California Pizza Kitchen

First time here was very enjoyable. The host was very lively and funny and my server did a great job explaining the menu to me. From the name I thought CPK only served pizza but I was very wrong they have a variety across the menu. Would stop in again if im in the area. Hopefully they keep up the good service at this location, it goes a long way :)

I rarely give two stars to any place that I dine in. I rather not even leave a review but I must say this night my family and I experienced the worst service. Fast forward, our food comes and before I realized we had no utensils our waitress disappears into the abyss.
After staring at my food for a minute or two and feeling Hangry my little one quickly walked over to the other table and got us 2 of 4 utensils sets. OK deeeep breeeath, WoooooSaaaaaa… I looked over to my wife and daughters dish and realize there was no fettuccine Alfredo sauce in the dish. Ummm is this CPKs version of fettuccine Alfredo?
Anyway, moving on to what was just the beginning. Our waitress comes back and I tell her we had to take utensils from the other table but needed more. In the same breath I asked for more fettuccine sauce for two of the 4 dishes and more butter for another. Yeap, that requires her to make multiple trips back to the kitchen. Although she was polite and complied I could sense she would rather disappear back into the abyss.
Ok.ok…Let me concentrate and talk about the only good part of my night. It was my dish, Chicken Piccata, pasta with capers was actually delish!!! It allowed me to gather my thoughts enough to relax long enough to enjoy a few bites.
Now back to the madness, I got no refills of my glass of water nor was I asked. Never received the additional silverware we needed, classic waitressing 101. What some details can change your entire dining experiencing. Not to mention we went here because my daughter chose it for her birthday dinner. So my wife towards the end asks me if were gonna get a dessert for my daughter and mention its her birthday in hopes they would come out with a candle and a quick Happy Birthday song BUT I quickly looked at my wife and said that I refused to ask because I was just so disturbed by the waitress and lack of service and good food. Did I mention we also ordered a $ 5 personal pizza from the kids menu and it came out with pale doughy dough. (Big Sigh) It simply wasn’t our night so thanks CPK for hell of a night.

I visited this CPK on a weekend for dinner with my family. The wait, like any restaurant in willow brook mall was extremely long. However, I did not mind the wait. The host was hilarious and tried his best to keep everyone’s spirits lifted.
I highly recommend the shrimp tacos that come with lettuce. It was DELICIOUS! My mouth is watering thinking about it. I also enjoyed the quinoa arugula salad.

This place is like Pizza Hut on steroids. Simply amazing and sooo good. I come here often and have been for the past 4 years.

Lory is the *BEST* host ever. Even if the food was awful– i’d return just because of his awesome customer service. Lucky for me– the food is always great and the service too. Love the tri-​color salad pizza with extra shaved parm cheese and my husband loves the chipolte chicken (wish they’d bring back buffalo chicken). CPK is always clean and has fresh food. I’m a fan! :)

Short wait. Great service. A lot of smiles around the restaurant. And the food was to die for. Our waitress, Tatiana was very nice also.

Came to this restaurant because of the reviews and I was disappointed. Probably the only thing to come here for is the beer and since I’m not a beer drinker I lost! I ordered a turkey burger and I don’t know what it was but it was not turkey. It was like minced meat something??? My coworker ordered a medium burger and got a gush of blood in her 1^st bite which had her throwing up for the night. My next coworker orders a vodka chambord and had to send it back. Idk what’s so great about this place but I’ll pass on the next time it’s recommended.

Why did I order taco carnitas?
Call me a «genius»
Bartender was nice but the tacos didn’t taste so nice
Stick to pizza here? Sure, if you happen to be in the mall and desperate for food
Wood Fired pizza gets me in the mood
Were the carnitas bland?
No, it was too salty if you ask me
The green sauce was off, nothing flamboyant in my mouth.
The top shelf Long Island Ice Tea, had me on my knees.
Impressed by the cocktail at CPK, I say, may come back to try others.

I know. It’s mind-​blowing that, despite all the pizza options I have at my disposal in Jersey, I wound up here. But every now and then, I get a craving for this stuff. And whenever I’m at the Willowbrook Mall, which isn’t very often, CPK comes calling my name.
I’d play it safe and go with the original BBQ chicken pizza, or any of their pizzas for that matter. Very tasty, and the order came out fast. Service was friendly too. Avoid their attempts at creativity and stick to the word that’s in the business name and you’ll leave content.

Lory was quite the charmer of a host and Maggie very attentive waitress food as always delish, must have avocado rolls and the barbecue pizza oohh so good finish off with the tiramisu its is divine!

$ 15 for a pie that only feeds one. I thought «Okay, that’s fine, if it’s good enough to justify, I guess they use better ingredients or something.» Nope. I ordered the Hawaiin, I had to spit twice, once from a rubbery piece of chicken, and again from some kind of grit I still haven’t identified but actually hurt my tooth. And that could be explained away by bad luck, but the final nail in the coffin was that it was just an under-​cooked pie. The dough was floppy and there was no crisp to the crust at all. I’m usually not picky about these things, but this is the first time I’ve ever really regretted something as simple as pizza.
I don’t understand how this place manages to stay open with at least three other quality pizzeria’s near by. I don’t think I’ll be giving them a second shot.

Great atmosphere! After an evening of shopping what better way to end the night than to stop for pizza with your best friend! I ordered the BBQ Hawaiian pizza with grilled chicken… Man oh man was this Pizza good! The service here is very welcoming and friendly the staff made sure my friend and I were at ease and comfortable while waiting for our food. We were starving, but our waiter made sure we weren’t getting impatient as he kept checking up on us. Overall I will recommend this California pizza place to my friends and family even strangers! Keep up the good work!

This was my first time at a CPK and I was impressed by the quality of pizza. We were seated right away on a Friday night even though it was pretty crowded.
My boyfriend and I ordered pizzas and shared. We got the mushroom pepperoni sausage and the margherita. Both had nice fresh ingredients, especially compared to other chains, but being next to NYC definitely isn’t going to compare to pizza there.
The pizzas are too big really for one person though they call them personal, so it’s a decent size if you want leftovers. Who doesn’t want leftover pizza? They defintitely have some interesting favors I am intrigued to try.

This place never disappoints! Great drinks, awesome apps and the best salad ever BBQ chicken salad. Server was quick and attentive. My friends all enjoyed their pizzas! They’re «personal» pies but definitely enough for two people to share. Especially when you get drinks and an appetizer!

Was shopping and kids started dad we are hungry. What’s a good option with kids. California kitchen. Oh wait!
We were greeted at the door and the lady led us to our table. The waitress came and took our order, everything was fine till we got our food.
The food was here but partially, half the order did not show up, and most importantly there were no utensils to eat the food with. Looked around to get attention of one the waitresses but I was not successful. My wife saw a table next to us and said it had utensils. Went and grabbed it. But it was only two.
We were four and were on the hunt for another table with utensils. And we found one. What they do is they stack up plates and put utensils wrapped with napkins on them. I ran and quickly got it.
We all started eating but my wife. She ordered a salad but the dressing never came, she asked the waitress but kids and I finished as my wife was still waiting.
I said I am gonna go and get it, she said no, then I decided to go and get it, walked upto the bar and asked the barmen for salad dressing as he handed to me I saw the waitress approaching with the dressing.
So why 2 stars — the food was okay, the service — yeah definitely needs some improvement.

The pizza is a lot better than I expected. The ingredients were fresh and that is a bonus for me. The wait for the food was a bit long to me but my son’s food came out quickly. I’ll stop by again if the wait at Cheesecake is long.

Came here to grab a quick bite to eat while I was shopping. I was one of three additional tables with customers. There were literally more staff than customers — yet after almost 15 minutes no one came to my table to take my order.
I got up walked & out without so much as an acknowledgment.
I’m only giving this review two stars because the food is decent. The service today was horrible.

I LOVE this specific CPK!!!
The food is always super fresh and delicious!
My favorites are the California chicken club sandwich and BBQ chicken pizza!!!
I usually meet my dad for lunch or dinner here and we always have a good time dining and catching up! We love the passion fruit sangria (must try)
The environment is usually crowded but still quiet to be able to have a conversation, always clean and the service is always good!
The managers are AWAYS walking around observing how their customers are being served and always come to you asking you if everything was good!
They really care about their customer service!!!
I will always come back here!

Lots of menu options and I have enjoyed the small plates. I’ve tried the corn quac it was very good. The mac and cheese bites weren’t what I was expecting, they weren’t bad but I probably wouldn’t order again. Chicken quedadilla is good. Can’t go wrong with the pizzas. my friend got the lower calories option chili and said it was delicious and perfect portion size. I have tried the pesto pasta which was delish and the tequila pasta also quite tasty (reminded me of a pasta dish at cheesecake thougg which was a lot better but this one was still good on its own right). Prices are decent. Service can be hit or miss and their drink menu can use some new options I feel like it’s a lot of the same ingredients.
Desserts are delish as well!

Everyone knows that CPK has great, creative pizzas at reasonable prices. But what makes any CPK stand out? Service, service, service! And here … the service is just not that good. In fact, it was downright annoying.
I met my cousin for dinner; she beat me & already got a table by the time I arrived. I walked up to the host & explained I was meeting a woman who was just seated a few mins ago. «Oh, are you the party of two? She’s over there,» and he gestured vaguely to the right side of the dining room. You can’t bring me to her table? Fine. I awkwardly scanned the dining room, staring at strangers eating, until I found her. So much for hosting, amirite?
Our waiter was a combination of lazy & rude. He never asked if I wanted a drink; he just brought me water & asked what I was ordering as soon as I sat down. Each time he brought us more water, he left the empty glasses on the table. By the end of the night, we had 5 empty glasses cluttered around us. My cousin asked for cheese on her salad & he forgot it twice.
Halfway through our meal, and interrupting our conversation without an apology, he asked if we wanted dessert. When we said no (mostly because we were still eating dinner), he brought over our check! We weren’t close to finishing our meal, but we can take the hint: it’s Friday night & since we’re not drinking or getting dessert (yet), you want to turn our table. He looked confused when I asked for a box for the remaining half of my pizza — did you think I was going to keep eating when you asked me to pay after eating 2 (of six) slices? We were asked to pay 35 mins in, & we stayed only an hour.
My food was great — and there’s your second star — but does that really matter? Between the hosts & the wait staff, it’s really not the hassle. So the next time you’re craving those delicious pizzas? Just drive the extra 15 – 20 mins & visit the Short Hills Mall or Garden State Plaza CPKs instead.