California Pizza Kitchen in Boston, Massachusetts: Back Bay Restaurant Review

A few years ago, while visiting friends in Boston, I was brought to this California Pizza Kitchen by my dear old friends for a night of moderately good dining at a non-rich-person price. I thought the pizzas and other menu items were just a touch overpriced, but they made up for it with some very solid artisan pizzas and a really good tiramisu. A good time was had by all, generally speaking.

Upon returning, with expectations of another pleasant dining experience, I was sorely disappointed. Not only does it seem that they've shrunk the pizzas, they've upped the price a couple of bucks, and the place is a lot more crunchy than I remember it being.

This California Pizza Kitchen is in the middle of the Pru, a busy area of Back Bay with an attached full-sized shopping mall (the Prudential Center, thus the name) and two really large "upscale" hotels adjacent as well. I remember that on Friday and Saturday nights this place was packed to the gills, which apparently is still true, but on weekday evenings you used to be able to get in without a wait. Apparently not so anymore.

So, I figured, this means they must have upped the ante in the last few years. Well, not exactly. First of all, let's talk about the dining environment. The place is not exactly "upscale", but for a guy whose dining-out experiences are mostly taquerias and take-out Chinese food, it's close enough to count. It has some nice panoramic views of downtown Boston lit up at night, and a fairly modern and clean interior. Or at least it used to have the latter. Apparently the recession has caused them to lay off half their cleaning staff or something, because it seemed like almost every spot on the floor was strewn with crumbs and spilled stuff, all the booths we saw had some manner of grunge remaining on the table (including the one we settled on, which was the least of the bunch with some relatively hygenic grease smudges), and the dishes and glasses all looked like they were run through the dishwasher inexpertly. Whereas most of the clientele seemed to be young professionals on our last visit, the demographic seems to have switched more to "family night out" with plenty of tykes in tow, which probably explains the increased levels of messes everywhere.

On my previous visit I recall a small pizza being less than ten bucks, which when split up with some appetizers and dessert was good for two people to split. Now they're more like twelve bucks or so, and they're only adequate for one person even with bread as a filler and a big slice of something for dessert. And no, none of us are huge, or have glandular issues. I'd swear on my favorite tie they shrunk the pizzas at some point.

California Pizza Kitchen's deal is that, back in the early 1990s when they came into existence, they hired a famous pizza chef named Ed LaDou to design the menu, and he came up with all these interesting pizza combinations that are actually pretty good, like their BBQ and jerk chicken. The thing is, an idea from a famous pizza chef does not equal your actual pizza being prepared by that same actual pizza chef. From reports from insiders, this place employs almost exclusively teenagers and recent immigrants on work visas at as poor a wage as they can get away with, and it shows in everything from the cleaning, to the wait staff, to the caliber of the food.

So, the end result? Over $20 per head for mediocre food, questionably hygenic environs, a 15 minute wait for a table, snippy waiter service, and not even leaving with full bellies (or pleasantly sloshed.) If you've got money to burn you might not mind throwing it away here, but if you expect a pretty good meal when you drop $20 per person, you're likely to be disappointed with this one.

Oh, and final note - I live in California now, and NOBODY there eats at California Pizza Kitchen. For what it's worth.

California Pizza Kitchen
800 Boylston St. # 155
Boston, MA 02199
#617-247-0888