Question: Is California Pizza Kitchen any good?
It’s an interesting query, right? The national pizza chain, most often found in malls (but not always) has that same sort of stink on it that places like Olive Garden, the Cheesecake Factory, and PF Changs have. Specialty restaurants that have a focus — though in Cheesecake’s case I guess that focus is chaos — but don’t really nail their concept all that well. Olive Garden’s Italian food would confuse the f*ck out of someone’s nonna, PF Changs originally focused on Chinese food but now has a pan-Asian menu for the sake of variety (and doesn’t do anything particularly well… though that might change!), and the Cheesecake Factory tries to simultaneously appeal to every person on the planet.
So we don’t blame you for writing off CPK as your typical mall chain for people who like basic ass food. I’ve certainly done it!
Pizza from California? Get the fuck out of here, and I say that as a proud native of Los Angeles. I have an older brother who has long been a fan of CPK but he also describes the restaurant as “not a place you go to when you actually want pizza, just a restaurant for food served on bread with melted cheese.” Under that heading, I’ve always been willing to eat CPK. If you want a pizza that has things on it that pizza isn’t supposed to have, like carne asada, or peanut sauce and bean sprouts — it’s your place.
Recently, I had the chance to try all 17 pizzas on CPK’s menu (there are actually 18 but we didn’t review plain cheese) and I don’t know if I agree with that original assessment anymore. Over the years, the chain has made a lot of changes to the core recipe… for the better. Now, if you asked me whether I rather have Dominoes, Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, Round Table, or Little Caesars, I’m going to bring up CPK because they are hands down making better pizzas than any of the other national chains.
But which CPK pizza is best? We’re here to answer that question by reviewing and ranking all 18 pizzas on the menu, from the least essential to the most delicious. Let’s dive in!
But first… a word on the dough!
All of California Pizza Kitchen’s pizzas are made using the same dough (with the exception of the Cauliflower crust, which I will cover later in this article) and since we’re about to talk about the tasting notes of 18 pizzas, I’m not about to mention said dough 18 different times so I’m just going to talk about it in one big review here.
A few years back CPK completely revamped its dough recipe. The original dough featured a noticeable amount of sugar and was flattened into a perfect circle with a pizza press. As a result, the dough had absolutely no character, no air bubbles, no imperfections, it didn’t really come across as pizza — so much as an android’s idea of pizza. The best pizza is hand-stretched. The little imperfections that arise from human hands forming a pizza are what make a good pie so special and CPK has wisely started to hand-stretch all of their pizzas right before topping them, resulting in a crust that is light and crispy, while still offering that delicious chewy center that you expect if you’re a fan of artisan pizzas.
It’s not the yeasty-ist of pizzas, but it has a nice balance of salt and olive oil. The current form is a huge improvement over the OG and serves as a great base to let the toppings shine. You’re not going to bite into a CPK pizza and taste the sweetness as you might have a decade ago, and that’s a good thing.
Now, on to the ranking!
17 CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN PIZZAS, TASTE & RANKED:
17. Tostada Pizza
What’s On It?
Lettuce, tortilla strips, ranch, and Monterey Jack cheese over a black bean sauced crust with a side of flame-roasted salsa.
Tasting Notes:
As dumb, yes dumb, as this pizza sounds, I was actually surprised at how the flavors came together, but every ranking needs a bottom and the Tostada Pizza is easily the least essential pizza on the menu.
The black bean smear makes for an interesting base, but this pizza is loaded up with so much ranch and lettuce that it tastes more like a watery salad than a pizza, or a tostada. What makes a tostada good is the mix of savory flavors and the crunchy mouthfeel, this pizza has none of that. Instead, it’s mushy and tastes mostly of bitter romaine and creamy ranch. Sure, the tortilla strips provide a bit of crunch but… not enough.
The best part of this pizza is the salsa, which features roasted Serrano peppers and charred tomatoes, offering a spicy vegetal explosion of flavors. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really feel integrated with the build of the pizza and for that, it’s hard to consider the two entities as one thing.
The Bottom Line:
It doesn’t taste like a tostada or a pizza, instead, it tastes like a subpar salad. Skip it.
16. California Club
What’s On It?
Nueske’s applewood smoked bacon, grilled chicken, mozzarella, avocado, wild arugula, fresh tomatoes, basil, and romaine tossed in lemon-pepper mayo.
Tasting Notes:
I don’t know why CPK insists on turning dishes that already exist (Tostadas, Club Sandwiches) into pizzas, but they can’t seem to stop doing it. The California Club features all sorts of great ingredients, but it’s impossible to eat this pizza without asking yourself, why am I eating it as a pizza and not, you know, AN ACTUAL SANDWICH!!
Seriously, this pie has a lot of good going for it, the smokey and mouthwateringly savory Nueske bacon, the mix of buttery avocado and fresh basil and tomatoes, the tender grilled chicken, but this just isn’t the form factor to enjoy those flavors in. Instead, this pizza falls all over your plate as you take bite after bite.
The Bottom Line:
The flavors are good but the texture is all off. You’re better off enjoying this combination of ingredients the way it was intended, between two pieces of bread, not on top of a pizza.
15. Plant-Based BBQ Chicken Pizza
BBQ sauce, smoked Gouda, red onions fresh cilantro.
What’s On It?
Plant-based chicken, red onions, fresh cilantro, smoked Gouda, on a BBQ sauce smeared crust.
Tasting Notes:
Sweet, slightly smokey, buttery, and peppery… I actually have a lot more to say about CPK’s famous BBQ pizza but I’ll save those words for when I talk about the non-plant-based version of this pizza.
Instead, let’s focus on the plant-based chicken. Does it taste and feel like chicken? Not at all. It has this wet spongey texture that almost crumbles in your mouth and a plant-forward flavor that doesn’t taste anything like chicken. The CPK people told me that some customers act surprised when they find out that this isn’t actually chicken. Sorry, but those people have obviously never eaten chicken before.
If you don’t eat meat, this is a fine way to enjoy CPK’s flagship pizza, but for me, a person who not only eats meat but enjoys it very much, this just doesn’t taste anything like chicken. Still, the rest of the pizza is an absolute pleasure to eat. It almost feels wrong to rank it this low.
The Bottom Line:
If you don’t eat meat, consider ordering this pizza without any chicken at all. If you’ve tricked yourself into actually enjoying plant-based chicken… I suppose try this.
14. Wild Mushroom
What’s On It?
Shaved cremini, shiitake, and portobello mushrooms, scallions, Romano and mozzarella, cracked black pepper, and parmesan on top. Served with a side of white truffle oil.
Tasting Notes:
Okay, we’re officially out of the non-essential pizza territory and now we can talk about the good stuff. How much you like Wild Mushroom is going to be entirely dependent on how much you like mushrooms. I like mushrooms but I don’t love them, so unfortunately I’m going to have to rank this Wild Mushroom lower than some of the other varieties on offer.
Don’t let that fool you into thinking this isn’t good, it’s delicious with a strong mushroom-forward savory flavor that comes across as incredibly satisfying despite being an all-veggie pizza. The mushrooms are shaved paper thin here and cooked right on top of the pizza when it’s in the oven, allowing all of that umami quality to soak into the crust. A drizzle of white truffle oil helps to emphasize that umami quality for a really complex and piquant expression across your taste buds.
The cracked black pepper brings a floral earthiness that compliments the savory flavor perfectly, with the three-cheese blend offering salty, creamy, and nutty notes to bring it all together.
The Bottom Line:
It’s one of the best mushroom pies you’ll ever eat (BOLD! PERHAPS TRUE! FIGHT ME!). The trio of mushrooms used offers a wonderful savory flavor that makes each bite wonderfully satisfying. I like it a lot, but there are other pizzas I’d reach for first.
13. California Veggie
What’s On It?
Broccolini, eggplant, Cremini mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted corn, red onions, mozzarella, and goat cheese, on a tomato sauce-smeared pie.
Tasting Notes:
Here is the deal with the California Veggie, it has a lot of great ingredients on it, and just look at it, it looks delicious, but it just tastes like there is something missing here. And that thing missing is… meat. Now, I don’t say that as some carnivorous maniac who thinks that meat belongs on every pizza — I don’t believe that at all. But this combination of flavors desperately needs something greasy to tie it all together.
It comes across as way too vegetal, each bite has a sort of dullness to it. The mix of mozzarella and goat cheese provides a bit of a salty component, but it all gets soaked up by the mushrooms and eggplant, which makes the individual ingredients salty and doesn’t translate to the pizza itself.
Ultimately it lacks balance and that is its major weakness. Also broccoli on pizza? It’s a better idea in theory than in practice.
The Bottom Line:
If you’re not a vegetarian but this pizza sounds good to you, consider adding some sort of meat to it. It needs a greasy protein to complement the heavily vegetal flavors.
12. Hawaiian
What’s On It?
Tomato sauce, mozzarella, pineapple, scallions, applewood smoked ham.
Tasting Notes:
No matter where you’re ordering it from, the Hawaiian pizza is one of the most polarizing pizza builds ever, but there is a reason it’s available everywhere — this flavor combination just works. You may not like it, and that’s fine, respect, but there is something so delicious about this mix of savory, meaty, sweet, and tangy flavors.
CPK makes a great Hawaiian and that has to do with some seriously premium ingredients. The ham is meaty, sweet, and savory, and pairs excellently with the tangy sweet, and slightly sour chunks of pineapple with long strips of scallions adding a spicy component that works as a counterbalance to the dominating sweet and tart quality. Also, just look at this pizza, it has large foldable shavings of ham and huge slices of pineapple on it, it looks truly excessive but… that’s also kind of a weakness.
By using large pieces of ham and pineapple, this pizza has a structural issue, once your teeth bite into the toppings, they slip off the pizza into your mouth because that’s the path of least resistance. It’s great for a few bites but each slice offers an inconsistent eating experience.
The Bottom Line:
A great Hawaiian pizza with delicious toppings that taste premium, but what this pizza has in its presentation in lacks in delivery. The toppings tend to slide off once you bite into them, eventually leaving you with a pizza that is only topped with cheese.
11. Margherita
What’s On It?
Fresh mozzarella, mozzarella, basil, and parmesan with tomato sauce.
Tasting Notes:
Simplicity is this pizza’s strength. It utilizes just three main components: tomato, cheese, and basil, for the perfect medley of fresh flavors. Margherita pizzas generally come two ways in the states, either the pizza is made using a simple crushed tomato sauce or has slices of tomato spread across it, CPK goes for the former approach and it works in this pizza’s favor.
Everything is perfectly balanced here, this tomato sauce is bright and dominates the initial taste which settles into a salty, creamy, and nutty territory thanks to the combination of three kinds of cheese, and the basil provides a fresh lift on the backend with a subtle mint and black pepper after taste.
Thanks to a thin and crispy dough, this pizza has a lightness to it that makes for a great side dish rather than the main course. This means you could order something else off the menu. Something like another pizza!
The Bottom Line:
Simple, fresh, light, and delicious. Everything a good Margherita pizza should be.
10. Sicilian
What’s On It?
Spicy marinara sauce, Italian sausages, capicola, ham, salami, mozzarella, shaved parmesan, fresh basil, and oregano.
Tasting Notes:
The Sicilian is delicious, it’s a straight-up meat medley thanks to each bite featuring a blend of fennel-forward sausage, spicy and smokey capicola, with a bit of sweetness from the ham and a spicy finish courtesy of the salami and spicy marinara. The savory flavors dance on your taste buds while basil and oregano keep things tasting fresh and not overwhelmingly meaty.
So why is it landing in the chunky middle of the ranking? Because CPK has a handful of other pizzas that feature very similar builds but offer a more interesting combination of flavors. Unfortunately for CPK, they have so many damn pizzas that even some of the great ones are going to land in the middle of a ranking.
The Bottom Line:
A great pizza, especially if you’re looking for a savory mouthful of meat, but CPK makes other pizzas with similar builds that taste a bit better.
9. Five Cheese and Fresh Tomato
What’s On It?
Fresh mozzarella, mozzarella, Monterey Jack, smoked gouda, and Romano with tomato and basil.
Tasting Notes:
I get that CPK feels the need to have a Margherita pizza because its a classic build, but if you’re a fan of Margherita, save your money and order one at a place that specializes in Neapolitan pizza. If you’re dining in the halls of a CPK, however, just get the Five Cheese and Fresh tomato instead! The build is essentially the same, you’ve got the fresh mozzarella and the basil but instead of tomato sauce, you get juicy slices of tomato plus four other kinds of cheese to tantalize your tastebuds.
This pizza is a cheese lover’s dream, it’s salty, creamy, nutty, butty, smokey, and sharp, every sensation that cheese can provide, it’s here in this pizza.
The Bottom Line:
If you want a pizza that delivers the best experience for cheese heads, the Five Cheese and Fresh Tomato can’t be beaten.
8. Roasted Garlic Chicken (On Cauliflower Crust)
What’s On It?
Sweet onions, fresh mozzarella, garlic, parmesan, scallions, cracked black pepper
Tasting Notes:
This is the one pizza at CPK that I tried that was served on the gluten-free cauliflower crust (it’s recommended on the menu!) and I’m convinced that’s the reason it’s ranking here and not much higher. Look, in general, I don’t like cauliflower crust, I don’t have a gluten allergy and I’m not trying to stay away from bread so there is no real reason for me to enjoy cauliflower crust. Having said that, CPK’s cauliflower crust is amongst the best I’ve ever had. It doesn’t get overly soggy like most c-crusts, and it tastes pretty in line with what actual bread tastes like.
I love the flavor of this pizza, the chicken is tender and well seasoned, the black pepper adds a floral element that plays well with the strips of scallions and sweet caramelized onions, and the medley of garlic, parmesan, and fresh mozzarella is creamy, salty and mouthwateringly savory, and I couldn’t help but take bite after bite and dream about how much better it would taste on a pizza dough that wasn’t so chewy and floppy.
The Bottom Line:
A truly fantastic pizza that was held back by CPK’s own recommendation to order it on a cauliflower crust.
7. Spicy Chipotle Chicken
What’s On It?
Chipotle adobo sauce, chipotle chicken, shaved poblanos, Monterey Jack cheese, roasted corn, black bean salsa, fresh cilantro, and tangy lime cream.
Tasting Notes:
The only pizza on CPK’s entire menu that could be characterized as spicy. I love this pizza, the mix of adobo sauce and shaved poblano peppers create this wonderful mouthwatering spicy base while notes of fire-roasted corn and earthy black beans jump out and dominate the palate.
The chicken here is a bit different than other CPK chicken-topped pizzas, it’s smokier and better for it. To keep the pizza from being entirely dominated by smokey and spicy flavors, CPK adds some cilantro to the top which keeps things fresh and peppery. It’s a perfect journey of flavors for the palate.
The Bottom Line:
Spicy, earthy, smokey, and fresh, this is the sort of pizza that makes the CPK concept so great. You simply won’t find this pizza at any other national pizza chain and that’s a true shame for fans of flavor.
6. Pepperoni
What’s On It?
Rustic and spicy pepperoni, fresh mozzarella, wild greek oregano, tomato sauce
Tasting Notes:
This ranking is starting to get really hard for me because each of the pizzas in the top ten is incredible, what makes one ranked over another are very small nitpicky things. Why isn’t Pepperoni ranked higher? Because it’s just a simple pepperoni pizza, ranking it any higher just feels wrong. And yet… I love this pizza.
I think the pepperoni is a near-perfect pizza build, sure it’s simple, but it’s one of the only single-topping pizzas that most people are happy to eat, that’s power!
What makes CPK’s take on the famous pie is the two different types of pepperoni. In addition to spicy pepperoni, CPK uses large four-inch cuts that are hand torn and thrown on the pizza haphazardly. The tears help the edges to crisp up and caramelize in this really delicious way and the two peps together create this great zesty and slightly spicy flavor.
The pepperoni leaks that delicious orange grease that only pepperoni can provide which soaks into the crust and hardens it a bit, creating a pizza crust that is even crispier than usual. The oregano is the perfect herbal finish that helps this single-topping pizza taste come across as complex. Writing about it makes me want to rank it even higher!
The Bottom Line:
It feels strange to order a pepperoni pizza at CPK, like you’re missing the point of the restaurant entirely. Resist that feeling though, because this is simply the best pepperoni pizza you’ll eat at a national pizza chain.
5. The Works
What’s On It?
Italian Sausage, rustic pepperoni, cremini mushrooms, mozzarella, red onions, green peppers, olives, and wild greek oregano, on a tomato sauce crust.
Tasting Notes:
The Works is the pizza I was thinking about when I said that CPK offers something similar in build to the Sicilian but better. Sure, you lose the capicola, ham, and salami which is a real shame, but what you lose in meats you gain in vegetables, and it makes all the difference.
The Italian sausage and pepperoni provide enough spicy, zesty, meaty goodness, while the cremini mushrooms bring an umami quality that makes the meat all the more savory, while red onions, green peppers, and olives bring on a sweet, peppery, and vegetal quality that makes this pizza incredibly satisfying. It hits all the flavor sensations you could possibly want.
It’s insane to me that CPK doesn’t have green peppers on more of their pizzas, though if you made me choose between the green peppers and the roasted poblanos… I’m going poblanos. Had CPK done that for me, this pizza might’ve hit number 1.
The Bottom Line:
The perfect balance between meaty and vegetal, greasy and fresh.
4. Carne Asada
What’s On It?
Marinated steak, fire-roasted poblanos, cilantro pesto, yellow onions, mozzarella, Monterey Jack cheese, fresh cilantro,
Tasting Notes:
The Carne Asada pizza is the sort of pizza that CPK was invented to produce. You’re not going to get there anywhere else, and it’s a real shame because what a f*cking idea putting carne asada on pizza is! I love this — the steak is tender and packed with salty meaty flavors, the roasted poblanos provide a nice spicy and vegetal kick to each bite while the cilantro pesto and yellow onions keep things sweet and fresh.
The pizza is served alongside a housemade salsa verde, which I definitely recommend drizzling on your pizza. It’s not the spiciest salsa out there, but it provides a good amount of heat and a little tang which elevates the charred flavor of the carne asada. You can throw any number of meats on a CPK pizza and they’ll never compare to this beefy blast of flavors.
The Bottom Line:
Smokey, tender, juicy, and meaty. If you’re a true meat lover, you’re going to want the Carne Asada pizza above all others.
3. Mushroom Pepperoni Sausage
What’s On It?
Cremini mushrooms, rustic pepperoni, Italian sausage, basil, mozzarella, and oregano, on a tomato sauce pie.
Tasting Notes:
If you’re looking for CPK’s most savory pizza, it’s the Mushroom Pepperoni Sausage. This classic combination of flavors brings together zesty pepperoni, earthy fennel-forward sausage, and thinly shaved cremini mushrooms for the perfect medley of umami flavors.
The way it presents on the palate is a constantly shifting sensation of meaty flavors that make the mouth water while basil and oregano add a light burn of freshness that lingers on the aftertaste. It’s impossible not to love this pizza, even if you aren’t the biggest fan of mushrooms. The cremini shrooms are shaved so thin that you hardly get any of the texture from them, just the deep umami flavor as it seeps into the dough and accentuates the qualities of the sausage and pepperoni. This could easily be your favorite pizza; it’s not mine, but it’s damn close.
The Bottom Line:
Mouthwateringly savory, this is a near-perfect pizza and just might be your personal number one.
2. Thai Chicken
What’s On It?
Thai peanut sauce, mozzarella, chicken, crispy bean sprouts, julienned carrots, slivered scallions, and fresh cilantro
Tasting Notes:
Choosing between numbers one and two in this ranking was a toss-up, I love this pizza. As far as I’m concerned, CPK exists to give us stuff like Thai Chicken pizza. For the record, it doesn’t taste anything like actual Thai food, but it does use peanut sauce, cilantro, and bean sprouts, which I guess is enough for CPK. I’m always going to be biased against calling this Thai Chicken Pizza because in my neighborhood (Long Beach) there is an actual Thai pizza restaurant that I frequent that makes Thai Curry Pizza and it’s legitimately one of my favorite pizzas of all time. That fact that CPK’s was still able to land in the number two spot — when Thai Curry Pizza exists in my life — is a testament to how good this is.
The false promise of the name aside, everything about this pizza just works. The peanut sauce is sweet with a hint of nutty bitterness and pairs excellently with the tender bites of chicken, while the bean sprouts, carrots, and scallions provide a great crunchy texture to the whole thing and a fresh finish that bounces between sweet and peppery.
Of all the pizzas, this one easily has the best mouthfeel. The only thing missing from this pizza is a spicy component, if it had that, it would’ve easily clinched the number one spot.
The Bottom Line:
One of CPK’s greatest creations. CPK’s Thai Pizza is so delicious that it blows my mind that more national pizza chains haven’t tried to create something similar.
1. Original BBQ Chicken Pizza
What’s On It?
BBQ sauce, BBQ Chicken, cilantro, mozzarella, smoked gouda, red onions
Tasting Notes:
It might be a little basic to put the Original BBQ chicken pizza at the number one spot because this build is the very reason CPK is even a thing. It’s the brand’s flagship pizza, first created in 1985, and so important to the brand that they put “Original” right in the name, implying that before they did, BBQ pizza wasn’t even a thing. We’re not here to debate that but you know what? Credit where credit is due, this pizza is perfect.
The BBQ sauce isn’t quite as smokey as you’d expect, instead, it has an addictive molasses sweetness to it that has a complex depth of flavor that never tastes boring. With a combination of barbecued chicken, smoked gouda, and red onions, each bite of this pizza bathes the palate in sweet and smokey sensations that taste so good that no CPK order is complete without ordering this pie.
Seriously, the next time you’re at CPK order any pizza that appeals most to you, and then also add the BBQ Chicken Pizza to your order as well because no meal is complete without it.
The Bottom Line:
The most essential pizza on CPK’s entire menu. Don’t visit CPK without ordering this pizza, even if you think you don’t like BBQ sauce, order this — it’ll change your mind.
