PizzaExpress — Restaurant in England

Absolutely shocked with the service tonight. Me and my partner usually go to the Lexicon but decided after coming back from the airport that we would pop into our local pizza express (1 minute walk) to end our holiday. On arrival, we weren’t greeted by the hostess/manager instead, we were shouted at across the restaurant to follow her. Basically had no interaction or pleasantries but we decided that we would ignore that and hope it can only get better. When our server came over, the greeting wasn’t warming at all and was quite abrupt, ordered our drinks and a jug of tap water (which we never received) we ordered and specifically asked for starters to come out with mains (repeated twice) and also specified my allergy which I wanted to apply to both starters (so they both became gluten free). The waitress did not seem interested in us at all and that didn’t make us feel great but again we moved on. To be fair, it looked like she was the only one working - So maybe she was quite busy but at the end of the day the manager should’ve been helping/supporting her. Our starters finally came out and was incorrect, so one was sent back to be remade (to be gluten free). No apology, instead tried to argue that I said something else and didn’t ask for this to be gluten free. We finished one starter and then the remake came over to which my partner asked the lady how long our pizzas were going to be, as we asked for everything to come out together. She just looked and said she will check and then a couple of minutes later came back and said will be two minutes. Again no apology.

About 10 minutes later, our pizzas arrived, our waitress who dropped them at our table seemed like she couldn’t get away quick enough. Again no service, no asking would we like anything else? My partner wanted chilli oil and tried to look for the lady but ended up giving up because she didn’t return. Instead he went to get a bottle from the side as we clearly realised we weren’t going to be served. Then a member of staff started shouting at him. Then our waitress said to him, that she was going to come over and ask if we want anything else. But was a bit late by then. He felt so embarrassed and quite furious, that he was shouted at by a member of staff because he grabbed some chilli oil, due to lack of service. He returned to the table and expressed that he wanted to leave. So I got up to find the waitress and get 2 takeaway boxes and told her we were going to leave (paying the bill online). She came over and only then started to apologise for shouting at my partner and for all the other things but I made her aware that we appreciate she seems like the only one working but this just wasn’t acceptable and the service was extremely poor. She got the bill and apologised again, but no sign of manager or anyone acting as manager - which I think is pretty awful. The waitress added a discount for our poor experience which I did appreciate but at the end of the day i didn’t complain for this to be the outcome. My complaint was made because I have never been out to dinner with my partner and him being made so upset and furious by the treatment that we have wanted to leave. The fact that no manager came over is not great and we tried to look for her on the way out and was nowhere to be seen. Just extremely shocked with tonight’s experience, no check ins with our food, no apologies for mistakes/issues along the way and no manager to come and address the issue when my partner...

We arrived at 6:55, were spoken to by 7:05 and told that the people at our table were paying the bill - they left at 7:15, and we were seated at 7:18

We were served quickly and the drinks came really quickly - though my brother who just wanted water had to wait ten minutes for a glass to drink it from! The starters came by 7:50 and the first two mains came whilst we were still finishing our starters so we were impressed - until the rest of the mains still hadn't arrived ten minutes later. We asked the waitress who said she'd check, five minutes passed and we asked the waitress again and she came back with the receipt to check what we'd received - evidently to tell the kitchen to cook the 6 mains that we hadn't received! The two people who got their food were finished eating before ours arrived (pictured).

I was quite surprised that we were still expected to pay full price after having to wait 20 minutes for the rest of our food, and our main waiter didn't seem to know it had happened.

It was packed and incredibly loud. Delivery drivers were waiting 10+ minutes and giving up and walking off. I understand it was Saturday evening but if you can't handle being full, maybe don't have as many tables. I don't understand having to wait when we had booked, either make bookings longer so people are actually finished in time for the next booking, or put signs on the table to tell people that it's booked and they need to be gone by a...

Pizza Express is so familiar that it's easy to forget how good it is. The food is constantly inventive, the wine is well-selected and staff are friendly.

On recent visits, we've overindulged on pizzas with excellent sausage,especially the n'duja and chilli-and-fennel. So, this time around, I had the pianta (artichokes, spinach, pine nuts), while my wife had the caprina rossa (beetroot, goats cheese). Both were excellent, with better flavour combinations than you have any right to expect from a chain, although the topping was unevenly spread, which produced dry areas of the pizza.

Desserts are generally superb. My wife had caffe reale, a simple and wonderful combination of mascarpone and fig-and-cinnamon syrup. I had an underwhelming lemon meringue pie, all sweetness and no crispness, and wished I'd had my usual semi freddo reale (nougat, praline, marsala).

Try reserving a table for seven in the evening. You'll feel the tone of the place change, as the families leave and the couples arrive. Eventually, they all leave happy. That's why, despite slight imperfections in the food, this is a five-star review: the inventive menu and pleasant people make this one of our favourite...