Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
I love Cheesecake Factory.
Call me basic if you want, but let me tell you something: That bistro shrimp pasta goes hard in the paint, you dig?
I not only love Cheesecake Factory, but I love its bougie sister, Grand Lux Cafe.
I know their menus are bigger than that annual Sears Catalog at Christmas, but once you figure out what your faves are, you don’t even need the menu anymore unless they add new or seasonal items you might want to sample.
Brown bread me and bring me a cucumber lemonade with a shot of your best tequila in it, please. And make sure that butter is soft for my bread.
I’m a Cheesecake Factory/Grand Lux kind of girlie, so I was a little surprised to see Cheesecake Factory show up on that list of places you should not take a woman on a first date.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Cheesecake Factory!
But there’s nuance to this whole “first date” conversation, so let’s talk about it.
First of all, all restaurants are not created equal
Recently, a list of restaurants you should never take a woman to on a first date went viral on the internet. This happened around the same time an apparently staged video of a woman refusing to go into Cheesecake Factory with her date also went viral.
Cheesecake Factory was No. 1 on the list, but others included Applebees, Chili’s, Olive Garden, Wingstop, Buffalo Wild Wings, Red Lobster, IHOP, Denny’s and Waffle House. The list also said you should never go to a buffet on a first date.
Listen, I understand to some degree, but for me, it’s not a price point thing; it’s a quality of food thing, as I told Marc Lamont Hill when we discussed it recently.
Places like Chili’s and Applebees aren’t really cooking your food. They are…
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