NOW CLOSED: PizzaExpress have a new kids Piccolo menu. Tell them what you think of it and be in with a chance of winning one of two £80 vouchers

[AnnMumsnet]

PizzaExpress is releasing a new kids menu and to coincide with the launch, they'd love you to hear what you think of it.

PizzaExpress say "We know how stressful meal times can be, so we have worked hard on our new Create Your Own Piccolo menu to make sure that your kids can have more choice, they can now even choose a Gluten-free base. We believe in treating kids like mini adults, they should be able to choose exactly what they want and therefore enjoy eating their favourite pizza".

Here's a link to the new menu if you haven?t had the chance to try it out for yourself yet.

So:

~ Have you tried out the new Create your Own piccolo menu and if you have, what did you think of it?

~ If you hadn't seen it yet, what are your initial reactions to the menu?

~ Do you think your kids will enjoy the 'create your own' element of the menu? Will it make them feel more involved and interested in eating the food? What combinations would they choose?

Everyone who shares their thoughts on this thread will be entered into a draw in which two winners will each win a £80 PizzaExpress voucher for a family meal.

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

PS check out their Facebook comp for a chance for your child to win an Italian cookery lesson.

[Lurleene]

That's fabulous news, thank you very much.

[AnnMumsnet]

Thanks very much for all the comments: am pleased to say Firewall and Lurleene both win an £80 PizzaExpress voucher.

[withjamin]

At last there's the option of pasta with butter!
Glad there are more puddings.
Dd1 would like olives in her salad. Is that an option? What about drinks?

[lottietiger]

=Have you tried out the new Create your Own piccolo menu and if you have, what did you think of it?
I havent tried it yet, although feeling hungry now:)
=If you hadn't seen it yet, what are your initial reactions to the menu?
I know its eat out pizza but i thought the menu wasnt amazingly healthy, no fresh fruit option for pudding,veggie sticks for starter or water to drink.Also the extra toppings were a bit confusing, how much were they?
=Do you think your kids will enjoy the 'create your own' element of the menu? Will it make them feel more involved and interested in eating the food? What combinations would they choose?
Yes, definitely although there is nothing out of the ordinary to choose from so the normal would be chosen, prob cheese, tomato & ham.

[dotcomlovenest]

I haven't tried the new menu.
Would like a bit of variety, my children are good eaters and will try anything.
It is nice that they get to eat adult type meals, rather than pizza and nuggets.
Think they all would love to create their own.

[BonzoDooDah]

~ Have you tried out the new Create your Own piccolo menu and if you have, what did you think of it?

No, not been to PE lately

~ If you hadn't seen it yet, what are your initial reactions to the menu?

Quite like the menu - although my children would much prefer ordinary garlic bread than the pizza balls - would be nice to have a choice.
Really good selection of pastas for them, they'd feel very grown up with the Bambinoccino at the end.
The pizza menus aren't particularly child-orientated. not many children I know like olives. And only older children seem to cope with spicy pepperoni

~ Do you think your kids will enjoy the 'create your own' element of the menu? Will it make them feel more involved and interested in eating the food? What combinations would they choose?

Yes - although mine would probably chose pasta - if it was pizza they'd like the choice rather than it being preset.
Mine would have ham and sweetcorn and pineapple and extra cheese.
And as sweetcorn and pineapple aren't on the list they would be disappointed. They're not fussy eaters at all but like most children I know don't like olives (too salty) or pepperoni (too spicy) and are not particularly bothered by mushrooms. And there is already tomato on the pizza so why add that? I think you need to have a wider selection if you are truely going to appeal to the younger children. And older children would probably be eating an adult portion anyway.

[VainViolet]

pizza been off the menu for a while as one of my kids has a severe tomato allergy. This looks quite promising!

[BoyMeetsWorld]

Not yet tried it, but the menu looks pretty good. Only comment is there is no 'seafood' option like tuna which is what my DS likes! It's not even a create your own option.

I think create your own is possibly pushing it a little bit for making the kids feel more involved - I thought it would be more exciting like they could help put the topping on? (or am I reading it wrong & that is what it is??)

Either way, I think it'd be a fan idea if the tomato / cheese base was brought to the table & the kids allowed to place their own topping on - maybe make a funny pattern - before it's taken off to bake

THAT would be cool

The desserts look yummy :)

[footphobic]

~ Have you tried out the new Create your Own piccolo menu and if you have, what did you think of it?

Not yet, but we visit quite regularly so plan to try it in the next week or so.

~ If you hadn't seen it yet, what are your initial reactions to the menu?

I had already seen it via email. I'm glad to see the pizza choice expand and like the idea of the create your own. My four eldest have outgrown the piccolo menu, but I still have a 6 year old daughter who always has it. We have felt it's been in need a bit of an update for a while so good to see changes.

I would have liked to have seen more or different/popular pasta choices, e.g., canelloni/chicken dish/mini lasagne, tried and tested dishes that all of my older children have enjoyed at PE over the years. I'm not convinced about the new added pasta dishes, I don't think they would appeal much to my daughter even though she eats 'grown up' food and she is quite keen to try things.

Our experience of the 'salad' is that though my daughter enjoys salad vegetables and is glad for them to be included, in our experience the portion is always very sad and feeble looking. It could definitely be just a little larger and more appealing to encourage eating of this healthy side dish.

My daughter's favourite dessert has always been the original toffee sundae (with her special toffee chunks!) so she will be sad to see this gone in that format. But hopefully she will find the new ones appealing - they sound nice enough.

~ Do you think your kids will enjoy the 'create your own' element of the menu? Will it make them feel more involved and interested in eating the food? What combinations would they choose?

I'm sure my daughter will try the 'create your own', she's very interested in food and will like this element. I think it would encourage other children too.

Just to add that I would also like to see a range of healthy children's size drinks included within this menu or the main menu.

[Ramblings]

~ We've not tried the new menu but have always loved the kids menu at Pizza Express because it makes the children feel grownup to have all the courses and the bambinoccino

~ I've already seen it via email and thought it looked good

~ My children always ask for their own requests at Pizza Express so making this part of the menu is clever and allows more creativity and individuality

[ArtsMumma]

I haven't tried it but I really do intend to... I have a very fussy little boy who might just try something new if he has some freedom of choice. Too many kids menus are boring processed rubbish.

[Reastie]

Ah, OK, remembered what else I was going to say re: our trip to pizza express yesterday - we asked for a small size drink for DD and was told they don't do one, they only do normal portions - seems a bit silly IMO. We ended up having DH and DD share a juice as no way would DD (age 2) drink a whole glass of juice. We probably would have spent more (ie DH buying separate drink to DD) if small/child portion drinks were available

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

We went yesterday.

The pizza is smaller than it used to be, and the cheese had all gone into a puddle in the middle, quite different to how they used to be, much poorer quality.

My 4 year old ate every scrap of his whole meal, I can see that we will be having to order adult pizzas for him in the next couple of years.

[soundstrue]

~ Have you tried out the new Create your Own piccolo menu and if you have, what did you think of it?

No, not yet.

~ If you hadn't seen it yet, what are your initial reactions to the menu?

Looks good. I think it's great that there is a gluten free option on the pizza.

~ Do you think your kids will enjoy the 'create your own' element of the menu? Will it make them feel more involved and interested in eating the food? What combinations would they choose?

My kids are still young so for the moment they would choose an American pizza. They might like the 'create your own' when they get older.

[Reastie]

Right, I'm back as we went to Pizza Express yesterday for lunch having seen the menu and commented on the thread (and finding out they do gluten free pizzas which I was very excited about ). I had said gluten free pizza and it was nice. I ordered a margarita but asked for it without garlic oil and it came just passata and mozzarella on the top, no basil which would have been nice. We were given the childrens menu for DD but opted for her to have a little bit of ours. She's only 2 and wouldn't eat enough to buy her something specific.

I must admit I'm now a bit confused about the children's menu. There were alot of children there in the restaurant eating food presumably from the children's menu. There was a big table at the back where I saw 2 children rolling out their own pizza dough and shaping it (didn't seem part of a party of anything and only 2 of them) but I never saw anyone else doing this, so I'm wondering why they were and no one else was

[HannahLI]

We havent tried the new menu but I like the look of it and the choose your own option would really work for us. I didn't see the point of the dough balls and side salad I would just prefer dough balls as thats the same as the adult menu. It would be better to offer the side salad with the pizza in my opinion. I also like the gluten free menu we have lots of friends that this would be a great help to!

[mrspink27]

~ Have you tried out the new Create your Own piccolo menu and if you have, what did you think of it?

Tried it tonight - DD1 opted for usual bog standard margarita and DD2 had the bigger rolled thinner... at an extra £1... which irked me a bit as it is just the same amount of dough... just rolled out a bit flatter. She did enjoy it though. They both quite liked the choice of pasta, although again, if you go to Pizza Express - you should really have pizza?! They were both disappointed that the doughballs and nutella has gone from the menu though!

~ If you hadn't seen it yet, what are your initial reactions to the menu?

DD's initial reactions were good - especially at the thought of different desserts.

~ Do you think your kids will enjoy the 'create your own' element of the menu? Will it make them feel more involved and interested in eating the food? What combinations would they choose?

DD1 will probably always be a margarita girl and DD2 might one day add a mushroom or two. Apart from that they are disappointingly unadventurous.

As an aside - I used Tesco vouchers with no issue whatsover to pay for the bulk of the bill which included 2 Piccolo meals.

[moonbells]

Have you tried out the new Create your Own piccolo menu and if you have, what did you think of it?

Hadn't tried it.

If you hadn't seen it yet, what are your initial reactions to the menu?

Still got those dratted doughballs on as the only starter! We all dislike them and so if they don't get eaten they're wasted. Don't like wasting food. Dessert would be nicer if it had fruit with ice cream and not a sickly sauce.

Do you think your kids will enjoy the 'create your own' element of the menu? Will it make them feel more involved and interested in eating the food? What combinations would they choose?

It might be nice to try, DS likes mushrooms and for the past year at P.E. he has been eating a whole adult mushroom pizza and ignoring the piccolo one. He's 5. And a pizza piggie.

I very much suspect he'll still want the big shroom pizza and not the kid's one!

[eteo]

i have not try them yet.

it is interesting but my kids are too young to understand. but i do think it is great. my daughter is very picky as she only eat certain foods.

[MadBannersAndCopPorn]

This is the first time I have seen the menu!

I like the fact that it looks like an adult menu. It's hard to get my 10 year old step-daughter to eat from children's menus as they're often babyish with cartoon characters etc.
She would feel confident ordering from it, like an adult.
We have an 11 month old daughter too and I like the fact she could have something to eat with her fingers or be spoon fed. The fact that there's an option for just a main for babies is great as most places will only provide the menu which is way too much for her.

Again, for a slightly older child, getting that individual attention from a waiter/waitress means a lot. Being able to pick and choose what they have on the pizza means they're in control of what they're eating, and are more likely to eat it. For picky and more adventurous children alike it's a great way to make sure that everyone's happy and eating what they want; which is the point of going somewhere to eat out in the first place!

[snowgal]

~ Have you tried out the new Create your Own piccolo menu and if you have, what did you think of it?

Not had chance yet but hope to get to a restaurant in the near future

~ If you hadn't seen it yet, what are your initial reactions to the menu?

Seems to be a better range of pasta dishes, which suits us well. My son doesn't really like pizza yet (he's only 1.5yr) but loves pasta so the choice of sauces is a great addition. Slightly disappointed that there isn't a fruit alternative for the dessert, he's too little at the moment for me to happily feed him fudge cake or ice cream, I would rather there was a fruit salad/skewer option. Thought I'm sure when he's old enough the current dessert options will go down a storm! Happy with the babyccino, think the boy should be drinking water with meals anyway, I don't want to encourage him to drink juice when we're out and about.

~ Do you think your kids will enjoy the 'create your own' element of the menu? Will it make them feel more involved and interested in eating the food? What combinations would they choose?

I would imagine the "create your own" element adds a little more interest but knowing my niece and nephew they would probably prefer to order something directly off the menu - sometimes choice slows down what should hopefully be a relatively quick meal. I choose pizza express because because it's fresh, and relatively fast food where we can almost start my son's meal instantly, the last thing I need is to be hanging around with a grumbly hungry toddler!

[ChocolateMama]

My kids loved the old Picola menu and having looked at the new one, I think that they will love this one even more. They will really enjoy being able to add things to their pizzas as they are quite fussy eaters and like to be in charge of what they eat! Only problem is, think this will mean even more trips to PizzaExpress for our family as it is the kids favourite restaurant.

[GetKnitted]

We haven't tried out the new menu, but actually we've been asking staff to do the la reine without mushrooms for our (5yo) ds for 2 years now, they've always been happy to, so I was surprised to ability to remove toppings as a feature of the new menu. Ironically (at least in the Alanis Morissette way), we have just converted him to liking mushrooms on pizza, so we won't actually have to ask for any changes next time we go in.

I am really pleased to see that you can order just the kids main, that will be excellent for our 1 yo.

I doubt our ds would make use of the create your own, because it is quite limited, and not to his taste. But our local pizza express lets the kids play with the raw dough and have it cooked, which is a really nice touch and makes for a special night out.

[Belo]

I thought I would come back to say that we have now tried the new menu and it went down well. DD1 (aged 10) loved the fact that you could get balsamic vinegar instead of the butter with the doughballs. She thought it was a healthier choice! So, we liked that.

However, there was some confusion about the extras for the pizza. Both dds wanted to add olives. It looked like from the bill they would be free as it was described as 'on us'. However, when we got the bill we were charged 95p per child. That worked out at .20p per olive. I wasn't that impressed. We were refunded the money in the end as the staff didn't seem to know whether or not we should be charged. I think that needs be cleared up.

[yawningbear]

We haven't tried it yet but we are going on Thursday for DP's 40th, lucky him! It doesn't look that different but more flexibility which is good. Pasta option will be helpful for non pizza lovers and I like that you can just order a main for little ones.

DD would enjoy creating her own I think, she usually goes for La Reine as she is a big olive lover but I think she could be persuaded to try something else so long as olives were involved.