California Pizza Kitchen

Imagine my surprise when I learned, after eating the frozen grocery-store version of CPK garlic chicken and BBQ chicken, that it was an actual restaurant with 3 Houston locations! Now, I didn't actually step foot inside one until I was dating a bartender at one of the locations, but I swear this is not a prompted or pity review. The menu is so extensive and diverse, there is really nothing ""ordinary"" or ""boring"" you can order. You can watch them make your pizza, which I always think is cool. And the pizzas are creative. I brought my family once when they were visiting from Louisiana, now every time they come to town they ask to go! My mom loves the Greek salad with salmon added, my MeMaw swears they're the best crab-cakes she's ever had, and I'm obsessed with the Ginger Salmon with noodles and snap peas. You wouldn't expect to get that at a ""pizza"" place, but I always have to explain to people that's it's a nice sit-down restaurant, not just a crappy Pizza Hut buffet. Despite being attached to the mall, it manages to maintain a degree of relaxed atmosphere. The appetizers and desserts are so good, you pretty much have to force yourself to leave room for them. It can be pricey, but it really is the best place to eat in the Memorial mall area. Pros: creative menu items, extensive menu, good decor Cons: attached to a mall more

We came here about a week ago, and I expected things to be so much nicer than they were. I'm not sure if our waiter was having a bad day or what, but he didn't exactly ""wait"" much on us. He did not smile once, he only took our order, brought it too us, and gave us the bill afterwards. No checking up to see how things were, no water refills (I had to ask after being completely empty for about 10 minutes), and not even a thank you as we walked directly past him to leave. The food was a whole other problem. For $15 dollars or so per personal size pizza or other dish, I expected more than what I got. I ordered the Greek pizza, which was very tasty, but also very messy. Because there was no sauce or melted cheese, all the toppings kept falling off. It was a mess. My boyfriend ordered some $11 pasta and we paid an extra $2 for chicken to be added. The pasta was like something I could make at my house, nothing great, and the chicken was almost nonexistent. We literally dug to find some small pieces. I was so upset at the whole experience. For the price, we all could have had a much better experience elsewhere. Pros: A few tasty dishes Cons: Price, food quality, lack of service more