Pizza Express

We went in for dinner for a friend’s birthday late on a Friday. The food was fine, but, oh my god, the toilets!
They stank like an Italian sewer. One was out of order. The other two didn’t flush properly. Both showed clear, revolting, signs of having been used by women who were «on the rag». One of the sinks didn’t work either — the tap was broken. Although the floor was clean, that was really the only positive thing you could say about the experience.
By the time I’d escaped the toilets, I felt absolutely nauseated. Which meant I didn’t particularly enjoy my food, and I was feeling fairly worried about the hygiene standards in general (Mum always told me: if the toilets aren’t clean, don’t expect the kitchen to be clean). Fortunately, no upset stomach ensued.

Warum sollte man hier hergehen?
Es handelt sich um eine Touristenfalle vom feinsten, man hat uns eine Tischwartezeit von 20 Minuten gegeben, bekommen haben wir einen Tisch nach 45 Minuten im etwas eigenartig riechenden Keller. Die Pizzagrößen bei normal sind preisleistungstechnisch gut, aber zu klein und der Service zum Vergessen.
Einziger Lichtblick ist der Cider, und die letztendliche Schnelligkeit der Pizzafertigstellung.

Food was OK but nothing special. The crust was a bit soggy. Service was slow and it was hard to get our servers attention even though the restaurant was not very busy. At least it’s cheap eating in London. Good for a student budget.

I’m going to give Pizza Express an enthusiastic «meh». I’d been there a few years back before my palette had (apparently) developed, so I don’t think I realized then that their pizza is pretty basic, and based on their prices, definitely a bit too expensive for the portions and quality.
Still, it’s not bad per se. There’s just way better options out there.

Me and my friend thought it would be a good idea to have a meal there using the buy 1 get 1 free pizza vouchers (cheapest 1 being free) last Monday evening, but as i was nearly half way through my pizza i discovered a hair stuck between the red pepper and the cheese!
it was an inch long (i had to lift the pepper up to check), brown Caucasian hair! that definitely didn’t belong to me as I’m obviously oriental!
we called our waiter over and ex planed what i had found and he apologised and took it away to examine it further then took it to the kitchen to dispose of it, then went downstairs to inform the manageress but whatever he relayed back to her was either mislayed or he didn’t want the chefs to get in trouble as neither of the 2 wore hair nets.
because when the manageress come over to us she said it was «ONLY an eyelash» trying to playing it down like it was no biggy,
but isn’t that still disgusting?!
i said «Noo… it was an inch long brown hair!» but she still insisted it was an eyelash and i insisted it wasn’t
so i said «well then it certainly wasn’t mine!»
she then replyed «but you have mascara on.»
Er… so when did peoples eyelashes grow to an inch long?! and my natural eyelashes aren’t brown their black even the locks on my head are black! and oriental people have black eyelashes… but guess that was not obvious to her.
so it was half decent of them to give me free dough balls with the nutella,
nutella dough balls? does that really suffice for half a pizza? Think not.
and because my pizza was the more costly one they charged us for the one i had but wasn’t it my pizza that had the hair in it…

A friend and I needed to find a place for a quick dinner before heading over to the Lyceum to try to get tickets for Lion King. She had been here before, so I decided to try it out.
There’s a large seating area downstairs, where we were seated. I was amazed by the HUGE selection of food — pizzas, pastas, salads, etc. I opted for a Giardiniera pizza (asparagus, artichokes, mushrooms, fresh red peppers, santos tomatoes, olives and garlic oil on a tomato and pesto sauce). It was DELICIOUS! The pizza was thin-​crust, so despite the size of its diameter, I was able to finish it. I guess I was pretty hungry. The service was really fast! We got our pizzas within 10 minutes or ordering, AMAZING!
Pizza Express is a great place for a casual dinner with friends. Great service, great food!

I was expecting Pizza Hut when we walked in. I was pleasantly surprised (happy sigh). Nice menu selection, decent prices, good service. No complaints at all! Wish we had nicer pizza places like this back home! Sometimes you want pizza but don’t want to have to share a table with an entire soccer team or girl scout troop…

This place can get so busy that I would certainly recommend to book well in advance.
Also, the tables are too close to each other so no privacy at all, and it can even be difficult to move around to go to the toilet, etc.
Other than that, the service is not great, but still a good option for a meal before the theatre, especially with one of the many vouchers going around or the Tastelondon 50% off food offer.

I’ve long been a fan of Pizza Express. I even used to be a member of their ‘club’ but found myself too disorganized to cope with vouchers and getting stamps for eating there so I abandoned that, but still dropped by on a regular basis. Then they introduced the Diavolo pizza just for me (
, but they may as well have!) and the love affair continues.
Came to this branch after rejecting another nearby branch of the same chain, which was dark, playing music more suited to a club and had apparently no-​one to take people to their tables. At this branch however, we were welcomed almost as soon as we came through the door. The general feel was much more civilized and we were taken straight to our table. Much better.
It’s difficult sometimes rating a place like this where the food is generally the same whichever outlet you go to, however if it is possible for the food to be a bit better than expected, then that would certainly be the case here. The wine was good too.
Service wise, I could almost be tempted to knock off a point for pizzas arriving at different times and the usual wait to get the bill at the end, but in the end our waiter had such a pleasant manner, that if anything, the service improved the experience.

The call of the Orange Wednesdays 2-​for-​1 pizza voucher got the best of me, and I visited a Pizza Express for the first time. The atmosphere was much better than expected — very modern, stylish, and open.
The food, though unoriginal, was lovely, and the price only made it all the lovelier. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for the service at this particular chain location. We waited half an hour between the starter and main, and received only a half-​hearted apology. I can only assume that I was not the only one to hear the Orange Wednesdays call, and that the staff were overwhelmed. Our waiter did receive a tip, but only because the food was delicious.

Der Pizza Express ist ein nettes Restaurant unweit des Leicester Square in London.
Als wir ankamen waren keine Tische frei, doch kein Problem, eine Wartenummer später saßen wir geduldig an der Bar. Als sie nach über einer halben Stunde anfingen, Nummern nach unserer aufzurufen, waren wir zwar misstrausisch, doch wir waren zu dritt und vermuteten, dass es sich bei den anderen Gästen um 2 Personen handelte. Nach über 45 Minuten fragten wir dann doch mal nach und es stellte sich heraus, dass wir vergessen worden waren. Schade!
Nach etwa 10 Minuten weiterer Wartezeit wurden wir dann zu unserem Tisch begleitet, und ab diesem Zeitpunkt lief es besser.
Die Karte machte Lust auf mehr, was wir dann bekamen war allerdings nicht so exklusiv, wie die Aufmachung erhoffen ließ.
Die Pizza kam aber recht schnell, schmeckte gut und für Londoner Verhältnisse waren Preise zwischen 7 und 8 Pfund auch in Ordnung.
Das Personal war freundlich aber leider nicht ganz so aufmerksam, als wir versuchten, weitere Getränke zu bestellen.
Hier kann man essen, muss man aber nicht.