Lockdown has meant that my reviews have been few and far between; my wife is not entirely comfortable ordering in. She only trusts restaurants she knows, like Nicky Ramchandani’s (@nicky_rr) Streetery by Zen; “these, she says, are restaurants which properly sterilise their food, packaging and…delivery boys”. But her usually rock-solid resolve quickly crumbled when I told her California Pizza Kitchen had opened a delivery kitchen in Motor City. CPK is a family favourite. And the truth is, I think everyone at home is a little fed up with my obsessive cooking…
Separate bags for pizza and salad 
Everything came out of the box before being served, unheard of before lockdown
We ordered through Zomato – Thick crust: The Original BBQ Chicken Pizza and The Works, and Thin crust: Sicilian and Chicken Fajita. The part of each review I would spend on the description and ambiance of the restaurant I guess I now need to dedicate to packaging of the food, cleanliness and speed of delivery. Let’s start with delivery which took double what was originally suggested, an hour and a half as opposed to 45 minutes. The food arrived in plastic bags; salad separate from the pizzas. The delivery boy left the whole lot at the door rather than handing it over to us – social distancing.
BBQ Chicken 
The Works 
Chicken Fajita 
Sicilian
We’ve come to accept delays in deliveries. In fact, I find that lockdown has toned down all our expectations. And everything would have been okay if the pizzas were still hot. They weren’t. All four were room temp at best and dry as a bone. As a consequence, they didn’t taste anywhere near as good as they should. Double whammy because a) this was the first meal we had ordered in for a while and b) it had cost us well over AED300! I appreciate how difficult it is for restaurants/kitchens to function under lockdown but CPK is part of a humungous group and should have all of this figured out. This was inexcusable. I’m sorry but it’s a double thumbs down from me.
#1 Blogger on Zomato Dubai in 2018 and 2019 and beyond…
Xerxes physically dines at, or orders from, each and every venue he reviews. He pays in full for whatever he and his companions eat, drink, take away or occasionally throw at each other. Xerxes accepts no money, gifts, discounts or free meals in return for reviews or favouritism. What you have read was NOT influenced in any way by the venue. Join me on Instagram @ravenousxerxes or email me on xerxes@dellara.com.