The Cheesecake Factory, Town Center, Virginia Beach.

Meeting some family members on a rainy Sunday evening for dinner recently, we dropped in on The Cheesecake Factory, now open for several months. The place is very deceptive: it looks large on the outside, but is rather cramped on the inside.

Our wait was less than 20 minutes, however, so that made it acceptable.

Once we were at our table, we placed our orders and settled in to good conversation.

30 minutes later, however, there seemed to be something amiss. Yep, no food. The waitress came over and expressed great apologies. It seemed that the burrito that was ordered had somehow had the sour cream “fall off it.” (Our guess is that it probably fell on the floor [the burrito, not the sour cream] and therefore had to be remade.)

Finally, 10 minutes later, the two meals of meatloaf, the burrito, and the chicken marsala arrived. Hot, tasty, seasoned to perfection. The food, while not fast, made up in quality what it lacked in timeliness.

The meatloaf was meaty, tasting of quality ground meat without a lot of fillers; the mashed potatoes were creamy, but not so whipped that they had no texture. The burrito was stringy with good cheese, and the black bean accompaniment was a perfect side dish. The chicken marsala, served with pasta, consisted of two huge boneless chicken breast halves, lightly dusted with flour, sautéed to perfection with mushrooms and a marsala wine sauce.

Since it had taken so long for our entrees, the restaurant provided us with free desert. Two of us had the regular cheesecake (topped with strawberries), one had the oreo cheesecake, while I had the “Factory Mud Pie”, which is their “Black-Out” cake — a fudgy, chip filled chocolate cake finished with almonds, along with a scoop of their vanilla ice cream, a scoop of their Coffee Ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, and nuts. Large? Let’s just say I am a chocoholic, but I ate the ice cream that evening and had enough leftovers of cake to have for three other desserts.

My portion (the chicken marsala and iced tea, including tip) came to around $25. Not bad for a dinner that would have fed two people comfortably.

One downside to the restaurant is that you can’t go in and just order cheesecake and coffee – you have to order a full meal. The restaurant would be wise to change this, especially in the bar area. It would probably increase the number of cheesecakes sold on a take-out basis.

Food: (4)
Service: (3)
Price: (3)

Overall: (3.5)

Zio’s, Norfolk VA.

Sister to restaurant Zia Marie’s in Virginia Beach, Zio’s moved in to the former Schezwan Garden in Ghent.

The restaurant is open, airy, and for lunch, bright. There is no distinction between lunch and dinner, so the menus are the same. Reservations are accepted, so our table of 12 was seated promptly. Our waitress described the specials, took our drink order, and left us to ponder the menu.

Our group ordered a good cross section of the menu, from the arugula salad to the shrimp fettuccine alfredo, to the veal saltimboca, to spaghetti with meatballs to the over sized focccia sandwiches, to chicken parmesan.

The food arrived in good time, with the waitress having backup help to make sure everyone’s order arrived correctly.

I ordered the veal saltimboca ($13.95) which was tender, on a bed of crunchy sautéed spinach. The only disappointment is that it didn’t come with a side of pasta. Even a small bowl of angel hair would have set the dish off perfectly.

The shrimp fettuccine alfredo ($12.95) was filled with large, tender shrimp, perfectly deveined. The alfredo sauce was thick and cheesy. (It did not, however, reheat well the next day, but good alfredo never does.)

The chicken parmesan was served with a side of pasta and included two large portions. The picky eater was satisfied.

All in all, while there was several times that drink glasses may have been empty a bit longer than they should have been, and that we had to ask for to-go containers more than twice, the dining experience was extraordinary.

Zio’s — make it a destination in Ghent when you choose to dine.

Food (5)
Service (4)
Atmosphere (4)
Wine list (not mentioned in review) (4.5)
Overall (4.25)