PizzaExpress — Restaurant in London

Such a disappointment. Should have listened to all the negative reviews and avoided this place like the plague. To anyone reading this, don't make the same mistake I did today and give them a chance, the standards are shockingly low, even for a chain. I felt some sort of empathy for the staff there as it was clear they were ridiculously understaffed, this empathy soon faded when their incompetence and lack of customer service skills became evident. The quality of the food was okay, nothing special whatsover. Chewy calamari, warm pizzas and overpriced cokes. Any request we had such as, extra plate or the bill felt like we had asked them for the cure for cancer. All staff looked lost, felt like it was there first time there too. Upon receiving the bill which was obviously incorrect cos god forbid this was going to be a straight forward evening meal out, there was little explanation as to why the mistake on the bill was made in the first place, 0 apologies, just a “so what” attitude. Not to mention during this horrible exchange with useless waiter he attempted to tell us to remember the kids ate free as if telling us we should be grateful. I was never aware that below average staff were the ones who decided who eats free. Last I checked it was the company itself. Will never be visiting again, will also warn anyone who say’s they’re going, unless they want a terrible meal out experience, which if thats the case, Pizza Express Hackney...

Usually, I don’t leave feedback or complaints about restaurant visits because I never really bother too much about it… but this time, Pizza Express on Mare Street was on another level — and unfortunately, not in a positive way.

I visited the restaurant with my daughter and two other mums and their kids after the Hackney Empire CBeebies show, and it was chaotic! No one — absolutely no one — came to our table for 45 minutes. No water, no greeting, no acknowledgement… let alone taking our orders.

There was only one waiter on the floor, running around doing his absolute best. He was clearly stressed but tried so hard not to show it to customers. He was struggling to keep up, and we all felt so sorry for him.

I’m not sure if this was due to cutting staff hours to save money, poor rota planning, someone calling in sick, or other reasons — maybe all of these. But whatever the cause, this young man, Luis, was incredible!

I’m taking the time to leave this feedback to highlight his hard work and effort. He was left in a situation no staff member should have to handle alone.

Thank you, Luis, for looking after us and for doing your best under such pressure. I hope you had a well-deserved day off after this crazy shift!

We truly appreciated you, and I really hope the management takes this complaint seriously and ensures their staff are properly supported in the future. So we, as customers can looked after...

Pizza Express is Pizza Express is Pizza Express usually…apart from this Mare Street location where I’ve been three times this year, before performances at the Hackney Empire. Dined here this week and it was busy but not super busy, and our order was taken fairly speedily. But after about 20 minutes when people who had entered after us were being served before us, it dawned that there was a problem with our order. The restaurant manager, a woman who I think was from Eastern Europe, came by and I politely chased the order and was met with some side eye but no actual words. It was clear that the order hadn’t been put in, but after another 15 minutes some of it started to arrive. my pizza had obviously been sitting out and was barely lukewarm with the cheese on top congealed. When I asked for it to be made right they just put it back in the oven and when it came back it was just a greasy, charred mess. You pretty much know what you’re getting from Pizza Express, but this was just a disaster. We had to ask two times more for some of the sides we ordered. During this time a couple at the table next to us just got up and left after they were pretty much ignored. The manageress clearly didn’t care about...