Poor Cheescake Factory

I went there Friday evening with some friends, and it seems as though they're trying to present themselves in a cocktailian fashion, except they're failing horribly at it.

They had some "classic" cocktails on the menu, which didn't seem classically prepared at all, and none of their "martinis" expressly included gin; none of them. And we're not talking all bastardized -tini drinks, either, because they had several vodka martini choices.

They even had a "007," "Shaken, not Stirred!" martini. How about we go for the real deal and include the Vesper, instead—the true Bond cocktail.

I ordered a Mojito (they actually had it on the menu! so I was initially excited about it), and although it wasn't a horrible drink, the mint portion consisted of flakes of mint floating around the glass, that I occasionally sucked up with the straw. It didn't even use crushed ice, come to think of it, whereas the Gin Rickey did (for some unfathomable reason, note the above where I said how classic cocktails were not classically prepared). Not even a single mint leaf as garnish!

So, okay, maybe it's too much to expect a large chain with a name echoing pin-up girls to make good cocktails. Oh, well.

I've yet to find a cocktailian location in my local area. I'll have to keep an eye out.