California Pizza Kitchen at River Walk

4 Reviews on “California Pizza Kitchen at River Walk”

• Kyle Brown

  So last Tuesday My daughter, her boyfriend and myself decided to check out this new Next Chapter menu at California Pizza Kitchen. We hadnt been to California Pizza Kitchen in over 7 or 8 years. We arrive around 7pm and the place was not to busy for a Tuesday evening so the hostess seated us right away. Within less than a minute our server Blake came over and greets us. My daughter asks about the Strawberry Mango Cooler and decided it sounds refreshing so Blake fills our drink order and proceeds to tell us about the new menu, we ask a few questions and we make our choices.The first thing we order is our Appetizers. I get the Sesame Ginger Chicken Dumplings and she gets the Chicken Lettuce Wrap with Shiitake Mushrooms.First the Dumplings were wonderful! light with just a hint of ginger, not over powering at all. It came with 6 or 7 on the plate I think and that was enough for all three of us. I would defiantly order them again.The Lettuce wraps. I enjoyed the lettuce wrap. But not as much as Taylor, She had two. I Liked the the fact that they didnt skimp on the Shiitake Mushrooms.The Main meal. Here is where I was really impressed with their whole new menu. They may be called California Pizza Kitchen but they have so much more now.I ordered the Ribeye. Yep, you read that right! A Ribeye at a pizza place. Who knew? This was a 12oz ribeye cooked perfect (the way I ordered it). Im already a blue cheese fan, so when I saw it came with a creamy blue cheese butter I was hooked. I like the fact that when it was delivered it was still piping hot, not like it had been sitting around waiting on the rest of the food. I tried the other entrees and will give you their review in a moment but this was by far my favorite and I will return for this steak again.My Daughter ordered the Halibut, now she lived in Alaska and worked at a fishing lodge last summer so she is a bit spoiled when it comes to salmon, halibut & crab. In her opinion this halibut reminders of being back in Ketchikan, AK. Not quite as good as catching it, filleting it and eating it all in the same 12 hours but about as close as you can get. I was lucky enough to get a small sample of the halibut and I have to agree. The halibut was tender but not to flaky and well it had really good flavor it certainly was not fishy.The boyfriend. Being young and a boy played it safe and ordered a pizza. Half pepperoni and half pineapple. California Pizza Kitchen Bakersfield peperoni and half pineapple Pizza Jeremy, not one to give a lot of accolades did say he liked the pizza and after the last pizza place we went to (no names) he was happy they actually put enough topping on the pizza that you could taste the flavor. This individual pizza was so big he had to take some home. This is about as good as it gets coming from this kid.All in all it was a wonderful meal. The service was top notch. We really enjoyed the fact that not only did our server Blake make sure our drinks were never empty but, that the chef him self delivered some of the food and cared enough to check on us. Now before you go thinking it was special treatment, sadly were not that special, I noticed Chef Esteban, Ast Manager Zack and even the GM Frank seem to be taking a real interest in the customers. checking in on them, asking if there is anything they can get you, etc. It was nice to see the attention they payed to all their customers. They offered us a tour of the restaurant. How could we say no. From the prep station to the back area and even the brick oven. We saw it all. during the tour Chef Esteban told us how on days and evenings when they have time they love to take young kids back their and show them how to toss a pizza. As you can see Im a pretty big kid. They showed us how to toss the pizza dough. Must say this was a really fun night with my daughter and her boyfriend.One of the things that stood out to me is over the entrance to the kitchen was the American Flag. I asked the GM Frank, whos idea was it to fly the flag. He said it was his flag and he was proud of it. I was very happy to hear someone proud to display the flag in a public business. This alone goes a long way in my book. Not to mention the fact that they also displayed images of Bakersfield including The Fox Theater, The Clock Tower & The old Chamber Building at the Kern County Museum among other local images. I have not seen many restaurants show as much pride in Bakersfield as I did on Tuesday night from the staff at California Pizza Kitchen.So in the opinion of just another Bakersfield local I would have to say that California Pizza Kitchen gets 5 out of 5 Stars from all three of us.California Pizza Kitchen BakersfieldOhh, I almost forgot. The best part was desert! Ill leave you with this. A picture is worth a thousand. . . Enjoy. Belgian Chocolate Souffle Cake, Butter Cake with Ice Cream & Key Lime Pie

  September 26, 2015, 1:01 pm

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• CP

  CKP. One of my favorite chain restaurants. I appreciate their wide selection of pizzas as well as other offerings for those who want something other than pizza. I get take-out a lot and the service with that is usually very good.

  July 25, 2011, 6:21 pm

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• Peter Wollesen

  Of course CPK offers good pizza. They’re renowned for their unusual flavor combinations on their pizzas. (they may not seem so odd now, but when they were introduced, barbecue chicken pizza and Thai chicken pizza seemed wierd). CPK does not get enough credit for the other stuff on the menu. In my last visit, my father-in-law ordered chicken piccata, which is as good as that served at any other casual dining chain in town. My mother-in-law ordered her favorite Thai chicken salad, which is also quite good. Since my New Year’s resolution involved something about eating healthier, I decided to try the wild-caught mahi-mahi with wok-stirred mixed vegetables. The fish was good, pan-sauted with a light pepper crust. The vegetables were even better- a mix of red bell peppers, broccolini, zucchini, mushrooms, and onions cooked until they were just right.

  April 3, 2011, 12:12 am

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• Adam

  Good Chain. I know it’s a chain but they do a good job of serving food that doesn’t scream chain. I like the food at CPK it tastes good and they have good ingredients and this one is no exception. What I really liked tonight when I went to this location for the first time was the customer service. Our waitress was spot on in every aspect, good on her!:hint: best desert in the place is the kids brownie, no joke.

  August 26, 2010, 4:23 pm

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