Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen

We’ve dined at the three 3 Cheddar’s restaurants in the KC area over the past 2 years. We first dined at the Independence location and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of food and service. We thought finally there is a family style restaurant that knows how to prepare food well and has good wait staff. We then tried the OP location and realized something was wrong. OP is the oldest location and clearly time took a toll both on the quality of food and also the level of reasonable service.
Unfortunately the Liberty location has fallen into the same downward spiral as the other 2 locations.
For those that don’t know for better — perhaps give it a try. For those who do — don’t waste your time nor money. A fast food meal although not healthy will taste better and the service at the drive through will not be as painful.

I generally like Cheddars as a chain and have eaten at many different locations in several states. Decent selections for reasonable prices. The Mrs. and I have eaten at this one in Liberty a half dozen times and my opinion of this location is slipping.
The last few times my food has come from the kitchen either not fully cooked (chicken fried steak) or only just on the warm side of edible (½ rack of ribs previously and Cajun pasta tonight). The manager made the first one right by knocking the steak off the bill and bringing me a different entrée at no charge.
The last visit before tonight the ribs came out slightly overdone and only warm but I ate them regardless… they tasted good. Tonight the pasta came out with only portions of the bowl above warm. Again, it tasted fine but was not hot at the table. No manager in sight either of these times and I did not want to cause a stir trying to get one.
I suggest that management monitor the kitchen a little more closely. I will likely think three times before going back, but I do hope they turn it around since I generally like Cheddars.

I really enjoy their food! It’s simple and the service is fast. My only issues is that it gets pretty busy and there can be a bit of a wait at times. I enjoy taking my family out to here.

We waited and waited and they kept seating people who came in long after us. We complained and it was clear the teenagers they hire to great people could care less. Complained to manager and same response, that is not bothered.

Love love love this chain! This location is excellent from the quality and quantity of the food to the fantastic friendly service (thank you Elizabeth). I highly recommend the spazagna and garlic bread, I get it every time, yummmm! My daughter loves the chicken and waffles.

I love the food at Cheddar’s, but if you deviate from the way it is on the menu you are doomed to disappointment. The last two times we have been here I’ve ordered burgers. The first time I ordered it with pepperjack cheese and got cheddar. The second time I ordered plain mayo instead of honey mayo and got neither. Two-​thirds of the way through the meal I received a side of mayo. I don’t blame the waitress, I blame the kitchen. They aren’t reading the order, they are assuming. They need someone checking the order before it’s brought out.

I have been to Cheddars loads of times, sometimes it’s 5 star service other times it’s not. This was one of those times. My family and I went to Cheddars for my moms birthday. We’re a family of 7, so we’re a larger party I get that. It was a weekday night after typical dinner hours, and there weren’t a lot of people there. We waited about 5 – 10 mins for anyone to acknowledge us and then we were seated. Another 5 minutes for our server to come and greet us and about 15 minutes for her to come back with our drinks and take our order. Now, I’m not sure if they were understaffed but I had not notice our waitress going to anyone else’s table so I wasn’t sure why the lack of service. Once our food came she never once came to check on us until it was time to give us our check. Oh well.

Thought it was very good. Our server was very nice and helpful. It was really busy when we went but he kept up on everything and other tables too. The atmosphere is very nice as well, I think it is very elegant and unique. There is a really big fan in the middle that is very interesting to look at. Food reminds me of 54^th street, but a higher scale place. So if you like that restaurant then you will love this place. The steaks we had were a little charred, think the grill needed to be cleaned, but it still tasted pretty good.

I can say this place was very busy, had to hunt for a parking spot, it was 6 pm on a Friday night and the wait was going to be about 25 minutes, not bad. We went to the bar and found a couple of seats and ordered. The bartenders were very friendly and proficient. I ordered a sangria swirl margarita according to the menu it’s top shelf, it didn’t mention that you can get their regular house margarita this way, but that is what we got, no problem it was great. I ordered the lemon pepper whitefish, which says it comes with ginger rice and a house salad with vinaigrette dressing, I changed the dressing, but got charged extra for the salad. The whitefish was like eating a salt lick, I couldn’t eat it and they did take it off my bill, the baked potato soup was delicious, also the salad came with a croissant that had a buttery sweet glaze that was to die for. A customer sitting next to me ordered the tortilla soup and it was over salted too, she ended up ordering something else and her husband was finished before she got it. Overall I will give it another try, hopefully the chef won’t oversalt my next item I choose.

Simple comfort and decent food for a good price.
Had the chicken tenders they were good but nothing special.

The food was amazing. My wife had the shrimp and tilapia with black beans and rice. I had the Grilled Chicken Cesar pasta salad along with Nachos as a App with drinks. The food was all cooked to perfection and tasted amazing. The server we had was great. The hostess were short and to the point with no small talk or friendliness. That is why I gave it 4 stars. I know they were just line out the door but still you have to be able to handle the crowds with a smile. The drinks were amazing. I had the pain killer and everything that was in it was mixed to perfection.
P. S. Don’t forget to get the crescent rolls. They are a desert in them selfs.

They have the best food and great service but you have to go early gets very busie quick. They have great burgers and chicken strips and awesome veggies.

Love Cheddars of Overland Park so I was excited to have one near my new home. They changed the fish, my filets were two by two inch squares, greasy (which never happened in OP). The waitress was close to being the worst ever service– I would call her a drive by waitress. Sad the quality and service isn’t as great as O P.

If I ever have a first date with someone I always take them here. Great service, wide selection, and amazing food. Also, the Painkiller and The Maui Margarita are amazing.

This may be my favorite chain restaurant. I normally avoid chains like the plague but was forced to end up at Cheddars on business.
The inside was really nice and tastefully decorated, to much light in the wrong places for a good picture, but I was fascinated by the large horizonal fan that looked like large paddles on a paddle wheel river boat. Come on use your imagination, this was as close as I get to a visual description. Lol
We had Salmon (they offer it three different ways), we tried two and they were both excellent.
Very much a shock for a chain to have this good of fish and be able to cook it correctly. Cooking Salmon alludes most chefs so I was more than pleasantly surprised that it was cooked to perfection.

On the hottest day of the summer so far this year, the Chessplayer had an owner-​operator in town and wanted to take him out for a dinner meeting– right after work.
Being the owner-​operator of an eighteen wheeler is challenging when you are looking for a place to park and leave your vehicle for an evening. The decision was was made that said vehicle would be parked at a local casino and then we would go to the Casino Steakhouse.
Problem One: Casino Steakhouses are closed much of the time on Monday’s and Tuesdays and since I am not a fan of Casino’s OR buffets, plan B was necessary.
Problem Two: It was hot. Incredibly hot. By the end of the workday I was tired, cranky and had to sit through not one but two massive car pile ups on the way home. Needless to say, I was not in the mood to entertain or get in the car, once again to drive anywhere.
My options to the Chessplayer were; you go and I stay home or you go and pick up your guy and come back to our place and we walk the few footsteps to Cheddar’s for our dinner, because we didn’t have to impress, just have a nice place to sit, talk a little business and eat.
The latter was chosen and off the Chessplayer went to do the driving so I wouldn’t have to. Our last two visits to Cheddar’s have been OK but not stellar. However, this night, the food and our server, Megan were absolute perfection. Appetizers were piping hot and dinners were delivered at the right time so as not to interfere with table talk. Megan paid attention to every detail including table service but did not hover. And she was delightfully adorable to boot. We had an appetizer combo, steak, chicken tenders and salmon and all were great.
So, Cheddar’s next door provided a happy ending for a hot day that could have ended, well… not so hot. OK so maybe it was the Kendall Jackson with dinner or maybe just that I didn’t have to think about a place to go or drive-​but either way-​the food and service were great and the Chessplayer business dinner was a hit. And, Mama was quite happy.

We went there on a weekend for a late lunch to see what makes it so special that there are a hundred cars parked outside everyday. Our server wasn’t very helpful with the menu. When we requested for fresh plates to share the desserts we had ordered, she asked if us if we had used the plates on the table (we wouldn’t have asked if we hadn’t used them).
The spinach artichoke dip and home fried beans were good and are worth trying. Tilapia with mango salsa, lemon pepper whitefish and chicken Alfredo pasta and appropriately sized and decent. As for dessert, we had ordered hot fudge cake which is humongous for a dessert and can feed 7 – 8 people. The chocolate croissant bread pudding was huge too and feeds 3 – 4 people but tasted above par. Overall, a very heavy meal. I had the pain killer cocktail which I strongly recommends NOT trying.
The ambiance is pretty good though.
We won’t be returning…

So I’m really trying to stop reviewing the chain restaurants and stick to the locally-​owned places that people need to know about, but there are just some things that need to be said about Cheddar’s! I ate here a week ago for a late-​afternoon lunch, and I have a couple very important points to make:
–The price is outstanding for the amount of food you get. Like, fantastic. After two entrees, two drinks, and a dessert, I think the bill was only around $ 25 – 30.
–I ordered a LUNCH portion catfish, and got a giant hunk of fish, rice, broccoli, and corn. I put a good dent in it, but definitely did not finish.
–We wanted to try the chocolate cake, but instead received probably all of the cake they had in the kitchen. Our waitress said they literally just cut a whole cake into quarters and bring out one quarter of the cake. Could easily have fed 5 – 6 people.
–Service was nice. She was attentive, but not obnoxious.
And that is all. Short and sweet. Will visit again.

If I had my choice of chain restaurants, Cheddar’s would be listed above, say, your Applebee’s or Chili’s. I’ve tried a few dishes listed under their Favorites; the Key West chicken and shrimp and the New Orleans pasta are both delicious. Don’t order their Country Fried Steak. It was ‘okay’, too greasy and bland.
The highlight is the chocolate croissant bread pudding topped with vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce and almonds. Talk about yummy! Perfect texture, gooey chocolate chips, and ice cream… what’s not to love?
Overall, I would rate 3.5 stars. This is your go-​to casual restaurant if you don’t want to branch out too far or can’t seem to make up your mind on what your taste buds want.

I met my friend and her kids here for lunch on a Saturday around 12:15pm. This place was new and I think it has been opened for a few weeks now. The parking was small and it was a little hard to find parking. If you come with others, then definitely carpool together. There were a lot of people waiting and at the entrance as well as at the hostess podium. It was about a 20 minute wait before we were seated.
The menu on their website was the same as the one provided to us here. It was still difficult to decide what to order though. We ordered Chips & Homemade Queso with meat ($ 4.49) for everybody to snack on. I ordered the Shepard’s Pie ($ 8.49), but I was thinking about the Mushroom Swiss Cheeseburger ($ 5.79) though. My friend ordered the Ultimate Lunch Combination which was either half a sandwich and one or two side pairings for $ 5.99 or $ 6.99). She chose the Double Decker Club sandwich with the baked potato soup and house salad (salad came with a honey-​butter croissant. Her kids ordered the Bacon Cheeseburger ($ 5.99) with French Fries ($ 1.99) and the Junior Burger ($ 4.99) from the Kids’ menu which also came with a side but I forgot what she ordered.
Our waitress didn’t seem very happy to be there but whatever. The restaurant looked clean and was busy with waitresses and waiters walking around. During the whole time we ate, there were still a bunch of people gathered at the entrance so this place was pretty busy even after 1pm.
The Chips & Homemade Queso with meat was just okay. The chips were a little bit hard to chew like they have been sitting outside for awhile. It wasn’t that bad though. The Shepard’s Pie was pretty big and I thought it tasted good. It was a lot since the mashed potatoes on top filled me up.
This was a very busy restaurant with prices that were pretty fair in my opinion.