Restaurant Chain Cheesecake Ranked Worst To Best, According To Customers

It's hard to go wrong with cheesecake. If cheesecake is on the menu, it's almost always worth it to leave a few bites of steak and potato uneaten so you'll have room for a decadent, delicious dessert. Almost always. Cheesecake has like 4,000 years of history behind it, so there's really no excuse. But mistakes do happen with cheesecake. Whether it's laziness or sloppiness or because some restaurants just don't care that much, it is possible to order not-great cheesecake. And because bad cheesecake is an awful shame, we compiled a rundown on when you should order cheesecake and when you should opt to finish your entree instead, because regret is a terrible thing when it's in the form of an extra 950 calories you didn't even enjoy.

We arranged this list — in descending order from bad to awesome — based on what customers have to say about the cheesecake options available at popular chain locations. To decide on where to put what, we relied mostly on reviews and rants (extra points for excess use of exclamation points), a few professional comments, and a dash of personal preference. Serving size, accessibility, and calories fit into the selection a little; a good cheesecake from a small chain or one with an ungenerous portion size, for example, was grounds for demotion.

If cheesecake is 9/10ths of your reason for dining out, then here are the restaurants you should choose or pass up based on the awesomeness — or not — of their cheesecake.

Almost nothing you order from a restaurant looks exactly like what you see on the menu. Have you ever gotten a fast food burger that didn't look like someone sat on it? What about all that lovely, perfectly melted cheese and symmetrically dripping ketchup and mustard? Nope, it never looks like that.

Maybe Olive Garden was like, "Our cheesecake can totally look sloppy because fast food burgers also look terrible in person," or maybe it just doesn't think about it at all because it's too busy overcooking noodles and only putting like two olives in the salad. Anyway, the advertised photo of Olive Garden's seasonal Sicilian cheesecake looks fabulous, and who wouldn't want to order that after being disappointed by the salad and everything else they paid way too much money for.

But alas, reviewers complain that the Sicilian cheesecake not only looks bad, but it tastes bad, too. One Yelp reviewer said "they gave us some strawberry gel thing that was barely eatable." A Reddit user posted an image of their similarly strawberry-free cheesecake against the menu photo ... let's just say that in person, the Sicilian cheesecake kind of looks like someone dunked it in a bucket of water before serving it. "It was also frozen," the reviewer complained.

Japanese cheesecake is not like American cheesecake, and that may be why Uncle Tetsu — a small chain with locations in California and Texas — has so many poor reviews. In fact, it's not totally fair to rank one against the other. It's kind of like complaining that a veggie burger doesn't taste like a turkey burger. Two different things, people.

Japanese cheesecake is lighter than American-style cheesecake, is often described as jiggly, and tastes a bit eggy, owing to the fact that it's basically a dessert souffle. So having said all of that, most reviewers who complain about Uncle Tetsu's Japanese cheesecakes seem to dislike the style, and it's not always clear whether they understand that what they're eating isn't supposed to be like a New York cheesecake. A Yelp reviewer called Uncle Tetsu's cheesecakes "ok-ish ... but not exceptional." One Tripadvisor reviewer said it was the "worst cheesecake EVER," and another complained that after standing in line for 45 minutes "all I could taste is eggs, no cheesecake flavor, or very faint as almost non existent, it wasn't that sweet."

This is not everyone's opinion, obviously, since Uncle Tetsu is actually quite popular and not everyone has New York-style expectations for Japanese cheesecake. So this particular place in the ranking reflects the disproportionate number of poor reviews and not necessarily the quality of the establishment's Japanese cheesecake. As long as you know what to expect, you aren't likely to be disappointed.

If you're hoping to get a giant slab of cheesecake, well, you have options. One of them is Ruby Tuesday's New York cheesecake, which ranks well on important qualities like flavor and presentation and also happens to be ginormous. In fact, one Tripadvisor reviewer even said you could feed three people with a single piece of cheesecake. This same reviewer admitted to being underwhelmed by everything else on the menu but then went on to call the cheesecake "AMAZING," yes, in all caps. A food blogger writing in The Guardian also praised Ruby Tuesday's New York cheesecake, calling it "a clear hit ... cool, creamy, and not overly sweet."

Ruby Tuesday's version is a pretty standard cheesecake with a crumb crust and a topping of strawberry sauce, but the difference between it and the fruity cheesecakes it outranks is that it has flavor and beauty, so you won't have to close your eyes while eating it. So if you like a fruity cheesecake and you have someone (or two) to share it with, then Ruby Tuesday's New York cheesecake is a pretty safe bet. Or, you could just eat the whole thing yourself.

Junior's is a small chain with a big following; you won't find any locations outside the three-state area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Not yet, anyway. Junior's isn't just a cheesecake place — it also serves burgers, sandwiches, plus breakfast and dinner entrees — but cheesecake is what it's best known for. And from original to the chocolate mousse to a diabetic friendly one, there are a lot of options. A fan-favorite, though, is definitely the fresh strawberry cheesecake pie.

Okay, so strawberry cheesecake is a bit uninspired — a lot of restaurants do cheesecake with strawberries because customers seem to like fruit topping on a cheesecake (maybe because fruit cancels out the calories?) Junior's strawberry cheesecake is unique, though. It's baked inside of a "sweet pie dough shell," and it's topped not just with strawberries but also with a "signature macaroon crunch" crumble, according to the restaurant.

Everyone seems to love this cheesecake, though to be fair, no one online seems to be complaining about any of Junior's many cheesecake flavors. One Tripadvisor reviewer said "the strawberry pie is to die for!!!!!" (note the five exclamation points). A Yelp reviewer was similarly impressed: "It was phenomenal!!!" (more exclamation points). Other reviewers noted the large slices, so if you come to Junior's for a meal and a piece of cheesecake, maybe pick an entree that's on the lighter side so you have more room for dessert.

There are two very close contenders for the title of best chocolate cheesecake: After much inner debate, Junior's devil's food cheesecake gets the second place position not because it isn't as delicious or well-loved as the winner, but because it's not as accessible. If you don't live on the East Coast of the United States or are not fortunate enough to be able to visit, you won't have much opportunity to experience Junior's most raved-about cheesecake (though you can actually order one online if you have about $80 or so to drop on a whole cheesecake).

You will not find many complaints about Junior's devil's food cheesecake, unless it's to say it's too chocolatey (hey, chocolate cheesecake isn't for everyone). A Tripadvisor reviewer said it was "absolutely yummy," and a Yelp reviewer called it "LEG-END-ARY." On QVC, which ships whole Junior's cheesecakes to people with disposable incomes, reviewers are similarly impressed: "sinnnfully delicious!!" one said, while another called it "beyond goodness ... shared it with friends everyone was licking their plates." Another reviewer called it "Ridiculous !!!" and said, "Holy canoli this is the best cheesecake I have ever tasted... I LITERALLY had to make myself stay away from it because it was so good !!!" Once again, pay close attention to all those exclamation points.

The Cheesecake Factory's ultimate red velvet cake cheesecake is not the chain's most popular cheesecake, but it is the best one. And because the ultimate red velvet cake cheesecake ticks all the other boxes — rave reviews, generous portions, easy availability, uniquely delicious — it's the clear fan favorite chain restaurant cheesecake in our ranking. First, just look at this thing. It's a work of art. It has gorgeous alternating layers of cheesecake and red velvet cake, but not too much red velvet cake, which should only complement the cheesecake, not overwhelm it.

Second, just listen to people go on about how delicious this red velvet cake cheesecake is. A Chick Advisor reviewer says: "luxurious, decadent, rich, and everything it promises to be. It's mouth watering!" In a review of every cheesecake on The Cheesecake Factory's menu, Business Insider's reviewer put the ultimate red velvet cake cheesecake in third place (behind white chocolate raspberry truffle and lemon raspberry cream) but also said, "This is exactly what a dessert should be — rich and flavorful without being too heavy and decadent." In a Reddit discussion about the best cheesecake (not just chain restaurant cheesecake, but any cheesecake), The Cheesecake Factory's ultimate red velvet cake cheesecake came up three times. And on Ranker's voter-picked list of favorite options from The Cheesecake Factory, this flavor landed in the No. 1 position. It's pretty tough to argue with that kind of praise.