California Pizza Kitchen — Restaurant in Loxahatchee Groves

Our server had an emergency, so truly this review isn’t about her. All the waitstaff did their best, and I don’t want to blame any one of them for this experience. I usually don’t write bad reviews, but this experience was unacceptable.

Everything started well. Our server introduced herself, took our orders, and brought drinks and bread. We ordered an appetizer and put in our food orders. We ate the appetizer and didn’t need anyone for a while. 15-20 minutes later, however, our waitress hadn’t returned to refill our water glasses, bring out our food, or clean our table. I couldn’t even find our server to help us. At this point our food order had been in for 25-30 minutes.

After another 5-10 minute wait, a different server brought our food. The food was mostly fine, but the pasta was crisping on the edges (most likely from being under a warmer for an extended amount of time), and the pizza was tepid in temperature from sitting out.

When the food came, we had no napkins and the pizza was a bit oily. One of us had to get up to get cocktail napkins from the server station because, again, we had no server dedicated to us.

After a few bites of our food we were full since the appetizer and our drinks had time to fully digest. We looked for the server who brought our food out so she could bring us boxes and the check, but she was helping tables elsewhere. We had to get up once again to find to-go boxes.

After searching for boxes, we managed to run into the manager and informed her that we hadn’t received any service in a long time and needed to-go boxes.

Truthfully, the manager is why I’m now writing this review because the way she handled this situation was entirely unsatisfactory.

She comes over to our table with our boxes and says “I’m so sorry, I don’t know where she went!”

Okay? To me, the waiter is not the problem. You’re the manager.

Why dont you know where your staff has gone? Why haven’t you offered yourself if not other waitstaff to help us in her place since she is gone? Why, while I’m scanning the restaurant looking for assistance, do I take note that you are standing at the bar talking to staff and texting while not being attentive to the needs of not only your staff (who manage to leave without you even being aware of it), but also the guests of the restaurant you’re employed to manage? Why after realizing that after x amount of time that we haven’t had any service are you being flippant about how our service was not just poor, it was non-existent, are you not offering any sort of explanation or compensation out of good faith? Truthfully, I wouldn’t have even accepted it, but if they at least offered something just to show that they understood how unacceptable it was, and if they made even the slightest attempt to rectify the situation, then I would be far less upset about this and wouldn’t have to be composing this review.

The one star I’m giving is because when it came to taking our money, (which we did pay full price with nothing comped [because it wasn’t even offered] and I also still tipped 15% even though even that wasn’t deserved) they were very prompt and speedy. So that’s...

6/6/2020 This evening my Mom and I ordered our usual salad favorites to pick up curbside . We live in Wellington, and have enjoyed many meals at this CPK location on numerous occasions, both by dining in the restaurant, and ordering take-out. Our order and experience last night was very disappointing for a few reasons: the order-taker on the phone was sweet, but spoke so fast with her heavy accent that I had to keep asking her to repeat what she said, to make sure she got my information correct, especially the order. She did get everything right. I wish she would have let me know about how long it would take for the order be ready to pick up because after driving 15 minutes to CPK, and waiting in the car for over 15 minutes it seemed a very long time for just 2 salads. I called and spoke with her to let her know I had arrived. I stated the make and color of my car, twice, but she stopped at the red car in front of mine to ask if this was their order. Back at home we opened the to-go boxes containing our salads. Both of the salads had shifted to one side of their respective containers, so they were all shmushed together. It looked like they could have been dropped, or bumped into with force. My Mom had ordered a half-size Cobb salad which looked just ok, just disheveled. My full size Thai Crunch salad was the same size as my Mom's half size salad, but in a larger container-not even close to the size or presentation I was used to in their restaurant, or in our take-out orders. There were no crispy wontons or rice sticks. There were 6 peanuts, and 5 strips of dry, chewy, tasteless chicken. There was no cilantro. So, there you have it. Maybe there are barely-trained cooks in their kitchen. Maybe no one is keeping an eye on the food. Who knows what is going on, but I know this is not up to par, and those salads should have never been served like that, especially during this time when businesses like restaurants are struggling for customer dollars. Just so you know why I wrote this here, instead of on their website: the CPK contact page created a warning on my computer not to go any further....

It's been several years since I've eaten at California Pizza kitchen and I was actually out and about and headed somewhere else when I happened to pass a sign in the mall which indicated there was one close by. I decided to stop in instead of go to where I was originally planning to stop for lunch.

Although they weren't busy I waited at least 5 minutes for someone to come and seat me. Several wait staff were in the dining area but apparently they are not empowered to do seating for customers. Once I was seated I was attentively greeted by my server, Lourdes. I had a couple of questions about the menu and she was knowledgeable in her answers.

I chose the white corn guacamole appetizer which is a favorite of mine and it did not disappoint. For an entree I chose a half portion of their Apple chicken salad. Since I'm not a fan of Dijon mustard I asked if it could be substituted for something else. I decided to try the champagne dressing. It was good but there was not enough on the salad. In fact, initially I thought they had forgotten to put it on!

On several occasions the person who seated me, which I assume was the manager on duty, walked by while assisting the servers. It would be nice if he would smile occasionally and act like he actually enjoyed being there. He presented with a stressed / harassed attitude which was a bit off-putting.

I will go back to California Pizza kitchen because I enjoy their food but hopefully they will have someone designated to greet diners and seat them in a more expeditious fashion and Mr. Manager will learn...