• vegan at the cheesecake factory

    22
    September 14th, 2011quarrygirlcheesecake factory, LA restaurants

    ah, vegan chain dining! we don’t like it…but sometimes we just gotta do it. it may not be the best meal in the world, but it’s worth noting that the cheesecake factory has at least one decent vegan option.

    thai lettuce wraps (no chicken!): carrots, bean sprouts, coconut curry noodles and lettuce leaves. served with peanut, red chili, and tamarind cashew sauce. $12.95

    you’d think that a restaurant with a menu the size of a college text book would have more to offer us, but sadly their best vegan option is the thai lettuce wraps, minus the chicken. the dish comes stacked with fresh vegetables, noodles, and an assortment of sauces for you to assemble yourself. fun!

    what sucks about ordering this is that there’s no meat-free discount—you still wind up paying the full 13 bucks for the dead animals you aren’t consuming. but for vegans who absolutely must visit the cheesecake factory due to work or family obligations (like we had to!), this meal can be a lifesaver. and it’s pretty tasty, too!

    for a full list of vegan offerings at the cheesecake factory, check out this post.

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22 responses to “vegan at the cheesecake factory” RSS icon

  • Yup, that is the V-tax. I love places where you can add meat, tofu, nuts, all at an added price, and what do you think is cheapest? 🙂

  • Yeah, Cheesecake Factory blows for vegans. Bigtime. And they don’t care!

  • You can sub Portobello Mushrooms for the chicken. I’ve done that before. Cheesecake Factory totally blows for Vegans!

  • Gauri Radha गौरी राधा

    I guess it’s good you can order at least one thing, aside from a soda or whatever. Would be nice to have more options.

  • Just order a martini with extra olives!

  • Good to know! I too, like Brittany, have ordered a Portobello Mushroom there before… but I have to make sure it doesn’t go anywhere near their grill so it doesn’t get any cow blood on it 🙁 the salad you ordered looks great 😀

  • They’ve offered me avocado for free instead of meat there, which is kinda nice. I see it came with yours, so I might be thinking of a salad instead.

  • Thanks for the info. My family loves that damn place. You are not kidding about the size of that menu either! God forbid they put one non-dairy/egg cheesecake option among the 500 other choices.

  • careful of the mushrooms, according to a waitress last time my girlfriend went there, the mushrooms are not vegan (nor vegetarian) as they are simmered in an oyster sauce. Not sure how much truth is weighted behind this, but thought it good to note in any case.

  • On this veganeatingout.com webpage, it lists what items are vegan at the Cheesecake Factory. Besides salad, there are some pasta and noodles and sauces listed:

    http://www.veganeatingout.com/the-cheesecake-factory/

    I hope the info is accurate. From a post on vegweb, the info on veganeatingout is from August 2008.

    http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=24613.0

  • When I went to the Cheesecake Factory, I asked the waitress if a portabello mushroom could be substituted fo the chicken and she said they would just leave off the chicke. When I went to a different Cheesecake Factory, the waitress couldn’t believe that I didn’t want the chicken and insisted I take it but give it someone else at our table (my sister took it).

  • Or you could just not eat anything in protest!

  • Hmm I was told their marinara had butter in it once. Or that their pasta had butter in it to keep from sticking? I forget, but I was told that their pasta dishes are not vegan. But they are listed on that website…. Who knows, maybe it was only that location!

    Regardless, I’m annoyed they aren’t more vegan friendly. I used to get the Asian vegetable stir-fry, but then that was taken off their menu. Probably wasn’t even vegetarian!

  • The few times I’ve eaten at the Factory since going vegan have been awful, however, I wonder if they added new options – seems like their new SkinnyLicious veggie burger might be vegan. Email them but haven’t heard back…

  • Yup, I’ve done these lettuce wraps sans chicken, too. The waitress was very nice and offered up on her own to sub a few different veggies for the chicken. But I’m still scared I’ll get dosed with animal products at these places ever since I took Patricia the yoga instructor’s advice on here and ordered the Gardein chicken strips at the Yardhouse only to be told by the waitress (thank god i asked) that ANYTHING battered at the Yardhouse has egg in it. Places like this without clearly marked vegan items are a minefield. And to the person above who said to watch out for pasta, yes, I always ask before ordering it at any restaurant and many times have been told it contains egg. Hopefully those coconut curry noodles at Cheesecake Factory did not.

  • Good to know there’s at least one option!

  • that totally sucks. i tried to be as nice as i could when i was there but asked about 2 MILLION questions and talked to the manager. it’s really a gamble at most of these big chain restaurants, imo.

  • I eat Evelyn’s Favorite pasta, with no cheese. I believe that is vegan.

  • The Cheesecake Factory was one of the first restaurants I dined in with my family after becoming vegan (I used to love the place as a vegetarian). I ended up with a makeshift salad that was so boring, I got depressed. I thought this is what veganism was going to be like. Thankfully I found the numerous veg restaurants out there!

  • What’s that Michael Pollan saying – if it comes from a plant, eat it, if it was made in a plant – don’t? Can the same be true for any restaurant with the word “Factory” in it?

  • yeah i also eat evelyn’s favorite pasta- i was told that is vegan- is it not???

  • We actually had a really great experience at Cheesecake. My parents love the place, and my wife and I (both vegan) were nervous about the very limited veg-friendly options.

    But our waitress (a vegetarian) was VERY attentive to our needs and gave us all the available options. My wife had the Evelyn’s Pasta (yes, @sash, we were told that it was vegan, and our waitress checked with the chef), and I had the Mexican-style Chicken Lettuce Wrap Tacos (sans chicken, sub portabello). And I believe we split the SkinnyLicious Soft Tacos as an appetizer. No dessert, obviously.

    We went in with low expectations and were really satisfied by the end.


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