California Pizza Kitchen at Victoria Gardens — Restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga

As you know, if you follow my reviews, I am not one to push complaints but when the service, food, or atmosphere is so terrible, it needs to be shared with others. This time, it was service and some food.

My stance on service: Anyone can say that there's an issue with staffing, or skills set due to the pandemic and job force having its challenges but as a former HR executive, this is unexcusable. The customer should never have to bare the responsibility of the service defect if the organization cannot train and hold employees to a higher standard. If you're still reading, it's only going to get better.

Review of atmosphere: clean. Booths are not comfortable as they too close to the table, and make it difficult to lean over table to eat food.

Review of food: Most of the food was good. But not hot. The chicken paccata was rubbery and the noodles were dry. The garlic pasta was also dry. The butter cake was good but I received my ice cream on the side (by request) in a votive candle glass jar. Not usually served in a square jar.

Review of service: our server, who shall not be named DID NOT receive a tip from me. This is a first in all of my dining experiences. I am a tipper. It's important. But last night, the service was so horrible, and it is on California Pizza Kitchen. When we arrived, we asked for a booth, and waited a bit longer for one. No problem.

Next, when we sat down, our server was arguing with the guest behind us in the next booth about the cash transaction. After listening to that, our table felt kind of bad for the server. However, the customer was right, in that situation, the server should have NEVER used the guest cash to assume how to pay for the two checks. It was a mess.

So onto our table. We asked for 1 water, a coke, and a ginger ale. We received 3 waters and a coke. No ginger ale. And when she brought the drinks, I asked for straws, and she made a bad remark about the dishwasher machine's capability by telling us that drinking from the glass would be gross since the machine doesn't do its job. First of all, if the rim is dirty then the whole glass is dirty. This is a health code problem.

We ordered our food, and asked for the bread basket, and received 2 plates and the bread and oil on one of the 3rd plate. We had to ask 2 times for the ginger ale. We also asked for more parmesan. It took the server 3 times walking past our table. Now, by this time, the both on the other side of us, was seated what appeared to be friends of the server. They all were laughing, which is okay, but the entire time, our server was not paying attention to her behavior and constantly visiting the booth of friends. She was gossiping with her friends, and other servers came to join in the fun. It was not pleasant.

The server's behavior was unprofessional and her ability to serve guests was not even close. You might think I'm being unfair, but when the entire restaurant is starring over at our area because there's so much commotion from the laughing and lack of service, it's a problem that needs to be corrected by the manager.

I will give CPK one more try, but not...

Because of SAMANTHA!!!

My girlfriend, our fur dog Selena, and I recently dined at California Pizza Kitchen at Victoria Gardens, and we have to say, the service provided by Samantha was truly outstanding. We've been to several California Pizza Kitchen locations, but Samantha’s level of service is in a league of its own—something you don’t often experience in most restaurants.

From the moment we were seated, Samantha greeted us with a warm and welcoming smile, immediately making us feel at home, even making sure our dog, Selena, was comfortable. She was incredibly knowledgeable about the menu, recommending items that suited our taste preferences. Her suggestions weren't just the usual standard options; she really took the time to understand what we were looking for and provided thoughtful, personalized recommendations. It was clear she had an in-depth understanding of the menu, and her passion for ensuring a great dining experience was evident.

What stood out even more was her attention to detail. Samantha was attentive without being intrusive, checking in with us at just the right moments to make sure our drinks were full and our meal was perfect. When we had specific requests about modifying a pizza, she handled it with ease and professionalism, ensuring that everything came out exactly as we wanted it.

Samantha’s positive attitude and genuine enthusiasm made the entire meal even more enjoyable. You could tell she truly cares about her customers and takes pride in delivering excellent service. She even went above and beyond by offering us a complimentary free PIZZA(to go) as a surprise, which was such a thoughtful gesture.

In a world where customer service can sometimes feel robotic or rushed, Samantha is a breath of fresh air. Her kindness, professionalism, and ability to connect with her guests make her a standout server, and her level of service is something you rarely find, even in the best restaurants. California Pizza Kitchen is lucky to have her!

We'll go back and share the awesome experience with our family and friends. If you're ever dining at the Victoria Gardens location, be sure to ask for Samantha—you won’t be...

Extremely disappointed in staffs customer service and behaviors. My family was disrespected by managers Nathalie Larpin and Cory (no last name refused to give it to us). This restaurant has a very poor reservation system and with an overturn of staff confusion does happen and instead of helping and fixing their mistakes they accused my family of lying. After we have waited two hrs to be seated, we were told that our name wasn’t written down and that we would have to give our name and number again and wait another hour and a half to be seated. The woman said that she didn’t see us there two hours earlier and that she had been there, and we said well check the camera and you’ll see we were here. Instead she brought up her manager(Natalie) who came out hostile to begin with and asked us what the problem was. We explained that we drove two hours to get there, and waited another two after making a registration, just to be told that we weren’t on the list and that we’d have to come back later. I asked if they could check the camera and the manager said it wasn’t something important enough to look at the camera for. We said it’s not fair to make the kids wait another two hours for their mistake, and that we just wanna use our gift cards and if you’re not gonna seat us for our time we scheduled if we can just exchange our gift cards and get money back. The manager than said I’m not gonna deal with you guys today so you need to leave or I’ll call security. I said that’s fine, what’s the number to corporate so I can call them. She said I don’t have it and if you want it, look it up online. I asked for a business card or anything and she said I’m not giving you the number and if you don’t leave I’ll call security. I said fine, what’s your name, and she said Nathalie, and I said what’s your last name and she said it’s on my shirt, what, you can’t read? I’ve never been treated with such disrespect and we will never, ever try to eat here again. This place is a nightmare, avoid it...