Cheesecake Factory

Okay, so normally I avoid the Cheesecake Factory. Not because I am afraid I will end up face down in a cheesecake devouring it, but because I think it represents everything that is bad about popular American restaurants. Portions are HUGE and everything is filled with fat or fried in it or both.

So a dear friend of mine agreed to have lunch with me today while I was here in Seattle, and he suggested the Cheesecake Factory, I resisted the urge to say HELL NO and agreed to go. So we sat down and I started to peruse the menu... let me back up...

As an architect I was first assaulted by what passes for interior design. Holy god, it was a horribly bad Disney movie set. wow. Then comes the menu... I don't think I have ever seen a menu that has advertising for other products, that's right, other products. Not only is it PONDEROUSLY long, but it has advertising like a magazine.

But wait, we haven't even gotten to my real bitch yet... towards the back of the menu I find the, and I quote, "Weight Management Salads".

Now first of all, it is a well known fact that I am on Weight Watchers. I have to date lost in the vicinity of 80 pounds and am proud of it. So in the midst of getting a separate menu that listed the nutritional value of all the entrees, and let me tell you, that is a SCARY read at the Cheesecake Factory, I find something that is aimed at me. I want to say thank you for that much.

BUT... each of the salads, has "Weight Management" in it's name, FORCING the patron to say Weight Management Spicy Chicken Salad to the server. Now I shortened that to Spicy Chicken Salad when I read all the other salad names and assured myself there was no other Spicy Chicken Salad, but then when the food runner brought the salad she made sure to announce for all those around that I was having the Weight Management Spicy Chicken Salad. How nice for me.

The Cheesecake Factory has only managed to shoot their good deed in the foot, and the corporate office can expect a small note from me outlining that misstep.