look at the table? AND, he didn’t bring the check. Strike ONE. “Uh, can we get some of these bigger boxes? — Here’s our [credit] card”
“I’ll be right back with the check” he says as he refuses the take the check.
Ummm… Okay?
He brings more boxes as requested. Then he turns to take another table’s order. No, I’m not exagerating. “Here’s our card” I say as I hold out the card for him to take. “Sir, I’ll be right back with your check…” Strike TWO.
Apparently this man is incapable of multi-tasking. I wonder if he has to count as he walks… “breathe, one. breathe, two. breathe, three…”
He comes back, but not with the check. He actually comes back to clear some of the plates away. Remember now, our table is half empty. It should be quite apparent that we’re itching to get out of there. “Here’s the card” Again, he actually refuses to take the card. Strike THREE. Kristin steps up and says, “Can you just take the card and run it. We don’t need to see the check. We’re kinda trying to leave.”
He finally takes it.
Then the secondary wait staff brings these bowls to the table… “Did you ask for more sauce?” Strike FOUR, FIVE, and SIX (this one’s worth 3 strikes by itself).
“Are you serious??” I asked. All of our meals were already packed up in boxes, and most of the plates on the table were now gone. I can’t believe they actually had the guts to ask us if we wanted the sauce. What planet are they from???
The waiter came back with the check and card. Tip was already included. If I was paying for dinner, I’d have added an additional negative tip. I don’t know what the percentage was they added… maybe 18%? I am a normally very good tipper. I would have given this guy $5 on the $140+ bill… Just to let him know how much we cared.
I would hate to add Cheesecake Factory to my black list of restuarants I won’t eat at… but I’m seriously considering it. Some levels of service are just inexcusable.
I’m sure there are some details I’ve left out…
Happy Birthday, Kristin!
The culture buff needs to see a museum, an art gallery, a 16-th century church every day during his holiday. When he travels he is always well prepared. He has read history books, speaks a few words of the lingo, knows about the strange habits the locals have.
A member of the press was apparently at the SLE 10 Tour event in Charlotte… Big THANK YOU to everyone who supported the event - it was definitely a team effort!!
