California Pizza Kitchen – Distarous Service, Average Food

So todays theme is “DISASTER” and I realized it might be a good time to bring this post out from the drafts where it has sat and gathered dust because I really feel sad about writing bad reviews, I feel sad for myself and I feel sad about the restaurant but then whats gotta be done, gotta be done

So this child of mine loves Pizzas and for this birthday came up to me and said “mumma lets not have a party this time, lets just got to some place where I can eat good pizza”. I pinched myself a couple of times since a 5-year-old saying no to a party is an unheard of but secretly was so happy. I hate organizing birthday parties, when they are small and closed they are so good but in the current form where they are becoming yet another way of showing off or boasting, with crazy things to do, expensive senseless return gifts, to me the birthday parties in its current form are yet another scam. But I digress, so the child asked for a family pizza dinner night. I thought of various places and the niece and nephew said let’s go to CPK and hence CPK it was (my earlier experience with them was pretty average but then I thought lets give them another chance since that time they had just about opened a few weeks ago in Pheonix MarketCity). I called to book a table, a table for 8 and was told to be on time very curtly since they won’t be able to keep the reservation for more than 5 mins. Ok I get it I have to be on time but this 5 min rule is the first I have heard usually its 15 min that any place gives you but I was in a good mood, it was my child’s birthday and I ignored.

Considering we were dealing with Bangalore traffic, we realized we are getting delayed and hence I called them about 30 mins before the reservation time saying we are running late and can he change our reservation to about 20-30 mins later. Yet again a very curt (bordering rude I would say) reply came “you should have started on time”, I was like what but then he said he will keep the table and I hung up. Now we reached the place and if you think the conversation wasn’t a disaster enough the real drama starts now. When I land up and ask for my table the server shows me a table for 5 (actually a table for 4 where a chair has been added) and I was like what? I tried to keep my calm and ask him how many people he has a reservation for? He instantly say 8 and then I ask him “do you think 8 people can sit there” and he says “NO” and I am like “so?”, he replies “whatever, let me try something” and comes back after 5 minutes and tells me as if he is doing a HUGE favor to me “Ok we will open the above floor for you, come”

We trot up, the lights off, chairs on top of the tables you get the drift. He asks us to sit on two different tables and we tell him we are here for a dinner TOGETHER and would like to sit together, he trots us to a different table and starts removing the chairs infact we all start doing it. Finally we settle down and sit hoping the disasters are behind us and the service begins, we order the appetizers and some drinks and after about 15 mins we all start sweating. We call the server and ask if the AC is working, he says yes madam it is. We think since they opened the floor for us, they might have put it on only then and hence its taking more time. We wait for another 20 mins and call the server again. This time he almost scolds us and tells us “yes the AC is working”, waves his hand in front of the AC and says “see can’t you feel it” and walks off and we are like “WTF, really”. And AC is was not the only disaster that evening , the table was not cleared between the courses, infact at one point of time I remember my brother in law picking up empty dishes and keeping them at the next empty table as the server had come with next round of food and had no place to keep it and was looking at us wondering what to do.  At this point of time the kids were feeling suffocated and even N who usually is a picture of calm was losing it and said forget about the food that we have already ordered, lets just go from here. In all this did I try talking to the manager, yes I asked for him twice but nothing., later while exiting the place, I met him and told him what happened and he was like “Madam I am sorry, the upstairs AC has a problem and that’s the reason we had closed the floor”. Hello shouldn’t you be telling me this BEFORE you send me up? Yes he did apologize to me but after all that happened, did it make a difference. I don’t think so.

To be fair to them the food was decent, if not extraordinary not bad too but frankly none of us was in a mood or condition to enjoy the food that night. We were barely eating it so that we can get out of the place

All in all a meal that turned into a disaster due to poor service, arrogance of the staff and ruined an occasion for me and to top it all I had to pay a 10% service charge.

So would you go back to a place where you get service like this?