To think pizza express has officially lost its charm and is not the same place it once was.

Never understood the attraction 25 years ago, it’s seems so expensive for mediocre food. We fortunately have zero chains in my town and instead 3 good pizza options including one under 5 minutes walk over want a takeaway, my favourite overlooks the water and is cheaper than pizza express, family owned and wine is from their cousins vineyard in Italy, no need for mass chain pizza.

just make your own alternatively, caesar salad takes 5 minutes as long as you have leftover crusty bread, make dough earlier in the day and let dc choose toppings

Like 20 years ago, yep.

My main gripe is it is expensive, and to get money off takes quite a bit of fiddling round on the app and trying to work out which, if any, deals can be used together.

I liked it 25 years ago as a student so it must have been more approachably priced then. And I also liked it when I had two children who were young enough to get the kids menu- it was a nice after school treat and I could have a glass of wine. But tesco clubcard vouchers were worth more then and we had our mortgage with Tesco bank so loads of vouchers!

Not willing to spend £100+ now for the four of us now kids are on the adult meals! So we don't go any more as too pricey for what it is.

30 years ago it did, to be fair.

Honestly I have enjoyed many visits to pizza express. Theres one particular restaurant that went down hill but that was the service and staff and not the food.

but others we’ve been to I can’t fault really. Often use a deal or voucher. Love the dough balls!

those saying it’s cheap - where do you normally eat??

I like Pizza Express - it’s reliably good and DS likes it as well.

My kids' best friends have coeliac. A lot of places their options are so limited, but at pizza express they have pretty much a full choice from the menu. So if ever I'm taking them all out it's my top choice.

I just remembered what I do really like when I go, is their mini desserts with coffee. Now I want a mini Biscoff cheesecake.

About 15 years ago, yes. It used to seem a little upmarket to me in my first job 25/30 years ago, at least a little aspirational and far better than Pizza Hut. It was certainly, in my crowd anyway, a standard place to meet for lunch for young professionals in London.

When my daughters were little it was one of the more fun and child friendly places where the food was decent and reliable. And they did pizza-making birthday parties.

But now there is so much competition and I would want something else if I ate out. I don't mind it though if I do go there.

Yes to the jazz. I used to love Pizza on the Park. Also the Soho branch had live jazz. That was back in the early 80s. I’ve come over all nostalgic now. 😂

I worked there as a teen 20 years ago. The dough came in frozen. The toppings were pre-chopped. All the pasta came in frozen ready meal type tubs. Even the chocolate fudge cake was a packet mix. I think it used to be tolerated because it was clean, relatively cheap and you knew what you were getting. Now it's really expensive even by comparison to much nicer places.

I love Pizza Express, not least as it’s one of the only places my coeliac daughter can reliably eat out whilst we still enjoy a nice meal. The staff are all trained in coeliac awareness and it’s amazing!

It was great 25 years ago. Proper Italian food good wine and a nice ambiance. Now it's not much better than the other pizza chains.

The Pizza Express where we live is always busy, and we like it. We know what we’re getting. The service is good. With the app there’s some reasonable freebies which makes the price ok. We find some of the independent restaurants near us not as great for kids and much more expensive. It wouldn’t be my first choice for a meal just OH and I, but it’s a solid choice for an easy pizza dinner.

For those that like it, download the app.
It takes very little to build up the rewards on there. I think straight away you get something free, and then 50% off kids meals. And then you rate the meal and get free doighbslls next time.
I got to gold status quickly
one child eats free (if you spend over £10). I get free doughballs, soft drink and hot drink and some other bits. My two kids eat, I have doughballs and drinks and we spend £10 usually.

Around your birthday you then get free pizza or bottle of Prosecco.

I dislike it. A pizza costs over £20 and we are a large family. It’s a bill of £250 (yes I have a glass of wine partner 2 glasses) kids have sprite etc. yes they could have tap water.

But I don’t think it actually tastes nice, hard chairs, crammed in, toilets never clean, weird spot bright lighting (you hope you don’t get that chair) and add a good few screams / children crying.

Also a couple of years ago a gold member you would get a cool book, free water etc. now gold member is rubbish pointless really.

I actually don’t like to go there. Weird my partner enjoys it so do the kids - so he takes them most times.

It went down hill after that woman complained about a pornstar martini being on the menu. There was no coming back after that!

It was a treat when I was a Student Nurse 30 years ago ,we used to go to their all you can eat buffet ,whenever we got paid our Bursery

I cashed in my Tesco Clubcard points for a nice meal

I think this and the other deals they started doing were part of the problem. If you’ve had the same thing for half price or ‘free’ with club card points. It starts to look very expensive at full price.
Frankie & Bennys went the same way.

We used to go to Pizza Express a lot when the kids were small and we didn’t have as much choice.
Now we’re spoiled for choice with independent places, I wouldn’t choose it.

I love PE!

I went recently. The food was surprisingly good. The restaurant was busy.

the staff were lovely but not enough of them. The service was too slow.

I can honestly say I’ve never had a bad pizza in pizza express. I always get the same thing and I always enjoy it when I go. Nothing not to like really for me.

I have always quite liked pizza express and I worked there for a few years as a student. I loved getting a free pizza as a shift.

We only go with friends without kids as it’s an easy one for our cinema or we go for a birthday with club card vouchers. So not very often.

I still enjoy the pizza but I do think it’s getting more expensive. I wouldn’t go without a voucher or deal.

The thread got me thinking, what changes would make it better for people or is it just the cycle of brands / chains and eventually they all die off?

I have to agree with you op! I go every couple of months because it's easy with young kids and consistent when we're in different places. On my most recent visit over Christmas it was noticeably more shit even in a branch that we have been to over the years - they didn't have the kids menus to colour in or any hats, the pizzas we usually order weren't the same.

It could have been a supply problem over Christmas but I definitely came away thinking that wasn't as good as usual.

Bought by private equity so owners changed during covid.