GMM 2406: Is Cheesecake Factory WORSE than BJ’s?

It’s the battle of the world’s biggest menus! – Let’s talk about that. (cheerful music) Good Mythical Morning. – The Cheesecake Factory is probably a much bigger household name than BJ’s Restaurant and Brewery, but, while there are slightly more than 300 Cheesecake Factory locations out there, BJ’s has a little over 200 locations, which is nothing to slouch at, you know? – Wow. 200 BJ’s, think about that. – These two restaurant chains have one major thing in common. – Oh. – The bigness of the menus. – Big menus! ‘Course, listen, I mean, they still got ’em beat, not just on locations but on menu, ’cause I just opened this thing up, and it’s that. That’s a pamphlet. Or more than a pamphlet, a book. – This menu’s so big it’s got advertisements for other things in it. – Yeah. I don’t have that. It’s got pictures of things. – A gift card to order from the menu later. – Okay, for both of these restaurants, there is such a random variety of foods, you could take your pickiest adult friend… And know they’re gonna find something to eat. – Well, with 140 items on the BJ’s menu, and over 250 on the Cheesecake Factory menu, you’re not gonna see me making a fuss, but who’s the boss of the bulging menus? We got to declare one winner. It’s time for “Food Feuds, BJ’s vs Cheesecake Factory.” (rock music) – [Stevie] Okay, boys, each round you’re gonna taste and rate similar foods from each restaurant. The restaurant with the highest total combined rating will win a chance to sponsor a future GMM episode. – But they won’t do it. – They always come through. – [Stevie] We’re starting off with a signature Italian classic, spaghetti and meatballs. On Rhett’s side, we’ve got BJ’s spaghetti and meatballs for 20.45, and on Link’s side is Cheesecake Factory’s spaghetti and meatballs for 22.50. – They look so similar. I mean, the meatballs themselves are the same. The only difference over here at Cheesecake Factory is like, the blistered ‘maters. – Blistered maters. Slightly thicker spaghetti on this side. That’s solid. I don’t frequent BJ’s. – I’m sorry. – But, you know how we feel about Cheesecake Factory. I’m gonna be really surprised if BJ’s win, but… – That was good. – I’m open to BJ’s. – [Link] You should be. – That’s pretty good, that meatball. – Very meaty, and pretty bally. You’re still not over here. You took another bite over there? – It’s got plenty of flavor. – Hm. I thought the meatballs were gonna taste exactly the same ’cause they look exactly the same. But… Just take a little bit more of that meatball. – Cheesecake Factory meatball tastes much more homemade. – [Link] Yeah, it has more stuff in it. – It’s like… – Not a lot of sauce on either noodle pile. They kinda mixed all the sauces in. Made exactly the same way. – This isn’t bad at all. – No, not at all. – Lemme get one of those tomatoes, ’cause I do appreciate the addition of that. – I’m gonna give the BJ’s… I’m gonna give it a… You know what, I’m gonna give it a six. It’s still just spaghetti and meatballs. – I just isolated the noodles and the meatball sauce. “Meatball sauce.” Just the marinara sauce. – Okay? – This is sweeter than I like, and that’s actually the right, that’s a great flavor. I am actually gonna give this a five, now that I’ve come back to it. – Okay. – And I’m giving Cheesecake a seven. – I’m giving Cheesecake one up from my six for BJ’s, I’m gonna give it a seven. So we’re pretty close, I’m seeing. – Slight edge to the Cheesecake. (rock music) – [Stevie] Okay, you’ve got some fish tacos this round, on Rhett’s side is BJ’s fried mahi-mahi tacos for 16.45, and on Link’s is Cheesecake Factory’s beer battered fish tacos for 20.50. – It came with a little lime. You want me to squeeze a little lime on you? – Sure. Since it came with it. When you walk into a Cheesecake Factory, you have a certain feeling. What’s the feeling? – Like walking into a castle, man. – Yeah, it’s like walking into like a, it’s like a non-pyramid-shaped pyramid. – It’s so opulent. – Yeah. Actually, Rick McCormack was their former VP of design. He designed the place to feel like a high end restaurant, where guests will be surprised at the relatively inexpensive food. And then he went on, after leaving Cheesecake Factory in the 90s, to design BJ’s restaurants as well. – No, he didn’t! – But then, I just feel like it’s just a high octane sports bar. – Yeah, it’s a totally different feel. These are actually not half bad. Link, since you’ve got so many fun facts over there about Cheesecake Factory- – That is good! – It’s actually really good. I’ve got a fun fact for you that I wanna give to you about BJ’s restaurant. – Real crunchy. – The way I’m gonna format this fact is, I’m gonna say the answer to the following two things is the same, okay? What is the original name of the BJ’s restaurant, and what do you not want to hear through your hotel wall? (crew laughs) – Can I cheat by looking at the thing, or do you want…? – I wanna tell you. Can I just tell you? – Yeah, tell me. – BJ Grunts. – BJ Grunts? – BJ Grunts was the actual name of the first BJ’s restaurant. – Wow. – And they only changed it because there was some legal battle with RJ Grunts. – There it is. A casual dining restaurant in Chicago, RJ Grunts. – I’m an RJ, a Rhett James. Do the math. – You grunt? You do some grunting? We do some dad grunting. Okay, now I’m seeing the difference here is, we’ve got some guacamole. – [Rhett] It’s smaller strips, it’s not just one big strip. – And I’m pushing it into the end so I can get the guacamole. – It’s a different kind of tortilla, as well. – [Link] Hm. – These are both really tasty. – So good. This one might actually… I’m trying to just taste the fish here for a minute. Just a minute. Hm. – [Rhett] These are pretty greasy. – I love guacamole on my stuff. – The BJ’s one is a little bit greasy, but, I didn’t really think about that until I had the lighter fried one of the… – It’s crunchier, and it’s more Chipotle. This is more expected and guacamole-y. Makes it really hard. – That’s a good fish taco. – Both ways. – I’m gonna give this one a seven. – I’ma give it a BJ Grunt. Ugh. – One BJ Grunt, coming right up. – Dang, man, yeah, that’s a seven fish taco. – And I would say higher, but like, I know what fish tacos can taste like. I mean, we’re in Los Angeles. You can get some really, really good fish tacos that are better than either one of these. – So for Cheesecake Factory, what are you giving? – I’m actually gonna give it a seven as well, I kinda wanted to go eight, ’cause I like the fish a little bit more, but, there’s something about the flavor profile here. – I’m going down a notch, I’m giving this a six, still very respectable, but, with the guacamole in it, I was expecting more, and it took too much away from the fish, which was the star over here. I stand by it. Seven, and a six. – This is a starfish? – Yeah, it’s starfish. (rock music) – [Stevie] It’s time for egg rolls. On Rhett’s side is BJ’s avocado egg rolls for 15.45, and on Link’s side is Cheesecake Factory’s avocado egg rolls for 16.50. – One’s a bigger egg roll, with a longer slice. – They’re both cut the same way, but like, yeah, you’re getting like… – There’s more of an angle on those. – [Link] More of an angle from the Cheesecake Factory. – And there’s like a, these seem like a twice fried situation, where these almost seemed… – Yeah, like a won-ton, like this is smooth. A smooth fry, like a fortune cookie, this is like a won-ton, hard fry. And the dips are definitely different. – Oh. – What’s wrong with that dip? – It’s not good, man. – It’s horrible. It’s like a… What is that? – [Stevie] It’s a sweet tamarind dipping sauce, which in actuality is very close to how they described the Cheesecake Factory one, which is tamarind cashew. – I gotta eat one without the dip. – That dip is horrible. It’s got like a fishiness to it. – Also, the egg roll’s horrible. – The egg roll is bad. – Like, objectively bad. Like what in the world? – Like I can’t bring myself to taste it again. – Ah! – Now I already have a special spot in my heart for the cheeseburger egg rolls of Cheesecake Factory. – They don’t get any better than those. – They’re so decadent! – And there’s also the southwest ones. – You can get the sampler plate, if you want, and try ’em all. And I remember this sauce being pretty good. – It is. It’s so much better. – It’s amazing that they call ’em the same thing. – That’s a totally different sauce. The egg roll itself is better- – I wouldn’t feed that to a dying dog that I hated. (crew chuckles) – Well, you know why, because dogs are allergic, or, y’know, it’s toxic to ’em. Avacado’s toxic to dogs. – Really? – [Rhett] So the dead dog would just go ahead and die. – Right. I wouldn’t give the dog a favor. Of speeding it along to death, is what I’m saying. I gotta give this… – It’s a one. – I gotta give it a one, just because, I mean there’s some nutritional value, right? Yeah. One. – These are not nearly as good as the other two types of egg rolls you can get at Cheesecake Factory. Can we just be honest? – Oh, shoot, I got… – I’m actually gonna just give it a five. The sauce is the best part. Maybe if they were, y’know, I know we get ’em as fresh as we can logistically, but, those hamburger ones and cheeseburger ones and then the southwest ones with the black beans in ’em are just so much better than this. – They are good, though. – They’re good. – All right, you’re right, I’ll stick with a five. Mouslim, I mean, fyeah. – Yeah. Was that a BJ Grunt? – I guess it was. (rock music) Hey, we made an episode of this show that turns out, we can’t put it on YouTube. That’s right, we have made a banned episode of Good Mythical Morning, so we put it over on the Mythical Society, it’s the 1000 years of curse words episode. The only way to see it legally is on the Mythical Society, but you can see it for free. – All you gotta do is just sign up for an initiate account over there. But if you wanna watch the More, if you wanna watch the More, which is curse words in other languages, you need to sign up for first degree, second degree, or third degree, all degrees. MythicalSociety.com. We’re putting banned stuff over there. – You wanna hear us say some naughty words? Go over there, MythicalSociety.com. Free! – [Stevie] Okay, you got some veggies going on, ish, in this round. And on Rhett’s side is BJ’s barbecue ranch salad for 19.75. And on Link’s side is Cheesecake Factory’s barbecue ranch salad for 19.50. – Oh, this is one of those mix it yourself. So hold on, before you do that, can I? – Yeah, ’cause that one’s already mixed. – I’m gonna do an onion lift. – [Link] Minus the, okay. Onion lift. – You do a mix. Full mix. Maybe a mix and chop? – Maybe I’ll leave these over here. – Oh, come on. – And then maybe I’ll… – Can you chop those avocados and chicken up a little bit? I just wanna give it a fighting chance here. – I kinda like the fact that it’s deconstructed, so that you can get your ratios the way you want it, and you can pick off the things you don’t want. – Onions coming down. – [Link] Onions coming down, yeah. – Now, the thing about the BJ’s one is it has barbecue sauce drizzled. I don’t see that on the Cheesecake side. – I think it’s just on the onion part. – I don’t know if, I mean, I care about that. – So lemme get rid of that. – I would never order this. – Great onion drop, by the way. – Oh. I’m here all week. – [Link] Okay, so, a little… – [Rhett] There’s a whole lot of onions. – That is a lot of fried onion. I mean, who has any business eating that much fried onion? – It’s hard to get a… – Very barbecue-y. Very fried onion-y. Ranch is good. – It’s not good and it’s not bad. – Chicken is tender. Yeah, it’s just, it just is. I mean, we went into this with Cheesecake Factory being our favorite. I love what they’re doing at BJ’s, but, we did a whole episode of our long running super successful Food Network show, Inside Eats. We did a whole episode where we went behind the scenes at Cheesecake Factory, to explore why and how their menu is so big, and we got to meet the head chef, we got to try some, they taught us how to make some stuff. – Did you learn anything? – Nothing that I retained. So yeah, if you wanna watch that episode, or all four whopping episodes of Inside Eats, it’s on HBO Max, which is now just called Max, apparently. So if you already have that, you can watch Inside Eats. – Everything at Cheesecake Factory is a little fresher. – [Link] Mm-hm. – I just don’t like this order, you know what I’m saying? – The lettuce is not chopped as much. The chicken, lemme analyze… – Who orders this? I just don’t think I would like ’em. I’m just being honest with you. – The person? – I’m saying, I’m gonna log it, I’m gonna be like “Eh, we probably don’t have a lot in common.” There’s just so many things to get on the menu, if you get the barbecue ranch salad? – But it’s on both menus, so there must be a demand for it, man. – Yeah, it’s America, you know, people got no taste. – These onion straws are better at BJ’s. – I don’t like either one. But this just tasted a little fresher. – I think there’s a one point differential here. – Three. Four. – I agree. Three. Four. (rock music) Oh, yeah, give a big grunt for this round. ‘Cause this is the one, y’all. This is where they’re both gonna shine! – Stevie, if I’m right, this is the Pizookie? – [Stevie] I was taken a little bit off guard, to be honest, with the giant grunt. – Yeah, yeah, yeah. – [Stevie] But yes, on Rhett’s side we have BJ’s signature dessert, a chocolate chunk Pizookie with vanilla ice cream for 8.95, and on Link’s side is one of Cheesecake Factory’s most popular cheesecake, Reese’s peanut butter chocolate cake cheesecake for 11.50. – ‘Course, we have tasted every cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory available to us on an episode of this show. The white chocolate raspberry, I believe, was the winner. – This was in the top three, I believe, though. – I’m gonna get some of this Pizookie from the middle. And you can get a huge one, right? A big sharable Pizookie? This is like the individual. – I believe it goes up to 10 feet. – Mm-hm. And, it’s just a lot of fun. Have your friends gather ’round. – I mean, you can’t not like this. It’s good. – [Link] Can I get… – [Rhett] An amen? – A big ol’ cookie and ice cream somewhere else? Eh. – Eh. – But is it called a Pizookie, which is like the best name for a dessert on the planet? No. – It’s all right. It’s good, it’s good. But I just know how good this is. – It’s not as good as I hoped it would be. When you pluck it out of BJ’s. – I’m coming on the backside, here. – I’m gonna go right from the front. But I am gonna add a little bit of that cream. Yeah… Dink it. – And sink it. – Sink it. (Rhett chuckles) – Wow. – [Link] If you go- – Makes you shake a little bit, doesn’t it? – To the “uh” Cheesecake Factory, it curls your toenails. And then you bring back, you know how they have those cheesecake to-go containers, perfectly made with a place for the dollop of the whipped cream? You bring that home, and you’re saying, “You know what, I ate mine there, but I thought of you, and I brought you one back.” That’s why I still love my children. ‘Cause they do that for me. – Right. They’re caring. – That’s what keeps my love going. My unconditional love. – Right. – For my children. – That increases a little bit when they do something nice for you. – Uh-huh. – Here’s the problem with this round. You know that BJ’s is hurting when it’s the dessert from the Cheesecake Factory that gives you the BJ Grunts. – Right. – You know what I’m saying? It’s like, you know… – Yes, you’re right. You’re so right. – Okay, easy. Easy, buddy. We don’t want this to be a banned episode. – MythicalSociety.com, free! – It’s so good. It’s just like, it’s a masterpiece. – I’ma give this a seven, just to be generous. – I’ll give it a six. – And I’m not gonna hold back from a perfect tenner. – Wow, you did it. – Tenner! – You did it. – One zero. One zero! And this isn’t even the best one! – It is a perfect cheesecake, though, you’re right. 10. I’m gonna go there too, friend. – Yes, we’re friends! We agree! So, where does that put us? – [Rhett] Oh, it’s a blow-out! – [Link] BJ’s gets 46, giving BJ’s the blow-out. Cheesecake Factory… – [Rhett] 65. – Cheesecake Factory, you have earned the right to sponsor an episode of this show. – Do you wanna do that? I mean, we’ve already made a whole episode of television for ya. – A very successful television show. We were Food Network stars. – And more people watch this show. (crew laughs) So, you wanna sponsor this show? – Thanks for clicking the bell. – What? You got so many BJ Grunts going over there, you can’t even speak. – That was the BJ Grunt version. – Thanks for subscribing and clicking that bell. You gotta show ’em that we can do this if they’re gonna sponsor us. – Okay. You know what time it is. – I’m Ryan. – And I’m Sheryl. – And we’re eating cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. – While watching Rhett and Link try every flavor from there. – [Both] And it’s time to spin the Wheel of Mythicality. – In bed. – In your bed. Don’t leave that part out. – It doesn’t get any better than that. – You’re good to go. – Click the top link to watch us analyze the cheesiest cheese-themed gifts in Good Mythical More. – And to find out where the Wheel of Mythicality’s gonna land. Watch our fresh banned episode of Good Mythical Morning for free at MythicalSociety.com, and the More for first, second, and third degree.

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