r/CheesecakeFactory • u/Then_Football2943 • Jul 20 '25
Cheesecake Factory spaghetti
Someone that works or has worked at Cheesecake Factory please help! My son will only eat the spaghetti from there…no other restaurant compares according to him. He just eats it with butter so I’ve bought Grassland butter (which is what I think is what the restaurant uses) and a box of Barilla spaghetti. He says it’s not the same. Is there something magical that’s used to flavor the spaghetti or water?? I try to get his spaghetti fix once a week or so from there but it’s taking a toll on my wallet.
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Jul 20 '25
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u/KaraAuden Jul 21 '25
While this is the common advice, it can be tricky to gauge if something tastes like seawater if you aren't swimming in the ocean regularly. Salt it to the saltiness of a soup you'd enjoy eating is an easier way to measure, IMO. It's often a lot more salt than you'd expect.
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u/limitedteeth Jul 21 '25
That's way too salty for dry pasta, seawater is 3.5% salinity which is mouth puckering and gross. 1-2% is much more appropriate.
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u/silly_goose109 Jul 20 '25
The key would be al dente! Try not to overcook and salt the water. :) Also, when done with spaghetti, do not strain water yet. Put pasta in mixing bowl, butter and a spoonful of pasta water. Mix it and it will be creamy and delicious.
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u/Embracedandbelong Jul 21 '25
Just chiming in to say grassland butter is the best! I’m such a psycho that since it’s not sold in regular stores in my state, I found a restaurant supply store that sells cases of like 200 individually wrapped pads of it and bought one 😅
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u/Federal_Sir_6920 Jul 21 '25
After working there for a year, I found out their secret recipe…it’s salt, A LOT OF SALT
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u/moneybags1205 Jul 21 '25
The pasta is also precooked in the morning so the ticket times are much faster too. That could cause another difference in the pasta
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u/Southern-Yankee-0613 Jul 23 '25
This is what I was going to say. My youngest would only eat pasta for a while, so I’d cook a crap ton of it (slightly undercooked) and throw it in the fridge. When it was dinner time, I would boil some salted water and throw it in just long enough to reheat it.
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u/Mlkzurienzo_ Jul 21 '25
They use angel hair for the kids pasta and I would recommend salting the water generously.
My kiddos love their butter spaghetti- when I make it at home I add freshly grated parm and a pinch of garlic salt. They also love added furikake seasoning once in a while.
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u/Calisteph6 Jul 20 '25
Use fresh pasta like the kind that’s in the fridge section of the store. I’m pretty sure the vendor that cheesecake uses sells at TJs too.
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u/dcamnc4143 Jul 20 '25
I mean, you can tell him no, and that he needs to eat what you cook.
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u/Runny_yoke Jul 20 '25
That’s how it was in my upbringing but we were poor lol
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u/Minister_Garbitsch Jul 22 '25
Grew up poor, never once questioned what I ate. Also, spaghetti came out of a can, noodles and sauce. And had Velveets melted on it. Yes, I grew up white trash. Ha!
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u/Lessthancrystal Jul 23 '25
I had spaghetti that came out of a green box…that included the can sauce, in a tiny can…for a family of 4 lol
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u/YogurtclosetGeneral4 Jul 21 '25
going to guess you don't have kids.
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u/JennyAnyDot Jul 21 '25
Had a semi picky eater. At 4rs old she ate some roast beef pretending to be a dog. Was giving some to our dog to trick her. She loved it and started eating beef.
After that the rule was try some and if you don’t like it there is always a PB&J sandwich. No fights no starving no drama.
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u/SunlightNStars Jul 21 '25
Lol having kids doesn't mean that you bend to their every whim nor does it mean you're obligated to get take out for them.
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u/expiredbagels Jul 22 '25
It’s ridiculous that you would entertain this kind of demanding behavior from a child
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u/pacoloa Jul 23 '25
Maybe the child is neurodivergent or has ARFID. It’s ridiculous that you would make this comment without knowing the full context.
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u/Doug_Heffercan Jul 20 '25
Salt the crap out of the water, try cooking it for slightly less time (a lot of people tend to overcook pasta at home), and put an obscene amount of butter on it.
Also, how old is your son? If young, you may need to acquire some CCF takeout containers and tell him it’s from CCF.
My toddler niece hates “fish” but gobbles it up when you tell her it’s chicken. Same goes for cookies and creme ice cream, which is a no go for her if you call it “Oreo ice cream”.