website: http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com
location: various locations, i visited the walden galleria location in buffalo, new york (walden galleria, cheektowaga, 716-685-2600)
restaurant type: nicer sit down restaurant and dessert place with western food options
price range: $10 - $50 usd
dress code: casual to business casual, jeans and runners are acceptable, suits and uber dressy clothing less likely
ideal for: friends with an occasion or looking for something interesting, dates
worth grins:
- big selection of menu options
- long list of cheesecakes to choose from
- combination platters
- big portions (for a canadian anyways)
worth shaking fists:
- preferred menu items not kept in stock
- "blue rare" steaks are not an option
- long wait times for tables
- poor lighting
my tastes:
i guess i should warn you before you get too far into this review that it is going to be long and full of mixed content. my (first) experience with "the cheesecake factory" was yesterday and it was kind of bittersweet to put it in food context. it was like a roller coaster ride with lots of ups and downs, some more tolerable than others. so i felt the urge to actually write about the whole experience.
the restaurant itself was pretty nice. having opened very recently it was nicely decorated with a warm yet active feel. the high ceiling gave the impression of openness even though the tables were crowded a little closer than ideal. the lively atmosphere of random conversation and various guests made it seem more fun than expected. for some strange reason though the lighting changed a lot near the end of our meal going from a warm orangey lighting to a strangely depressing dimness.
to start the review of my experience eating at "the cheesecake factory", i must say the wait for our table was horrendous. granted it was prime dinner time but to be told "twenty to forty minutes" followed by "here is your pager so we can page you when you get your pager...but you have to stay within the immediate area of the restaurant" is a little ridiculous. i mean, a nice restaurant located in a mall that is smart enough to use a pager system should be smart enough to give it enough range to go to at least the nearby stores. but no, a few of us ended up sitting on a bench outside the restaurant waiting while the rest of the group went and finished their shopping (by that i really mean the boys sat on the bench waiting while the girls went shopping).
once we got our table it was kind of nice. we were shown our table, given our menus, and our server showed up within five minutes asking if we wanted anything to drink. the menu was pleasantly long with lots of options to choose from in a variety of categories (although this did cause the more indecisive individuals to run into some difficulties). i thought the most enjoyable part of the menu (sadly, also the part to disappoint me later on) was the "factory combinations" section. it started when i (finally) narrowed it down to "herb crusted filet of salmon" and "steak diane" when i noticed the "factory combinations" section where there was the item "steak diane and herb crusted salmon" which was exactly what i wanted. unfortunately, when i got back to the table from the restroom i was told by my friends that they were out of steak diane. i was devastated. apparently it is one of their more popular items and they had run out, which to me is a big mistake on the part of the restaurant. how can they not stock up on their more popular items during a well-known long weekend when "foreigners" (aka canadians) are going to be visiting the closest major mall to the border?
sigh, i ended up sharing a "hibachi steak" with a friend. it was quite nice, came pre-cut and laid out on the plate along with our "wasabi mashed potatoes" which i was very hesitant about. see, i really like mashed potatoes and i like wasabi...but i like them separately. i am not really sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing but the "wasabi mashed potatoes" did not taste that much like wasabi. when compared with regular mashed potatoes from someone else's meal i could not noticeably tell the difference between the two. the steak on the other hand was quite nice, cooked to a deep red rare ("blue rare" was not an option apparently), sitting in a small serving of "soy steak sauce" that tasted slightly sweet and a little like teriyaki sauce. the only downside to the steak was the tough cutting involved for some inexplicable reason.
the cheesecake i had was "chocolate oreo mudslide cheesecake" and it is as sweet as the name implies. i was fortunate that the person who i shared the "hibachi steak" with is a light eater and we ended up sharing dessert as well because i would not have finished it otherwise. the cheesecake was thick, heavy, and very sweet (as expected). it was good but had my friends not warned me in advance about how heavy they are, i would have had to pack the whole thing minus maybe one or two bites.
overall, the experience was pretty good. the wait would not have been so bad had our group not been tired from travelling from another country followed by shopping. i would have enjoyed it a whole lot more had my first choice in menu options was available. what i ended up having was really quite good and my original hesitations were not a problem at all. the cheesecake was definitely really good...to the point that i ended up buying the most expensive six-inch cheesecake ever in my life (at around twenty usd) without hesitation.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
cora's breakfast and lunch
website: http://www.chezcora.com
location: various locations, i visited the unionville location (3760 highway 7, 905-489-2446)
restaurant type: well done diner or typical sit down restaurant, wide variety of western breakfasts
price range: $8 - $20
dress code: very casual, jeans and runners are the norm
ideal for: casual meals (breakfast or lunch only) with family and/or friends
worth grins:
- most options come with fruit
- good presentation of food
- comfortable and fun environment
worth shaking fists:
- can be noisy because of young children
- can be slightly pricey (especially for breakfast)
- only early birds do not have to wait for a table
my tastes:
"cora's" was one of those restaurants that i could not really understand when i first heard about it. the place is only open for half the day, the first half no less being a breakfast and lunch restaurant. economically, it does not make sense to be open for business during the times when people are either in a rush to get to work/school or are sleeping in. after going the first couple of times i started to understand. the place is popular. unless you go fairly early you are likely to have to wait a little for a table.
i think "cora's" is one of those breakfast type places that i would not go on a regular basis simply because of cost reasons. much as i like my sunny-side-up eggs, i would rather not pay in excess of ten dollars for breakfast...even if it comes with intricately cut fruit. i went yesterday and paid seven or eight dollars for breakfast, and that was sharing two breakfast options with between three of us. for the odd occasion of meeting with friends or going with family, i would not mind since it is a fairly nice place to go to first thing in the morning (the most optimal being my bed, especially on weekends).
breakfast food is fairly standard and you have to be a pretty bad restaurant to be able to screw up eggs and sausage. fortunately, "cora's" does not have this problem at all. "cora's" in fact serves your typical breakfast choices with refreshing additions of fruit and some variety in sides. i was particularly impressed with the cinnamon-bun-like bread that came with the "1970's harvest" which was sweet but not overly so. the rest of the breakfast food was at least at par if not a little better: the eggs were done right, the bacon was crispy and not burnt, pancake was not mushy, and the portions were pretty good. the fruit that comes with the breakfast was nice, it would have been even better if they were more fresh and sweeter (so as not to be drowned out by the cinnamon bun or syrup).
overall, i would say cora's is worth trying and going back to again on the odd occasion. the service is good with servers eager to please (refilled the hot water before we even thought to ask). for the price you pay, you do get a reasonable portion of food and it does come in a interesting presentation. i think the only downside is that the variation on what would normally be a typical breakfast screws up my somewhat obsessive compulsive eating sequence but i can handle that...for the most part...maybe...
location: various locations, i visited the unionville location (3760 highway 7, 905-489-2446)
restaurant type: well done diner or typical sit down restaurant, wide variety of western breakfasts
price range: $8 - $20
dress code: very casual, jeans and runners are the norm
ideal for: casual meals (breakfast or lunch only) with family and/or friends
worth grins:
- most options come with fruit
- good presentation of food
- comfortable and fun environment
worth shaking fists:
- can be noisy because of young children
- can be slightly pricey (especially for breakfast)
- only early birds do not have to wait for a table
my tastes:
"cora's" was one of those restaurants that i could not really understand when i first heard about it. the place is only open for half the day, the first half no less being a breakfast and lunch restaurant. economically, it does not make sense to be open for business during the times when people are either in a rush to get to work/school or are sleeping in. after going the first couple of times i started to understand. the place is popular. unless you go fairly early you are likely to have to wait a little for a table.
i think "cora's" is one of those breakfast type places that i would not go on a regular basis simply because of cost reasons. much as i like my sunny-side-up eggs, i would rather not pay in excess of ten dollars for breakfast...even if it comes with intricately cut fruit. i went yesterday and paid seven or eight dollars for breakfast, and that was sharing two breakfast options with between three of us. for the odd occasion of meeting with friends or going with family, i would not mind since it is a fairly nice place to go to first thing in the morning (the most optimal being my bed, especially on weekends).
breakfast food is fairly standard and you have to be a pretty bad restaurant to be able to screw up eggs and sausage. fortunately, "cora's" does not have this problem at all. "cora's" in fact serves your typical breakfast choices with refreshing additions of fruit and some variety in sides. i was particularly impressed with the cinnamon-bun-like bread that came with the "1970's harvest" which was sweet but not overly so. the rest of the breakfast food was at least at par if not a little better: the eggs were done right, the bacon was crispy and not burnt, pancake was not mushy, and the portions were pretty good. the fruit that comes with the breakfast was nice, it would have been even better if they were more fresh and sweeter (so as not to be drowned out by the cinnamon bun or syrup).
overall, i would say cora's is worth trying and going back to again on the odd occasion. the service is good with servers eager to please (refilled the hot water before we even thought to ask). for the price you pay, you do get a reasonable portion of food and it does come in a interesting presentation. i think the only downside is that the variation on what would normally be a typical breakfast screws up my somewhat obsessive compulsive eating sequence but i can handle that...for the most part...maybe...
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