With a Side of Hope

Hi there!  Happy Monday to you!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  What did you do this weekend?  My weekend was quite busy.  I had a lot going on and I did a lot of organizing our house and a lot of cooking.  This is going to be a busy week because I’m in my friends weekend this weekend and we are seeing Robert Irvine this weekend.  So a lot is going on.

I wanted to talk today about an opportunity that I had to experience on Saturday night.  I was given the opportunity to bring a guest and attend a Pre-Opening Preview of the new Cheesecake Factory that is opening this week at the Quakerbridge Mall in Lawrenceville, NJ.  I was beyond the point of excited because I am a huge Cheesecake Factory fan!  I love going there.  Not only is their food good, and they give massive portions but their cheesecake is absolutely to die for.  I love it!  It’s very exciting that they are opening one in Lawrenceville because it’s right in the middle of two colleges.  So I think it will do really well.  Not to mention that it’s attached to the mall.  I think it’s the perfect location.

We were told to arrive at 6:30pm, where they brought us into the lobby and explained what was going to happen that evening.  Each group of 2 people were given a different selection of appetizers, entrees and beverages to choose from.  You were allowed to choose one appetizer, 2 entrees, dessert, one alcoholic beverage each, and unlimited soda, tea and coffee.  Once they explained everything we waited about 20 minutes to be seated.

Beautiful selection of cheesecakes

Lobby area

Beautiful light above the hostess stand

Flat screen tv’s showing menu items above the bakery section

Mike and I waiting for a table

Once we were seated, our waitress brought us a basket of bread to enjoy while looking over our menu selections for an appetizer.

Two types of bread

Appetizer selections

We decided to try the Mac and Cheese Balls since we never had them before.

Mac and Cheese Balls

Those things were huge!  They were filled with creamy macaroni and cheese.  It was absolutely delicious.  I haven’t had macaroni and cheese in such a long time.  It really filled my craving.

We were also able to order an alcoholic beverage from this menu below:

Alcohol Menu

I ordered a glass of Riseling while Mike enjoyed an Amstel Light.

Entree selections

Mike ordered Chicken Madiera

Other menu selections

I ordered Chicken Marsala

Me

Mike

Our dinners were both delicious!  The mashed potatoes from Mike’s dish was incredible.  I couldn’t even finish mine so I definitely have leftovers.  It was then time for dessert!  We both ordered coffee and decided to try the Oreo Dream Extreme Cheesecake (Oreo Cookies baked in creamy Cheesecake with layers of fudge cake and Oreo Cookie mousse. Topped with a milk chocolate icing.).

Oreo Dream Extreme Cheesecake

HUGE Oreo Cookie!

The best part about this cheesecake is the fact that 25¢ from the sale of each slice will be donated to Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger relief charity.  I really like that they do that.  The cake itself was great.  It tasted like a huge Oreo cookie!  Mike was in heaven because he is such an Oreo fanatic!

Our entire experience was a great one from start to finish.  The decor of the restaurant was classy and elegant.  The food was delicious and cooked to perfection.  Our waitress was attentive and did a great job.  We really enjoyed ourselves.  Thank you so much, Jennifer for allowing us to attend this lovely event!

Have you ever been to the Cheesecake Factory before?  What is your favorite kind of cheesecake?

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