That' a good point, it also depends on where you live in the US. In some regions there is a cultural resistance towards eating anything new/experimental/unknown over more of the norm to a rather serious degree compared to other regions more known for having a plethora of dining options. I could visit my sister in TN & there is wafflehouse crackerbarrel olive garden & all the usual fast food/takeout places plus maybe a chain steakhouse or two within a 30-40min drive... but here in south east florida I have so many great nonchain dining options within 10-20 min that it takes a rare restaurant or annoying errand to justify driving 30-40 min for a meal even with the situation of friends the OP noted... The only Cheesecake factories I can think of are in "upscale" shopping malls like one in boca a good 40 min away where they are minutes walk or drive from capital grille, legal seafood, one or more applebees/rubytusedays/etc, multiple places likely with "alehouse" in the name, & a list as long as my arm of other great options just pulling from when I worked down the street years ago.The reason Cheesecake Factory doesn’t work as an analogy for D&D is a flaw with the idea that CF is domineeringly popular restaurant... it isn’t.
It may be popular but it still only relates to a small slice of the restaurant business. If you add up the restaurant meals in the US and look at the proportion of covers a week in CF it will be a tiny sliver of a slice. A percent of a percent. Even Macdonald’s has a small slice restaurants and they’re by far the biggest eatery chain I can think of.
Most covers are served in independents, or small chains ... millions of them... You’ve just heard of CF because there are lots of them. It’s a successful brand sure, but its still only a small part of what people eat out. It’s success isn't particularly earth shaking, and thus the reason for that success doesn’t have to be earth shaking either.
Now compare this to the fact that the Orr group industry report shows more than half of people are playing D&D 5e on that platform. That’s not even including other editions of the brand. Just 5e. More than every other rpg system combined. You can’t explain that kind of success with a least-worst argument.
Extending the analogy to bring in the warts left out by the OP 5e is like cheesecake factory here in south florida and because 5e also cuts out so much to support Derek & his full bar specifically anyone who wants stuff cleared out to make room for drunken stumbling is told to build their own Cheesecake factory