PizzaExpress — Restaurant in Mid Sussex

DO NOT GO HERE IF YOU ARE HUNGRY….. currently writing this review whilst waiting for food inside pizza express East Grinstead. We have been here for an hour and a half so far. Ordered within the first 10 minutes of sitting down. So 1 hour and 20 minutes and counting to serve a table of 4…… We challenged the manager for the wait and was told the reason for the other tables that came in after us being served first was a “mix up” in the kitchen. However minimal staff levels. 2 x chefs, 2 x waiting staff and 1 x manager is clearly not enough to maintain the demand required for a restaurant of this size. After an hour and a half of waiting. We are now being told “bad news, the pizza’s that were cooked for us have been burnt in the oven and they are having to re-do the whole order” and it’s our fault because “asking where our pizza is has put pressure on the chefs so they burnt it” it’s an absolute disgrace. Tables have been left dirty because the waiting staff haven’t got time to clean the tables. I personally wouldn’t let the manager run a bath, let alone a restaurant. At the end of writing this review we are now 1 hour and 40 minutes and counting into ordering 4 pizzas…….. the only positive out of the whole experience is the waitress that originally took our order (Sophie) was nice and provided a good quality service. Unfortunately her reputation will be tarnished by working in an absolute hell hole with terrible management. Sophie needs a job offer from another restaurant who actually cares about their staff and...

When I was growing up Pizza Express was a guaranteed good place for a family meal. Unfortunately this is now not the case and it is always hit and miss one to the other.

I am sad to say that the last few visits members of our family have had to East Grinstead have not been good. Regardless of how busy it is you food is rushed out at the start of the meal, our latest visit had me still eating my starter while my wife had her main brought to the table and we still had all the plates from our starters. We then asked for a delay and then got virtually forgotten about. And this again is a regular thing, after finishing your main it can be an age before someone attends you for any extra drinks, or desserts or even just asking for the bill.

However most worrying, and the reason for the 2 stars is the temperature that children's food is served at. Doughballs on a kids menu will obviously be served to kids. Now this would surely mean that a bit of time would be given for them to cool, or at worst they would be taken out the oven early. Luckily we always check our kids food, but these were so hot we couldn't even touch them. It was that bad it could have meant an injury if a child got hold of one and put it in their mouth. And this is repeated for the mains.

Unfortunately there is so much competition for family money that we will ot now be back to the EG Pizza Express and I would not be able to recommend a trip there...

Bit of a long story, cutting it short, I ordered from this restaurant via Deliveroo on the 26th of October. The rider/driver apparently never turned up, after over an hour I called pizza express quite angry and frustrated, the manager explained the Deliveroo person never turned up. After having a moan at the manager over the phone I hung up and called Deliveroo and cancelled my order. I then called pizza express directly and ordered the food again and explained I would be picking it up myself. The manager to his credit said it would be 15 minutes or less. I arrived at the venue to pick up my order and whilst he was packaging it I did apologise to him for being so frustrated down the phone, the manager to his credit accepted my apology and ended up giving us the food for free due to the mishap explaining he would be claiming the money back from Deliveroo. Hats off to the manager as it was NOT his or pizza expresses fault the food was never delivered nor was he responsible for any of the inconvenience, yet he gracefully accepted my apology and gave the food free of charge. And because of to him and his customer services skills as he dealt with the whole situation beautifully, thank you pizza express and particularly the manager for handing this situation so well. He single handedly turned a terrible expirance into a good...