California Pizza Kitchen

The renowned American chain providing fantastic food and value.

Three of the happiest words in English are “California,” “Pizza” and “Kitchen,” so it’s no surprise that this casual restaurant is such a hit.

CPK’s two branches are both located in massive shopping centers: the extravagant new Lala Port Yokohama and Lazona in Kawasaki. The latter is most-likely to be the best bet for Tokyo day trippers because the mall is just a couple minutes’ walk from Kawasaki station. The Lala Port branch, on the other hand, requires a transfer at Yokohama station, but its big pull is that it sits in the largest shopping center in Kanagawa.

The Yokohama branch doesn’t accept reservations on weekends. The inside is spacious, with a good amount of room between tables and comfortable booths. The restaurant packed with couples and families, who enjoyed their dinners to the accompaniment of light rock music in the background.

The food is excellent. Healthy seasonings and attractive presentation enlivened everything we tried, and there’s a lot more than just pizza on the menu. From the Pasta Menu, the Shanghai Garlic Noodles, Chinese noodles wok-stirred in a garlic-ginger sauce with snow peas, Shiitake mushrooms, mild onions, red and yellow peppers, baby broccoli and scallions. Its is also available with chicken and/or shrimp. The Roasted Garlic Shrimp, though a bit small-portioned for the price, had ingredients like Roasted garlic, grilled chicken, Mozzarella cheese, mild onions and Italian parsley with a white wine and garlic-shallot butter sauce.

And for dessert, Hot Fudge Chocolate Sundae, had ingredients like Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream, triple-thick hot fudge, fresh whipped cream and a cherry on top. YUMMY!!!

I've been to a CPK before in the Philippines, but I don't recall it being as nice as the one here in Japan. Here, there is a large and friendly wait staff, clean and professional decor, and overall a lovely location. But -- given the name of the restaurant, you'd expect a place a little more casual and inexpensive. Alas, a lunch for two (with 2 mango-flavored lemonade, 1 pasta and 1 pizza) came out to JPY5,300 ($45.30 or Php 2000+). But the food was good, so it was worth it.

As its name suggests, CPK prides itself on pizza, and there are a full two dozen varieties on the menu. For anyone who has overpaid to have a pizza delivered in Japan, the prices at this restaurant are quite reasonable: all the pizzas are under ¥2,000. Options range from classics like mushroom, pepperoni and sausage (¥1,680) and traditional cheese (¥1,480) to Jamaican jerk chicken (¥1,680) and vegetarian with Japanese eggplant (¥1,680). The “Premium Crispy Pizzas” menu, meanwhile, has six entries; we chose the Milan (¥1,980). We’re not sure what “Premium Crispy” refers to, but it certainly isn’t the crust, which was thick and doughy. Topped with two kinds of sausage, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions and fontina, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, this was one of the best pizzas we’ve ever had—abroad.

Though neither of Japan’s California Pizza Kitchen branches are located in the center of Tokyo, both are definitely worth the extra time and effort to go to.

3F Lalaport Yokohama, 4035-1 Ikonobe-cho, Tsuzukiku, Yokohama. Tel: 045-414-2415. Open daily 11am-11pm (LO 10pm). Nearest stn: Kamoi (JR Yokohama line). http://www.cpkjapan.com/