PizzaExpress — Restaurant in Scotland

We booked a table for our daughter's 18th birthday and received two confirmation emails. All good so far. On arriving we were told we had to wear face coverings to enter the restuarant and keep them on until the drinks arrived at our table; at which point we could remove them for the duration of our meal.

If you are going to impose such measures then you should inform customers when they book; either by phone or via email and state your covid safety measures on your website. Having failed to do so, can I suggest you offer masks to customers who arrive without one; instead of pointing them in the direction of the nearest petrol station, suggesting they may be able to purchase some there. If our local butchers can offer free disposable masks then surely Pizza Express can?

The idea of having to wear a mask until one's drinks arrive is clearly absurd and not, as staff tolsd us, Scottish government rules(later ammended to Scottish gov. advice; when we pointed out that restuarants are exempt) The policy is clearly Pizza Express's own and has not been thought through. Staff told us Carlisle's Pizza Express is not imposing the policy; so why Scotland if not by gov. order?

We are more than happy to comply with any measures which allow us to eat out after the prolonged lockdown; but these measures surely have to have some practical /health benefit.

It did not help when we saw several customers enter the restaurant and await their drinks and food without being asked to wear a mask. Some members of staff were clearly not enforcing the bizzare mask policy which overshadowed what was supposed to be a celebration.

The food was okay, but...

We recently attended this branch of the Pizza Express and have mixed feelings. We stressed our need for gluten free and vegan, the manageress overheard and assured us they took it seriously, however when our g/f vegan dough balls arrived they not only came with a bowl of butter but also one of the two dips contained milk, had I eaten it and not double checked, I would have been very poorly. Next my pizza arrived with dairy cheese on it. I had to send it back. As I watched the replacement being made I thought I saw cheese going on again, this time it was the vegan cheese, which, upsets my stomach and I do not like and did not order. The poor chef lowered his head at this stage. The third attempt arrived and all was well. The manageress was so upset at what had happened that she not only removed my meal and the dough balls from the bill but, gave us a bottle of red wine that she personally checked was vegan. It is for this reason that I gave three stars. Being coeliac with both an egg and dairy allergy is hard enough as it is without having to stress over and quadruple check, every single detail. We were assured that it would be ok, however the initial waitress who also assured and dbl checked things for us managed to mess it up. We were happy when we left and thank the manageress and chef for keeping me safe, I just wish it was less stressful and straightforward from the start. Coeliac disease and allergies are serious and staff need to be better trained and made aware that actually, for some of us, they...

Can usually easily get a table but you’re going to pay for the privilege!

We came here for lunch on a Tuesday and entered at 12pm, we had to wait to be seated (not sure why we had to wait as there was only one table taken) - we chose a half booth.

We knew there was some free offers if we signed up to the app so my partner signed up and we had a look at the offers.

The waitress came over to take our order, we explained that we wanted to use the 3 courses for £19.99 offer which was fine, we put our order in but she never told us that the deal didn’t include the starter that we chose (dough balls with cheese) so we ended up spending more than we had to.

Our drinks arrived, two glass bottles of Coca Cola (priced at £3.05 each!) these were nice but I was shocked at the price.

The cheesy dough balls arrived and as nice as they were, the cheese was incredibly stringy which my partner struggled with… I’d happily have them again though, they were very moreish.

Our pizzas arrived, we both opted for the Classic Americano but I added chicken and mushroom on to mine - the additional chicken was £2.50 and the mushrooms were £2… 8 SLICES of mushroom for £2 - I really don’t know where they get their prices from…

The pizzas were ok but they both lacked in cheese and the tomato sauce was very overpowering…

In total our lunch came to £46 - very disappointing and I won’t be rushing back, I’d much rather go to Bella Italia or Zizzi - they are a lot better...