Server Finally Tries Cheesecake Factory’s Viral Chicken Costoletta. The Taste Doesn’t Go the Way She Imagined: ‘This Looks Like 2500 Calories’
When customers keep ordering the same menu item, restaurant workers will notice. And when that dish starts making the rounds on TikTok, curiosity can eventually win out.
Working at a restaurant also gives employees plenty of opportunities to figure out their own favorites. That does not necessarily mean the dish everyone else is excited about will make the list.
One Cheesecake Factory server finally decided to see what customers had been ordering so often. After trying the viral Chicken Costoletta during her break, however, she wasn’t nearly as impressed as its popularity might suggest. TikTok creator Jasmine Wilder (@votre.muse) shared her reaction in a video that has received more than 506,000 views.
But was it actually that good?
“Alright, I’m on my break and I’m gonna try the TikTok trend of the Costoletta,” Wilder tells viewers at the beginning of the video. For her order, she skips the asparagus and substitutes angel hair pasta with extra sauce. The plate also includes mashed potatoes alongside the chicken.
After taking a few bites, her reaction is fairly reserved. She calls the meal “pretty good,” but it doesn’t take long for her to bring up another Cheesecake Factory entrée she prefers. “Personally, I really like the Steak Diane more, cause it’s like the sautéed onions and mushrooms and the Madeira sauce is so good,” she explains. “But this one’s pretty good.”
Her final assessment was less enthusiastic. After trying the Chicken Costoletta for the first time because so many customers had been ordering it, she ultimately rated it as “mid.” Steak Diane and the Asian Tenderloin Bowl are still her favorites, meaning the viral order wasn’t enough to knock either of her usual choices off the list.
The restaurant’s standard Crispy Chicken Costoletta is a lightly breaded chicken breast sautéed until crisp and served with lemon sauce, mashed potatoes, and fresh asparagus. Wilder’s version changes part of that combination by removing the asparagus and adding angel hair pasta with more sauce instead. The Cheesecake Factory currently lists the Costoletta under its specialty entrées.
Steak Diane is a noticeably different meal. According to The Cheesecake Factory’s menu, it consists of steak medallions with black peppercorns and a mushroom wine sauce, served with mashed potatoes and grilled onions. That also helps explain Wilder’s preference, since the mushrooms, onions, and sauce were the specific parts of Steak Diane she praised while comparing it with the Costoletta.
Viewers, meanwhile, found several other things about the order to focus on. Some couldn’t understand why she removed the asparagus, while others questioned pairing angel hair pasta with mashed potatoes. “No asparagus????” one person asked. “Mashed potatoes and pasta is a bizarre combo,” another added.
Others defended keeping the vegetable and changing another part of the plate instead. “I’d sub the mashed potatoes for pasta and keep the asparagus,” one person wrote. Another viewer was equally surprised by the substitution, commenting, “asparagus is fire pasta with mashed potatoes is just odd.”
The pasta itself didn’t escape criticism either. Several viewers thought it looked dry. “Angel hair looks dry. that doesnt look good at all,” one person commented. Another simply asked, “Why it look dry?” A third viewer offered a possible explanation, writing, “It looks dry because it probably sat under the warm station while she worked until it was time for her to eat.” The video doesn’t make clear how long the food had been prepared.
Others also questioned the viral meal from a health and calorie standpoint after seeing everything on the plate. “This looks like 2500 calories,” one person wrote. In the end, trying the viral order didn’t change Wilder’s Cheesecake Factory favorites. Customers may keep ordering the Chicken Costoletta, but for this employee, Steak Diane still comes out ahead.
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