During special occasions, my boyfriend and I make it a point to celebrate at a restaurant which we haven't tried eating at before. We are no foodie but we're fond of trying out food establishments that's why I thought of sharing with you guys my verdict on some of the restaurants or cafes that we had been able to dine in.

For my 21st birthday, we decided to have dinner in California Pizza Kitchen or commonly known as CPK. Based from the name of the restaurant itself, CPK serves authentic California-style cuisine. It is known for injecting new and innovative recipes and food choices in their menu.

And ofcourse being the usual organized and over-planner that I am, I made sure to research online about food reviews from critics. I took note of the must-try dishes in CPK and those were what we ordered on our visit :)


The Original BBQ Chicken Chopped (PHP 395). This salad is their bestseller according to online food reviews, their printed menu and the server who assisted us. We ordered only a half-order and I'm telling you CPK is very generous when it comes to their servings. The salad had scallions, cilantro, corn chips and jicama topped with chicken breast and drizzled with their signature BBQ sauce and ranch.


Garlic Cream Fettuccine with Chicken (PHP 525 + additional PHP 100 for the chicken). The server would ask if you want to top the pasta with chicken (+ PHP 100) or shrimp (+ PHP 295). This is a no-brainer for me because sadly I'm allergic to shrimp. I loved how the fettuccine was lavishly dredged with their roasted garlic Parmesan cream sauce. It also had about 4 pieces of garlic breads, if I remember correctly, on the side.


Sicilian Crispy Thin Crust Pizza (PHP 695). Since I'm not a foodie as I said earlier, I don't actually know the ingredients of this pizza (LOL) but according to their website, the Sicilian is a combination of spicy marinara with Italian sausage, spicy Capicola ham, salami, mozzarella, shaved Parmesan, basil and oregano. This pizza was just so-so for me. I think it's too plain and has nothing special about it maybe because it had too many salami and I don't like eating salami that much.

Overall, the food was okay but I guess I won't be ordering the Garlic Cream Fettuccine and Sicilian Pizza again the next time we pay a visit to CPK. But I say otherwise for the Orginal BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad. It's one of the best salads that I've ever tasted! I would definitely recommend it to others :)

As for the ambiance of the place, we dined at their branch in Eastwood Mall. The restaurant is located at the Ground Floor, together with Flying Pig and Johnny Rockets, along the restaurant strip in Eastwood. CPK occupies only a small space so the place was really cramped that time because there were a lot of hungry diners. The good thing was no matter how jampacked the place was, the noise level inside was not too loud and the chattering of other customers was bearable :)