In a nutshell:

Great place to b for a quick bite or catch up with friends, very good service, average to good beverages and good to excellent food and super desserts.

 

Address & other details: CPK , cyber hub

Meal for 2: Rs. 700 onwards

Cuisine type : Vegetarian & nonvegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everyWe & thing & give a honest account of the same to you.

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.

Short description: In case u r in a hurry:

California Pizza Kitchen is a casual dining restaurant chain that specializes in California-style pizza. The restaurant was started in 1985 by two attorneys in Beverly Hills, California, United States. The chain was widely known for its innovative and non traditional pizzas, such as the “Original BBQ Chicken Pizza”, BLT, Thai Chicken, and Jamaican Jerk Chicken pizzas. They also serve various kinds of pasta, salads, soups, sandwiches and desserts. They have an extensive children’s menu for children ages 10 and under. They have 200+ restaurants worldwide.

We were in two minds about going to CPK, it being a chain. Heard some good stuff about it from kids in the office and landed up there. Must say it was so jam packed that we struggled for a while to wait. The waiting process was quite smooth and the guy managing queues was pretty sorted.

Inside the restaurant was a huge clean hallway with wooden furniture laid all over. Walls had huge pictures hanging from them.

Just after entrance, on the left was a small but very interesting bakery counter with curious food on offer.

The menu card was pretty easy to read and had good descriptions of the food items listed there.

Service was very good. The manager was going around all tables and checking the status if orders, how one was liking the food and also at times suggesting food. We enjoyed a good chat with him.

Food was very enjoyable. Beverages were average to good. Surely worth returning for its flagship item – pizza (olive bistro upstairs serves better pizzas though).

Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:

We started our evening with a roasted vegetable & greens (veg) Salad. It had almost crunchy sautéed veggies (zucchini, red & yellow bell peppers, roasted corn & sundried tomatoes) – more crunchy wud hv been surely better. The veggies were tasty, including the tangiess of sundries tomatoes. Veggies were served on a bed of hand torn romaine leaves. The salad had Dijon Balsamic dressing – it turned out to b a tad too sour. Good overall. Rate it 3/5.

After the salad we went for Hearth baked Fish –baked salmon seasoned with lime, salt & paprika. This was just excellent.

It was Flaky, Layery, juicy and just enormously tasty. Must say that it was Good quality fish and the kitchen team had done a great execution. Rate it 4.5/5.

The third item we ordered was the one after which the restaurant was named – pizza. Deli Style Bistro pizza – Italian sausages, capiola ham, Canadian bacon, finished with lemon herbed rocket leaves & bocconcini formed the topping.

The pizza was Thin, had a crispy crust ( crust was thicker than at olive bistro),  it had a juicy topping with bocconcini cheese adding an interesting taste and texture. Meats were nice and rocket leaves provided a break to excess meat. Loved it and rate it 4.25/5. I wud say that this pizza was shades below pizza at olive bistro and way above pizzas in the mnc pizza wallas like dominoes and Pizza Hut.

We also ordered 4 drinks.

Cucumber delight drink was the better among the 4. Different and refreshing. Better than Good but short of greatness. Rate it 3.75/5

Rest 2 drinks – passion cooler and summer freeze , I wud say were kids drinks . They tasted more like sugar based toffees, both over sweet. 2.5/5 each. Average.

The 4 th drink called Party punch was a lot better . Good balance of sour and sweet. Loved it more than the rest. Rate it 3.5/5.

For dessert we went for Red velvet cake. It had a tinge of salt and that made a lot of difference. Intense red cake between layers of creamy off whites. Very nice visually as well as taste wise. Loved it. Rate it 4.25/5. I hv a feeling that if not refrigerated, this cake wud hv been even softer and better.

We cud not stop there and ordered California delight- excellent , Super duper good. A trio of white chocolate, dark chocolate mousse & with cranberries & almond pralines.

Intense dark chocolate , layers of bliss, melting and smudging off. This was way more intense than most such cakes and we just loved it. Rate it 4.5/5.

Overall rating of food at California pizza averages out to 4.1/5
Overall rating of beverages at California pizza averages out to 3.1/5
Overall rating of food and beverages at California pizza averages out to 3.6/5

I wud surely go back here for the food and desserts and will surely avoid the beverages. Look forward to hearing ur comments.