‘The View’ Co-Host Sunny Hostin Chimes In on Cheesecake Factory Amid Furious Online Debate

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Sunny Hostin will not hear a bad word said about The Cheesecake Factory after it recently went viral in a TikTok video that shamed the restaurant as a first date location.

“I want to stand up for the Cheesecake Factory ‘cause I go there every week,” Hostin said on Wednesday’s (October 25) episode of The View (per People).

“Paloma (her daughter) has ACT Prep, and there’s a Cheesecake Factory five minutes away,” she continued. “Sara [Haines] and I agree that they make the best dirty martini.”

Naming Tex-Mex egg rolls and chicken dumplings as her favorite foods from the menu, the host added that she has a “very nice time” at the restaurant and that “everybody’s lovely.”

 

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“I’m very surprised because there’s also a debate online about places you should never take a first date,” she continued. “I must be a very cheap date because I like Chili’s, I like Chipotle.”

PLACES WOMEN REFUSE TO GO TO ON A FIRST DATE: After a woman went viral for shaming her date when he brought her to a chain restaurant for a first date, #TheView co-hosts weigh in as the Internet trolls her. https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/fpj3MvMq6b

— The View (@TheView) October 25, 2023

Her co-host, Alyssa Farah Griffin, agreed, saying that she would be perfectly happy at Olive Garden, Red Lobster, or McDonalds. “You can take me to a parking lot, and I’d be like, ‘This is fine,'” she stated. “You can take me to the nicest restaurant… and if you’re not into them, it’s not going to make a difference.”

The debate stemmed from a viral TikTok video in which a woman blasted a man for taking her to the Cheesecake Factory for their first date. “Who takes someone that looks like this to a chain restaurant?” she said in the clip. She later apologized for how she reacted.

 

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Hostin completely disagreed with the TikToker, noting that her first date with her husband was at Popeye’s. Fellow co-host Joy Behar then added that her first date with her husband, Steve Janowitz, was at the Empire Chinese.

 

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The guy in the viral video shared his own thoughts, saying, “I went into the date with expectations for myself – to keep you safe, to respect you, to pay for your food, to pick you up – and just treat you like a gentleman… I, on the other hand, have certain expectations for a girl I go out with on a first date. I expect her to be respectful too. I expect her to be cooperative.”

After the video went viral, a Twitter/X user posted a list of “places that women refuse to go on a first date,” which included several chain restaurants, such as Applebee’s, Chili’s, and Buffalo Wild Wings.

if she doesn’t like wings, beer, and sports https://t.co/RQtpfCvpau

— Buffalo Wild Wings (@BWWings) October 25, 2023

Buffalo Wild Wings official Twitter/X account responded to the list, writing, “if she doesn’t like wings, beer, and sports.”