When you go out with a couple of friends for a celebration or just to have a good time, you have to take everyone into consideration. You will have different people who have different tastes. The Cheesecake Factory is a restaurant with large variety, and food of the highest quality. It also has a wonderful atmosphere due to its interior design and organization which makes it an attractive restaurant to visit. I decided to pay the Cheesecake Factory at the Live! Casino in Hanover, MD a visit with four friends on a nice summer afternoon.
Like all Cheesecake Factories, the exterior to this restaurant is fancy. The building is designed like a palace. It has a gigantic entrance with large pillars on both sides of it. The restaurant’s name is also put up high above some sculptured designs which look like a cross between the base of three petals and a wide celery stalk. These features make it difficult to miss. Alongside the building are some nice old-fashioned street lamps which give the restaurant an elegant feel. It’s located right beside the mall, so it’s a good location to dine after spending the weekend shopping with some friends.
Diners could also just grab a meal there if they wanted to treat themselves to something special. Despite the large number of people this restaurant might attract, parking space is never a problem because of the mall’s free parking. In addition, there is also free parking above the live casino. The interior of this Cheesecake Factory is just as impressive as its exterior. Some parts had the blinds drawn and they were nicely lit by beautiful chandeliers. Of course after sunset, the whole place would be lit by the chandeliers, and that coupled with the nice decor on the walls should create a fancy atmosphere.
Most of the furniture in the restaurant are different shades of brown while the walls are painted mainly ivory or nude. After the main counter, there is a bakery counter at the side. The bakery counter has a big glass casing with a lot of different cheesecakes on display. Most of the cheesecakes have a slice taken out of them so their interior can be seen. The Reese’s peanut butter chocolate cheesecake and the ultimate red velvet cheesecake look really attractive because of the sharp contrast in colors between their layers.
For chocolate lovers, the toasted marshmallow s’mores galore and Hershey’s chocolate bar cheese cake are topped with a thick layer of smooth chocolate. Takeout orders can also be placed at this counter. Despite the fact that the service is standard, it could be hard to get a hold of waiters. Even after ordering meals, the food takes quite some time before it’s served. This could be a case of the restaurant being understaffed. It could also be a rare occurrence when they have more customers than they usually do.
There are polite attendants at the main counter who take information from customers to help them find preferred seats. The waiters are also very nice and accommodating. They try to meet the demands of the customer, like for example, if diners wanted to switch tables to a different part of the restaurant or if they preferred to sit in a booth. Waiters are also efficient in taking orders. They allow diners take as much time as they wish to and give additional description to items on the menu. Furthermore, they are knowledgeable on the entrees and can give advice on what to order if they are required to.
This Cheesecake Factory combines its appetizer, specialties, Skinnylicious, dessert & beverages and main menu into one large menu. The Skinnylicious section is a section devoted to entrees with less calories for the diner who has a calorie ceiling. The whole menu is quite heavy and has about 19 pages in it. The menu has a leather casing and the items are well organized. In addition, they have special menus such as the braille menu and the large print menu to accommodate some disabilities. The first things we ordered were beverages. We ordered a mix of soft drinks and some lemonade.
They have various flavors of lemonade which include; cucumber, raspberry, hibiscus and a special Cheesecake Factory lemonade which is decorated with a sugar rim. A glass of lemonade is under $5. 00 which is good price because, they come in really large glasses and there is no extra billing for refills. They also have fruit smoothies with mango, strawberry and peach flavors which go for $6. 50. There are also hot drinks and milkshakes on the beverages menu. Under hot drinks there are coffee’s, teas and hot chocolate while the milkshakes come in vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry.
Hot drinks are all under $5. 00 while the milkshakes are $7. 50. On the appetizer menu, there are salads, nachos, wings, different rolls along with many other options. They also have some hot flatbreads with some seafood options. For diners weary of their budget, their samosas, flatbreads and zucchini are under $7. 00. However, the wings are $11. 95 and the most expensive thing on the appetizer menu is the Thai lettuce wrap which goes for $13. 95. We ordered some buffalo wings which were spicy and crunchy. In addition to this we ordered the chicken samosas and fried calamari.
The samosas were filled with tender, spicy chicken while calamari were just greasy and didn’t have anything special about them. For the main course, entrees can be ordered from the specialties or main menu. Their specialty section has a huge range of pastas, pizzas, salads, sandwiches, burgers, tacos, chicken and seafood options. For pasta, they have over twenty entrees made with carbonara, spaghetti, and linguini. Lovers of the Mexican grill can also have different enchiladas and tortillas. The seafood section has the staple fish and chips along with other shrimp and salmon dishes.
The pastas run from $15 to $19 while seafood entrees are a little more expensive, ranging from $17 – $25. Other things on the menu which should be nice to explore are their steaks which are between $20 and $30. I ordered a pasta with shrimp and sausage of their specialty menu which went for $17. 95. The pasta tasted mildly spicy, and there was enough sausage and shrimp in it to keep it tasty. One member in my party had high praises for her Cajun jambalaya pasta which was $17. 95. She said the pasta was really spicy and was also loaded with shrimp and chicken.
All the meals served at our table had an appealing appearance because they all had rich color and were served in expensive looking white dinnerware. The Cheesecake Factory’s desert menu could be quite difficult to navigate. This is because of the number of items on the menu. This includes thirty-five different cheesecakes which range between $6. 95 to $7. 95 per slice. There are also some specialty cakes, fruits and some tiramisu. We all ordered their Black-out cake, and it was superb when it arrived. The slices are large and the cake was moist, made with sweet milk chocolate and filled with chocolate chips.
The side of the slice is covered with chocolate icing and topped with a crunchy almond coating. It is finished off with cream cheese on the side of the saucer for presentation. However, if I was to recommend anything else to diners, it would be the Oreo dream Extreme cheese cake. It is built on a what seemed a brownie-like cake base, layered with chocolate and vanilla cream, plus Oreos mixed in like an archeological dig. This was covered with an Oreo-cream layer and topped with a milk chocolate fondue with one large Oreo cookie propped against it.
With the rigors of a long week of either school or work, spending quality time with friends helps relieve stress and gives everyone a chance to catch up. The setting of the Cheesecake Factory gives diners the options of having some good fun at the Live! Casino or the Arundel Mills mall, before retiring to the restaurant for a nice meal. It’s a large restaurant which can accommodate any number of friends you wish to take, and it’s got a large menu which will definitely accommodate their tastes.
