California Pizza Kitchen is a well-respected pizza chain that follows the nation with its vast variety of pizza dishes.  They also serve pasta, alcohol, soda, appetizers, and...

California Pizza Kitchen is a well-respected pizza chain that follows the nation with its vast variety of pizza dishes.  They also serve pasta, alcohol, soda, appetizers, and desserts.  Fans of this chain are die-hard fans, just like fans of other chains such as Chuy's Mesquite Broiler or Chic-Fil-A.

Now in concerns of this store location, my experience here has been a very positive one.  Just the location truly helps.  It is located near Elephant Bar, but other than that it is pretty isolated.  But not isolated as in "nothing to do," isolated as in "wow, what a nice and quiet place!"

The atmosphere here is the disappointment to many.  While the structure of the building is nice, it is waaaaaaaaay too small!  I mean come on, the size of this place is smaller than many gas stations!  A small room for dining in also ruins the possibility of there being an atmosphere suitable for big families, so dining in with a group may be hard.

And then the bad... you know what really bothers me about the bar?  The bar has no stools!  Bar Rule #1: ALWAYS HAVE STOOLS!!!  I don't care if this is California Pizza Kitchen, Chuy's Mesquite Broiler, the zoo from Santa Barbara... who gives a hamster!  All bars must have stools, period!

Other than the complaints given above, I have no others to spare.  This is a good restaurant that is worth trying if you want something new.  They offer a variety of pizzas, and boy do I MEAN variety.  You know what kind of pizza I ordered?  I ordered the Buffalo Chicken Pizza with all the finishings, with honey crust instead of white crust.  The pizza is delicious and HUGE, and for only less than 12 dollars.  Now THAT is a deal!  :)

The appetizers and desserts are delicious too, so there are plenty of stuff to go around.  You know what ticks me off most about a pizza place?  The kind of pizza place that ticks me off is the kind like Chuck E Cheese.  Now don't get me wrong, I like their pizza.  But do you know what's the problem?  The problem is that all they serve IS pizza!  Sure they have salads and drinks, but so does a McDonalds!  So California Pizza Kitchen is a good place to go to because they serve more than just pizza, and their alcoholic beverages are good.

The service here is excellent, no questions there.  They always give you your refills, ask you if your pizza was good, offer a dessert, etc.  The waiters and waitresses are nice too, so there is no issue of rudeness here.  In fact, when I ordered my slice of cheesecake for dessert, the manager brought it to me.  Now THAT is an intuitive crew team!  :)

In conclusion, Pizza Kitchen is a great place to go to for pizza.  Sure there are a few issues about the building itself, but your money's worth is good here (unlike the Rosedale Chuy's Mesquite Broiler).     XD

       After eating at the highly talked about California Pizza Kitchen,...

       After eating at the highly talked about California Pizza Kitchen, it has become one of my top rated choices of restaurants. The restaurant located on Stockdale road is a very clean and atmospheric place.  As soon as I walked in, I was blown away from the magnificent light structure on the ceiling. Some of the walls were smothered displaying their fine wines and alcoholic beverages. Orange - brownish lamps lit the place like I was slowly watching a sunset. Tables were wooded and matched the restaurant precisely, filling in the colors of a coffee house setting. I liked the music that was playing softly in the background. It was you newest hits. We were quickly seated although it was 6:30 on a Saturday night. The floors were covered with a stone rusted finish that even when I looked down I could see my reflection. The Buffalo Chicken pizza that I ordered was amazing. Carefully cut celery on my pizza looked unappetizing until I tried it. I don’t think I will ever not have it on my pizza. It was that good. The cheese was melted to a perfect temperature that didn’t require a fork to start eating, also it means that you could dig in right away. The pizza was drenched with ingredients that settled in my mouth.  Our white plates were stainless leaving no trails of scuff marks or scratches.  While sitting in the bar area, I noticed that it only had one television and it was pretty small. I came there to watch the world series but was tired trying to squint at the T.V.  However, the plus side of having a small screen was a quieter environment.  Going into restaurants with numerous T.V’s makes for a loud atmosphere. Also, the spacing of the tables contributed to keeping the noise level down. This made it easy to chat with the friends I went with. While entering the restaurant, I was greeted by a friendly staff of hosts who asked how many people were in my party. They walked us in the restaurant and gave us an overview. The waiter that served us was Adam. He was very friendly and made our service lightning fast. He was quick on a dime whenever I needed a refill. In fact, my glass was never less than a third of the way full. The bathrooms were spotless and smelt winter fresh. Flushing, soap dispenser and water faucet were fully equipped with automatic sensors. Soft dry towels were perfectly delivered through the machine.  Friendly clean-cut employees held a smile and were always checking up on me when I needed some service. The only thing that was slow was the food. I didn’t think pizza took that long but the taste made up for it. The pizza is cooked in a open fire oven. Hardworking chefs that were preparing food looked very focus on making our meal as fantastic as they can. The only bummer thing was the price. Just for the buffalo chicken pizza, I coughed up 15 dollars including a 20 % tip. I also ordered water. I would not recommend this place to a large family with a tight budget. You can probably get as much pizza for half the price somewhere else. 

There are other factors that contribute to the over all California Pizza Kitchen experience.  The convience and parking availability of a restaurant can make or break the experience.  California Pizza Kitchen is located on the far west end of town making it convenient for west siders but makes for a lengthy drive for east siders. Being on the west end of town, CPK is a newly built clean-cut restaurant. So if your looking to bring in some friends from out of town to a nice restaurant CPK is it. Upon arrival, you’ll find a spacious parking lot. Being stressed out about finding a parking place at CPK is one less stress you’ll have to worry about.  All in all, The California Pizza Kitchen was a magnificent time and hopefully I will be attending there again soon. Its food, ambiance and service was overall a good experience. I enjoyed this experience and cant wait to do it again. Bon Ape tit!

The Pizza is amazing and you HAVE to try the Red Velvet Cake!!!

The Pizza is amazing and you HAVE to try the Red Velvet Cake!!!