Current Events > California Pizza Kitchen - is it good?

(+) Yeah! (+)

DuranOfForcena posted...

well, we all thought it was gonna be like a regular pizza with sauce and cheese, and with BLT toppings. i think that was a fair assumption. but no, that's not what it was at all.

Ya, keep your pizza basic.
Most of this new shit is just a gimmick.

I love BLT's, but if you want a BLT, just order one.
But not on a Pizza.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


I mean, most regional areas have their niche. Had amazing pizza in Boston this last weekend that blows California pizza out of the water (from what Ive had in my life here in CA). On the flip side, ate at two Mexican places last week as well that were nothing more than a marginal step up from Chipotle when compared to legit Mexican food you can get in California.

You can literally get any kind of pizza in California.

Like most chains, California Pizza Kitchen can like, be very varied when it comes to the quality of any given location. Its better than like, shit chain pizza though, but it isn't better than a craft pizza place.

My go to pizza place in California is Pizza Port, which is a brewery and has pizza with a pretty flavorful crust. But you can also get like, traditional italian style pizza, detroit style pizza, or chicago style pizza very easily here. Novelty pizza is also very popular here (My favorite being a pizza with chimichurri sauce, pulled pork and pickled red onions).

Its the biggest state in the country and has one of the biggest food cultures. I think you can get anything good in California if you know where to look (Except Chinese food. All the good Chinese food really is in New York for whatever reason, though it is probably better in one of the Chinatowns than where I live).

SiO4 posted...

Ya, keep your pizza basic.
Most of this new shit is just a gimmick.

There is literally nothing new about toppings on bread dude, lol. Just because you have a basic ass palette doesn't mean that pizza is sacred and people can't do interesting things with the concept.

No. A friend of mine went there for a lunch special and everything was really bland. I had the Thai salad which was ok at best, the pizza was also kinda soggy and tasteless.

Wouldn't mind trying a different thing some other time but this first impression was definitely not a good one.

I think their pizzas are lame

Their chicken tequila fettuccine is legit

I've only ever seen one, didn't know they were common or even still around. Haven't been there in almost 20 years but I remember it being pretty good. We only ever got the barbecue chicken pizza which was great and isn't something you really see often.

CoyoteTheGreat posted...

I think you can get anything good in California if you know where to look (Except Chinese food. All the good Chinese food really is in New York for whatever reason, though it is probably better in one of the Chinatowns than where I live).

This is not true at all, as someone who just got back from New York and had another one of the worst Chinese meals of my life (all New York places). California Chinese runs laps around New York Chinese for both Americanized stuff and for the more authentic places which are both literally everywhere. California as a state also has a higher concentration of Chinese people

CoyoteTheGreat posted...

There is literally nothing new about toppings on bread dude, lol. Just because you have a basic ass palette doesn't mean that pizza is sacred and people can't do interesting things with the concept.

LOL, I actually work in a Pizza place in NYS.
My palette isn't basic.

I just know there is a place and time for some things.

SiO4 posted...

LOL, I actually work in a Pizza place in NYS.
My palette isn't basic.

I just know there is a place and time for some things.

Well, I mean, knowing place and time is the job of any delivery boy, but it doesn't qualify you to talk about pizza or food in general.

Just remember, there's the generic American pizza that you get at big chains and it's generally going to be just fine and satisfying. California Pizza Kitchen will be a step above major delivery chain pizza like Dominoes or Papa Johns.

But it's not authentic hand-tossed pizzeria pizza like you get from an Italian family restaurant in places like New York or Philly. That's the real deal.

They used to be my favorite place, but then they got rid of the Peking Duck pizza, and I haven't tried them since.

I like it. It's fine. It won't blow your socks off or anything, but you'll probably enjoy it.

Some people are so pretentious about food, it's unbecoming honestly.

No

I like them. Great way to try pizza toppings out of your comfort zone or options you would normally not think of yourself. Their spinach dip is really good too.

CoyoteTheGreat posted...

Well, I mean, knowing place and time is the job of any delivery boy, but it doesn't qualify you to talk about pizza or food in general.

Well, I don't do delivies, and you're sounding like kind of a prick at this point.

Ew they didnt use tomatoes hand picked from the Popes personal garden and didnt deliver it atop an Italian flag. 1/5 stars.

They're fine. They taste good, but don't expect some super high quality. At the end of the day it's a chain. They sell them in the grocery stores here.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

The fuck kind of shit take is this? Chicago literally has the best deep dish pizzas in the country. And they're actually designed like pies. You know, like pizzas are supposedly really meant to be.

Finis-XII posted...

The fuck kind of shit take is this? Chicago literally has the best deep dish pizzas in the country. And they're actually designed like pies. You know, like pizzas are supposedly really meant to be.

Too much bread

thin crust for life

Ninjaluver posted...

They're fine. They taste good, but don't expect some super high quality. At the end of the day it's a chain. They sell them in the grocery stores here.

The grocery store pizzas are nothing like what you get at the restaurant. If I had the grocery store pizza first I would never have gone to CPK based on that.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Lol your shit taste in pizza, yeah.

MICHALECOLE posted...

thin crust for life

I mean yeah if it's Brooklyn Pizza Company or MOD pizza, sure.

So much classism around food in here -- it's ridiculous.
The same people who make blanket statements about food in America and mention "quality ingredients" are only one step removed from people making blanket, xenophobic statements about east Asian countries eating bats and bugs.

Europe doesn't have a monopoly on loving food. Food is literally the one universal thing that helps define all cultures worldwide. Food is incredibly important to people who immigrate to the United States, because a lot of the time it's their one link to back home.
And America does have its own food culture that isn't "fast food and burgers;" soul food, Cajun, and Creole are literally inventions of various different cultural influences using what was available to them on the North American continent. Food fusion stuff and regional variants of food are uniquely American, too - like regional pizzas, sandwiches, Tex-Mex, California Mexican, American Chinese, etc. that all vary enough from their source material to warrant being their own separate things.

Shit like was being said earlier in the thread is wholly disrespectful to the entire North American continent - and the whole implication of "quality" and pro-Euro garbo is also disrespectful to the Asian continent, as well as Latin America. Places where the love and flavor that goes into the food is more important than the fact that your stank ass Nonna used her foot bacteria to make some expensive cheese that smells like a YMCA locker room.

But yeah - California pizza kitchen kinda sucks IMO. But that's because I hate thin-crust aside from Neopolitan style pizza.

I'd much rather have Detroit style or Chicago deep dish.

bobbaaay posted...

But yeah - California pizza kitchen kinda sucks IMO. But that's because I hate thin-crust aside from Neopolitan style pizza.

I'd much rather have Detroit style or Chicago deep dish.

neopolitan pizza? Like with strawberry chocolate and vanilla on it?

MICHALECOLE posted...

neopolitan pizza? Like with strawberry chocolate and vanilla on it?

Neapolitan. Whatever. typo.

bobbaaay posted...

Neapolitan. Whatever. typo.

I didnt even know it was spelled wrong, I just thought it was funny

A girl that liked me in high school liked that place. The specific location she would go to no longer exists just like our relationship.

MICHALECOLE posted...

He said chains in America suck and you should not go to them

That sounds like a good rule of thumb.

Having actually lived overseas, I just think it's laughable that so many people here think America has a monopoly on shitty chain restaurants. Head to Europe and you'll see people raving about Nandos when it's basically South African chilis.

"Other countries actually care about ingredients" lol not when it's a chain, they're still cutting costs wherever they can and you're delusional if you think they're not.

codey posted...

Having actually lived overseas, I just think it's laughable that so many people here think America has a monopoly on shitty chain restaurants. Head to Europe and you'll see people raving about Nandos when it's basically South African chilis.

"Other countries actually care about ingredients" lol not when it's a chain, they're still cutting costs wherever they can and you're delusional if you think they're not.

Sure they'll all cost cut, but the regulations are more strict. A bunch of the cheap ingredients used in the US chains are banned in Europe.

They're still running? Thought they were bankrupt

codey posted...

Having actually lived overseas, I just think it's laughable that so many people here think America has a monopoly on shitty chain restaurants. Head to Europe and you'll see people raving about Nandos when it's basically South African chilis.

"Other countries actually care about ingredients" lol not when it's a chain, they're still cutting costs wherever they can and you're delusional if you think they're not.

Havin a cheeky Nandos innit

Krojen posted...

Sure they'll all cost cut, but the regulations are more strict. A bunch of the cheap ingredients used in the US chains are banned in Europe.

Again, this is some weird, classist, pro-Euro shit.
There are also ingredients that are banned here that aren't banned there
Banning has more to do with politics than actual food safety. Lots of studies that caused banning of ingredients in other countries were proven to be faulty studies. It's also hilarious when people post "American versus European" food labels -- and the differences are like "Ascorbic acid" or "vitamin C," or "natural flavorings" or "vanilla."
Lots of the time they just use the layman's terms on European food labels rather than the scientific, chemical names of ingredients.

The only reason there's a higher perceived quality is because the food is traveling shorter distances so less preservatives are needed and the food can be fresher for that reason. But even then that's a pretty shitty thing to be faulting America for trying to work around its logistics and automobile-based infrastructure and thinking you're somehow entitled to "better," more expensive ingredients when we're doing our best.

bobbaaay posted...

Banning has more to do with politics than actual food safety. Lots of studies that caused banning of ingredients in other countries were proven to be faulty studies.

True. A government study will get something banned in Europe, Australia, and Canada, but not in the US because of a food lobbyist group saying well akshully that study is flawed.

It really does have more to do with politics than food safety here.

HudGard posted...

Ew they didnt use tomatoes hand picked from the Popes personal garden and didnt deliver it atop an Italian flag. 1/5 stars.

Heh, One of the best Pizza places in my town is called Pope's.

Krojen posted...

True. A government study will get something banned in Europe, Australia, and Canada, but not in the US because of a food lobbyist group saying well akshully that study is flawed.

It really does have more to do with politics than food safety here.

You're cringey as fuck right now. Continue with your classist, pro-Euro shit bro