One does not simply walk into the Cheesecake Factory! \n\nThe reasons are twofold. First, the columns look like the eye of Sauron (see picture). Second, the wait for dinner is always at least 20 minutes. On a weekend night, expect to wait about 45 minutes to an hour. \n\nBoy and I attempted to go to the CF on a Friday evening and were given an hour plus wait time. We decided to go to the Claddagh instead (but that's another review). We went back on Sunday evening, and it was still very crowded. We waited for about 20 minutes at the bar.\n\nMy biggest peeve with the Cheesecake Factory, however, is the menu. It's as thick as a Dickens novel! In social science, they call the weariness one gets from having too many choices \"analysis paralysis.\" I felt this in abundance. \n\nFinally, I settled on a turkey burger with a side salad and my very lovely boyfriend chose the meatloaf. We split an appetizer of nachos. \n\nThe nachos were ok, but they were quite bland despite it being topped with jalapenos. I enjoyed my turkey burger and salad, but my ever-so-handsome boyfriend didn't like his meatloaf much. I think they snuck some mushrooms into it. I found it to be overly salty. \n\n*Boy grew very upset and outwardly showed his displeasure at having mushrooms in his meatloaf. He hopped onto the table and screamed \"My PRECIOUS meatloaf!\" A waiter shortly stopped by to assuage the angry customer, but boy bit his finger off and took the ring he was wearing. Using this one ring, boy was now free to move invisibly about the kitchen, removing every mushroom in sight. After he had completed this task, he destroyed the evil ring in a bubbling pot of artichoke dip. Some eagles came and took us back to the South Side, having strangely been absent for the first two parts of our dining experience.*\n\nOh, we also shared some Snickers cheesecake. It wasn't anything to write home about.
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