The Cheesecake Factory

Went out to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory for a pal's birthday dinner at the suggestion of his girlfriend. Place was PACKED. Must mean the food's good right? Right?

Tonight I was reminded yet again how bad TCF is. Our party was quite large (15), and our server (bless her heart) managed the best she could. But, service was slow. TCF at Fashion Valley (as well as the Brea Mall & Irvine Spectrum for that matter) operates far beyond their optimum serving capacity. Every table around us waited a ridiculous amount of time for our food to be served and drinks to be refilled. Don't even get me started on the horrible food...

I can usually forgive slow service if the food ends up being good. After all, when with good company, time just flies. But, I cannot forgive TCF's joke of a menu. Aside from the fact that ad placement in the menus hinders my browsing more-so than web pop-ups, how can so many dishes be listed as specialties? Doesn't make sense to me. If you specialize in something, you usually lock down your craft to just a handful of well made, well presented, quality products. TCF's little marketing scheme pretty much encourages diners to order any of the overpriced crap that's on their menu. Wonder why their website's menu doesn't list prices? It's because if you checked it beforehand, you'd realize that this joint is such a ripoff. I ain't a cheapass. I don't mind paying a premium for good food, but you see...food from TCF isn't good. Friends sitting adjacent to me were very dissatisfied with their bland orders as well. These guys aren't exactly picky eaters either.

Really now...I can't believe TCF has the gall to list the Jambalaya both as a "diners' favorite dish" AND a TCF "specialty". I guess diners love the small pathetic $17 mess of greasy noodles and dry flavorless meat. I guess they also especially love the burnt tomatoes and shrimp. Give me the same ingredients and I can make a far better pasta. You could too. So could my dog.

Dessert was kind of amusing. For seven to eight dollars you can buy a small sliver of cheesecake as well as the pint of whipped cream lopped onto the plate in order to give the illusion of volume and value. Please. Consumers aren't that stupid.

Or are they? Why the hell would people wait in a long ass line to get a table at this atrocious restaurant? Guess they never came across Kirk's mmm-yoso, Cpt. Jack's reviews, Charlie's blog, Alice's blog, etc. etc.* to find an actual good place to eat. A real shame.

Overpriced. Over-rated. Poorly managed. Poor cooking. How is this chain still in business?

I realize this post is scathing and maybe not tasteful to some. But I'm not sorry. I never bag on a restaurant unless there are consistent screw-ups. Believe me, The Cheesecake Factory has screwed up plenty of times during my previous coerced visits. I hope none of my other friends choose this as a birthday dinner location...

Okay, I'm going to put on my flame retardant suit for the ensuing flame war to occur in this post's comments. Unless y'all agree with me.


*Don't feel left out if I didn't list you! The list of SD food bloggers is quite long.

Pacific Beach Bar and Grill

I finally caved and joined my friends on their bi-weekly visit to PB Bar and Grill where there are weekly specials and discounts for food-n-drink. On Thursdays, drinks are half off (most expensive beer runs up to only $2.50!), pizzas are $5, and appetizers are either $3 off or half off. I suppose that's a good enough reason to scope out the place?

There are some pretty damn negative reviews and comments concerning PB Bar and Grill online voiced by a majority of the nice folks who bothered to post their opinion. Most of these complaints revolve around the unsanitary environment, sh*tty crowd, mediocre food, and bad service. Reading all these complaints were what initially discouraged me from going...but curiosity still got the better of me. I had to see for myself just how bad it really was.

As expected, most of the "dining" area is dark. But not dark enough to hide the wet, sticky floor, sticky tables, and greasy chairs. Okay...I can live with that. After all, I grew up eating from street vendors in Taiwan. Now our waitress....wow what a piece of work she was. Vulgar, sarcastic, and even had the gall to call me a "son of a bitch". Whatever, hoe. Maybe that's how service is like in establishments where nearly all the patrons are various forms of 'bags. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm sure most are nice people (some were, I admit). So we have our uneducated douchebags, old 'bags, sleezebags, and hoebags.

Okay fine. I shouldn't judge people like that...but this really will be your fist impression of the crowd if you go at night. What did bother me, however, were these creepy old dudes trying to score some drunk college-cutie ass. It was gross. These old 'bags weren't even from the same party. They were just individual PoS slithering around trying to find a crunk girl wasted enough to lose 150% of her judgment.

Not my kind of crowd. Don't get me wrong, I'm not badmouthing or looking down at the patrons...I'm just saying...it sure ain't the type of people I associate with.

Funny how some guys brought what seemed like their dates here last night...of all places. The ladies looked just miserable eating Thursday night's Pasta Special.

Enough of that. Let's check out the food here.

Garbage Pizza:

Pepperoni, sausage, peppers, mushrooms, onions, olives, and tomatoes.

Looks okay, right? Not too shabby for $5. Sure the cheese was somehow inconsistently burnt, and the dough was extremely bland and plain, but the ingredients are fresh, sauce is decent, and you really can't complain when it costs a meager $5 for a small/medium pizza. Best item of the night.


Spinach Dip:


The dip was served with a basket of unremarkable and slightly stale tortilla chips. It's kind of neat how a sourdough bowl is used to contain the spinach dip. This appetizer actually tasted better using bread instead of chips. But, the dip is nothing noteworthy and was a bit sour for my taste. Could be that I just miss the great dip from ESPN Zone (my high school hangout!).


Irish Nachos:

The original price for these "nachos" (and all the items mentioned above, for that matter) is quite unreasonable. $8? Puh-leez. It's just potato chips with melted cheese and a scant 1.5 tablespoons of bacon bits. The discounted price seems a bit more appropriate. How's it taste? Well...it's potato chips with melted cheddar. Nothing to write home about. It's just something to snack on absentmindedly as you drink with pals.


The myriad of bad reviews/comments directed at PB Bar and Grill all have valid points, and were very accurate. If you are in your early 20s, bored, craving greasy mediocre food, willing to put up with annoying waitresses, able to stand unsanitary dining conditions, and open minded enough to accept the various types of 'bags that make up the crowd, well...this is your place.



Surprisingly, this place is actually decent for brunch. (According to some fellow SD Bloggers)



Pacific Beach Bar and Grill
860 Garnet Ave.
San Diego, CA 92109
858.272.4745