Comprehensive The Cheesecake Factory MOE/Dubai Review!
To be honest, this has been delayed quite a bit! I was meant to write this review much earlier, but never got the time to get round to it.
Cheesecake Factory isn't a posh formal dine-in affair in America and people don't hold it in much esteem, but boy has Al Shaya group changed all of that! Al Shaya group is the company which holds the franchise of Cheesecake Factory, Shake Shack and iHOP in UAE. The group has brought all of the restaurants to Dubai and people love it.
All three of those restaurants happen to have become on of my favourite places to go to, for food. iHOP for amazing breakfast, Shake Shack for a quick bite of juicy and tender burger and Cheesecake Factory, well... Cheesecake Factory has become my favourite formal dine-in restaurant and the best part, it isn't even situated in a posh hotel! It is in Mall of the Emirates!
The Cheesecake Factory's concept for Dubai/UAE has completely been revamped. Instead of a mediocre place you go to for food and basically 'cheesecakes' in America, it has been transformed in to a stunning sit down entity.
Lets get to the interesting bit. I think it is understood by now, that I was stunned by the décor, ambience etc when I visited TCF in MOE. I had not imagined that it would be such a grand affair! Went at 10:30 PM in the night with my family and thankfully, we found a table for 6 right away and didn't have to be put on the waiting list.
I did hear horror stories from my friends about the horrible queue times, to get a table at peak hours. One friend had to wait 1 hour and 30 minutes, before she got a table! Imagine!
We got a table right next to Ski Dubai. From our table we could see through the glass windows, what was happening inside Ski Dubai. The only problem with this was and was throughout the time we were there having our meal - that we felt really chilly and cold! It was freezing! If I had known we were going to be placed right next to the windows which looked in to Ski Dubai, I would have brought a jacket.
Menu was vast. Something expected, after seeing the size of the restaurant and the décor. Rest of the family ordered different kinds of burgers. I didn't want to try a burger, after coming in to such a posh restaurant, so ended up sharing with mum.
Burger/patty size was medium. Not too big, not too small. However, weight wise, the patty must have been heavy. It had mass. Come with an empty stomach if you want to have burgers. The Original Burger was more than lovely. The beef was really good - taste wise and quality wise. A burger item recommended from the menu is Macaroni and Cheese Burger - THIS IS A MUST TRY IF YOU LOVE BURGERS AND MAC & CHEESE. The combination drove me crazy.
Before we started on the mains though, we shared an appetiser. Let me just tell you, that even though prices of appetisers are tad bit higher in this restaurant, the portion sizes make up for that easily! We ordered a plate of Factory Nachos and it was massive by standards. I haven't seen any other restaurant in Dubai serve like this.
This was as pretty to look at, as it was tasty to eat. We went right at it and ate this up pretty quick.
The sauce on the side was spicy, tangy and just a tad bit sweet at the same time. Definitely could taste Cayenne pepper in it. The main Burrito had a mixture of rice, chicken, greens etc. I was apprehensive about the rice being there, but once I got eating, I quickly changed my mind. The starchiness of the rice, the juiciness of the chicken and its spices, along with the tantalising hot cheese on the Burrito itself, combined to give a unique flavour.
Have no idea if it can be judged by the photograph, but this Burrito was literally giant. Even though we split it in half and shared it, my portion was still big - but got eaten up real fast because of the amazing taste. A tip is, if you go for this, do not waste time in eating it. It is best eaten when the food is hot - especially the cheese! Nice to see strands of melted cheese on your fork and when you take that yummy melted cheese in to your mouth.
Anyway, there was a variety of drinks on offer to compliment the main meal. Some had free refills, some didn't. The cocktails etc didn't have refills on offer, so I ended up opting for something else. Discovered a favourite on the menu. I love lemonade! I can never get enough of lemonade. Any kind of lemonade. Love to try different varieties.
To my astonishment I found out that lemonade had free refills! AED 18 for the lemonade and free refills is a bargain! In other restaurants, lemonades don't come with refills. In TCF they do! Went for the Strawberry one and mum went for the Mango one.
Don't order a Strawberry Lemonade if you run away from tangy taste and brain freeze. It was tangy, quirky, extremely cold and sweet at the same time. It gave my mind kicks! It was just the way I like it. I tried and loved mum's Mango one too. Wish I could have tried all the different kinds of lemonades they have on the menu - maybe next time, which there is definitely going to be one.
Got done with the meal and the server politely took away our dirty dishes. Let me compliment the staff! Cheesecake Factory MOE branch at least, don't know about the Dubai Mall one - haven't visited that one - has one of the most friendly and professional staff around. Very cordial, I must say. Food was delivered to our table in a timely fashion, during our meal the server visited us from time to time to ask whether we needed anything and he always had a smile on his face. Again, something that can be counted as value for money.
Lastly, came the best part of my meal; the dessert. Had a variety of options to pick from, ranging from Redvelvet to Mango Keylime, but went for the very basic one. The original cheesecake was my choice, because I wanted to know how the original tastes. I kept all the other ones aside in my mind, for my next visit.
The cheesecake didn't disappoint one bit. Although, one can argue that a cheesecake can never disappoint, but yet, I think it is the best cheesecake I have had in Dubai. It was so light, so tasty, so smooth, - no graininess in the cheese - so amazingly balanced sweetness wise etc. Even the cream that was served along with it, wasn't sickly sweet, but actually really complimented the cheesecake. Eating both at the same time was a decadent fun affair. Wanted to go for seconds, but obviously was full beyond my capacity, so had to leave that idea feeling dejected.
Came out of the restaurant at 11:45 PM, a very happy person. This was one visit to a restaurant I really enjoyed and would go there again and again! I wouldn't even mind having the same thing again too and eat what I had that night. It was that good. Bundling the Cheesecake Factory food experience with a good family time and it was a trip really worth remembering.
Cheesecake Factory isn't a posh formal dine-in affair in America and people don't hold it in much esteem, but boy has Al Shaya group changed all of that! Al Shaya group is the company which holds the franchise of Cheesecake Factory, Shake Shack and iHOP in UAE. The group has brought all of the restaurants to Dubai and people love it.
All three of those restaurants happen to have become on of my favourite places to go to, for food. iHOP for amazing breakfast, Shake Shack for a quick bite of juicy and tender burger and Cheesecake Factory, well... Cheesecake Factory has become my favourite formal dine-in restaurant and the best part, it isn't even situated in a posh hotel! It is in Mall of the Emirates!
The Cheesecake Factory's concept for Dubai/UAE has completely been revamped. Instead of a mediocre place you go to for food and basically 'cheesecakes' in America, it has been transformed in to a stunning sit down entity.
Lets get to the interesting bit. I think it is understood by now, that I was stunned by the décor, ambience etc when I visited TCF in MOE. I had not imagined that it would be such a grand affair! Went at 10:30 PM in the night with my family and thankfully, we found a table for 6 right away and didn't have to be put on the waiting list.
I did hear horror stories from my friends about the horrible queue times, to get a table at peak hours. One friend had to wait 1 hour and 30 minutes, before she got a table! Imagine!
We got a table right next to Ski Dubai. From our table we could see through the glass windows, what was happening inside Ski Dubai. The only problem with this was and was throughout the time we were there having our meal - that we felt really chilly and cold! It was freezing! If I had known we were going to be placed right next to the windows which looked in to Ski Dubai, I would have brought a jacket.
Menu was vast. Something expected, after seeing the size of the restaurant and the décor. Rest of the family ordered different kinds of burgers. I didn't want to try a burger, after coming in to such a posh restaurant, so ended up sharing with mum.
Burger/patty size was medium. Not too big, not too small. However, weight wise, the patty must have been heavy. It had mass. Come with an empty stomach if you want to have burgers. The Original Burger was more than lovely. The beef was really good - taste wise and quality wise. A burger item recommended from the menu is Macaroni and Cheese Burger - THIS IS A MUST TRY IF YOU LOVE BURGERS AND MAC & CHEESE. The combination drove me crazy.
Before we started on the mains though, we shared an appetiser. Let me just tell you, that even though prices of appetisers are tad bit higher in this restaurant, the portion sizes make up for that easily! We ordered a plate of Factory Nachos and it was massive by standards. I haven't seen any other restaurant in Dubai serve like this.
This was as pretty to look at, as it was tasty to eat. We went right at it and ate this up pretty quick.
Now, we come to what I had for mains. I did try my family's burgers, just to see how they taste like, but my own dish was different. Shared with my mum, because Cheesecake Factory's dishes portion sizes are huge. Apart from the burger meals, rest of the dishes have more than enough food on one plate, that can be easily shared between two people at least.
Do not over-order! Share dishes between people and this will divide the high cost as well, bringing down your bill!
Mine was Factory Giant Burrito.
The sauce on the side was spicy, tangy and just a tad bit sweet at the same time. Definitely could taste Cayenne pepper in it. The main Burrito had a mixture of rice, chicken, greens etc. I was apprehensive about the rice being there, but once I got eating, I quickly changed my mind. The starchiness of the rice, the juiciness of the chicken and its spices, along with the tantalising hot cheese on the Burrito itself, combined to give a unique flavour.
Have no idea if it can be judged by the photograph, but this Burrito was literally giant. Even though we split it in half and shared it, my portion was still big - but got eaten up real fast because of the amazing taste. A tip is, if you go for this, do not waste time in eating it. It is best eaten when the food is hot - especially the cheese! Nice to see strands of melted cheese on your fork and when you take that yummy melted cheese in to your mouth.
Anyway, there was a variety of drinks on offer to compliment the main meal. Some had free refills, some didn't. The cocktails etc didn't have refills on offer, so I ended up opting for something else. Discovered a favourite on the menu. I love lemonade! I can never get enough of lemonade. Any kind of lemonade. Love to try different varieties.
To my astonishment I found out that lemonade had free refills! AED 18 for the lemonade and free refills is a bargain! In other restaurants, lemonades don't come with refills. In TCF they do! Went for the Strawberry one and mum went for the Mango one.
Don't order a Strawberry Lemonade if you run away from tangy taste and brain freeze. It was tangy, quirky, extremely cold and sweet at the same time. It gave my mind kicks! It was just the way I like it. I tried and loved mum's Mango one too. Wish I could have tried all the different kinds of lemonades they have on the menu - maybe next time, which there is definitely going to be one.
Got done with the meal and the server politely took away our dirty dishes. Let me compliment the staff! Cheesecake Factory MOE branch at least, don't know about the Dubai Mall one - haven't visited that one - has one of the most friendly and professional staff around. Very cordial, I must say. Food was delivered to our table in a timely fashion, during our meal the server visited us from time to time to ask whether we needed anything and he always had a smile on his face. Again, something that can be counted as value for money.
Lastly, came the best part of my meal; the dessert. Had a variety of options to pick from, ranging from Redvelvet to Mango Keylime, but went for the very basic one. The original cheesecake was my choice, because I wanted to know how the original tastes. I kept all the other ones aside in my mind, for my next visit.
The cheesecake didn't disappoint one bit. Although, one can argue that a cheesecake can never disappoint, but yet, I think it is the best cheesecake I have had in Dubai. It was so light, so tasty, so smooth, - no graininess in the cheese - so amazingly balanced sweetness wise etc. Even the cream that was served along with it, wasn't sickly sweet, but actually really complimented the cheesecake. Eating both at the same time was a decadent fun affair. Wanted to go for seconds, but obviously was full beyond my capacity, so had to leave that idea feeling dejected.
Came out of the restaurant at 11:45 PM, a very happy person. This was one visit to a restaurant I really enjoyed and would go there again and again! I wouldn't even mind having the same thing again too and eat what I had that night. It was that good. Bundling the Cheesecake Factory food experience with a good family time and it was a trip really worth remembering.
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