Pizza Express

I’m not sure I’d recommend choosing this place over the variety of other options available in the area, but if, like me, you’re a jet-​lagged traveler stumbling into the nearest place to their hotel that appears to be serving something edible, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. It’s not a fancy restaurant, but it’s no fast-​food pizza either. Prices are, I imagine, par for the course in this area, the service is friendly, and the espresso is excellent. The only real annoyance was the loud music.

When it comes to chains, I have to say Pizza Express hits the spot. Good thin crust pizza — I always have the Four Seasons or Margherita and it never fails to do the job. Can’t say much more than that about the food — it’s tasty?
One thing I have to say though is the service here is appallingly slow. 15 minutes minimum to get your order taken. Food is generally quite prompt and quality is not a problem here. If you want the bill, better ask early if you’re in a rush because it’ll take them another 15 minutes to print off your bill. Add on another 5 – 10 to get the card machine, and you’re easily looking at 30+ minutes spent sitting around waiting!
Once I just joined friends after my dinner, and the server wasn’t too impressed that I was just going to sit there and maybe steal some pizza off my friend’s plate. For some reason, when I said «I’m not eating» when they ordered equated to «I’ll have a Margherita pizza please» (funnily enough happens to be my regular choice anyways. When the food came, a mysterious pizza arrived for me… I wasn’t going to eat it, and so he rather angrily took it away. Thumbs down.
That being said, Pizza Express is still a sold reliable option when it comes to chains in my books. Just wish the service at this branch would be better!

Typical Pizza Express. Pretty decent food, but it’s difficult to get excited about many Pizzas in the UK when you’ve had the real thing so many times.
Service was prompt and polite, food was standard for Pizza Express. There isn’t really much more to say — you get what you expect.

Ich denke mal, jeder kennt das Gefühl… man unternimmt was in einer Gruppe, es ist Mittag, jeder hat Hunger, plötzlich schlägt jemand was vor und man trottet halt hinterher, ohne den Vorschlag wirklich gut zu finden. So war es heute bei Pizza Express…
Tja, und so nahm das Unheil auch seinen Lauf. Eine Kollegin und ich bestellten beide Pizza Four Seasons, dann kam zunächst ihre Pizza, allerdings war auf der Salamiseite überhaupt kein Käse. Das sei halt so, meinte die Bedienung, allerdings nahm sie sie fairerweise zurück. Auch ich wollte dann natürlich überall Käse haben. Allerdings kam meine Pizza dann mit ziemlicher Verspätung und sichtlich angebrannt.
«We had to put it back into the oven for the cheese to melt, that’s why it is well-​done.»
Nach einiger Diskussion bekam ich dann eine komplett neue. War halt trotzdem eher schwammig und fettig, aber was erwartet man auch…
Drum gab’s anstelle einer Service Charge eben nur schöné braune Pennies (auch wenn ich weiß, dass dafür wohl weniger die Kellnerin als vielmehr der Koch das Problem ist).

A light and airy branch, with good service and never too busy so that you cannot get a table unless you reserve. So it is a good option for a business lunch or to catch up with friends in the evening.
Typical Pizza Express food in a good location, and very affordable if you use one of the multiple Pizza Express vouchers or the 50% off the food bill with Tastelondon.

Called in here with some friends as we had some vouchers for pizza, service was pretty slow and wasn’t the best pizza I’ve ever had in Pizza Express — all and all it was pretty average.

Average Pizza Express. My colleague had a salad which was pretty decent. My pasta with pesto was a little greasy. Place is fairly large and gets crowded. Staff service was friendly if a little slow. You know what you are going to get really…

Decent if uninspired food. Tomato and mozzarella salad had good ingredients, and the American hot pie was full of greasy pepperoni as expected. Dough balls are just a twist on garlic bread — anything dipped in garlic butter would probably taste good.

This branch of Pizza Express isn’t any different from the rest, and that means it is as good as the rest. I’ve been here a few times with my friends, with my favourite pizza being the Fiorentina (egg, spinach, etc.).
Up to the 29^th of January, there’s a 2 for 1 offer on any main at most Pizza Express outlets, including this one. And the free main is the more expensive one too! If you really want to maximise this offer, you can get one cheap pizza (about 6 quid) and a more expensive one (10 quid). You’ll need to sign up to get the coupon, but you can just Google for it.
Service is relatively average, and there’s often a queue in the evenings if you arrive 7pm-​ish. NB: One thing to note is that this branch is actually pretty big (because it’s deep) even though it doesn’t look it at first glance.

Despite walking everywhere and sweating like a pig in the hottest summer ever recorded, I still put on weight during my nearly 2 months in London.
I have Pizza Express to thank.
Somewhat of a London institution, I quickly fell in love. And If it weren’t for their friendly service, pleasant and simple atmosphere, delicious food and abundant amount of wine, I would have come back to the States thinner than I had left.
MMM…dough balls and Cannelloni.