California Pizza Kitchen

Excellent food but they are still working out the service. We had dinner tonight with friends after a movie and this is one of their favorite chains. This location has struggled greatly with staffing through the pandemic and we thought that was mostly solved but it isn’t. Our server was super nice but she was new and completely overwhelmed by the number of tables. The food was really good and it came out in a reasonable amount of time. We eventually ran out of drinks and it took forever to get refills. Our checks weren’t split and that took another 10 minutes to get that sorted. It wasn’t a terrible experience and I hope they get the service sorted.

Went for our daughter’s 19th birthday. Party of 5. Saturday (today). Arrived around 6:30PM (We live 7 minutes away - just got home 9:10PM). We weren’t certain if we’d find a line up/wait. Good sign ahead of time was that there was parking. We went in. No line. Hostess seemed a touch aggravated for some reason. Let out an audible sigh when we said 5. Not sure what that was all about? But, whatever. Not going to nitpick it to death like some reviewers like to do. The problem this evening was getting our order took way too long. Apps and entrees wound up coming out at the same time. Only got one of the two apps we ordered. At least 45 minutes from order to getting our food. In a not made-to-order chain restaurant, not a good system. What I noticed as a former restaurant manager, and owner was, not even remotely the fault of the server. In fact he seemed embarrassed. What I did notice though (open kitchen and service area) managers not expediting. Mangers sort of just milling around, for a lack of better terms. If the kitchen is backed up, even during a normal dinner rush, get your butt over there and help. Don’t leave your servers out to dry on the front line with diners who may be less than understanding about why they’re not getting their food for 45+ minutes in a restaurant with no line. Or like in our case, that, then not even getting the whole order right. Food was good. Bad front and back of house management. Because that was definitely the cause of our less than great experience. Likely won’t go back.

Dinner, food and service at bar and our table with Queen and Corrine were wonder! Unfortunately, the table close to us ,had a young family with about 6-7 children,.One of their toddlers was continuously shrieking at the top of his lungs . We even had to dodge children to get to our booth.The child was being a toddler but not restaurant friendly. We had not seen management address the table this whole event. It was not a one time outburst but continuous shrieking for our hour long dinner. Not once did the parents take the child outside the restaurant to address the disruption. Our server and other staff were frustrated and expressed how the manager was aware of the issue and appeared to take NO action to control the situation. I was encouraged to respond to the parents because management would not. Not to mention the incredible mess the children left for the staff to do extra clean up after the family left. I am a mother of three and was a server for several years and understand what it is like not having management back their staff. I am sure there is a way of educating management on how to deal with parents of extremely disruptive children. It’s a shame the staff appeared to be pleading with me to take action because the management was not. I was temporary directed it an assistant manager to share my complaint before the main manager joined in. My husband, a retired military officer, commented to the assistant manager , that the food was great, but the dinning experienc was horrendous . Corporate…Please train your staff on to how to address disruptive customers …. including parents who don't control their children. So the staff is not left with making excuses and apologizing for lack of action from management . Stand up and support your employees with empowered managers.

Ordering anything other than pizza here is a mistake. Appetizer - Szechuan Dumplings look a little sad, but they were good. Pizzas are fine. Fish tacos are two 2"x.5"x.5" fish sticks with tons of cabbage to make it look bigger. Good luck getting them to stay together. Waiter seemed nice, but missed details like napkins and place settings. I will never go back after that experience. TL;DR - Only good for pizza, service is sloppy. Not worth the prices.