Pizza Express

I work right by this Pizza Express and have enjoyed coming here before on several occasions. The frequency I visit Pizza Express encouraged me to get a Taste London card so I could go more often or save some cash. My last visit, to enjoy the food and the company of a friend I had not seen for a while was marred by several factors. First, the staff seem to be under a lot of strain, which unfortunately has wiped the smiles from their faces and resulted in me being snapped at by a waitress who demanded I be seated before my lunch-mate had arrived. She was kind enough to seat me in view of the door, so I could easily catch the attention of my friend but it would be almost 15 minutes later before I received attention from waiting staff. When I demanded the attention of a passing waiter, one of just a handful of seemingly overworked and miserable staff, he smiled, winked and then attempted to run in the opposite direction - I was not impressed. He did return, he took our orders efficiently, and our starters came back quickly but with a different waitress. We did not see a member of staff again until our mains arrived with a third member of staff and were placed in front of us but with the wrong meals to the wrong customer. Both starter and main were insipid, tasteless and stodgy, cheered up slightly by a honey based sauce. I will be looking elsewhere from now on, spreading the net a bit further afield for lunch time snacks and atmosphere. I can do bland food and bad attitude in my office, for a fraction of the price. Thanks.

Popped in for my lunch hour with a friend today... The restaurant was busy, as one would expect in the City at lunch time, and it appears they were understaffed. It took over 10 minutes for an order to be placed and that was after we flagged two waiters to ask about ordering. When a waiter did appear to take our order, he didn’t greet either of us. Starter was garlic bread, fine as garlic bread goes. The starter plates were not cleared away before the main course was brought to the table. The food for my friend was “bland” (one of the new calorie conscious pizza with a salad in the middle affair) whilst my salad was enjoyable excluding the unripe avocado which was rock hard. When I mentioned this to the waiter collecting the plates, he didn’t offer a single word and took the plates away. On payment of our bill, not a word came from the waiter nor a goodbye. We were served by three different people. Whilst I under appreciate that it’s busy, this should be expected in the City at lunchtime and the appropriate level of staffing should be prepared for. Additionally a friendly hello and goodbye wouldn’t go amiss, neither would an acknowledgement of the fact that rock hard avocado was served. (We won’t question how a chef can’t tell the difference between ripe and unripe avocado, obviously a concern). This experience will not deter me from visiting Pizza Express again, just this specific one. Being a fan of Pizza Express I was thoroughly disappointed with the overall experience today and will advise anyone I know to avoid this specific restaurant at lunch time during the week.