by Nick Coons

Dinner and a movie, or a movie and dinner if you want to be chronologically correct, was how we spent this past Independence Day. At the Chandler Fashion Center, the California Pizza Kitchen is just a hop, skip, and a partial jump away from the Harkins Theater. You have to see the menu -- I didn't know there were that many items that could fit on a pizza.

The first thing that caught my attention was the extremely friendly service. Both the hostess and our server were very polite. After sitting for awhile, I noticed the small palm trees etched, or sand-blasted, into virtually every piece of glass in the restaurant.

Our pizza was very good, and we were thrilled with the appetizers as well. We'll definately be going back, as this makes a very pleasant after-movie dinner.

California Pizza Kitchen is located at 3163 W. Chandler Blvd. in Chandler.

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