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

[SonnyHoney]

I cashed in my Tesco Clubcard points for a nice meal out this evening.
We had:

• shit pizzas
• shit chicken wings
• a crappy Caesar salad

I used to love PizzaExpress. It was family-friendly dining with nice lighting, Fun kids colouring that didn’t feel really cheap.

Is it just me, or has it really gone downhill over the last few years? I was genuinely disappointed, as it was always a reliable treat.

There are obviously fantastic little local pizzerias we frequent, but PizzaExpress was always that easy option.

We popped into franco manca new years eve with the kids and that was much better and cheaper.

Think it depends on kids too. My kids never liked France manca because it was sourdough and had herbs on things! Also didn’t have standard garlic bread. Might have changed now.

So pizza express was always just easier as I knew they’d eat a decent meal and food wouldn’t be wasted.

I also find the service in my local one is really slow and inattentive. Not expecting anything fancy but shouldn’t need to go find a staff member to order more drinks etc. Doesn’t help that it’s in an old building and the tables are spread across various rooms. I now ask to sit right by the kitchen as it’s the only way to guarantee you won’t be completely ignored. I only go because the kids like it and if you use the app it can be slightly cheaper than the competition. Wouldn’t go there for a fancy meal.

I really like pizza express and our local one has great service.

We went yesterday. I’ve never loved it there, but I don’t like pizza, so there you go.

The kids enjoyed their meals and their pastas were tasty (£8.50 for 3 quite hearty courses), so was happy with that.

I had a tuna Niçoise salad, which at nearly £18 was exceptionally lacklustre. Mostly leaves, maybe half can of tuna, one egg and three new potatoes. Did come with 3 big dough sticks which was good. But £18 for a very basic salad? No, thank you.

The service was bad – very nice waiter but slow. They forgot the kids starters and only served them partway through their mains. Then when the bill came they tried to charge me £13.50 for one of the kids meals, insisting I had ordered the large version – I definitely hadn’t. Didn’t even know they did a large version. I didn’t appreciate them arguing with me as much as they did about it, but they did take it off in the end.

For £70, not worth it.

we also used to go to Prezzo, but all our local ones have closed sadly

It was always quite basic but its been private equity owned for 20 years. Private equity is all about leveraging up a business, extracting as much profit & interest income as possible, then moving on. It doesn't tend to make for the customer having a great deal or a high quality offering.

Costs have rocketed - rents & business rates on premises, energy, staff wages, ingredients. A lot of businesses are still trying to repay debt taken on to survive covid.

If you are trying to have a meal out on a small budget sadly you will get something crap.

i dont think its crap
only issue was timing,
suggest going after the kids have left

much prefer this to a pub meal

Haha I was thinking this - I had it when dd1 was a toddler. She’s nearly 18 now 😆

we took our 14yos swimming (flume place) with friends for their birthdays and went to pizza express - affordable and decent. Would dh and I go there for a date night? No, but it has its place. I’m guessing they’re franchises and vary.

For £70, not worth it.

But £70 is barely anything? 20% of that is VAT that goes straight to the government. So you have £56 to cover:

• all the ingredients
• the wages of the chef, servers and manager
• the energy costs of cooking the food & heating & lighting the restaurant
• cleaning products & bathroom stuff, water bills.
• the rent/lease payments on the restaurant premises and the costs of providing the furniture
• payments for IT software used for bookings, payments & the till
• interest expenses on the debt the business initially takes out to get set up and start trading

They will not be making a massive profit. Pizza express went bankrupt in the US and are restructuring at the moment as they are barely surviving.

Used to be much better 25-30 years ago. It can be convenient but it’s expensive for an average pizza in a chaotic, not particularly clean environment. Service isn’t great either.

THAT SAID, the Soho Pizza Express is excellent, the food is similar to other branches but downstairs there is live music, decent service and a nice atmosphere.

It lost its charm about 18 years ago

Exactly @peridoteage

All the chain restaurants have been financed over the last couple of decades using cheap debt. Now that's come to an end, and other costs have increased, are they even viable any more?

Came here to say exactly the same. If I owned Pizza Express this was not an association which would have pleased me at all.

I think it's expensive because they know about 90% of customers are using the vouchers or their employer is paying. My kids are in their 20s now and they still have a soft spot for PE because of going when they were young. But, Rudy's is definitely the pizza chain of choice now.

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

Local gastro pubs and steak houses, independent restaurants of various cuisines. You don't really getting cheaper than pizza express without going to fast food joints, wetherspoons etc.

Me too! I loved the noci pizza, I would be straight there if they brought it back!

We do go to pizza express quite regularly, as it is one of the few places I can rely on to meet the combination of dietary needs and fussiness in my family.

And to me, too.

Chain restaurants generally are pretty charmless, imo.

We like pizza express. I know my kids will eat the food there so for us that's a win.
They have made a lot of cuts I think. Our nearest did close down and the rewards scheme which was really good at one point has been chopped back (I recall getting a free drink and dessert, free fizzy drink, free dough balls, and a free kids meal as part of the scheme at one point, now I get the kids meal and dough balls).
Service is also quite poor. I am glad you can now pay on the app as trying to get a member of staff over was always hard work. I can only assume they have cut staff down too as a cost saving effort.

What I meant was - PE is expensive. Unfortunately for us my kids won’t eat gastro type foods and we wouldn’t be able to afford a steak house for all of us.

I think it’s a shame it’s gone downhill like some say - tempted to try our fave one soon and see! It was always lovely. Only last year I think. Nice building, great staff, clean and friendly. Was a listed building I think too so did have some charm. Maybe it’s location dependent.

See, this is what I'm talking about. @Nutmuncher .

Like I said in the earlier thread, I've been to La Famiglia, Sale e Pepe, Polpo, Padella. Those are considered to be "sophisticated" Italian restaurants in London, which I happen to frequent because I work here.

But I still go to Pizza Express. I love it .

Surely, SURELY in this day and age, we can love and respect both?

Does that make my palate unsophisticated because I disrespect my tastebuds with Pizza Express every so often?

Back in the dark ages it was great, and reliable. Then Clubcard vouchers and deals made it a good place to take the DC, and they went to a few parties too. DH and I frequented the Live music venues a lot when we lived in London and saw some excellent acts. Tickets were cheap and with antipasto sharing plate and a bottle of red wine were a good date night. The antipasto is long departed, sadly.

It would be my pizza restaurant of last resort these days.

😂😂😂😂

Two weeks before Christmas went with some of my friends to Megan's in (my nearest Surrey town).

Yes it's a chain, but I wouldn't call it charmless.

We went there because we know what we're going to get, we can share lots of stuff, and everyone likes it. We're not Grace Dent and we don't need a new tastebud explosion to talk about, where 50% of the group may be disappointed.

I think Mumsnet loves to rave about "independent" places all the time because its a signifier that where they live is a cut above Basingstoke or whatever.

Ahhh one of my happiest memories is my dad driving us from our Sussex home up to the Dean Street PE one night to listen to some live jazz and letting us order whatever we wanted from the menu as our reward for tolerating it.

I’ve been to two recently. One was really disappointing and wouldn’t go back. The other was tasty pizza, cooked well (cheese not obliterated) would happily go back.