Why It's Best To Avoid Ordering The Fettuccini Alfredo At Cheesecake Factory

The Cheesecake Factory breaks standard restaurant "rules" with over 250 dishes across all sorts of cuisines and courses on its menu. Perhaps what's most surprising is that the majority of all these Cheesecake Factory items are made in-house. Excluding the actual cheesecakes, the food is prepared from scratch, with a diligent team of workers chopping vegetables or sautéing mushrooms made-to-order. Despite this level of dedication, the Cheesecake Factory's most hit-or-miss pasta dish is the fettuccine Alfredo.

It's a little absurd to risk spending $20 on a plate of potentially mediocre pasta. Critics of the fettuccine Alfredo have complained that it's watery or greasy, likely from too much butter or oil. Others have had issues with saltiness or blandness. The biggest concern some customers have with the Cheesecake Factory's fettuccine Alfredo is that it's over 1,750 calories per serving, and the version with chicken has 1,930 calories, which is more than some people need in an entire day. For comparison, our homemade breaded chicken Alfredo recipe has around 1,031 calories and 200 fewer milligrams of sodium.

Reviews aren't a perfect science, but they're helpful in knowing what to expect. It's hard to say whether it's an issue with Cheesecake Factory's recipe or if it's a location's case-by-case sort of issue. The most information the restaurant will give away is that the dish has a "rich parmesan cream sauce" per its website, with no public ingredient list, making it difficult to tell if there's something off with the recipe itself.

Here's the thing about fettuccine Alfredo: it's hard to mess up. Pasta and cheese together create a warm, comforting mouthfeel that's full of savory flavor. This is why fettuccine Alfredo and mac and cheese are on all sorts of menus, even when they don't make sense with the restaurant concept. They're familiar, leading people to order them, even if the quality isn't all there. However, restaurants have standards, and simple dishes deserve love, too.

The Cheesecake Factory's fettuccine Alfredo isn't always a hard pass. It's one of the most ordered dishes at the restaurant, and many customers are happy with their experience. The pasta is often slightly eggy and soft, indicating that it's among the many items that are made from scratch. It's the sauce that seems to be inconsistent.

Alfredo sauce benefits from simplicity. The key ingredient is parmesan, and the pasta is meant to let the quality of the cheese shine. The salt in the recipe should be integrated into the pasta's boiling water, which is then used to bring the sharp flavor of parmesan and butter together. A bad plate of fettuccine Alfredo could be an overuse of heavy cream, or worse, making the mistake of adding cream cheese. If you're expecting a top-notch Alfredo, you'll probably be more impressed with something else on the menu. If you're just happy to have a plate full of pasta and cream sauce, then buon appetito!