THE CPK Experience

Restaurant: California Pizza Kitchen
Location: Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel, Mumbai

Shopping can leave you with an appetite and there’s nothing better than pizza to satiate your cravings. Located in the bustling Phoenix Mills courtyard, right next to seafood paradise, Gajalee, is 'California Pizza Kitchen' (CPK). Relatively new compared to the well-established players like Pizza Hut and Dominos, the place provides a decent fine dining experience with a warm ambience; the wooden furniture contrasts with the bright lighting and is therefore easier on the eyes. We decided to try the place on a lazy Sunday evening.

A point to note is that while its contemporaries such as Domino’s and Pizza Hut attract mainly families, college goers and couples, CPK seems to attract mainly bar food-lovers. Since we walked in at 6 pm, the place was relatively empty and our captain guided us to our booth. The restaurant was relatively empty when we walked in. We started off with some Lemonade and Fresh Lime Soda (Rs. 95 each). The restaurant also has a bar with a separate seating area for the same.

Since we were starving, we ordered the Spicy Chicken Supreme (Rs. 245) with ranch dressing and coleslaw and a 9 inch Chicken Asada (Rs 495). Service was quick. The Spicy Chicken Supreme was heavenly. The chicken pieces were succulent and tasted heavenly with the minty ranch dressing. The Chicken Asada pizza though a little bland, tasted fresh - grilled chicken with cilantros, coriander and parmesan cheese. The side of roasted tomato salsa though left a lot more to be desired.

The pizzas, considering that the place caters to an Indian palate, leave a lot more to be desired. Though the thin crust is excellent and the ingredients fresh, the slight blandness of the pizza does not go well with a palate that is used to fiery pizzas. To be fair, CPK is an international chain and unlike its aforementioned established contemporaries, does not cater to the same markets. This is probably the reason why it does not have Indianised versions of pizza available on its menu. You may not feel it is worth the money if you’re going there looking for the usual Indianised pizzas and pastas.

The staff was very warm and polite. Compared to the prices, the portions served are pretty standard and given that there was nothing new that promised to tickle our taste buds aside from the regular sizzling brownies or cakes on the desserts menu, we decided to call for the bill.

By the time we called for the bill, the place had started getting crowded and so we waited a while for it. With an almost 10% service charge, the bill came to Rs. 1200 inclusive of taxes but minus any desserts. With a little fine tuning on the pricing, the place can cater to the masses too, considering the location. However, if you’re looking for a place to relax, have a couple of starters and chilled beer and watch a football match, this is your kind of place. All in all, it is worth a try.

5 Spice (Fort, Mumbai)

I have been a regular visitor of 5 Spice in Bandra ever since I moved to Mumbai. I love their appetizers, mains and desserts; and find their portion-sizes to be extremely generous! The ambiance of the restaurant is lovely and the staff courteous...And I sing these praises despite the fact that in 5-Spice, Chinese cuisine is not really authentic but comes with a slightly Punjabi touch of flavour. 

This Sunday was my first visit to 5 Spice that is situated in the Fort area. I was looking forward to a good time but alas, I was in for a shock! No, I am not being dramatic. When we reached at 7:45 p.m. there was already a big queue waiting outside the restaurant and we were told that we need to wait for 25 minutes before we get a seat inside. Since most restaurants were crowded owing to Kala Ghoda Arts Festival that was happening, we decided to wait. The 25 minutes actually translated to 45 minutes. I have waited for my turn outside restaurants before but when the duration is specified, never have I had to extend my wait for more than 5 minutes. I was a little irritated especially because only those people who were constantly reminding the maître d’ that they were waiting outside would be called inside. It was only when we saw that people who had come after us were getting seats that we started reminding him that we had been sitting outside for a very long time. Within 10 minutes after that reminder we were escorted to our table. 

It is said that good things always come to those who wait. Unfortunately, this saying was proved false at this particular restaurant. Our table-top was sticky and no one had bothered cleaning the table properly as a result of which, I, myself, began the task of cleaning the rice grains on the table with tissues. After three reminders, a waiter came and swabbed the table but he didn't really do a good job - the tables remained dirty throughout. 

We were not the only ones who were irritated. The man sitting at the table next to us also screamed at the waiters - he had been waiting for his order to arrive for over an hour. As we looked around we saw that we were not the only ones with no food at our table. Most people were just chatting and asking waiters when would their food arrive. Some tables had not even been served water. The waiters were conveniently avoiding looking into the customers' eyes and ignoring the voices that called out to them. There was only one waiter who seemed dedicated enough but he really could not do much! We realized that the waiting-time had been long outside because no one was leaving the restaurant as no one was being served food on time. 

Our order had been taken promptly within 5 minutes of our arrival but they served us after 45 minutes. Waiting outside to get a seat took the same amount of time as getting served inside. I have waited outside restaurants before but the moment you are inside, there has been no delay in service after that. What made it worse was that the quality of food was also not up to the mark. We had ordered a plate of fried chicken wantons. While some of the wantons on our plate were fine, there were some dripping in oil. We were so hungry that we did not have the patience to send it back and wait for a fresh order. The experience with the mains was equally horrid! I have never eaten food that tasted bad at 5 Spice. I have been to their branch in Bandra more than ten times and I have tried most of the items on their menu. Another set of people at the table next to us were also complaining about the food and how bad it was. There was no attempt made to replace the dish - the waiter merely asked them to select something else. 

When we tried pointing out to the maître d’of the bad service, he was extremely rude! Tempers are high usually when a restaurant is over-crowded but being discourteous to guests is unacceptable. Also if a restaurant cannot manage that many people, it should not entertain that number. I have visited 'Pizza Hut' many times - they are alright with having a lot of tables empty but they will not seat guests inside if they do not have the capacity of serving them. My father used to say that you can actually test how good a restaurant is if you go on a busy day. It is only then can you rate their true service. I find myself in total agreement with him after this experience. 

We left more than three-fourth of the mains that we had ordered. Even though we packed it, I knew I was never going to eat it again. I felt extremely guilty giving the food to a beggar - though beggars cannot be choosers, I felt that even they did not deserve to eat the food. 

We had to ask the waiters for a suggestion card at the end of our meal. I mentioned by dissatisfaction and I found all the waiters and managers gathered around reading it. They had rather smug expressions on their face and were treating it as if it was a joke! Whenever I have left comments at any restaurant, if the food has not been good, we have always had someone coming to our table and apologizing or at least asking us to elaborate more on our bad experience. Dismissing the comments so callously actually increased my fury!

 I wasted more than three hours of a precious Sunday evening here and it was a disastrous idea! I would recommend everyone to stay away from the outlet of 5 Spice in Fort. If they wish to enjoy a meal at 5 Spice, they should stick to the one in Bandra or try out other Chinese restaurants.