California Pizza Kitchen at Otay Ranch Town Center

Reviews

• Daniel V.

  star star star star star 7 July 2026

  This was a very good place to eat
  Love the pizza and the environment was very good.......but most of all ...our waitress Cayla was so energetic and pleasant to talk to
  I promise you folks...you love this place

• Elizabeth B.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 2 July 2026

  Someone please help this place! They are going to go out of business because they are giving away free food due to mistakes and mismanagement. I don't know why I keep coming here. Wait... yes, I do know why! It's because I love CPK. Just not this particular one. To say that the service is bad is not fair to the staff that work there. The waitresses are awesome and try their best to be as attentive as they can be but they can only do so much. It's the operations overall that needs attention. The food is ALWAYS served cold and timeliness of service is no existent. (I hope you have cameras in the restaurant. You'll be able to verify everything I'm about to tell you.)
  
  I sat at the bar last night. The lady to my right had to send her pasta back twice because they cooked it with onions after she said twice that she didn't want onions. The two guys to her right were pissed because their pizzas were taking so long.  Twice, people who ordered food to go had to come back because they were missing something or the order was wrong. One man had a son who obviously got an scope of ice cream with his kids meal. The ice cream was completely melted because it was packed with the warm food. By the time they left, it was a milkshake.  The couple behind me sat there for a while before their orders were taken.
  
  My husband and I ordered a Sangria, a coke, pizza and a butter cake for desert. I watched as food sat on the serving line getting cold. An order of Mac and cheese sat so long, a cook had to stir it so it didn't look like it had been sitting there.  Then I saw a pizza that looked like a spicy Italian (what I ordered) go up on the line. I called over to a waitress and asked her if she could check if that was my pizza. Yes, it was! She immediately brought it over and we asked if we could get two plates.  She brought over two plates. One of which was dirty and we asked her to get another one. Ugh...  Ok, by now I've finished my sangria like 20 mins ago and no one has asked me whether I'd like another one. Now my desert is ready... my favorite butter cake.  A waiter brings over the cake and two spoons. I immediately grabbed the top spoon and scoop out a piece of cake and ate it. At the same time, my husband says, "Damn, that spoon is dirty!"   The second spoon had food all over it, which means the spoon I used may have been dirty, too. We call the waitress over.  She apologizes and takes both spoons and bring two other spoons to us. She tells us that she told her manager about the two dirty spoons. All of a sudden the manager is at my side and he says to me, "Ah, you wanted to speak to me?" His intro immediately pissed me off! Instead of saying something like, "hi, my staff just informed me of the dirty spoons you were served, I apologize for that and I will work with the staff to ensure we are double checking the utensils for cleanliness." That's it! But to act like I was bothering you, pissed me off. I replied, "ah, no, I didn't ask to speak to you. I'm sure she told you about the dirty dishes but she brought us new ones so we're good." He apologized and walked off.
  
  By now my husband can't stop reminding me that this is why he doesn't want to come here. I cannot agree more. The two sitting to my right get up to leave and she appears to be annoyed at this point. She said she stopped coming here a year ago and was reminded today why she didn't like to come here.
  
  In the end, the manager comped the entire ticket except for the sangria. It was generous but completely unexpected. I just made me wonder how a business could continue to be profitable when they are giving food away.
  
  Problem #1 There is no bartender at the bar.  The waitress also serves as a bartender. It's so hard for her to manage making drinks and serving regular tables. Problem #2 No one is managing the dissemination of food. I had a perfect seat to watch the kitchen operations. Food would literally sit on the counter for a while and it was not under warming lights. The warming lights had clean dishes stacked underneath it.
  Problem #3 Lack of adequate staff OR appropriate management of staff resources.
  
  Jessica was our waitress/bartender. She awesome! Although she was clearly overwhelmed she was polite and really tried her best to accommodate everyone sitting at the bar while still running to serve customers sitting at regular tables. Again, not her fault that we didn't have a good experience.

• Phuong G.

  star star star star_border star_border 27 June 2026

  Not the best pizza I have had...
  
  I have seen California pizza kitchen around for some time now and thought it's about time I try it out. I actually have bought their frozen pizza a few times from Ralph's, the grocery store.
  
  This location seems on the older side. Not as modern looking as I thought when I walked in.
  
  For their appetizer I tried their fried Mac n Cheese and their Buffalo Cauliflower... the fried mac n cheese was decent, no wow factor for me, literally mac n cheese tossed in some flour and egg and fried. Their buffalo cauliflower was amazing. I would probably come back here just to order that again!
  
  For the pasta, I ordered the chicken garlic pasta. It was decent as well. A little more saucier would have been nice.
  
  For pizza I ordered their carne asada pizza and my favorite pizza when I get it frozen, the spinach artichoke pizza. The carne asada pizza was good but it lacked flavoring to me. There were only a few slices of carne asada on the pizza. It would have tasted better if the carne asada pieces were smaller and placed all over the pizza. The artichoke pizza was my favorite. It tasted great. I really liked the sauce and the toppings used for it, everything went well together.
  
  It took awhile for me to receive my food and even longer for me to able to get my check to pay.. that was not so fun for me.
  
  The waitress was really nice though!
  
  Would I come back for pizza? Probably not. I have tasted some mouth watering pizza and here  is just not it.

• Amaru E.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 19 June 2026

  OMFG. IM SO VEXED AT THIS ENTIRE EXCHANGE. MY PIZZA WAS ORDERED CURBSIDE. IT CAME OUT COLD AND DRY!! It's thinner than a shoe string and lighter than a notebook!! I'm going for a refund. This is absolutely I mean absolutely unacceptable. Paying $20 for a pizza that lacks everything you expect or want from a pizza is more or an insult vs disappointment. This is so sad and I'm not the person to complain about food I usually just go with the flow but I'm going to take time to return here tomorrow and rectify this issue.

• Marco A.

  star star star star star_border 15 June 2026

  Came here on a Sunday at around 1 pm with my family! Our server's name was Megan and she was awesome and addressed all of our needs right away. She went above and beyond to make sure we were alright, and we so appreciated it.
  
  We started with the Spinach and Artichoke Dip, and it was solid. Some of the chips weren't all that crunchy. (The texture of the non-crunchy chips almost reminded me of really stale bread.) But when I ate the crunchy chips, I enjoyed it.
  
  I ordered the Shanghai Bowl, which came with shrimp, forbidden/ black rice, baby broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, carrots and watermelon radish, which is all served in their house made Shanghai sauce. First, the dish looked incredible! Such a colorful dish (which hopefully means that it's packed with nutrition). It was also delicious!