California Pizza Kitchen — Restaurant in San Mateo

I hate to write a review like this, but it’s been disappointing to see the gradual decline of CPK at Hillsdale since the pandemic. This used to be my favorite place. We always sat at the bar, enjoyed the busy restaurant atmosphere while being attentively waited on and enjoying tasty pizza and drinks.

Lately, every time I come here the experience is always slightly worse than the last. Last night we arrived on Wednesday around 7:30PM. We sat down in the bar where we waited at least fifteen minutes to even be acknowledged. It did not appear that there was a bartender. Half of the bar was covered in pizza boxes and to-go containers presumably for to go orders. We finally were able to order, we ordered the Mexican street corn appetizer and a wild mushroom pizza, along with 2 glasses of wine. We didn’t wait long for our drinks. Our appetizer came at the same time as the pizza which was pretty disappointing. The corn dish was mediocre, it seems that the corn was supposed to be somewhat crispy but it was soft and a bit soggy. The taste itself was fine. The pizza was good as usual. We ordered the strawberry shortcake for dessert, waited ten minutes (possibly more?) and were then informed that there was no strawberry shortcake. Overall, the restaurant seems short staffed. Our waitress was kind and didn’t do anything wrong, it seems there was definitely not enough help. This restaurant could use some oversight. It’s a shame as we always used to love coming here for great service and food. Hopefully they can turn...

We walked up to the hostess and stood there waiting for about 5 minutes until she was finished sorting out whatever ordeal it was with her coworker, no “hello or welcome, we will be right with you.” That’s fine with me, but in hindsight, it was a hint to go eat anywhere else.

We put our name on the list and tell them we will grab a drink at the bar while we wait. We find a pair of open seats at the bar so we decided to go ahead and eat there. The server comes around and seemed to have a difficult time knowing what we wanted because his focus was on the drinks he was preparing for another order. We got our drinks and they were good. Then we ordered our dinner. I got a pizza and my partner got a salad (bbq chicken salad). When the order shows up, we didn’t get the salad. We got a pizza with half of what I ordered and half bbq chicken. We said that wasn’t what we ordered and even told them the server asked if we wanted the smaller salad or the larger one to make it clear that was our original order. We said we will take it anyway.

Then they asked if we would like anything else. Why did they bother waisting their breath? We asked for a couple sides of ranch. Didn’t show up. Asked for a couple napkins, ended up using the little square napkins they use as coasters from our drinks. Asked for a to-go box. HA!

The bill arrived and it was over $60 for 1 pizza, an artichoke spinach dip, and 2 drinks.

Thanks for the worst experience I’ve ever...

Horrible service! Waitress hasnt been back since taking my order. I had to go ask kitchen help for a refill. My glass was empty for a half an hour. I ordered pizza which was dry, overcooked, with sparse chicken on top. Common sense would tell you to refill my drink when my food comes out, but no, that didnt happen. The waitress asks the gentlemen next to me if he's ready for his bill and she was intentionally positioned with her back towards me and clearly not about to make eye contact with me. Low and behold, the gentleman wasnt even out of the building and someone came rushing over to clean his table!! The waitress finally comes to my table when I'm down to my last slice of pizza and asks if theres anything else she can get for me! She hadn't gotten me anything the entire time!! I asked for another reffill, once again, to be ignored. I had to get up a second time and go to the kitchen to ask for a refill. By this point my adrenaline has sky rocketed from aggravation! I ask to speak to the manager. She apologize profusely and offered my lunch complimentary due to their negligence. As I told the manager, I shouldn't have to feel like I never want to return to a Restaurant. Most people just won't be back. I shouldn't have to qualify for a free lunch. My experience should not only be met to my expectations but be far above my expectations. That's true...