Jason here. One of the restaurants I
used to go to was The Cheesecake Factory. One of the things I love to
order at restaurants is appetizers. In fact, most of the time I eat
out, I order an appetizer as my main meal. The Cheesecake Factory has
one of the most expansive menus at any restaurant I have been to,
let alone the diverse appetizer menu. A great part about the
Cheesecake Factory, is you get as fancy a meal as you would like, all
for what I would consider a low cost.
I also thought that since they are a
large chain, they would also be very gluten friendly. Unfortunately
that was not entirely true. When I arrived I asked if they had an
allergen menu, or a specific gluten free menu. At least at the
Bellevue Square location, they did not have either. So I thought,
alright maybe the regular menu calls out allergens. Again no such
luck. When we sat at our table, there was an additional nutritional
information menu/information pamphlet. No a single piece of allergen
information in there. In fact, not a single piece of allergen
information anywhere. I check online and found some sources which
claim to have received allergen information after contacting their
headquarters, and another source, that claimed to have pictures of
the allergen menu which they uploaded. Maybe those were old, or maybe
my store just did not have them, either way it was frustrating.
Luckily, the rest of the experience was
very pleasant. Our waiter was very nice, and understanding when I
asked her about a couple items if they were gluten free. With such an
expansive menu, I certainly would never expect anyone to remember if
any of the items were gluten free, so I completely understood when
she said she would have to go back and ask. She quickly came back and
told us my second choice of the New Orleans Shrimp was gluten free.
As a side note, the waiter also constantly on top of things,
refilling my drink as soon as I finished it, clearly my plate when I
finished, etc.
The food was very good. It had shrimp,
tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, Andouille sausage, and served in a
light sauce. I opted for the white rice side. The whole meal was
filled with flavor, the sauce coating the entire dish, making it
almost like a shallow soup. As a drink I highly recommend the
strawberry lemonade. I must have had 3 or 4 refills that night. They
are so sweet and refreshing.
Kayleigh here. It was rather relieving
to find a good experience here, considering the memories we have of
several Valentines Day double-dates through our college years. With
hundreds of items on their menu, there are really even more entree
options to finagle than most other GF-friendly restaurants can offer!
And although they currently do not have an option to finish off the
experience with a slice of gluten-free cheesecake, Jason and I remain
optimistic about it. Really, it creates an excuse to go and seek
dessert somewhere quieter, such as a Frozen Yogurt joint. But that is
for another post, now isn't it?
The only other comment on the
Cheesecake Factory would be that is was loud. This has little to do
with the restaurant itself, as they do everything they possibly could
to keep the volume low. It is simply a very busy restaurant, with a
lot of people, so be aware If you plan on have a quiet talker with
you. Other than that, the moral of this story is to give chains like
this a chance- even if they don't have a menu on hand, the chef on
shift should be knowledgeable enough to provide you a delicious and
poison-free experience.
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