The Cheesecake Factory

It's been a week of celebration for us. Not only did we celebrate our 1 year incorporation, but we also celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary. What better place to celebrate such milestones than at The Cheesecake Factory at Mall at Millenia. It's been on our list for quite some time, so we were like kids at Christmas when we finally made it. For those of you that have been; you will know, but if you're like us and it's your first time; you may be intrigued to know that it's not just cheesecake and dessert!

After working up an appetite with a bit of shopping (look out for our Mall at Millenia post coming in the next couple of weeks), we were in there for 12 noon exactly to cure our curiosity and treat our taste buds. Although this place came highly recommended to us, we still expected a fast food restaurant with plastic cutlery, but good food all the same. We were pleasantly surprised by the stylish decor, formally dressed servers and the vibrant atmosphere. Luckily for us, we arrived before the rush so we only had to wait for a table for a couple of minutes. This gave us to chance to take in the amazing cheesecake bar and let us know what we were in for.

Now we thought that the BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse menu was large, but this one was really something else. Most types of cuisines were covered, which included: crafty junk food, superfood salads, a 'Skinnylicious' menu and other creative delights; not to mention the biggest cheesecake selection we've ever seen! Now for a change, we felt we needed some more shopping motivation and we went for the freshly brewed coffee, which came with free refills.

After much deliberation, we just had to try the veggie burgers, of which they had two kinds. Florida restaurants don't tend to offer one veggie burger, so when they offered two we just had to try them and compare. The first one was called a Veggie Burger, which was a bean and brown rice burger topped with avocado, onion, pickles, lettuce, mushrooms, cucumber and melted fontina cheese; served with sweet potato fries. The other was called the Impossible Burger, which was a plant based burger topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and cheese (optional extra); served with fries. Now we've had our fair share of veggie burgers all over the world and we both agreed that the Impossible Burger was the best we've ever tasted. It's made using the fat from coconut to replicate the fat in meat. It was so authentic that even the server mistakenly asked me how I would like it cooked! A shout out also to the garlic aioli; recommended for dunking your fries and wedding anniversaries, not first dates!!! Even if you aren't a vegetarian, the Impossible Burger is a must try.

Now for the showcase course and the reason for our visit, which funnily enough we no longer had room for...cheesecake! We still decided to take the plunge though and ordered the Key Lime Cheesecake, as we love a good citrus dessert. This decision took a while though, especially as we were sharing it (it's all about compromise!). The server explained that the Fresh Strawberry was the most popular, but her particular favourite was the Salted Caramel Cheesecake. Two further reasons to return! The Key Lime Cheesecake had the fresh citrusy zing that we were hoping for and came with fresh whipped cream, which nicely balanced out the flavour. The portion size was enough for two people to share, but is a very generous portion for one person to take on! However, if you really can't find room then we urge you to order one to go, as it's not something to be missed and you won't regret it.

If there is one gripe that we had it's that we hadn't even finished the last forkful of our main when the server was trying to take the plate from underneath us. This goes in the same category as when the server waits until you have a mouthful of food to see if you're enjoying your meal! The urgency for the table was demonstrated by the number of people gathering out the door when we left.

Overall, we would recommend The Cheesecake Factory if you're looking for the following:

• A large selection of amazing desserts.
• Lively atmosphere.
• Friendly and fast service.
• Extensive range of breakfast, lunch and dinner options.
• Varied diets catered for, including 'Skinnylicious' choices.

Our rating for The Cheesecake Factory is 4.5/5.