Express by Name also by Nature (Pizza Express)

Member Name: Groovee

Product:	Pizza Express
Date:	05/01/04 (208 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: child friendly, quick service, good food

Disadvantages: feel like they rush you

My friend phone Pizza Express to make a booking for 3 adults, 2 children and 3 babies in prams!

When we got there we had a table for 8 with no room for the prams and the staff didn't really make an effort to try and accommodate the prams more helpfully!

Eventually we were all seated, the drinks arrived, food order was taken and things seemed to be going ok! The 2 girls got crayons but only 2 pieces of paper between them for drawing!

The starters arrived with the main course! Luckily they were very accommodating for the Vegans in our group. The doughballs served with Garlic butter just ooooozzzeeeddd deliousness! The pizza's were very hot with 2 vegan pizza's, 1 large and one child sized. 1 mushroom pizza and 1 cheese and tomato pizza as well as a child's pizza! They looked and tasted good!

We mums started to eat when 2 of the babies gave out loud wails of hunger so pizza's were quickly cut up and there were no problems about 2 mums breast feeding although the restaurant was full of business men in suits!

The problem we had was that the waitress seemed keen to get rid of us and kept coming over asking if we were finished when it was obvious that we were nowhere near being finished! 2 of us were finally finished as well as the girls being finished that they then cleared the table. Also removing our poor friends pizza which less than a quater had been eaten! The dessert menu which looked gorgeous was flung at us, and while one child choose chocolate ice cream, which they didn't have only vanilla and the other one choose a summer fruit pudding which did not look appetising and nor did the 4 year old child look pleased with it! Still harrassing us to see if we wanted the bill, the 3rd baby decided it was feeding time and staff very helpfully heated a bottle for us but brought the bottle to the table in the jug of roasting water! In our opinion with 5 children under 5 at the table it was not the safest
thing to do!!

After 3 nappy changes, 2 trips to the toilet finally we gave in and asked for the bill! Money laid down by all of us! The waitress then said we were £13 over in the bill and left the £13 behind! When infact we know that the bill was now £13 short! We rushed the children and escaped before they tried to get the £13 out of us!

Pizza Express offers a wide range of pizza's and toppings. They have a variety of starters such as Garlic Bread, but it's not as we know it. It comes more as sticks and at the restaurants we visit they come interlinked to make a plait sort of bread. Dough Balls are a favourite, as well as Bruchetta and various salads! Most would be suitable for Vegetarians but not vegans. The Starters all range at about £1.85 to about £4.

The pizza's come in all the usual topping such as mushrooms, pepperoni, Ham, Olives, artichokes, anchovies. They are about 7 inches and well and truly feed someone right up. They do a special VENEZIANA pizza which has onions, capers, olives, pine kernels, sultanas, mozzarella, tomato as the toppings. 25p from the cost of your pizza is donated to the Veneziana Fund. These are from about £4 each. A child's pizza can be ordered and you may ask for the pizza to come without cheese. So this would suit Vegans.

You Can also have various salads as well as pasta dishes such as lasange, Cannelloni, Tortellini and Ravoli. These cost from about £4 too!

Puddings are plentiful. Chocolate Cake, Cheesecake, and plain ice cream all feature as well as a variety of Pizza Express specials. These cost from around £2! There is a warning on the menu that the wafers served with the ice cream are not suitable for vegetarians!

They also serve a variety of soft drinks such as Coke, Diet Coke, orange juice as well as alcoholic drinks such as wine, beer, and spirits!

We all felt that although it is called Pizza Express, that when the restaurant is as quiet as what
it was they could have spent more time cleaning the toilets and doing other things than harrassing their customers to leave! Also they could have turned the music down we could hear ourselves talk!

Other times that I have visited Pizza Express, there has been no rush to leave and the atmosphere has been very realxed. It must have just been that day or the waitress which was the problem. I love Pizza Express for eating out and wouldn't hestitate to say yes if offered it!

Summary: