California Pizza Kitchen

It was the birthday of Pam, one of my friends at the office. She treated us for lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. She said she was craving for salad from CPK. I was excited because it was my first time at CPK. I have that impression that CPK offers the same variety of food with those of TGIF and Burgoo. Except of course, their main selling point is their varieties of pizza. I was really eager to eat there. We shared two types of salads, one pasta dish and two flavors of pizza.

The Original BBQ Chicken

This was Pam’s favorite. I’d say that this is a fun pizza. When I say fun, I mean that it has a variety of flavors. It has chopped lettuce, black beans, sweet corn, jicama, cilantro, basil, crispy corn tortilla strips and Monterey Jack cheese tossed together in garden-herb ranch dressing. It was topped with chopped BBQ chicken breast, diced tomatoes and scallions.

This salad was mostly greens served with 4 pieces of breaded chicken topped with cheese. Perhaps I still need to read and broaden my knowledge on food. The greens used in this salad and the cheese were those I often see in cooking shows. I just can’t seem to figure out now what they are. I must admit my friends and I seldom get to taste these kinds of salad. We are those who are typically limited to Caesar salad. What I did in my plate, I got enough greens and cheese and chicken and sprinkled those with juice I squeezed with the lemon served with the salad. I found it really good. I think I was the only one who took a second serving of the salad.

Fettucine with Garlic Cream Sauce

I think this pasta was really creamy and the rest of my friends really liked it. It was just that when I ate some of these, it did not blend with the after taste of the salad and so I just ate a small portion of this.

Five-Cheese & Fresh Tomato

Santa Fe Chicken

I wasn’t brave enough to try the two pizzas. The combination of the salad and the pasta left me with a bitter feeling that I felt like puking. I opted to just not try these at all.

Although my friends didn’t touch it that much. Either they didn’t like it that much or they were already full.

Overall, I wasn’t really happy with my CPK experience. It didn’t leave me full. It didn’t have a satisfying effect on me. And the only reason I might go back is to give CPK a chance to redeem itself. Perhaps, I would try other dishes in their menu. After all, there were a lot to choose from.

California Pizza Kitchen
1st Level, Glorietta 3
Ayala Center, Makati City