California Pizza Kitchen's Vintage Pizza

Yesterday, I dragged myself out of the comforts of my house to go to Trinoma. I "needed" to buy some pasalubong for my upcoming trip to Singapore. It was bed weather so I didn't really want to go out. But being the responsible friend that I am,  and constant reminder to myself to not procrastinate (argh!), I got in my car and drove to the mall.

After meeting up with K and doing all these "chores", we figured and tried CPK's vintage Pizza.

 When we got in, we looked for a place to sit at. The restaurant was a little less than 50 % full and the servers were seemingly bit busy.

After giving us the menu, my friend and I navigated through the different things we wanted.

Got some lemon iced tea (105PHP). Not too sweet just right :D

Ceasar Salad (245PHP /425 PHP)

If you know me, you would know that my family and I frequent Shangri-La Mall rather than Trinoma (or any other mall nearer my place) even if it is an additional 30-45 minutes of traffic time. The place houses cool restaurants, a new wing and is not crowded. It also is the birth place of the first CPK restaurant here in the Philippines. Although no longer in their original spot, some of the original staff are still there. What's cool is that they know us as regulars and could recite our usuals without us telling them.

I have to say, we should have went there and ate at that branch. I had a list of disappointments with the Trinoma branch. Their salad was the first. Under all the cheese and pepper were some greens that could have/ should have been a little more fresh. I was happy with the croutons though as they were crunchy (last time wasn't).

Pecking duck (475 PHP)

 If you ate a few years back in CPK, you would know the different pizzas that were part of the original menu. Some of them are awesome and I would have to say that they shouldn't have removed them from the menu. One of them is this pizza. The pecking duck. True to its name, it has that crunchy and duck wrap flavor one would get from a Chinese restaurant when ordering pecking duck. A little sweet because of the hoisin, it still packs the wonderful flavors that made it a classic.

Chicken Piccata (350/825PHP)

 For our pasta course, K ordered this pizza. She was actually going for white sauce but the mention of chicken breast made her think of this pasta as healthy. Do not be fooled! With all the capers in there, the sodium level of this pasta dish could go of the charts (if you don't have hypertension.. Good for you! But don't risk it). She just removed all the capers and placed them on the side. The pasta was done right. It wasn't too soft and too hard. The sauce wasn't too creamy.

This girl enjoyed her food.

Another disappointment was that the service was patchy. There were times that they would quickly attend to our needs. Sadly during the end of the meal, I asked for the bill and for some leftovers to take out. After getting our change (yes we waited a long time for the bill too), our doggie bag was not yet given to us. Our server, I believe wasn't aware about it since we had asked for the bill and the "to go" request to another server as she was busy. I guess they needed to communicate more about the things that they do.  A little more training would also do the trick.

Budget around 500-600 per person if you want to get stuffed!
Would I return? Sadly I do not wish to return to this branch of CPK. I would rather stick with the one in Shangri-La Mall.This wasn't the first time something like this occurred to me in this branch. If not for the awesome food would have went to another cheaper pizza and pasta place.

Here is their Vintage Pizza Menu.

Oh and yeah, they didn't give me any passport.

 California Pizza Kitchen
Level 3 Trinoma Mall
(632) 9013881
http://www.cpk.com.ph/


Disclaimer: Pardon my train of thought... Just got back from an all night outing (5am). I need a little shut eye. Also i was not paid nor compensated for this post.