Had dinner there on Halloween evening. Â I can still recall going to California Pizza Kitchen back in L.A. when they first opened -- the one at the Beverly Center. Â It was all the rage and packed to the rafters! Â Pizzas and salads were all pretty extraordinary back then. Â Jump ahead a few dozen years and this franchise is still going relatively strong -- at least the one in Fort Lauderdale. Â Food, however, doesn't strike anything special with me: Â Pizza was only okay; Caesar salad was only okay, as well. Â Had a great time with my company, though. Â All very clean and modern and friendly.
Review Source:Been here four or five times with hungry wintering friends. Overall I like the place and the interesting menu. Nice seating, enough room to find a spot away from screaming kids, etc., but not too large to feel "lost in space." Enjoyed the soups! Enjoyed the appetizers, entrees, and desserts. Didn't enjoy the employee using a broom near our table (dust flying in the air) during our dinner. He continued even after we spoke to him. Then, didn't enjoy the long winded manager's excuses for the untrained worker, including way to much information on the manager's schedule, drive home, late hourstoo much work, etc...wtf?! rathuur! Â Please just take care of business and let us enjoy our meal. Thank you! Â Will we return? Yes.
Review Source:I don't see what makes people swoon over CPK. I'm just not a fan of the chain. But they had a Facebook coupon for a free Quinoa (apparently pronounced kin-wah) and arugula salad that was new to their menu. And one thing I am a fan of is free food. Hoo-ah!
Sadly, the coupon is one per table and we just weren't in enough of a mood to sit at three different tables. So I got the salad and my two lunchmates had something else. The salad was excellent - a lot of the quinoa stuff (it's like cous cous, I guess) and sweet red onions, feta cheese and a champagne vinaigrette dressing. But it left me wanting more - a piece of chicken breast or a crusty roll would have been excellent.
Service was pretty good - attentive waiter who kept my ice tea (no sweet tea??) refilled.
I'm reviewing like they need one... not. Â The place is always packed, so we all know how good the food is here. Â The salads are fantastic. Â They serve fun drinks. Â The pizzas are unique and delish. Â The soups hit the yum-spot. Â
Oh... and the seasonal Pumpkin Cheesecake! Â OH YEAH! :)
New owner. New menu. Bad food.
We used to eat here regularly but haven't been for a few months. Apparently it's under new ownership and this location is being used to test a new menu. We both got our regular pasta dishes (Garlic Cream and Chicken Taquila Fettucini). First, both had a mountain of pasta and half the chicken they used to have. All the extra pasta soaked up the sauce and made it taste bland. The Chicken Taquila needed a ton of salt. There was around 5 or 6 little nuggets of chicken in each dish. Both dishes made us feel sick afterwards. We normally get the herb onion focaccia which comes with olive oil and tomatoes, but they no longer have it. Instead we got a cheese focaccia appetizer. It came with a little dish of oil and grated cheese. It was gross and didn't taste freshly baked. I gave it 2 stars for fast service, but we won't eat here again. The new owner has ruined the place.
Ate here twice and both times we were not disappointed. The food was surprisingly fresh for a chain restaurant and they appear to have many healthy selections on the menu. It's not small, so getting a table wasn't a problem.
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I eat  here all the time because of the fantastic, friendly service.  The food is really good and there's a lot to choose from for a vegetarian.  The pizzas are delicious, as are all the salads (any that contain meat, you can get without it).  It's clean and bright and, again, the best is the friendly service.  You won't be disappointed - I love it!
Review Source:Having always seen this place crowded we wanted to try it.We had a Salvation Army donation coupon , so we thought why not.It has all the charm of your typical chain place , and air conditioning that was set too low.The chips that came with the white corn guac were stale as were the replacement chips we asked for.I suppose these are not meant to share as the portion was about the size of 2 shot glasses.The soda my partner  got was flat, the beer i had was fine.The pizza crust tasted like pizza hut, terrible , the toppings were fine.I would not return here as there is surely better pizza elsewhere.The salty excess in the food can only be explained by trying to increase beverage sales,or the excess of children, and overweight customers who like that sort of thing.
Review Source:You can never go wrong with a meal at CPK. I've been a CPK fan for years, I love the variety of pizza choices. I love the pasta, the foccia bread with heavy tomato garlic sauce. I love the tiramisu with cup of coffee. The booths are roomy and comfortable. I've been a fan of CPK when I lived in California, when I moved here to Florida, I was so glad to find one here in Fort Lauderdale.
Review Source:Ordinary... unhealthy... good for people watching.... good service.
This was a chain and this was our second time patronizing in 2 years. Really there was anything to talk about it.
I had Chinese Chicken Salad. There's nothing Chinese about it except heavy teriyaki sauce and a bit of fried wonton skin for crunchiness. It was like eating salted vegetables. I tried a slice of Hawaiian wheat dough pizza (of my partner). It was very boring.
My friend enjoyed his pizza very much.
It's a busy restaurant and I enjoyed people watching here... nothing dysfunctional. Ambiance was enticing for once. It felt clean.
Our waiter was good and not overbearing.
So diners, there's nothing special about this typical unhealthy restaurant chain.
I like this place. I usually get a pasta dish and it's always been consistently good. (try the fusilli with sun dried tomatoes and chicken) The service is pretty good and the staff is friendly. My only complaint is the bar service. It is consistently poor. I don't mean the bartenders. They're actually good and the drinks are good . . . . when you get them! The problem is that they always have only one bartender making drinks for the entire restaurant. This place gets really busy some nights and yet always one bartender. It takes forever to get a damn drink. For fuck's sake put another bartender on. I'm just saying!
Review Source:Ive never had worse pizza in my freaking life! It was frozen, couldnt be customized, there was horrible service, it was heavily overpriced and the cocktails were aweful -no alcohol in them whatsoever. Save yourself some money and find a local pizza joint with fresh, never frozen food.
Review Source:California Pizza Kitchen is one of those places that never seems to impress me, yet it's not so terrible that I refrain from going. Â
I got a full sized caesar salad w/ chicken and an iced tea. Â The salad was okay, but not great. Â The lettuce wasn't as fresh as it could have been, but most of it was okay. Â Typical chain restaurant salad. Â The grilled chicken wasn't half bad. Â Nice flavor, though a little skimpy on the portion size.
Service was good.
Definitely not one of my favorite places, but it's okay every now and then.
CPK is a great, local casual restaurant for when you want to go out, don't want to spend a ton of money and are looking for something a tad bit healthier and lighter than other offerings in the area.
I highly recommend sitting at the counter (two or less) for either lunch or dinner; ask for Alice at lunch, Michele for dinner. They will recommend menu items if you haven't been and have a lot of regulars that come in to see them.
If you're looking for gourmet pizza you will be disappointed though the thin-crust pizzas are as good as I've had anywhere else but if you want a cheerful, lively atmosphere, a couple of glasses of wine, a good salad or small pizza, then CPK should satisfy you.
Let me start with the obvious: This is a chain. Â
I was someone reticent to go to California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) at first due to the fact that it was a chain. Â In fact, the first time that I went, I ordered a traditional-style pepperoni pizza. Â The traditional pizza is nothing special and should be left alone by any adults attending lunch or dinner. Â Noting that there were a lot of specialty pizzas on the menu (which I was too scared to try at first) I returned with a greater resolve to try a new type of pizza. Â I was quite surprised at how the non-traditional pizza tasted. Â After several times at this restaurant, I have winnowed down my pizza choices to two items:
Chipotle Chicken Pizza (minus the bean/corn salsa and the lime sauce brought on the side while adding serrano peppers)
-AND-
Carne Asada Steak Pizza (tomatillo sauce on the side)
I must say, that I crave these two pizzas; their piquancy is a bit much for some -- especially with the addition of the serrano peppers. Â The Chipotle Chicken is by far my favorite. Â The chicken is always moist, the crust not over-seasoned, the peppers cooked into the cheese to impart a wonderfull aroma and taste, and the sauce a piquant mixture of peppers with a slight sweetness.
If this doesn't sound good to you, that is fine. Â The wait staff is friendly and open and willing to customize a pizza to your personal specifications. Â You are eating out and paying for it, you are allowed!
Always consistent. Â Never had their pasta, but I don't think that Pizza Hut has very good pasta. Â So I'll use the old barometer of if the name of the place is ____ Pizza ____ or Pizza _____, then the odds are, they're probably focused on pizza. Â
Ironically enough, they do have excellent salads though. Â However, don't let the whole "California health" thingy hoodwink you into thinking that the meals are low calorie. Â The food is good cause it's got plenty of that tasty ingredient called fat.
Another great thing about this place is that CPK is highly consistent (at least in the multitude of ones I've been to) and you can count on a good meal in about an city with them. Â But then, that is weak and you should hunt out exotic local joints and try the cuisine. Â But this is a backup.
Two stars for the really substandard pastas!
I've had better meals at other CPK restaurants, and was surprised at how salty the pasta was. Â I mean, is it so difficult to put less salt in the food? Â I thought it was just me, but other members in my party also complained about there being too much salt in their entrees.
I had not been to CPK for some time, and was looking forward to the Peking Duck Pizza, but it was not on the menu. Â So I ordered a pasta instead...and got stuck with a plateful of salt.
The appetizers were good though, but since the pasta came after my crab cake and egg roll appetizers, I felt SAD at the end of the meal.
Yes, SAD.
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