For many years, our tradition on Christmas Eve was to eat home and then pack the kids into the car and go out and look at Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music on the car radio. Well this ain’t your father’s Oldsmobile anymore!! The kids are basically grown and do their own thing for the most part so our traditions are evolving. That can only mean one thing to a Foodie-- Dinner out!!
This year with Christmas Eve falling on a Friday, restaurants were up against it a bit in the sense that they didn’t want to really lose their 2 strongest nights of the week. This provided many more options to eat dinner in than what might normally be available as a result.
We chose The Cheesecake Factory in the King of Prussia Plaza. I was a bit nervous going there because they do not take reservations, but when we called to determine how busy they were, they said there was no wait (normally on a Friday evening at 6:00 you should expect to wait 60 to 90 minutes here!).
Upon arriving, we were seated almost immediately. We were treated to a nice bread basket while choosing our entrees. This bread basket had a nice sour dough loaf and a very good brown bread (not certain if wheat or pumpernickel with rolled oats on the outside of it).
One of my dinner companions ordered the Hot Spinach and Cheese Dip appetizer ($10.95) which came with tortilla chips and a small portion of salsa. This appetizer was large enough to feed all 3 people at the table and was delicious! There seemed to be an endless supply of chips and the creamy texture and taste of the dip made it very appealing to continue to partake.
I chose the Factory Chopped Salad ($9.95) as my main course (yes a somewhat strange selection for this Fat Foodie on a holiday!). This salad has great consistency with everything being chopped perfectly. The salad consisted of romaine, grilled chicken, tomato, corn, bacon, blue cheese and apple with Vinaigrette. I elected to ask not to have the avocado that comes with the salad and also to have blue cheese dressing on the side rather than the Vinaigrette. This salad came together wonderfully because of its consistency—I truly believe chopped salad is a great way to have any salad. The portion of salad is an obscene amount of food like most on the menu, but this “Fat Foodie” ate all of it! The blue cheese dressing at Cheesecake Factory is unbelievable and probably one of the best around.
One of my companions chose the Chicken Dipana ($12.95). The chicken was pounded out into thin pieces with a delectable light breading over the chicken. This dish was quite flavorful because a light lemon flavored sauce is served with the chicken. The dish is complemented with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli and is an enormous portion for the money (could easily be split). This was one of the best entrees I have ever tasted at The Cheesecake Factory!
My other companion chose the Southern Fried Chicken sliders ($8.95) for her entrée. This comes with four nicely sized sliders and is complemented with a pickle slice and roma tomato slice for each one. My companion wasn’t crazy about the sliders because she felt they were too highly seasoned. I tasted the slider and concur that the batter has a little too much “kick” and would be a difficult dish for younger children. Overall though, the sliders were still acceptable.
Now what is The Cheesecake Factory without ordering dessert? Even though I had really eaten a lot of salad, it was still salad; thus, on to the dessert menu!!
Dessert at The Cheesecake Factory is like being let into a toy store, but only being permitted to play with one toy. What do you choose? Let me preface these comments by admitting I am not the biggest lover of cheesecake, but no worries here because there is still plenty of dessert to choose from.
Tonight, I opted for the godiva brownie sundae ($7.95)-- this is three small triangles of godiva brownies served with 3 small scoops of ice cream. Each scoop of ice cream has a small godiva chocolate inserted into it. The dessert is then finished with hot fudge around it along with slivered almonds. This dessert is sheer ecstasy for a chocolate lover. Whenever I have ordered this dessert, I have eaten one brownie and one scoop of the ice cream and have taken the remainder home—tonight was no exception. This is a big dessert and could easily be split for the entire table.
The bill was $59 before tax and tip.
Now I realize that The Cheesecake Factory is a chain restaurant, but it is truly one of the best chains and the consistency of the chain is unparalleled. I would highly recommend this place, but remember the wait can be substantial.
4.5 Brownies
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