The restaurant chain began as a bakery featuring cheesecakes. Now, two bakery operations produce more than 70 varieties for restaurants across the country and desserts make up 16 percent of sales.

The brand’s Overall Score of 74.2 percent was driven by segment-leading scores for Food Quality, Menu Variety, Reputation and Likely to Recommend. Overall Scores are based on an average of scores on a variety of attributes weighted by the importance that diners in that segment put on each attribute.

Super Foods is a new category to the menu, built around trendy  healthful ingredients like kale, quinoa, Brussels sprouts, salmon and almonds.

Among all 40 Casual-Dining chains, The Cheesecake Factory received the highest scores on four out of 10 attributes: Food Quality, Menu Variety, Reputation and Likely to Recommend. Attribute scores reflect the percentage of respondents who said a chain was "outstanding" or "above average" in that area.

The brand was first in the survey among the 26-chain Casual-Dining/Varied Menu group.

The Cheesecake Factory’s vast menu of more than 250 dishes, all made from scratch, sets the brand apart within casual dining.

The Cheesecake Factory’s two highest attribute scores were 83.5 percent for Food Quality and 83.3 percent for Reputation, which were both the highest in the Casual-Dining segment in those areas. Its next highest scores were for Menu Variety and Cleanliness.

The chain's two lowest scores came in the areas of Value and Likely to Return, at 43.3 percent and 62.4, respectively.