CPK San Diego

It was a madhouse at California Pizza Kitchen. We watched them servicing several dozen meal tickets, and not very well. They started staging empty pizza boxes on the bar right in front of our plates. And just as a bunch of pizzas would come out of the oven, the gal manning the pizza boxing would disappear and new workers would step in and try to figure out what pizza went in which box that she had just labeled. Many times the wrong pizza went in the wrong box causing more flurries of activity. Dining room food was sitting for a while before being taken to the floor. And the pizza baker was over burning the pizzas and salmon. Don’t come here for medium rare salmon. Or if you’re in a hurry. Next time I think we’ll come between 4 and 5. After that I think the quality will start dropping.

Arising from the ashes of the pandemic must be difficult for these restaurants who are contending with increased business and a still high volume of takeout orders. But my pizza was decent and so was Ms S’s fettuccine with chicken.

I tried the new Spicy Honey Bee Pizza, with spicy marinara, Capicola ham, Mozzarella and Gorgonzola cheese, plus Mediterranean herbs, red chili honey and wild arugula. Not bad! My favorite pizza is still the California Club with bacon and chopped lettuce, but sadly this seems to be gone from the menu now.