The Cheesecake Factory's Best Pasta Isn't The Alfredo, Carbonara, Or Spicy Vodka

Anyone who's ever opened a Cheesecake Factory menu knows it's hands-down the biggest chain restaurant menus around (and believe it or not, the chain prepares almost everything on its menu from scratch). It feels like you're reading a textbook when you flip through the food choices, and with that said, there's a wide range of pasta dishes to choose from. You might be surprised to learn which one earned the top spot in Chowhound's ranking of the best Cheesecake Factory pastas dishes: the Pasta Da Vinci. Our ranking was based on online customer reviews, and each pasta was judged for its flavor and texture, as well as execution and consistency.

Pasta Da Vinci is a little more unique than the standard Alfredo or carbonara. The popular dish features a Madeira wine sauce, which is both rich and acidic at the same time. The pasta also has grilled chicken alongside sautéed mushrooms and onions. The mushrooms build an earthy profile while the onions bring some acidity and subtle sweetness. When paired with hearty rigatoni and the rich sauce, this pasta dish has near-perfect balance. And don't let any of that wine sauce go to waste; if you have some left over, ask for extra bread to sop it up.

It isn't just Chowhound that thinks this pasta dish takes the (cheese)cake. Reddit users who dine at the chain restaurant have also raved about the dish. In an r/CheesecakeFactory Reddit thread, someone asked which pasta dish is the best, and Pasta Da Vinci appeared quite a few times. "I've never ordered another thing for the last 10 years since discovering it," one person wrote.

Something to note about the Pasta Da Vinci is that the shape used to be penne but has changed to rigatoni, and some users have suggested the sauce now tastes different as well. "The new sauce tastes more like garlic and saltier and less like the unique caramelized onion creamy sauce of the original Madeira wine sauce," one person noted in a different r/CheesecakeFactory thread. Another person who claims to be a CF server said the chain recently returned to the "old recipe," though they didn't elaborate on the difference. "The waiter let me know they had changed the recipe," someone else commented after a visit, seemingly confirming that the dish is different now. However, it's unclear if this new recipe has launched at all locations, if there are plans for it to, or whether the switch is merely rumors.