California Pizza Kitchen at Sarasota — Restaurant in Sarasota

I went here with my mom on 3/22/25 at approximately 2pm. I have never, ever, had a worse server, in any restaurant, I’ve ever been to. Avoid this place entirely!

First, it took our server about 10 minutes from the time we sat down for her to even make it to our table. We ordered food and drink all at once because we had plenty of time to think. This was not really a big deal but in hindsight, it was just the tip of the iceberg. We asked for a dumpling starter and she said “I think we’re out of dumplings but I’ll check for you.” Well, that’s the last we heard of the dumplings so we didn’t know if we were even getting them until they showed up. A simple “I checked and we have them” or “yeah we are in fact out of them sorry about that” would have been nice. When they showed up, they arrived with the rest of the food (pizzas). I said “oh it all came at the same time.” Our servers response was “oh yeah I rang it all in at the same time.” Apparently you have to specially request for your “starters” to come before the meal. When we did eat the dumplings, they were fine, except one of the six dumplings was ice cold. How can 5 of them be fine and one be ice cold? A microwave? As far as drinks, food, etc. I kept saying “thank you” when our waitress would put stuff on our table and not once did she ever respond. No “you’re welcome”, “no problem”…nothing. During the main course, we wanted more bread, and we needed napkins and refills. What was our waitress doing? On her phone…constantly. It wasn’t just her either. The hostess was on her phone as well as the “boss looking guy” in the white chefs coat…everyone was on their phone. Our server didn’t come by our table from the time we got our food to the time we finished eating despite trying to flag her down, so we never got napkins, or more bread, or refills. Her attitude was so disinterested in being there it was unreal. Ive never had a more absent server. It wasn’t even busy! There were 5-8 parties or so spread across 3 servers. We usually tip servers very well because we know how hard it is, but this was unreal.

Moral of the story: just get a frozen pizza from Walmart. The pizzas were good, but not worth the...

I have been coming to this CPK location for YEARS and I am never disappointed. The food is always top quality, good portions, I always walk out full and happy, delicious food (oh man, the butter cake & avocado rolls, if you have to try one thing, just those will change your life), and the best service.

I always ask for Lukas or Shawnda, they always help me with a smile on their face, very friendly, attentive and all around amazing servers. I see them smiling with the other servers and you can tell they want to be there and make people happy. Always happy and moving around non stop.

The manager, Brian. He always stops by and checks how my meal is going, how things turned out and makes the experience so personable. I’ve noticed him check in with his team mates and help bring out food to the tables. I am a store manager so spotting good management, Brian is one of the best.

Tonight I was unsure what pasta to get and the pasta chef Arman recommended the chicken piccata, I am blown away again by the quality and taste. Amazing recommendation and he actually brought it out to me personally. (I’ve seen him bring out several dishes for the servers) very friendly and aware of what’s going on in his kitchen.

The bartender Kayla knew I love sangria and as soon as I sat down she asked if I was ready for my sangria. Just that one motion made me smile ear to ear.

If I could give 10 stars I would! If you have read through this whole review, thank you. These people that work here are wonderful, and I hope you ask for them when you go...

I never leave negative reviews but I feel like as someone who’s been in the industry I’m both extremely understanding and also very critical at the same time. I sat at the bar - typically you get quicker service. Seems like there is at least 2 bartenders. It took me over 10 to get a drink and wasn’t even properly greeted. My space was never cleared off and wiped neither was any space around me. A group of 4 was waiting over 10 min and was finally half ass greeted by a rude young lady who seems to hate her job and pretended to clear off space at the bar and just said it’ll be a min we’re clearly busy. Which they were on a wait but multiple empty tables around and there’s literally no one at the bar. Myself (who ordered a drink and to go food) and 2 other couples. Seems like this place is seriously lacking industry training or idk maybe a fire lit under their ass. No one really seems to be HERE or caring about the guests or their experience. It’s a nice little place with potential but service is seriously SUB par at best. Won’t be back for a while if I even ever decide to try back…. There’s so much competition idk why I would unless there’s just no wait and waits everywhere else which should be an indication in itself. The staff was pretty unprofessional to be honest and idk just rubbed me the wrong way. The customers around me at the bar seemed very nice and just as...