California Pizza Kitchen is a casual-dining restaurant serving up California creativity through its innovative menu items in Ann Arbor. Home of the original BBQ Chicken Pizza we also feature a wide variety of other pizzas, salads, pastas, sandwiches, gluten-free and vegetarian options, premium wines, beers, and handcrafted beverages not to mention our delicious desserts! Open for Lunch or Dinner, CPK has something for everyone and now we offer catering and delivery.
Chain eatery serving up inventive pizzas, plus pastas & salads in a modern setting.
Taiseer Al Salihi
Our server, Avril, demonstrated exceptional skill in her recommendations for drinks, and I believe she is one of the bartenders. The Martini blueberry lemon drop is an outstanding choice. The manager, Yolanda, who visited us later, was exceptionally courteous and attentive. Furthermore, since it was our inaugural visit, we were treated to a complimentary dessert, which I believe was served by the server, Tay. This was a delightful surprise. We are certainly planning to return.
… moreAileen Bowlby
We were in a bit and we’re told it’d only be 15-20 minutes for us to get a pizza, so we decided to stay. Upon entry we noticed people wearing winter coats while eating in the dining room–it’s that cold. It’s a very clean dining room though. We waited for the waitress to come to our table for about ten minutes and ordered our pizza right then, telling her we were in a bit of a hurry. We waited 40 minutes for a burnt pizza to arrive at our table while noticing workers standing around eating pizza over the pizzas that were being cut for customers, with one of them wiping his mouth repeatedly and never washing his hands. There was a family simply waiting to pay their bill for at least twenty minutes and two different people from their table went up to ask for it about 5-10 minutes apart. There was a line of people waiting at the carryout window, looking bored out of their skulls because they’d been there so long. When we asked to talk to the manager when we saw our burnt pizza, our waitress said he was too busy to come over because he’s the one making the pizzas. He eventually made it over to us and explained that he’d had to send a cook home for reasons he couldn’t share, and was very sorry for the wait and the condition of the pizza after the wait. He was genuine and we felt bad for him because he was visibly stressed. He offered to remake the pizza, but we didn’t have the time. He did not charge us for the pizza, which was appreciated because we couldn’t eat the burnt parts. Our waitress was MIA most of the hour+ we spent there. With training and a dedicated staff, this location can return to it’s heyday via word of mouth, but they have a few things to fix first.
… moreShelby Painter
Had a great experience! Had my son’s 5th birthday party here and it was amazing! The managers were great help along with the servers! 10/10 kids building their own pizzas and 6 original pizzas! They did appreciate the cake and cupcakesXD
… moreJerianne
We went to order and they didn’t have the pizza we wanted so we had to order an alternative, the chicken dumplings were good and are pictured- we got steamed and fried ( I prefer the fried because of the nice crunch). It had a beautiful flavor and the pizza we got was pretty good too. Mi hermana loved her drink, she got the blueberry lemon drop and said it was really good. She ordered the braised rib pasta but said it tasted like stoffers microwaved pasta dinners, so she exchanged it for a different pasta that was a lot better. So that was the only downside.
We had Justice as our server, who was very sweet and attentive to our needs as we were there.
The vibes inside had low light ambiance and 2016 pop music playing
… moreLionel Wallace
I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) has always been one of those reliable go-to spots for me. It’s consistent, it’s delicious, and it never disappoints.
We’ve got a couple of favorites that are always in the mix. For starters, you can’t go wrong with the Thai Chicken Salad—fresh, flavorful, and a perfect blend of sweet and spicy. My wife is all about the Tequila Lime Fettuccine, and every time she gets it, she raves about the flavor.
As for me, I’m a pizza guy. Sometimes I go with the classic Pepperoni, other times I mix it up with the Pepperoni and Mushroom or The Works. Honestly, you can’t miss with any of those choices. The crust is always on point, and the toppings are generous and flavorful.
What I appreciate most about CPK is that it’s consistent. Every visit feels like a safe bet for a satisfying meal, and that kind of reliability is hard to come by these days. So, kudos to you, CPK, for being that backbone of a spot I know I can count on. You’ll definitely stay in my regular rotation.
… moreSharon Riddle
My friend and I had an extremely frustrating experience at California Pizza Kitchen. From the moment we arrived, we were treated like we didn’t exist. We stood at the front door for 15 minutes without being acknowledged by a single staff member. During that time, other guests walked in and were immediately greeted. I finally had to step forward and say something because we had been blatantly ignored.
Once seated, it didn’t get any better. We waited another 10 minutes just to get water and one glass of wine. We ordered two salads and then sat there for 45 minutes with empty water glasses and no communication from our server—no apology, no explanation, nothing.
When we asked to speak with a manager, we were met with zero reassurance or accountability. The food eventually came out almost 50 minutes later, after we watched nearly every table around us get seated after us and receive their food before us—despite us only ordering two salads.
This was not just slow service; it was complete neglect. No one checked on us, no one cared enough to explain the delay, and the manager did absolutely nothing to make the situation right. For a restaurant like CPK, this level of service is unacceptable. We left feeling ignored, disrespected, and disappointed.
… moreJ “Just a Thought” Thought
We like CPK and will probably not be back after the last visit. Our server was cheerful though at times hard to track down. The two stars for server and overall are because our orders were rung-up incorrectly. The server was aware and did not correct our bills. Had we simply paid our bills without noticing (one in our group did) it would have added over $16 to the bill for four people. They were not the least bit busy at the time and our server was aware before bills were finalized – mistake? If you do go watch your bill, pay attention to drink prices (my plain iced tea was about $4, not sure what others paid for pop) and avoid the soups. We had two of the three offered that day among the folks at our table and they were way overly salted. As for the restaurant request to file our review on a different website, no thank you. You have the information that is pertinent (not sure why you ask everyone to file there review elsewhere but asking customers to do additional work to provide feedback when they are already dissatisfied feels counterintuitive).
… moreJake Todasco
The wait for 2 cook-at-home pizzas was told to us to be 10 minutes but it took over 45.
Granted this was around noon on a weekday.
The irony was that the pizzas are absolutely nothing to write home about and cost almost 20 bucks each.
If you’re going to make homemade pizza you’re better off shopping the frozen aisle.
… morescott d
We stopped at California pizza kitchen for dinner tonight. The restaurant is clean and not crowded. The wait staff was pleasant enough and even offered to bring us bread after we had been waiting for our meal for about 45 mins. The macaroni and cheese was ok however they had cooked my burger way before they made the mack and cheese. Instead of remaking my meal, they redropped the fries and they were hard as a rock. They also recooked the burger and was burnt crispy all along the edges. I only ate it because we were hungry from waiting so long. For the $50 tab, I would expect a decent meal.
… moreAlexander Babin
Pretty decent, but not as good as the Novi CPK location. One of our pizzas was burned, and skimpy on toppings in general. One of our salads was way oversalted as well. Service was good.
… more