California Pizza Kitchen
6801 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028 (323) 460-2080
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Garage
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Lunch
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
61 reviews
South Pasadena, CA
"After a couple of recommendations from friends, I finally had the chance to make my way over here. I've never been to New York so I don't…" read more »
25 Reviews for California Pizza Kitchen
The very first CPK I've ever been to. This one gets 3 stars for actually being in Hollywood & Highland so this is primarily where I take "visitors/toursits" during the year and if they're up for CPK, then there it is! I've never had any problems with the service but due to the location, the wait may be long, which sucks.
Anyway, I find myself ordering the same thing every time... Carne Asada pizza.... with extra spicy sauce... yumm!
However, this isn't a place that really pops into my mind as a place I'd choose first to go eat unless I was craving something specific from the menu.
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Service sucked.
Damn, you have to ASK for the free cold bread and butter now?
Waitress rushed me when there were many tables open...uh..wtf?
Came by to ask how our food was FOUR times. Alright broad I know you want us out of here, fall back.
Food was sub par.
The damn pizza [cheese with the bbq sauce] tasted like a Digiorno over-cooked pizza.
Apparently my friend's carne asada pizza was good because she tore that mess up.
My half Cesar salad was slimy and nasty and not to mention "extra croutons" means to only put two on the salad in CPK server language.UGH.
R.I.P. "Dive" the restaurant
='(
You are missed!
I'm not really a CPK fan. Sure I've eaten at CPKs every now and again, but it's not exactly the place I'd choose to go get something to eat. I mean, I've gone years without going to CPK, if that gives you any indication. But we were with friends last night and we went to the Kodak Theater to see Ricky Gervais, so we figured we'd just eat there since it was close to the Theater.
We get there and put our name in. For a party of four, it was a 45 minute wait. It's about 7 so we figured that was an okay wait. Not too bad. We walk around for a bit, show up at 7:20 and they seat us. Good thing we didn't come back after 45 minutes like all those other suckers who were in line. They seriously need to figure out a new time estimation system. I'm not REALLY complaining about there being a shorter wait... okay, I am a little bit. If we weren't totally anal, we wouldn't have been seated. We would've come back around 45 minutes later and STILL have had to wait because EVERYONE else would've come back at the same time. Just seems retarded to me. But you know, whatever. I've never worked in the food industry. Maybe that's just the way they do things.
I ask the girl who seated us if CPK had any nutritional information. I just like to know what's in my food. She acted as if I asked her the most inconvenient (and stupidest) question EVER. She said very condescendingly, "No. We don't have that information." Dude, I kinda thought that was mandatory. I thought that if you asked a restaurant for nutritional information, they had to have that information available for you. But I guess you don't have to? I don't know. Regardless, I didn't appreciate her attitude. There is a polite way to tell someone something and she... didn't do it.
I know that CPK is casual dining and I'm not expecting STELLAR service, but on the other side, I'm not expecting to be treated like total SHIT.
Jessica (from Las Vegas, apparently), our server, is obviously trying to get "discovered" and being a waitress isn't her primary goal in life, and that's fine and all, but I don't know... I would think that if I were in Hollywood trying to catch someone's eye, I wouldn't treat my customers like crap because maybe someone you were serving might actually have some connections somewhere. Just because it's not some A-list celeb, it doesn't mean that the person you're serving couldn't help you out in some way. Or at the VERY least, that person could, I don't know... LEAVE YOU A GOOD TIP if you were helpful... I mean, helpful at ALL.
This girl showed up when we first got seated and took our drink order. And didn't take too long getting back. She took our food order. And then didn't come back for FORTY MINUTES. I was the angriest person EVER. She never came back to ask if we needed refills or anything. She was too busy attending a bigger party, in hopes of a good tip, I guess. She came out multiple times to help just about every other table and completely ignored us.
When she finally came back around, I asked her for some silverware and plates and some bread... Which apparently, you need to ask for now? But HOW WAS I TO KNOW THIS? When I asked her why there was no bread (when there was bread on EVERYONE ELSE'S table) she replied VERY rudely to me, "BECAUSE YOU NEED TO ASK FOR IT NOW." Oh, really? Wow. Apparently, I didn't get that fucking memo. How the fuck would I know that? Has that been going on for a while? I don't know. And apparently, every single table around us was in the know because they all got bread.
But whatever.
After the large party left, she started being more attentive, but you know, the damage has been done. You treated us like crap, you were rude and unhelpful... why would I want to give you a good tip? I seriously wanted to leave her a DIME for a tip, but the people I was with were nicer. They didn't leave her 20% (which is my customary tip amount... more if they were good, of course) but in my opinion they still gave her too much.
Oh, and the food? Still fucking mediocre.
Why do people love it so much? I don't know. I avoid CPKs normally, but I would REALLY suggest avoiding this particular CPK. If you really NEED to eat at the H&H center, I'm sure there are plenty of other eateries that don't have the level of SUCK that this one does. I'd suggest... just about anywhere else. But if for some reason, you just fucking love CPK and you just HAVE to go here, just try to NOT get seated in Jessica's section. You will be able to tell who she is, not only by her handy dandy name tag, but also because she's the one with dull, vacant eyes.
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Sorry, instead of Mickey Mouse ears at the end of this ride, you get pizza. Trust me, though, it's just as much fun. For your own safety, please keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times.
First, we venture up the infamous Hollywood Boulevard to the Kodak Theater complex. Along the way, observe some interesting characters milling around and plenty of tourists either looking completely lost or taking pictures.
Keep moving up the stairs of the complex, being careful of the tourists that suddenly stop in front of you to take a dozen pictures. There will be a slight delay at the top due to more tourists taking pictures, particularly of the Hollywood sign off in the distance.
Finally, as we arrive at CPK, be wary of the servers that have been mistreated and tipped very poorly all day. At your final destination, be prepared to wait a long time for a table. The pizza will be OK, but nothing spectacular. At this CPK, it's all about location, location, location.
Your vantage point, should you choose to sit outside, which I highly recommend, provides one of the best people-watching spots ever. Many people seem to believe that this is the best place to go if you want to be discovered, and dress and act accordingly. Now, that's entertainment!
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Blegggh. Ever since eating that ill-fated pizza back at the HB CPK, I've vowed never to eat here again - at any of the locations, ever.
But I have to admit, even going in here and drinking water and chopping up sugar packets, the staff was nice and the food looked good even though a little greasy (which reminded me, blegh, of that pizza...)
It's conveniently close to the metro and a lot of shops, so if you're in the mood for the sell-out's commercialized pizza, here you go! I know someone who really digs their vegan sandwiches here and otherwise, you'll be really hard pressed to find any diet-friendly.
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Horrible Service! I had to ask another server if I could please have some bread AFTER my food was served. She never brought bread and took forever to refill drinks. Awful!
Hollywood and Highland CPK! Okay, it's always crowded, I always have to wait for a table there, yet it seems I've eaten there more than once, more than twice, more than 3 times... I've eaten there numerous times, so it must obviously be an okay place to go... or it could be the fact that there really isn't anywhere else to go in the Hollywood and Highland complex.
I don't know, I like the place alright, and last night I really enjoyed the seasonal beer, and the waitress was really awesome.
I'm going to keep this place at 4 stars...
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My son and I got here when they first opened one day. We were taken to our seat and we had a waiter who was also behind the bar/counter. I think his name may have been Joe.
They were short staffed tat day, the waiter apologized and said he would be with us as soon as he could.
even though he was super busy and forewarned us that he was super busy, our service was awesome, and not slow at all, he was very attentive and very cool to my 3 yr old son.
Because of the fact that he was nice and took the time to inform us ahead of time things might be a little slow, i tipped him more. He deserved it. it was just a good experience.
i have had their food many times before and always find it yummy. Just wish we had been able to save room for dessert.
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I'm a CPK guy and I'm ok with that. Always liked them, never turn down a visit if there isn't some way better option and I'm usually happy with my meal.
My wife and I were in Hollywood for the weekend, at H&H, hungry and wanted a place to sit down for a while. Shockingly, the place was not packed. We were seated quickly, had great service and as always, a delicious lunch.
I know people bitch about chains but where else can you get like 30 different pizzas? Regular crust, newer thin crust (which I got for the first time and liked MORE than the traditional crust plus a few less carbs!), and even wheat crust options. The BBQ chicken is my favorite but I also like the garlic chicken and just had the Sicilian thin crust one and liked it as well. My wife enjoyed her goat cheese and roasted pepper pizza and we relaxed a bit before heading over to the Mann's Chinese to see Martian Child (predictable but ok movie - wife's choice, chicks will enjoy it as would parents). My only gripe with CPK and most of you probably don't remember this but that bread they offer you to start is crap. They used to give you fresh foccacia but now they charge for it if they still even have it. Bogus. Who wants wonder bread? Anyways, I like CPK and I don't care what you think.
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Just the regular run of the mill CPK... Service was good... food was alright... I did get sick off the Portabello Mushroom Ravoli so you maybe want to stay away from that !
It's right smack dab in the middle of Hollywood and Highlands.. well off to the side a bit but nice patio to sit and over look the Hollywood sign
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DIRTY!
I like CPK, I loved the Waldorf Chicken Salad. I used to describe it as
"Bursting with Flavor", but now, it will never be the same.
I had lunch today at the CPK Hollywood & Highland. I got my usual salad and I was munching away and having good conversations with my co workers. Then I saw it, a hair. This piece of hair was about .5 Inches long, I could see the follicle white ball thats on the end of it. Gross a rooney! So I push that lettuce aside so I wouldnt look at it anymore. Continue to play cool and drink my soda.
Then I saw another one, and another, then another! I moved lettuce after lettuce and there were about 5-6 hair strands in there.
It looked like hair from someones hairy arms or hairy chest.
Needless to say I am traumatized by this ordeal. If I see a hairy arm or chest I think Im going to heave. I dont wanna think about how many pieces of hair I did eat! Yak Yak Yak!
Happy Eatings! :o/
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Ah in the droves of Tourists.. this local finds solace in the H&H CPK.
4 Stars for a chain? BLASPHEMY!... But seriously, for franchise restaurants in the moderately priced range, is there really a better franchise than the CPK? Come on .. really!! Name one...
Personally I like seeing the variety of tourists that come to eat here. I mean precious moments like hearing a midwesterner say in his hick voice "goat cheese?.. .ona pizza.. what the hell?! and what in gawds name is an eggplant?!".. PRICELESS!
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I don't care if I take flack for liking this place.
Beware of the tourist at this one location. I can't walk through the Hollywood & Highland complex without some poor sap from out of town making me take a photo of them while I'm starving hungry trying to get to CPK.
I'm then greeted by some not so friendly hostess. They should be nice to me. I'm paying their way for head shots. And who knows? I might be a Hollywood agent looking for talent.... NOT.
My friends and I always start off with the spinach dip. We can't get enough of whatever addicting substance they put in the dip. Normally we'll order a pizza and split it or we'll get our own personalized one. I'm a fan of the Hawaiian and the BBQ chicken.
Another weird thing about this location is that the past two times I've been here the fire alarm has gone off. I loved how we all looked at each other like lost puppy's wondering if the alarm was false or real. Either way we kept eating, no one told us to evacuate and if they did I would have taken my food outside.
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Food was what you'd expect at a national chain. Went here because it was adjacent to the hotel, and I was too tired to have my friends meet me to go anywhere else.
Had the Tequila Pasta, which was yummy.
Service was very, very friendly, our waiter was quite handsome, we had a 20 minute wait at 8:30p on a Friday night, but it went by quickly.
LOTS of tourists here.
Even though I frequent most of the Bay Area locations I'm reviewing this one mainly because the server seemed surprised I wanted the bigger portioned sized salad. "Lunch portion?" he asked..."Uh no...give me the big sized. I'm starving," me.
Yeah, I know I'm in Hollywood. Home of botox, more plastic surgery than you can imagine and Scientology. Heaven forbid, you run into a girl with an actual appetite in this town. It's because I'm not from this town, thank God for that too.
The food was good like all the CPK's. Sitting in traffic makes people like me hungry. Service was decent...yadda yadda yadda.
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I went here for the second time the other day and the service was definitely lacking this time around. For starters, our waitress rarely came to see on us. Then I had to ask to receive some complimentary bread slices from a waitress who was not our own--the bread then came with straight-out-the-fridge COLD AND HARD butter.
We waited almost 20 minutes to receive our ordered cocktails and by then, I was almost ready to just leave. 20 minutes for a DRINK? We had had our orders placed before almost 30 minutes before our waitress made a peep about coming back to us in "2 minutes" with our meals.
I ordered linguini with shrimp and my friend had some penne with sausage. Our noodles were not fully cooked and were slightly hard and a bit difficult to chew through, but since we had been starving, we accepted it and ate them. The chipotle chicken pizza was absolutely delicious, and that's the only great thing I can really say about this meal!
When our waitress bothered to remember we existed (we were sitting right behind her register station), she asked how our meal was--not that she particularly cared. And neither did the chefs, either, since they were in such a hurry that they didn't even boil our noodles properly.
Perhaps the CPK on Hollywood is understaffed? Or maybe they're adjusting in some new cooks? Either way, I was really disappointed in the service this time. And the taste wasn't nearly as grand as my first try of their Chicken Piccata.
Dear CPK,
What the hell happened to you? You used to be my pride and joy, the one reason I'd want to come home over the college holidays, the only motivation for those long cold drives to Boston, the one chain I was ready to name my firstborn child after, the only food that could make any day better....
But now you had to go and ruin it. Forever. I don't think I could ever forgive you. The cheesy waitresses with nametags? Okay. The bad music? Fine. The garish yellow, black and white color scheme? Sure.
BUT TO TAKE AWAY MY ROSEMARY CHICKEN POTATO PIZZA???? AFTER HOW MANY LOYAL YEARS?? You don't understand. You just made the biggest mistake in your corporate history. That was EVERYONE'S favorite pizza. Even the waitress last night told me so. Who else puts potatoes on their sweet pizza dough with a delicious lemony-sauce? NO ONE ELSE. And now you had to go and take it away. I tried your garlic chicken pizza last night. Nope. No good. ONE STAR.
This relationship is O-V-E-R.
Sincerely,
Moye
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What can I say? Not much. This place is pizza gone the way of the fast food buffet line. VARIETY VARIETY AND MORE VARIETY. I like to brng out of state friends to this place, but that's about it. THey get a kick out of the name of the establishment having CALIFORNIA in it.
But to me, a majority of the recipes on the menu are almost the same. Bland and mild in nature. I've tried about 10 different pizzas on the menu over the past several years and I can't remember one that jumps out at me. That's saying a lot. Don't get me wrong. It's good food, but not great. A little on the expensive side. $10.00 for a trendy and snooty pizza. Give me a good ol' slice of a New York pizza any day or even a slice of Pizza hut pizza.
Service has always been great. Nice and friendly. But give it a try and experience it at least a few times. Try the BBQ Chicken Pizza and then you can say you tried it.
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What are chain restaurants good for except the cookie cutter experience of duplicating your fav meal no matter if you're dining in Hollywood, CA or Snohomish, WA? CPK can crank out kung pao pasta or Jamaican Jerk chicken pizza like it was made in that Star Trek facsimilator that could produce any food or beverage you desired a hundred times over with equal consistency.
So, if you've been to a CPK, you know all about the food they have. Boring. Not the food, the rehashing of each menu item. What's unique about this CPK located in the Hollywood Highland complex, gateway'd by two, 4 story tall,
Cecil B. DeMille elephant statuary is that the service is a drip. Staff is friendly enough usually but they don't understand the fundamentals of basic table service.
- Bring out bread with water shortly after being seated and not never or only when you ask or every other table.
- Refill water glasses more than just once please.
- For a table of 20+ spending over $500+, don't just assign one waitperson just because it's technically a "single table." Or if you insist one one waitperson, she/he better have a big red, Marvel Comic "S" hiding beneath their mild mannered attire.
- Finally, please ask us for dessert or coffee. Getting the bill instead is kinda like saying "No, we don't want any more of your stinkin money nor do I care about increasing my tip any further. Just get out!"
So, 1 star for service and 1 star for the elephants.
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After getting turned away from the Jimmy Kimmel Show with Incubus we were beyond distraught. But seeing my bf's face light up when he saw the CPK was totally worth it. See I've never been to a CPK. Just seen the frozen pizzas at the Ralphs. So, any way our waiter was great, very attentive. We had the thai chicken spring rolls which were good. We shared a salad and pizza. Oh, and the bloody mary was pretty tastey. Overall, it was alright. I kinda feel like living in LA it's a sin to eat at the chain places. This city has so much more to offer! But as I've said it's my friend's favorite place and I'd eat here everyday just see the smile on his face!
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Ho-hum this wasn't the best experience I've had eating pizza. do you ever get the feeling that subtlety is lost at places like this? The service was a little slow but they were busy, however the disappointment mostly stems form the pizza. The pizza wasn't bad, in fact I enjoyed it for the most part. I just thought that the pizza would be better considering the prices. I suggest going here for getting interesting pizza ideas, then taking the schtick and baking a pizza of evolutionary gusto. how you like that salmon, gorgonzola, pear, pineapple, suicide pizza buddy? Oh so every Californian. I'm sure people in Chicago and NY would find this place interesting and funny.
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can i have some service here please!!!
CPK is defiantly a unique experience, but i do not recommend this place for more than one visit. I feel that this restaurant lacks good service, not because their staff are rude or anything, but i believe they lack training. They are slow, and you have to ask them to do things which should be given, such as service you properly.
My waiter came to us within 1 min of us getting the menu's and asked us if we were ready to order, we asked for 5 more minutes as we just got the menu. He come back to our table 20 minutes later. We got water to our table only after we actually got our food.
The food is not bad, i actually do not eat spinach, but they have an excellent spinach dip, and their hawaiian pizza is pretty good as well.
I dont expect a 5 star service, but there is a lot of things that can be improved.
3 STARS
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Whatever, I'll take the flack for rating a chain restaurant well. We came here on a craving for their pizza (I know, all the way to LA from OC and we eat at a place that's across the street from home?!), and of course we know what we're gonna get so we can't be disappointed. Our server was friendly, if a little scatterbrained, but he made jokes about it, which was good. They were out of glasses when we got there, so it took about 7 mins. to get drinks, no biggie. We got our bread, yum, got our pizza, yum yum yum, and he even brought me a side of bbq sauce for it. :) Our server even packed our food up FOR us when we were ready to go. And brought me an extra side of their bbq sauce (that stuff is like crack, I love it). We had a good experience here. I don't mind waiting 20 minutes for a table at a big ol' tourist trap place like Hollywood & Highland. Considering all the negative reviews here, we had a great time. :)
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California Pizza Kitchen put itself on the map by taking entrees that had little to no connection to Italy and throwing it on dough, and voila, California Pizza!
Out-of-staters think this is normal for Californians to eat like this. Since most cannot afford to eat Wolfgang Puck food, CPK is more of the everyman's target.
To CPK's credit, the pizzas it comes up with are very good. The ingredients are very inventive, and a personal-size pizza goes a long way. The same cannot be said for its pasta, which is just as expensive as a personal pie and fills like bread.
CPK also homogenizes the crap out of its restaurants. It is martinet-like in its consistency, and now that these restaurants anchor just about every mall, the thrill is gone.
The dining experience in this CPK is less than thrilling. This is the most tourist-trap location in Southern California, and it is always crowded and service is slow and stagnant.
A three-star CPK experience can be had by leaving Hollywood & Highland for the less crowded Beverly Center and two downtown Los Angeles locations. Take the Red Line to downtown or the DASH Hollywood/West Hollywood line to Beverly Center.
Transit access: Metro Red Line, Metro Rapid Line 780, and local lines 2/302, 156, 163, 180/181, 212 and 217; and LADOT DASH Hollywood, Hollywood/West Hollywood and Holly Trolley.
Hi! I'm hungry! And I'm on this really wacked out new nutritional plan where I have to eat every four hours or I combust or die or just pass out. Whatever may happen, it's not generally very pretty and a little scary. So yeah, I'm hungry! Oh, ten minutes? Okay, that's a good wait. That's okay. I'll sit over here on this weird cement couch thing and try not to chew on my purse. Oh, you're going to let that one guy cut the line and get seated before me? Um, okay. I don't really appreciate it, and I know the couple from Omaha (presumably) in front of me doesn't like it. Maybe that's why the overly made up lady of the pair keeps staring me and Allie down? Maybe she thought we somehow encouraged the man to jump the line? Okay, sure! Wow! That jazz sure is loud! Wow! Those people dancing across our toes sure are annoying! Wow! I JUST WANT SOME F**KING PIZZA. I am sort of concerned by your hostess, she looks like she's going to start screaming or crying or just push the hostess stand at someone and flee. I would look that way, too, if I had to worry about that table of kids lighting things on fire behind me. I feel you, hostess girl. Oh! Us? It's our turn now? YAY! Hmm. I wonder which one is our waiter/ess. Guess not that one. Not that one. Not even that one. Oh, that one! I wonder where our drinks are. I am still wondering where our drinks are. Where are the drinks? There they are! I wonder why we have four straws for one straw-requiring drink. Why don't we have more bread? Oh, bright spot! Nice manager man bringing us our pizza! And more drinks! Yay! Some lady just fell off her bench! Too many fruity drinks. And I think those emo kids are going to dine and dash. Maybe they're in a hurry to get back to the TERRIBLE JAZZ OUTSIDE. Maybe crazy Omaha lady keeps staring Allie down because she wishes she was outside, taking pictures of weird things, like bricks on the sidewalk, and people with facial piercings. Oh, Los Angeles, so wild and weird! God, I wish I was tourist. Stop. No, I don't. Pizza is good. Wish it had more chicken, need that protein. Where's the waitress? Why does her name tag say she's from "The Bay Area"? Isn't she from a town? Pleasant Hill? Alameda? Oakland? Any of those? And there's the bill, and that's paid, and that's over, and the jazz has stopped.
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