California Pizza Kitchen at Lakes at Thousand Oaks

CPK is one of those restaurants that I have known for decades. In that time, I have only been there a handful of times. In the past, I have tried their salads and BBQ chicken pizza. My wife loved this place. This was one of the places she would always suggest for us to go eat that I always rejected. A place she used to eat often before we met, and when the opportunity came, when I wasn't around.

Today, on Mother's Day, I figured I'd take her to it. A place that she held dearly. Based on the review ratings, I figured it wouldn't be bad. Maybe things have gone down hills lately. We came on a Saturday at around 2 p.m., and we were all starving. We tried a handful of dishes and appetizers, and they were all bad.

We got the avocado club roll, which was the only thing that was eatable besides their bread and dipping oil. The 3 tortilla spring rolls were a little too burnt and didn't taste good. My son got the chicken Piccata, and that too wasn't good. I found the fish overall very oily, and the taste wasn't good. I tried the chicken, and that wasn't bad, but the overall dish wasn't good. My wife got the BBQ chicken pizza, which i was looking forward to. I thought the pizza was like eating cardboard. We all tried all of the dishes, and none of us liked the food. I'd say we ate maybe 20% of it.

I hate eating out. Mostly because I hardly find the food good or you end up with bad service or both. It seems that lately we have been out more often, about once a week. Like I said, it is very hard to find good places with good food, good service, and / or reasonably priced. As a result, we end up mostly rotating the same places. I do like to try different places to eat, and are willing to travel for said places. I like to think that I am fair when it comes to rating restaurants. I take everything into consideration, including the price. The most expensive place, the more I expect. On the other hand, I may end up at a hole in the elwall that is expensive but has amazing food. Either way, the cost here is in the $20 range per person, but based on the food, I wouldn't have paid less than $10. The service was good, and we all agreed. The food was bad, not horrible, but closed enough.

Aside from paying a lot of money and leaving unsatisfied and hungry. What made it worse is the fact that my son knew it wouldn't be good. My son eats out a lot, and eats at very good, and it most cases expensive places. I know he is hard to please, and it sucks that I hardly ever take him to a place that he likes, or at least doesn't hate. This time, he said it was a special occasion, and we weren't coming for us. At the same token, my wife loved this place. I am certain neither of us three will ever eat at a CPK again. At this rate, I doubt this place will survive.

I should have turned around and walked away when I noticed that it wasn't busy yet the place looked dirty. I figured maybe we missed the rush hour. The place had a good amount of people so it is still somewhat popular but it never got cleaned. This place isn't a one star place but it is borderline.

The center is being remodeled. The restaurant is in bag shape. My salad was wet and gross. I picked at it. Now I have food poisoning! Don't eat there! It's not worth the pain! Only one server. Never again!

Interesting offer for lunch from 11:00 to 4:00 for $14. You can choose soup with salad, pizza with soup, pasta bolognese with salad. The service was good, the food was tasty, hot, fresh, the waiter was nice and welcoming. The interior is beautiful, the atmosphere is welcoming. I recommend. P.S. We were given cards for a prize draw for the next visit to the restaurant.

DON'T EVER COME HERE! They don't care about you, they don't notice you. We sat there for 10 minutes and no one noticed us or approached us. We got up and left. The worst service ever

California Pizza Kitchen never disappoints! The atmosphere is inviting and vibrant, with a clean and well-maintained environment that makes dining here such a pleasure. The team is incredibly friendly and attentive, ensuring a top-notch experience from start to finish. The perfectly crafted duo specials are a highlight—delicious, fresh, and made with care. Highly recommend for anyone looking for great food and exceptional service!

Kid-friendliness: Kids menu with plenty of delicious options to choose from

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Thai Crunch Salads, Chopped BBQ Chicken Salad, Salad, Thai Crunch

A Thursday night early, 5:30pm, only a few tables occupied. Only decent service but the kitchen was awful! Appetizers followed IMMEDIATELY by salads. The worst was pasta was delivered to the table when our.party requested shrimp and chicken. Took every bit of 30 minutes, with 3 requests to get a new order with shrimp and chicken. POOR. $125 FOR DINNER FOR 4, NO ALCOHOL, AND REALLY NOT A GOOD START TO THE NIGHT AT ALL!

We tried the Ragu because it was not available the last time we were here. I was disappointed. There was almost no sauce, and so much oil that it was hard to eat. Thankfully the Parmesan cheese made it acceptable. We had the chopped salad as well which was good. The pizza was good as well. Service was impeccable. Our server was attentive

Kid-friendliness: Kid friendly but hard to have a nice meal with so many kids yelling

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Salad, Italian Chopped, Butter Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream

We had an event at the Fred Kavli Theater at 7:30 p.m. and arrived around 6:10 to grab a quick bite before heading to the show.

We were seated immediately and while our server did take care of and got us our food, I feel as if the service could have been much better.

For one, the server initially asked if we wanted bread, and we did request it. The bread never came.

The 2nd thing that irked me a bit was we were in a bit of a time crunch (show starts at 7:30, we were there at 6:10) so we tried placing our entire order up front (appetizers, entrées, & dessert), just to make sure everything came out in a timely manner. Our food ended up coming out around 6:50 and after a majority of us were done eating (but not finished), I asked for the bill, just to save a bit more of time. The bill came out and no dessert was on it and it was already around 7'oclock so I didn't want to ask for it again because I didn't want to be late for the show.

Overall, while you could tell the establishment was somewhat busy, you could tell the server did not want to be there and we felt didn't do their best to take care of us. While I understand this CPK, and not a fine dining establishment, I think it's important to create a receptive experience to make it pleasant for everyone.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 2

Great place for dinner. Great service

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Tostada Pizza

My girlfriend and I went for dinner Saturday night and the service was not good from the start. The hostess didn’t even turn around from what she was doing to greet us until we made ourselves known, no one acknowledged us at our table for several minutes, we asked for waters and other drinks and we didn’t get our waters until we asked again, when we finally ordered our food it took so long to be served to us that 2 other families got their food first and they came in after us. My girlfriend ordered soup which she enjoyed and I got the bbq chicken pizza which wasn’t that great. Overall experience could’ve been way better.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 3

Service: 1

They need to hire more servers. The kitchen rocks.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 1

It's 6:19 in the afternoon, I've been sitting in this restaurant for half an hour, no one has brought me the menu or taken my order, I think the service is 0/10. I feel discriminated against, I don't know if because I am Latina they haven't paid attention to me, the other people are being treated normally and they see my table as a zero to the left, my, my, bad service.

Horrible service. Our waitress forgot about us and our food. We would never go back

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 2

Service: 1

Place was buisy but once we sat down the waitress was kind and on spot even with to go box we never had to ask she had box at table before the check so yuppie

Parking: Parking not a problem we’ll light up and just a safe enviorment

Wheelchair accessibility: It’s so important to have access to nice restraint perfect fo birthday dinner for my boyfriend

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Chopped BBQ Chicken Salad, Thai Chicken Pizza

Excellent food quality and service outstanding! Managers are great too! I'm a regular now.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Mushroom Pepperoni Pizza