Pizza Pilgrims Queen's Park — Restaurant in London

We love PP and go often for the great pizza. However, its always a bit chaotic and the service isn't great:

STAFF: The staff is very friendly and kind, but not always well trained and there never seem to be enough people working. (ex: you may be standing at the door for 15 min before someone notices they need to seat you; once you're seated you may wait 15 min until someone comes to the table and you have to ask for water/drinks if you want it).

WAIT TIME: PP seems to prioritize take out orders over in house guests. For example this past time we visited, the table next to us waited 45+ minutes for pizza, and complained. We had to wait 30.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO MANAGEMENT:

1. Train your servers to take care of in house customers using tried and true practices. (Ex: Seat people immediately + bring water + take drink orders right away while you're already at the table; wait on customers before doing "background tasks" like wiping tables, stacking boxes, etc.)
2. Find a solution to take out orders that doesn't impact in house guests. We won't keep coming back (and you'll loose others) if we have to wait 30-45 min for food, because you have too many pizzas going to uber delivery. Have a system to prioritize in house folks first.
3. Pricing: Prices are a bit high considering this is a fast-casual pizza place with declining service. Historically, we loved PP and were willing to pay slightly high prices because the ambiance is nice + service is friendly + you can bring your kids easily. However, as take out has increased, service can't keep up, the experience can actually be frustrating instead of relaxing, and the price isn't always worth the experience anymore. I often leave feeling annoyed. If this remains the case, we'll either go to a fast casual place that's cheap + quick; or we'll pay a little more for a nice place that can provide the level of service we're paying for. Recommend readjusting your business model to deal with this - or you'll loose your in house / local customers. (E.g. if you want to charge relatively high prices for fast-casual with service, you need to provide the service, which is rapidly declining. We'll give it a few more shots...but not too many before we find another fav local place. We're starting to try others already.)
4. Interview your staff / have a restaurant operations consultant do an assessment: My hypothesis is that pizza pilgrims has challenges that are typical for a rapidly growing chain that started small, has had great success, but is struggling to maintain quality with scale + hasn't adopted industry best practices because they don't know exactly how to run a big business. It's a great business that can keep growing - but needs to adjust to its size. Bring in an expert consultant who specializes in scaling restaurants to help with operations. (Choose someone who has done this for a tried and true beacon that has great service at scale). Talk to other rapidly growing businesses about how they scaled without effecting quality, etc.

SUMMARY:

1. Decide if you're a take out place, or you want to serve in house customers. If you want to serve customers, you need to adjust quickly.
2. Staff more waiters to match your seated customers.
3. Train your waiters better to be more efficient and provide higher quality of service through basic 101 best practices.
4. create an ordering system to prioritize in house customers and ensure they don't wait more than 15 min for pizza due...

I’ve been a loyal customer of the Lonsdale Road branch since it opened—dining in, ordering via the app, and through third-party services like Deliveroo. So this feedback comes from someone who’s supported the place across the board.

Last night, a friend came by with his daughter for dinner and ended up spending 1.5 hours from sit-down to departure. The place was clearly overwhelmed and understaffed. I asked him to order me a takeaway pizza while I had a beer next door to avoid the wait. Even that took over 30 minutes.

When I first came to collect, I was told it wasn’t ready yet—fine, that happens. But what stood out was the atmosphere behind the counter. The manager (I believe) at the pizza pass was visibly under pressure and came across as short—not rude to me personally, but clearly frustrated by the situation. I’d have loved a smile, but honestly, I get it. She seems to be doing her best with what little support she has, and that’s worth acknowledging.

That said, the larger issue isn’t with her—it’s with the chain. This location feels abandoned. The site is clearly popular and has potential, but it’s running on fumes while Deliveroo orders keep flooding in and are often prioritised over guests standing right there. That’s frustrating.

You launched as the “cool kids on the block,” but the quality and experience have dipped steadily, reaching a point now where it just feels chaotic. Try grabbing a table—or even a takeaway—on a Thursday or Friday without a booking. Good luck. Not because it’s packed, but because there just isn’t enough staff to run the floor.

I don’t see this level of disorganisation at your flagship branches like Covent Garden. So why is Lonsdale being left behind?

Sort it out—your staff and your customers...

We’ve been loyal customers of Pizza Pilgrims for years — both dining in and ordering delivery — but after today, we’re done.

We placed our usual order (a margherita with extra toppings) through Deliveroo, and it arrived completely missing the basil, a basic ingredient of that pizza. We called the store, expecting a simple apology or explanation — what we got instead was one of the rudest and most condescending customer service experiences we’ve ever had.

The woman on the phone casually said, “Yeah, we don’t have basil today, so that’s why it’s not on your pizza.” No warning, no refund, no apology — just indifference. When we explained that basil is clearly listed and visible on the pizza, she mocked us, saying, “You’re complaining over one basil leaf?” First of all, the pizza usually comes with several. Second, yes — when you pay for something, you expect to receive it.

Then she said, “I’m Italian and margherita doesn’t usually have basil anyway.” Which is not only false — it’s laughable coming from a business that brands itself on “authentic” pizza. And finally, she hung up on us.

No professionalism. No accountability. Just outright disrespect.

This was hands-down the worst customer service we’ve ever received from a restaurant — and it speaks volumes about how little they care about their paying customers. Delivering an incomplete product without notice is bad enough. Dismissing concerns and hanging up the phone? That’s a business we’ll never support again.

Pizza Pilgrims Queen’s Park — you’ve lost loyal customers over a simple issue you chose to handle with arrogance and zero care. Utterly...