When i was planning my most recent trip to Malaysia there was one place that A mentioned that i have to go to. This place was ‘California Pizza Kitchen’, when she had been on a holiday to south east asia a few years ago she went to this particular chain of restaurants 3 times in 2 weeks. A was raving about how great their chicken salad was. After I received this glowing recommendation I went onto the California Pizza Kitchen website to see a little bit about their history. It turns out that the first location opened in California (unsurprisingly) in 1985 and since then has expanded to over 250 locations around the world.
When I entered California Pizza Kitchen i was greeted by the friendly staff who directed me to a very comfy booth. The first thing I noticed when i sat down was how quiet it was! It was 5:30 on a thursday night and I was the only person in the restaurant! As the night went on a few more people came to dine but I wonder how much business they do as the location isn’t the greatest, its tucked into a little corner of a shopping mall.
While i was looking over the menu i had a very freshing dry ginger ale.
After a short wait my entree arrived. I noticed that near the bar area in the restaurant there is a wood fired stove so I decided to order something that would take advantage of the stove. I went for the wood baked bread which was served with a tomato bruschetta. If I am being honest the bread tasted fairly average, while I liked the little bit of cheese on top the actual bread tasted fairly soft and bland. I do remember that I really enjoyed the side of bruschetta, there was a lot of flavour going on with those tomatoes! 6/10
The main thing that I came here for was the chicken salad, there are a few chicken salads on the menu but I went for the original BBQ chicken chopped salad. Looking at the menu there was only a 4 australian dollar difference in the price of the entree salad and the main salad so I decided to go for the main. I couldn’t believe the size when it arrived at my table! This salad was massive! It was so big that it took me a good 35 to 40 minutes to get through the whole thing. There just seemed to be so many layers in it. the different ingredients in the salad included chopped lettuce, black beans, sweet corn, tomatoes and chicken amongst other stuff. I took my first bite and I was a little bit surprised about how good it was! I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought “I wouldn’t mind making this when i get home”. 8.5/10
My opinions on California Pizza Kitchen are somewhat similar to my thoughts on hogs breath. I know that it’s a chain and its not considered that ‘cool’ to be a fan of chain restaurants but i really enjoyed my time at California Pizza Kitchen. I would like to go there again just to see what the atmosphere is like when its busy and bustling.