A TikTok video posted by Must See Tv (@creativemedia91) shows a woman walking into a Cheesecake Factory and saying she hoped the restaurant had a $5 cheesecake deal that day. She said she was in the mood for cheesecake and wanted to know what flavors they had. The video has drawn 1.3 million views, 100,700 likes, and more than 3,100 comments.
In the clip, she pointed the camera at a cold display case and then at slices set out behind the counter. She said the case was so cold it was hard to see the cakes. She then said the slices were sitting out in the open.
She stated, “Wow, they got them all set up out in the open, just exposed to everything, element, everything. Please cover those up.” She added that staff should cover all of them and asked if the restaurant was giving away free cheesecake.
Staff tell the customer National Cheesecake Day is the only in-store $5 offer
She walked up to the counter and asked, “Hi, is today the $5 cheesecake day?” An employee said, “Uh, I don’t think so.” The woman said she had been told to come in for the $5 cheesecake deal. The employee said that it may be an online thing and that they had not heard about it for in-store sales.
She asked if the strawberry slices being prepared were new. The employee said they were being made right then and that they were already made. She asked the price of a strawberry cheesecake. The employee said one slice was $13.33. Confusion over Cheesecake Factory menu deals and pricing isn’t unique, like when a woman picked up the Skinnylicious menu and her date immediately stepped in.
She said she wanted the $5 deal and asked why a slice cost $13. She told the employee to call a manager. A second employee in a yellow polka-dot shirt then spoke with her. She said, “Yeah, I think you should close those up though. They hadn’t finished that. They’re exposed.”
She again said she had been told there was a $5 deal and that she had come from Belleville. The second employee said National Cheesecake Day is July 30th, and that is the only day they run that kind of offer. She asked if they had nothing on sale and repeated the $13 price.
The employee said Cheesecake Day is the only day they do it. She then said they could box her a slice of fresh strawberry cheesecake before she left, then said she would get some food instead because she was already there. As she walked away, she said, “Unbelievable. How dare they?”
She asked a host in a black shirt and mask for a table and spelled her name as T-O-T-L. She later said she only wanted to sit at the bar and asked the host to take her name out of the system. At the bar she asked about a blackened fish sandwich. An employee said it was swordfish. She said she does not eat swordfish.
She then asked if they had salmon and whether it was wild. An employee said the salmon was farm-raised. She then ordered avocado egg rolls and said she did not want a drink yet. For the Cheesecake Factory, disputes over pricing and service can lead to unexpected outcomes, as a Hawaii woman says she slipped a server a $20 tip and later got surprised when she checked her bank account.
Commenters under the video split over the price, the uncovered slices, and the way the visit was filmed. Some focused on how the cakes are handled before they reach the case. One person wrote, “The freshest? Ma’am, all of their cheesecakes arrive frozen on a truck.”
Others said the recording itself looked like a setup for a complaint. One commenter asked whether she was trying to pressure staff into a deal that was not being offered that day, writing, “so she tried to guilt them into free food or fake deals? tired of this.” Another described her manner as rude and aggressive: “She’s very rude and aggressive”
A further viewer tied the tone of the clip to the act of filming on arrival, writing, “when you walk in recording like that, your looking to pick a fight.” Some also said viral videos of this kind have changed how people act in restaurants. One commenter put it this way: “Social media has made people insane”
The quoted slice price drew its own reactions. Several people said they had already stopped buying dessert there because of cost. One wrote, “$13 for a slice is insanity.” Another said, “$15 dollars a slice lmao I stopped going years ago.”
Published: Aug 31, 2026 07:44 am