I was referring to entrees at the Cheesecake Factory, not CFA.

Sorry for the confusion.

Well, they are both green!

IIRC, it's 100.
There isn't lettuce on CFA original chicken sandwiches. There are 2 pickles, but no lettuce.
I've never seen that happen at the ones around here.

I don't get it. CF was pretty average for the 2-3 times I've had it over the last few years. I tried IO a few weeks ago at the one by LAX (thank you, Parking Spot shuttle!) and was decidedly underwhelmed given all the hype IO gets. It was better than McD's, but not by much & that's not exactly a hard thing to be. The burger was ok, but in no way anything special. The fries were over cooked and hadn't been properly parboiled first, so they had too much starch in them which left them tasting very cardboard-y.

IMO, in the US Sonic is far better, and Steak n Shake would give both IO and CF a better run for their money. Mos Burger is definitely much better. Most any owner/operator burger place in NZ, Oz, the Cook's, etc will be better by far - although that's probably cultural taste kicking in there.

You must not have a Starbucks with a drive-thru near you.


I worked at McDonald's in high school and college. We weren't afraid to ask someone to park if their order would take long, then someone ran their food out to them. That kept the main line moving, especially if the following vehicles were getting mostly normal things that were ready.

I'm a CFA fan. I think it's some of the better quality truly fast food. While some may think the grilled chicken sandwich is kinda sacrilegious for them, I think it's really good. The employees are also far better and friendlier than your average fast food worker.

This makes me want a deluxe spicy chicken sandwich with waffle fries, and some CFA sauce and buffalo sauce for dipping.

Sorry, I missed that someone else had addressed the fat issue.

A lot of it is cultural, regional, and what you were raised on. I started eating CFA as a child and would gladly sit in line for 30 minutes if I could have some of their waffle fries and a cup of sweet tea right now. It's a familiar taste that I've known my whole life, being from the south.

In N Out, not much of a fan. People will line up for miles for it, but I can take it or leave it. That's fine, to each his/her own.

I don't really think food tastes should be something people try too hard to understand because it's completely subjective. There are people who think ice cream is disgusting... I mean, there is just not making sense of that

Chick Fil-A also has one of the fastest drive thrus. I've never seen more than 10 cars waiting, and I find it much faster than In-N-Out. I usually wait less than 4 minutes total, with only a minute at the window.

I did the "First 100" camp out with a couple other friends last summer. As young male college students, spending 24 hours in a parking lot for 52 free meals was a no brainer.

As far as the food itself goes, I think Chick-fil-A definitely has a higher quality product than other fast food places. Each chicken sandwich uses a whole piece of breast meat, as opposed to the mechanically separated patties you get from others. Plus, their honey roasted BBQ sauce really is some good stuff ^

Culver's and some McDonaldses do that, though some locations have space problems for where to put the cars and still have the drive-thru line moving.

A common problem with that is having too big a menu. Inevitably someone wants some item that has to be dropped in the fryer (or otherwise made ready) and presto, there's the delay.

I won't get in the drive-thru if I see even one car there, but past a certain level (say 4 or 5) it's almost inevitable that doing that will take more time and cause more gas to be burned than going inside.

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I tried their food once. Was not impressed. A friend from work raved about it and wanted to go there, so I went with her. The one time. I should have known better. It might be a place that finicky kids would like.

We have the holy trinity of long drive thru lines locally..CFA, In n Out and Strbux at one location. Frankly, going inside has rarely been faster for me. They tend to be packed inside when the lines are long outside. And, I have regularly made a note of the last car in line when I chose to go inside just to see which was faster.

California and Texas get a great combination of fast food restaurants. The last hotel I stayed at in California was next to a CFA and across the street from an In-n-Out.

Overall, CFA is one of the better fast food restaurants in terms of quality and customer service. I've also been told that their corporate office near ATL is a great place to work as it has lots of walking trails, free meals (not CFA food), and unlimited Ice Dreams. There is an officially optional church service every Monday.

I'm excited to visit one of the new Seattle-area locations soon. I didn't get to visit the original WA location (a CFA Express) at Western Washington University, which closed partly because the very liberal campus tended not to agree with the company's actions.

If anyone has visited the original location in Hapeville, GA aka the Dwarf House, it has a traffic guard and police presence during busy times.

One of the late Mr. Cathy's true loves was Hawaii, so before he died he opened a Hawaii-themed CFA called Truett's Luau where he hand picked the decor and menu. One of the items on the menu is a pineapple macadamia nut milkshake which sounds really good.

I was surprised to learn that what is now CFA didn't originally serve much chicken and as such, special CFAs serve a fair amount of beef.

I still think that the best chicken strips/tenders are sold in the deli of Publix Super Markets in FL/GA/AL/TN/NC/SC.

One other notable re: CFA. The help is unfailingly friendly and cheerful. A little too wholesome for my taste, but it beats surly and unclean any day. I love asking one of the pretty girls at the counter for something and hearing "my pleasure" in response.