Civil Disobedience in Front of The Cheesecake Factory

So, here’s my question. You know how each evening, and Sundays at brunch time, the valet parkers for The Cheesecake Factory and Blue Mesa start putting out their blue cones and hogging a bunch of the parking spaces? What is their authority for doing so? And what could they do about it (other than vandalistic activity to your car) if you simply moved one of those cones and parked in the space?

Cause I’m thinking about doing that.

By Charles Geilich Jul. 26, 2010 | 6:08 pm | 17 Comments | Comments RSS
17 comments to "Civil Disobedience in Front of The Cheesecake Factory"
  1. Logan @ July 26, 2010 at 6:15 pm
    I wish you would! I have always wondered what right they have. They are required to at least leave a certain number of spots open for regular parking, right? I really would love to know what, if anything, they could do if you chose to park in one of their temporary valet spots.

  2. tb @ July 26, 2010 at 6:34 pm
    Don’t you guess they (or the restaurants they park for) have some sort of license from the landlord? And since it’s not public property, I think the landlord can divvy up the parking spaces however it wants. So if you give them the bird, automotively speaking, I suspect they can require that you skeedadle.

  3. Sammy @ July 26, 2010 at 8:03 pm
    My understanding is there’s usually an agreement with the landlord as to how many spaces a restaurant gets for their own, if they want to use them.

    Very different from taking up spots on public streets.

  4. A. B. @ July 26, 2010 at 9:36 pm
    A few years ago on Lower Greenville there was an issue with valets taking public parking spots (street parking) and that was stopped. However, on private property, it seems that the owners could allow the entire lot reserved for valet parking if they wanted.

    Please try to take one of those spots so we know what they would do about it. I’m guessing they could tow your car…but I doubt they actually would.

  5. Charles Geilich @ July 27, 2010 at 8:32 am
    I think I would like to use a stunt double car for investigation purposes. Anyone have an old Pacer I could borrow?

  6. jk @ July 27, 2010 at 8:59 am
    My husband and I were just wondering about this the other night at the Chase bank parking lot by Nicola’s. We had to stop in there to go to the ATM and all of the parking spaces were taken up by Nicola’s valet. Some cars were even parked on the curb as you turned in from Preston and their back bumpers were mere inches from Preston. While we do sometimes use valet, it is really overdone in Dallas!

  7. AD @ July 27, 2010 at 10:04 am
    Charles. I would take it to the next level. Call the shopping center’s property manager. They should know who has exclusive parking. When that center opened there was no valet parking, if I remember correctly. It would be very unusual for a shopping center to give exclusive parking to a tenant after opening. They would have to get approval from the other tenants in the center. It’s unlikely the Container Store or Barnes and Noble would grant it. However, they probably like it that the valet controls the parking and steers it away from their front dooors. Also none of the spaces are designated valet only. My guess is they just do it. But I could be wrong. I’ve parked in on of the valet spots and never had a problem. Be interested in a follow up by you or someone else (not me, I’m too lazy)

  8. Charles Geilich @ July 27, 2010 at 10:07 am
    This is very little that annoys me more than valet parkers taking up spaces where I could have parked without their assistance if they weren’t there. In my view, valet parking should only be available where one would otherwise not be able to find a parking space, and they should use a remote lot for the cars.

    And the worst offense is for an already-expensive restaurant allowing their valet parkers to charge a fee above their usual tip.

  9. tb @ July 27, 2010 at 10:07 am
    Charles, would a Gremlin work?

  10. M @ July 27, 2010 at 10:15 am
    God forbid the valet prima donnas walk a block to their destination. Plus, after hearing a friend’s story about a valet doing $5000 in damage and having to subrogate with his insurance company, I’ve sworn them off.

  11. anon @ July 27, 2010 at 11:35 am
    I saw Dave the Valet Guy (“Elvis”) at HP Village earlier and asked him the question. Dave said that he would come up to you and tell you that the spot was reserved for valet. And if you refused, he would walk off. His comment: “life’s too short for that sort of an argument”.

  12. Avid Reader @ July 27, 2010 at 1:53 pm
    Can we get a legit ruling on this for the Cheesecake factory spots; Geilich hit it on the head “Very little that annoys me more than valet parkers taking up spaces where i could have parked without their assistance”

  13. Charles @ July 27, 2010 at 5:07 pm
    Thanks for the comment, anon. While I don’t like valet parking in general, I do like Dave the Valet Guy (“Elvis”) at HP Village. He’s cool. Although there are many times I wave to Dave and say hello as I walk by him, having just parked my own car.

  14. laurie @ July 27, 2010 at 6:35 pm
    As I understand it, a business that has off street parking, like a cleaners in a strip center, can legally limit parking to its customers. For ex., Frost Bank has designated spots in the Preston Sherry Plaza where Sevy’s restaurant is. I don’t know if valet parking falls under this type of ordinance and whether or not it is different from city to city. Charles, would you please call the center and find out the details? Thanks!

  15. grump @ July 28, 2010 at 8:59 am
    A business can’t have you towed if their designated spots back into a city street(Preston Center).
    I checked w/ city of Dallas after being threatened by a certain business and found that out.
    And no…I wasn’t being a jerk, just running in to another store to drop something off. Less than 2 minutes.

  16. citygirl @ July 28, 2010 at 11:21 am
    I have wondered about this too. Both Lincoln Park Center ? (Cheesecake Factory) and at the Crescent. You used to be able to park in the street level spots there but not anymore.

    To add insult as far as the Cheesecake Factory goes I am usually up there to go to the book store or Container Store NOT the restaurants and why on Earth are 90 % of those spots marked “compact” in that lot?

  17. LMint @ August 17, 2010 at 10:26 am
    The best solution would be for Cheesecake Factory to buy a residential city block in U.P., have it re-zoned, tear down all the houses, and build a large parking lot.

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