PizzaExpress — Restaurant in London

Great food - poor and lazy service.

UPDATE Since sending my complaint to the customer service department, I have received a very sincere apology and 2 complimentary main courses upon my next visit. My complaint was dealt with in an exemplary manner and I look forward to returning

On entering the restaurant we were informed that because of how busy they were, food would take about 30 minutes. This was fine and in fact, the food only took 20 minutes to arrive and was of an excellent standard. However, by the time we had finished our main course, the restaurant was now much quieter and no longer busy (no more than 10 people eating in total).

On receiving a dessert menu, we were then left unattended for a further 20 minutes and we had to go and ask someone to come and take our order. Because we were short on time, we ordered dessert and coffee and asked to be brought the bill with the food/coffee. After a further 15 minutes, the desserts came. On asking for the coffee, the waitress told us her colleague had only told her about the desserts. I once again asked if we could have the bill. This time we got the coffee but no bill. I went up to the waitress and said that we had asked a couple of times for the bill and it had not been brought and that as we were in a rush we needed to pay immediately. I was told to "wait a moment" and she proceeded to make coffee for others. There was no awareness of the urgency in my request.

The main issue was that all the staff kept themselves at the far end of the restaurant and did not come round the near end to check on the customers (it should be noted that there were no customers in the far end) and so it was very slow service. While we were understanding of slower service during the busier period, there was no excuse for THREE separate waitresses to be standing at the back of the restaurant and not checking on customers. The fact we had to ask three times for the bill before we could pay is also unacceptable. We were consequently late for a concert we were to be playing in at the Fairfield Halls when we were on course to be there fifteen minutes early.

While the food was fantastic, the service was shocking - from my time working in silver-service, had I been standing at the back of a restaurant rather than actually checking on my customers, I would not have been booked...

Went in on Thursday 29th February at 7.30pm with my 11 year old daughter ( I am a 37 year old woman). I asked for a kids menu for my daughter from the waitress and she ran off and the old foreign manageress ( she claimed to be general manager she wouldn’t give me her name) came running over shouting that we can’t have the kids menu for my 11 year old because you have to be under 8. She spoke to me like I was a child I explained I have ordered my child a kids meal many times before so don’t see what the issue is and that it doesn’t say on the menu I have had previously about being under 8 ( she point blank refused to give me the kids menu so I could see whether the company had made any recent changes) the other customers were all staring at what was going on and the whole thing made me and my daughter feel very uncomfortable . She clearly didn’t want us in the restaurant so we left. I am gold rewards member and eat in pizza express regularly and know for a fact my 11 year old can have the kids menu. On a Thursday I get a free kids meal with an adults meal as part of my gold member rewards. This woman clearly doesn’t want people to use there loyalty rewards so quite frankly it’s false advertisement. After leaving i rang a number of other pizza express’ who all informed me that my daughter can order from the kids menu and this woman is rude and lying and to report her to head office. I have since spoke to someone at head office who have confirmed anyone can order off the kids menu and this woman was lying to me when she said under 8s only. They said anyone can order from the kids menu even adults ( elderly, gastric patients, cancer patients lots of people have little appetites aswell as the kids) I don’t know what her problem was but I have reported her to head office. someone like her doesn’t deserve her job and has most likely forced other parents to buy their children adult meals that they not got a chance on finishing when the kids meal Would have been fine thus she is robbing customers and also putting the companies name in dispute when you can’t use your club rewards. I think the woman is just very jealous and bitter to females who are clearly much more attractive then her and was taking her bitterness out on us. Whilst this woman is still working there avoid the place don’t bother...

My good friend Yana and I visited Pizza Express Croydon after terrible service in the Bromley (Wigmore road) Pizza Express restaurant.

From the moment we stepped in the door, we were greeted with warmth and a friendly service from the general manager Yolanda. Her love for giving exceptional customer experience shined as she hand-made Yana’s pizza who wanted to choose her own toppings and it was so fresh, yummy and amazing to see amazing personalised customer service and Yolanda being so dynamic and versatile – to see a general manager know from experience how to do all roles within the restaurant.

From our negative experience at Pizza Express Bromley (Wigmore Road) we were offered as a gesture of good will on the company to dine with them for free at a restaurant of our choice and it was the easiest decision to choose to come back to Pizza Express Croydon.

Once again, we find ourselves back at Pizza Express Croydon where we spend many hours being treated by the friendly, helpful and knowledgeable team at this restaurant (Two friendly female waitresses and one male waiter with dark hair). But what truly set this Pizza Express apart was Yolanda going above and beyond to ensure that our dining experience was perfect. Her attentive demeanour, extensive knowledge of the menu and treating us like VIPS she truly is an asset to Pizza Express and she really is passionate and cares about the customer experience and sets the standard for excellent customer service, leading by example and making the whole experience fun for her guests.

We will be back for more delicious, fresh pizza very soon, thank you to Yolanda and her team at Pizza...