The Cheesecake Factory Gives Santa Monica Place the Business Today

The long-struggling Santa Monica Place could get a batch of fresh foot traffic today, thanks to the arrival of corporate food darling The Cheesecake Factory.

America’s favorite high-density eatery has been plotting this latest location for many moons, taking over two separate restaurant spaces — Zengo and La Sandia, respectively — to make its very own massive ode to overeating. Don’t expect anything too fancy on the decor front just because it’s Santa Monica, though: this is the same big, yawning, quietly tactful Cheesecake Factory you’ve come to love.

The fast casual interjection could finally bring some pep to the slowly degrading Santa Monica Place shopping and food plaza, which opened a few years ago with high hopes to become a Westside do-it-all space where big restaurant brands could congregate.

Instead most places fell off one by one, leaving only the occasional straggler to fight for the small crowds that actually made it to the dining level. Now with the arrival of The Cheesecake Factory and the any-day-now Arclight, that part of Santa Monica Place could see renewed interest, albeit from a much different crowd than initially intended.

The Cheesecake Factory Santa Monica is now open, keeping daily hours from 11:30 a.m. on Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. on Sundays.