The family and I live about a 5-hour drive from Albuquerque, but we love to drive in and stay at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa located between Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

I cannot say enough good things about the Tamaya. The staff is great and the mountains are beautiful from the porch. Go and visit if you get the chance to.

Since we are in town now and again, we were obviously pleased when we heard Cheesecake Factory had recently opened an Albuquerque location.

I mean, who doesn’t like Cheesecake Factory?

So last weekend we were in town and during our first full day, we decided to stop at Cheesecake Factory for lunch.

We knew they had opened recently, and wanted to be there early  if there was a long wait, so we called ahead to ask what time they opened.

They said they opened at 11:00 AM on Saturdays, so we got there at 10:45 and headed to wait in the line outside with about 6 other people.

Walking up, we noticed another 5 or 6 people waiting at the door inside the mall, and since it was a little chilly outside and my daughter a little clingy with a recently broken arm, we decided to wait at the  indoor entrance.

11:00 comes and goes, so we call again while standing in line.  This time we are told they open at 11:30, but will start seating people soon, at 11:15.

At 11:15 they finally start seating people – at the outside entrance which is getting longer by the second.

We aren’t moving though.

Frustrated, we call again saying:

“If you are seating people, please come open the mall entrance. We have been standing here longer than 90% of the people waiting outside.”

An assistant manager comes and opens the mall entrance door and essentially tells us:

“We are not opening this entrance. Sorry. Go to the end of the outside line.”

My wife stops the assistant and explains how long we have been standing there, and that we are not waiting in line for 30 more minutes when we have been waiting longer than nearly everyone else.

The manager says nothing can be done.

Livid at this point, we leave and call again from the parking lot asking to speak to the manager.

The same assistant manager gets on the phone.

(Or who knows, maybe he was the general manager, and was lying about it.)

The assistant manager tells my wife nothing can be done – and that we should have known to get in the outside line.

She explained we were from out of town. And how could we have known what lines were being used, and not being used?

The manager still responds with: “Sorry. I can’t do anything.”

Good grief.

How mad can you get at a restaurant?

“Nothing can be done?”

You could have accommodated the 8 people standing in line for 30 minutes at the inside entrance, closed the door behind us – and then hung up a sign telling subsequent people to use the outside entrance.

And to tell us we should have known to get in the other line…

I told much of this on Twitter right after it happened – and corporate has so far responded with deafening silence.

I mean for free food I would probably shill for Cheesecake Factory.

Instead, I am writing about one of the worst customer service experiences I have ever had.

Cheesecake Factory, you are better than this.

Or, maybe you aren’t.

I will post any updates here: