Pizza Express

Pizza Express is a chain restaurant I have been aware of for a long time, and I’ve heard great things about it, yet I hadn’t ever tried it myself. This changed recently and I was pleasantly surprised!
The restaurant is very white, bright and modern. The smell of Parmesan hits you (in a good way, it doesn’t smell like feet) as you walk in the door. It was a blustery, cold night but the restaurant was cool and comfortable. It’ll be lovely in there in summer.
The staff apologised for how long the starters took to arrive, but I’ll be honest, I noticed no delay! What I did notice was that the presentation was a little messy, but not terrible.
Padana Pizza — I was in the mood for goat’s cheese. It’s something I take random cravings for, and this pizza hit the spot. A thin, crispy pizza with a tomato base, mozzarella, red onions, caramelised onions, lashings of goat cheese, topped with spinach (cause y’know, spinach is good for you) and then drizzled with garlic oil. Goats cheese is very rich, so I couldn’t manage the entire pizza. It was really tasty and I would definitely order it again.
Vesuvio Pizza — This is one spicy pizza. I really loved everything about it. The base is made with sweet potato so it has an orange colour, but it’s still nice and crisp. The base is topped with pepperoni, hot and soft n’duja sausage, mozzarella and loaded with peppery rocket, shaved Gran Moravia cheese and chilli oil. The sausage picked off this pizza and put on mine was pretty tasty. It’s a fairly fiery pizza, but not uncomfortably so. Delicious.
We were pretty full by the end and were pretty sure that dessert was a terrible idea. That was until we discovered the ‘Dolcetti’ section of the menu. Miniature desserts served with coffee. GENIUS.
Semi Freddo Reale — This is a gelato dessert with nougat, praline, marsala wine in a cute little lump, spinkled with chocolate powder. It’s like the gelato equivalent of a tiramisu. It was just to die for! My dad opted for a cappucino, and I have to say, as someone who likes really milky coffee with a lot of sugar to make it bearable, this was beautiful without sugar.
Lemon Meringue Torta — I can’t say no to lemon meringue pie — I love it so much. It was really nice with soft, crumbly pastry, tangy lemon and foamy meringue. But it just wasn’t a match for the gelato. I ordered a latte with my dessert and it was beautiful. It’d have been even more beautiful with the gelato *sulks*.
The food and the service were both excellent, and the restaurant is beautiful with a relaxed atmosphere. I’d definitely recommend trying it — especially if you’re like me and generally tend to avoid chain restaurants aside of those I’m really familiar with. It’s not dead cheap like Pizza Hut, but for quality food it’s not expensive. A great wee midweek treat!

I used to consider myself a fan of what Pizza Express do and perhaps I may end up being again in the future, but not on this occasion.
The good first, it is a chain but I like the way it is done up inside. The service was fine and the olives they gave us for a starter were lovely.
Now the bad — My pizza. I went for the 4 seasons and what a mistake it was.
Pepperoni quarter was burnt and tasteless. On the mushroom piece the mushrooms were raw and it was bland. The anchovies and capers section was horrible. The only good section was the plain cheese which was tasty and seemed to have been well
seasoned.
When you consider all the good pizza places in Glasgow doing 2 for 1 offers and providing great pizzas with innovative toppings, it will be a long time before I am back to PE for the expensive versions they have on offer.