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.

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

Haven't tried the menu yet

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

Looks great - especially the gluten free options. ds1 is a coeliac and it's nice to have more choices of where we can eat out as a family

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?

Couldn't they always do the 'create your own' ? Sure mine have always ordered pizza without certain toppings. But the gluten free makes it brilliant so we will visit soon.

~ Have you tried out the new Create your Own piccolo menu and if you have, what did you think of it? Liking the look of it especially the choices. Gluten Free is a great option as my friend is limited in where we can eat and now we can all have a wider choice of selection.

~ If you hadn't seen it yet, what are your initial reactions to the menu? Nice to see the make your own and more than just ice cream.

~ 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 will love this. Ds would have as many meat options on while dd would want more cheese.

I haven't tried it out yet. My son isn't 3 yet so we are only just starting to order him a children's meal rather than sharing some of ours, but when we have been before with other families we have shared the kids menu between two children. I like the option to just order a small pizza rather than the whole menu. I agree it would be nice if a drink was included and if there was a fruit dessert option, though we would prob go for ice cream anyway!

The menu looks great, I haven't tried it yet, it is great to see dairy free desert but as my daughter is cows milk intolerant would not be able to have drink and would struggle with cheese it is a shame they don't do goats cheese on pizza

Is this yet another change beyond the two in the last 3 years? I ask for ds's food as we sit down, so I just want a menu that stays the same for a while.so I can tell him what to expect. Dough balls and salad was great for my 4yos, as was a pizza with any one topping so not sure what is new, though unimpressed when at last visit the menu no longer offered plain icecream in choice of flavours, though the lovely waiter then found some anyway - so why not on the menu?

I rarely go to PE any more as it seems such a rip off if you don't have vouchers. And the adult menu keeps getting rid of family favourites - like avocado, mozzarella and tomato salad, and the Four Cheeses pizza, and replacing with more gimmicks. And very variable service.

• No, we haven't seen the new menu before, but do enjoy going to Pizza Express!

• Overall it looks fairly similar to the previous menu, with slightly more choice.

• We have 4 children with different tastes, but they would all find something they enjoy. They certainly love the dough balls and salad. They also love olives as a starter, so that would be good, although they prefer green and the pizza ones have always been black. It might be nice to have a bit more choice on the extra pizza toppings, like sweetcorn and peppers. The pasta options are okay, although mine often prefer just a drizzle of olive oil and grated parmesan, which Pizza Express have happily done for us. What about giving a split meal choice with both pizza and pasta? What about a drink with their meal? Most other restaurants include this in the childrens menu. Otherwise, desserts look good and they love Bambinoccinos!

bluecarrot had a good point, dd1 is 9 and starting to get a bit embarrassed about ordering from the kids menu. Our local Italian just offers kids half size portions from the adult menu, great idea especially for older children.

The main thing I want to know with my nearly 2yo DD is that if she eats a 'kids menu' she isn't being overdosed on sugar/salt and other nasties. If you could put nutritional information on the menu (if McDonalds can do it, so can you, surely?) that would make me feel a bit more comfortable.

Have you tried out the new Create your Own piccolo menu and if you have, what did you think of it?
Not tried it yet.

If you hadn't seen it yet, what are your initial reactions to the menu?
Doesn't look radically different from before tbh, although I can see there is a bit more choice. I'd like there to be a free drink, even if it was just squash. It's a shame there isn't a fruit and ice cream option - that would keep me and the children happy!

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 would undoubtedly like the choosing thing, they love olives for example and always try and nick mine! Not hugely impressed at the extra charge though.

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

No, we haven't tried it but it looks really good. My children are not fussy but they do love a menu and to have the chance to choose something. The more choice the better as they feel like they are being treated as adults and not patronised with chicken teddies and chips. We love Pizza Express pizzas and they both often clamour to go there.

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

No, I hadn't seen it. I like the fact that there is a range of different pastas as well as pizza and that there are established "choices" but they can also make up their own. They love having 3 courses (or 4 with "coffee") and eating alongside the adults so this is a good idea.

~ 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 children are definitely not fussy eaters but they love to be treated to a choice which, let's face it, they only get in a restaurant. I like the fact that the starter is both dough balls (salivating as I type) and some salad bits, providing a good balance. My children will be very torn as to what to choose. Could they have (as in some Italian restaurants) a half and half - half a pizza and half pasta? That would solve everything. I suspect that they will have pizza which is never as good at home. I also think they will want any one of the puddings -all sounds fantastic. In fact....hungry now.

~ Have you tried out the new Create your Own piccolo menu and if you have, what did you think of it?
Haven't yet

~ If you hadn't seen it yet, what are your initial reactions to the menu?
Simple, so good. Too much choice is actually difficult with kids. It's all things they would eat. Luckily they can't read yet as the word 'salad' is currently received with the response 'bleuurgh!' but they really like cucumber, tomatoes, and carrot sticks. Oh yes, carrot sticks would be good.

~ 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 don't think it's such a great thing for my kids, but maybe it's the ages (preschool). We find at the moment that if we detail what's in the food before it's presented they find every opportunity to say 'don't like tomoatoes' or whatever, but if just we present it to them they will happily eat it.
Our approach with menus is to highlight something we know they like the sound of and help them 'choose' that, but we often paraphrase the name to something we know they will be excited about.

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

Doesn't look that different to the previous one... Perhaps more choice of deserts. Was the option of 'create your own' there before? Or, was that Strada that did that? I know one of the pizza chains lets my daughter have olives on her 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?

Yes, my DDs like to be involved in the kitchen and will like being their own food 'designers'. I think they would go for olives and peperoni.

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

Not tried it yet

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

It's a nice menu, well balanced with lots of choice. The only thing I would say is that if you are offering gluten free deserts on the kids menu could you not add a risotto to it too? I look after a little boy who is GF so it would be great to have somewhere I could take them for a nice lunch.

~ 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?

We make pizza's at home and my DD and my mindees love it, it is a great way to talk about food and what is healthy. The most popular would probably be ham, tuna and tomatoes (based on last weeks efforts!)

No haven't seen it / tried it yet but looks very similar to the old menu with just a few minor additions.

My daughter would go for a margherita with olives, then an ice cream sundae.

~ Have you tried it?

Not yet

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

Looks like a definite improvement over the previous. My son (5) is still a small eater, so I particularly like the option of ordering just a child's main without also having to have the starters and dessert. Before my son started school, we went to Pizza Express every week for 4 years as part of a regular Wednesday outing - until now, he has just shared my pizza (last year adding also sharing a dolcetti with me), as he wouldn't have had room for the 3-course version (and I, being small, don't have room for a 3-course adult meal, either!). The old piccolo menu seemed very limited. However, now he might go for either just a piccolo main, or even the full menu (and let me "help" him with his starters and dessert!).

~ 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, my son would definitely appreciate the extra choice. BUT, as he is used to sharing my meals, we would greatly prefer it if the piccolo menu also let him have a mini version of almost any of the standard items that he's become addicted to: for example, the allowed piccolo starters could include a half-portion of the bruschetta, or some of the comparatively priced "Intro" items.

We're vegetarian. We currently cycle through Giardiniera, Fiorentina and Veneziana pizzas. I hadn't noticed the Pomodorino Pesto till now, but that looks good too. He'd be happiest being able to choose a mini version of one of those.

Margherita is still the only main veggie pizza option, but we do appreciate the new option to add extras. However, it's not quite obvious from the menu whether the 4 extra ingredients pictured are the only ones you can add, or just suggested examples? My son loves olives, but thinks he doesn't like mushrooms (though he eats them happily when he doesn't notice them on our Giardinieras!), so he would go for the olives, roast veg and tomatoes as extras if he couldn't just order a mini Giardiniera.

He'd probably also like to try the Napoletana pasta from time to time.

Also, why not let the piccolo menu include any of the mini desserts you currently have in your dolcetti line? My son absolutely adores your raspberry sorbet (and also the figs!)

My dd is going to be gutted there are no dough balls and Nutella on the pudding menu

Interesting that others have never been offered the bambinoccinos, we haven't either, even though it is on the menu. I have asked the children if they'd like one and they have said a resounding no though, they stopped having warm milk when they were toddlers. So we have never felt bothered about the fact that they don't appear, however they should if they are included in the price.

Dough balls and nutella has never appealed either, even though DD loves nutella, she has always preferred ice cream for pudding.

Baked dough balls.... Wtf that's bread surely....

I think the menu looks boring, I would prefer my children to try something new than to teach them that being picky is ok, look you can even do it in a restaurant, so it will be fine when you visit auntie zita, and you don't fancy any of her food.....

No, not tried the menu yet.
It looks good, I think I would have asked to change things anyway if there was something my child didn't like, but I suppose it would be less awkward asking now!
My eldest is probably a bit too young to choose his own toppings at the moment but I would choose for him, as he gets a little older I think he would enjoy deciding on exactly what he wants.

Not tried the kids' menu yet - was there yesterday with my SiL and loved the new Calzones though (despite our poor waiter trying to sell us salads )

DS is 18mo and I haven't taken him to PE since he was really tiny. This menu does look great though - although he's not at the age where he can really choose yet, there is lovely 'real' food on there and as another poster said, serving the dough balls with veggies is really good. Whole meal seems good value too.

I might risk a trip soon - tbh the only thing stopping me is that DS is still at the 'throw food everywhere' stage, which I don't mind, I happily clean it up afterwards and at Pizza Hut I feel confortable doing this, but PE is a bit more formal I think... hmm not sure.

Never go to Pizza express (rarely go out!), but why do we have to have a kids menu? why can't we just have child size pizzas from the adult menu?

DS1 really does prefer grown up food (he's 3btw), so we normally end up ordering 3 adult dishes, and then play pass the food between the 4 of us.

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

not yet.

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

Mnn it's okay - not that different to the old one. More pasta's but we tend to go for pizza's as I have heard the pasta's are all microwaved meals (may not be true but hey ho!).

The option to pay an extra £1 for a larger kids meal is a good idea - my 7 year old was eating everything and could do with more.

Is it really £7 a kids meal now though - that is getting pretty top end and I would expect a good balanced meal for that. I don't think Pizza Express is - too much bread stuff and one of my DS doesn't like tomato or cucumber (prefers carrots and "proper" veg rather than salad stuff) so he never eats any veg when we go.

Does the fudge sunday still have chunks of fudge in it? If not that is a backwards step as it was the best desert on the old kids menu by far!

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 but why not have prices for it on the menu though - say - 2 topping included in price, 4 topping extra £1 etc. It is just daft to say "ask your waiter for prices" this really puts me off as the kids meal is not cheap to begin with.

I've not tried it yet, but the menu looks pretty similar to the old one. We've always asked for the children's pizza to be customised to our childrens' tastes anyway. DS is allergic to milk, so we tend to ask for pizza with ham but not cheese and the staff are usually accommodating.

I haven't tried the menu yet.

It looks quite appealing - I guess you have done your market research on what kids want to eat.

As an adult however I would have liked to have seen more healthy options for my dc, like each pud coming with a substantial portion of fresh fruit not just a token fruit garnish. Also some cruditees with every pizza. It's quite an overly carb heavy menu with the dough balls etc. imo.