California Pizza Kitchen Lynnfield

Back in the days, I tried the frozen pizzas from California Pizza Kitchen, because they looked good, and was cheap and often on sale. Regardless of how well I followed the instructions, they always come out tasting like cardboard with chicken that was dry, so I finally gave up on them.

They now have a location in the Market Street Complex in Lynnfield. I believe that this is the last new retail area that was built.

There are some high tops in the bar area and there is also seating on the patio.

The dining area was airy and bright.

I had signed up with their Pizza Dough rewards program and was rewarded with a free small plate. I picked the ASPARAGUS + ARUGULA SALAD ($5.99). "Tossed in housemade lemon vinaigrette with sun-dried tomatoes, toasted almonds and shaved Parmesan". The salad was OK, with a pleasant dressing, but there were only about ten small pieces of asparagus included.The paper thin slices of parmesan lacked in flavor, maybe because they were so thinly sliced. You also get bread with a very pleasant dipping sauce. Unfortunately, the bread was soo stale that it wasn't edible. When even the cut side is crusty, you know the bread wasn't freshly sliced.

They offer a Lunch Duo for $10.95. I had to try The Original BBQ Chicken Pizza. "Created here in 1985. Our legendary BBQ sauce, smoked Gouda, red onions and fresh cilantro transform this original to iconic". I paired this with the BAKED POTATO SOUP. "Purée of potato with Nueske’s applewood smoked bacon and scallions". The soup didn't really match the picture, but it was pleasant and tasty. The 7" personal pizza bore no resemblance to the frozen variety and was really good with an excellent light crust that was very tasty. The chicken was tender and moist, and all the toppings were fresh.

When I asked for my leftovers to go, an empty box was dropped off at my table, and to make it even more exciting, the box was too small. Maybe I have to try their frozen pizza again.
Update: The box was an 8" box, so it was the pizza that was too big. I'm not going to complain about that!