California Pizza Kitchen at Briarwood — Restaurant in Ann Arbor

As someone who works in the service industry I do not like to leave poor reviews and also try to gather information as to why it was a bad experience but with this one I could not. To start, me and my partner were sat in the worst spot in the whole place, next to the bathrooms and the carry-out door which was weird considering the entire restaurant was empty. Next it took our server over 20 minutes to get our drink order and have them placed on the table, at that point I would expect the entrees to at least be put in but we had just been able to put in our appetizers. The appetizer took another 20 minutes and the server decided that the entrees should be taken once we finished our app. It took me and my partner maybe 5 minutes to eat the app and we sat with a dirty dish and no food or drinks for another 20 after we finished and finally got to put in our entrees. There was another table that was sat behind us that got there about 10 minutes after us and they had left at least 30 minutes before we even got our entrees. The service was that poor. Too add to the experience for some reason there were about 5 giant flies swarming around my table that my partner continuously swatted away. Now, this is where I am usually understanding maybe they were busy or maybe our server was doing something behind the scenes, but I watched her walk into the bathroom and then not leave it for at least 15 minutes??? Again, I work in the industry I know you don't get real breaks but 15 minutes in the bathroom is absurd, especially when you have a table that has no food no refills. When our food came we ate so fast because we were already hungry when we walked in and waited for those pizzas for over an hour. No check up and still never got a refill once the food came out. We, again, waited 30+ minutes for our check to be brought to us after finishing the food. By the end of the experience me and partner just started laughing hysterically because really it was comical, we paid 80$ for our food which was mediocre at best and genuinely the worst service I have ever seen, I still left a decent tip because I understand that is your wage. The experience was definitely memorable, but not in the way a restaurant is...

I drive for a living so I end up at all kinds of restaurants and diners for the first time. I happened upon the mall here and I figured they had a food court that I would go eat in. Well they didn't really have a food court but they did have this California Pizza Kitchen.

To be honest I wasn't expecting much. And when I first walked in my first impression was that they were trying to look too classy for a place inside of a mall and they were probably doing it in order to price gouge. I was wrong.

Now the place was actually extremely nice. It was also very clean. It had an open stone fireplace for the pizza as well which really gives it a great taste and is my preferred method of cooking pizza. The menu is pretty much just pasta and pizza but it is a pizza place after all.

The staff was super friendly and very quick to help me. My server seemed so happy and polite that her joy and positive attitude was infectious. I know I did what I was ordering says it was just me but she helped me out without any hesitation it was quick to bring me my food and to refill my soda and was super polite and professional the entire time.

Now the pizza

Very rarely have I given a review where I mentioned that you can taste the freshness. And this place I want to say in my current experience has top them all. There are no words for how fresh it tasted. I didn't even realize you could actually literally taste the freshness like that. Pizza is just supposed to be pizza but the pizza here was so intense, so delicious, that I actually have this place on my stop list for the next time I'm in Ann Arbor.

On top of that the pricing was not bad at all like I thought it would be. I definitely give this place five stars and they deserve every bit of it. If you want delicious and fresh pizza and friendly knowledgeable staff this is the place you're...

My experience at CPK today was HORRIBLE.

Was having a work lunch meeting so we had about an hour. We were seated right away- great. Took 20 min to just get our drinks- horrible. Ordered soda water and coworker got a sprite and after 3x of trying the server still couldnt get it right (kept bringing sprite instead of soda water and every time the flavor was different?), finally we both just asked for ice/water. She was training someone but seemed that she needed all of the training. After ordering a salad I asked if it was the whole or the half and she says "it's whatever you want". I understand that, but was not asked at all initially which size and I had to ask to make sure. Not once was there any starter bread brought to the table even though appetizer plates were brought. After over 45 min the food finally comes and instead of the BBQ chicken chopped salad I get an italian chopped salad. When I mentioned that it was wrong (also wrong for another person at the table b/c they said they were going to have the same) the response was that she thought I wanted the italian chopped and didn't even get an apology. I had even asked for extra ranch on the side- the italian salad doesnt even come with ranch! Why would I ask for EXTRA ranch??? The comprehension just wasn't there. It was very disappointing. Since it was so close to having to leave I couldn't send it back and I ate a salad that I didn't even want and I was so looking forward to this BBQ chicken chopped salad! Since my previous experience at CPK also wasnt the best- slow service and asked for avocado on the salad and then it wasnt even brought, it warranted my review here today.

I hope my experience here will be better next time but next time will be the last time shall the experience lack good...