Dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, TriNoma
EDIT: CPK did redeem itself. Read about the 2nd visit on my Multiply. 
I’m a rather stingy person. I think I got it from my dad, who’s makunat to the bones except when it comes to TVs and his much-loved vehicle. The only places you’d see me spend my money freely are bookstores and fast food chains (or food courts), and even then, I’d probably choose the cheapest I could find. Restaurant bills go straight to my dad’s face, especially when the total amount printed is 300 times my pocket money.
After a gruesome fight with stubborn corner dirt and trash at home, my family found its way to Trash to Cash Recycling Market at SM North EDSA parking area. While our garbage pile was impressive, the amount we got for it was not. We got about two to three times more selling our trash to the nearby junk shop than to SM, so boo that! But then, anything for the environment, right? The money’s really just a plus (yeah, right!).
My dad dropped us off at the mall and hurried over to his weekly Svenson seminar at Timog (someone has to manage his hair, after all). The rest of us lounged around our usual table at Burger King while waiting for him, and I stole a couple of hours to dig through piles and piles of books at Booksale.
After the dad arrived, we trudged to TriNoma via the not-so-complete connecting bridge and had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen.
Before the TriNoma branch of CPK, I’ve only visited the one in Glorietta 3 two months ago for the Make Your Own Pizza Adventure they invited me to. It was an okay experience. Food and drinks were great, but the service was, to put it mildly, not so good (I did say mildly, right?).
The family’s dinner last Saturday wasn’t that much different from the first.
As soon as we reached the front of the door to the restaurant, a woman greeted us nicely and escorted us to our table. I loved our place, except that for a family as big as mine, the insufficient space between the table’s edge and the couches proved breathing to be difficult. The inside of the restaurant was dim, lit by yellow, prettily-decorated overhead lamps. Reading inside the restaurant — even the menu — was like watching TV with eyes closed. 
I was pleased with the speedy and prompt service…until a certain family of three occupied the table in front of the one across ours. The waiter made chismis with them for, like, forever. Apparently, the old couple and their son were regulars and familiar faces to even the manager. In my mind, it wasn’t an excuse to ignore our calls. My dad had to wait for an iced tea refill for about 15 minutes just because the man who was waiting our table was hanging around the other family’s table. Because I was annoyed, I noticed everything wrong right away. Like, in the span of those 15 minutes we [im]patiently waited for the refill, dear waiter had refilled the glasses of the ones from the other table twice — glasses that weren’t even near half-empty! We went so far as to say our request to the woman waiting the table at the back row, but in turned out that the requests were delivered straight to the one who was in charge of our table — who was, evidently, unavailable as he was too busy getting all sipsip to the other family. She even nudged him twice just to remind him that we were practically tapping our feet in annoyance before he budged. UGH! So frustrating! The dinner that started out fun went downhill from then on. I’d understand if there were lots of diners, but as I had observed, he was waiting only two or three tables, all in the same area. Would it be so hard to notice us? >=O
*sighs* Good thing a Slam Dunk marathon was on, else I’d throw a fit. But anyway, let’s move on to the food, shall we?
I loved the Broccoli Sun-Dried Tomato Fusilli. Every baby broccoli was soft to bite, and the entire dish was just plain awesome. It was the cheapest in our menu, but it was the most delicious. Even the Fettucine with Garlic Cream Sauce was perfectly done, but it could get old in one’s tongue when consumed in big servings (cream’s fault, perhaps?). The pizzas weren’t bad either. Why The Original BBQ Chicken pizza was popular in CPK became a trivial matter at the first bite. It was as delectable as Richard Gere and Harrison Ford (not kidding!). The strong flavor (barbecue sauce?) of the pizza assaulted my senses as soon as a morsel of the BBQ chicken entered my mouth. I’d say it’s definitely a must-try. You could wash everything down with an order of bottomless Raspberry Iced Tea, which was refreshingly great.
The food was great…but I’m sure you’d be able to find cheaper restaurants with an even more impressive (and heavenly unhealthy) menu. However, since we’re talking Italian, and since pasta and pizza make a naturally heavy meal, you wouldn’t be robbed at all. You be the judge of that though; MunchPunch has an online menu of CPK, with a price list that badly needs to be has been updated.
All in all, my second visit to CPK was impressive food-wise, and irritating service-wise. I’d be sure to sit far away from that cursed table on my next visit tomorrow.
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