Pizza Express

Dropped in after a long working day, enjoyed a friendly service and lovely dinner. I had garlic bread and a ‘light’ chicken pizza. The service could have been really fast, if they didn’t bring me the wrong pizza. They took it back w/​o problem though.
Price point should be corrected to ££!

So it’s after 1:00 in the afternoon, and we’re trooping to the British Museum in the rain (it’s London after all!), but we got some tired and cranky kids complaining about a stupid stone we have to go look at there (THE Rosetta Stone!), so I know we got to get them fed. This place is exactly one block away and we were warmly welcomed in. They have a kids menu (score!), and they bring the kids a plate of ‘dough-​balls’ and veggies really quick (score two!). I order the American Hot — not to hot, but awesome and despite my resolve to only eat half — I finish it off.
The only downside was that they were a little busy and I had to ask for Milk twice, but they welcomed tourists (which we obviously were).
We were in great spirits for the museum afterwards…

Nice menu, good food, good prices. Good for kids. I don’t know why it shows up as super expensive (££££). It’s quite reasonable by London standards! I think it should be listed as ££

This is a solid option for pizza and they have locations all over central London. In ’06 I thought they were awesome and I was looking forward to going back. This time we went to the one by the British Museum and it was ok, but not as good as I remembered. It seemed like prices had gone up and quality had gone down. If it’s what is convenient it’s not a bad place to go but there are definitely more exciting food options in London now!

Excellent food. Terrific service on a Friday afternoon. What’s not to love? the food was all around quite good — it is a chain so you have to expect that it won’t be gourmet. That said, between the — and what we found to be warm, friendly service, we were impressed. Great for kids.

We enjoyed Pizza Express on a recent honeymoon to London. It is a solid option among many food choices around the city. There seemed to be many Pizza Express locations around the city so you shouldn’t have to go too far to find one. I recommend the Il Padrino, which has chicken, roasted tomatoes, chargrilled veggies and a tomato & pesto base. The garlic bread wasn’t worth the money. They have much more than pizza, with many salad options, pasta, gluten free options and even a healthier choice section on the menu. Pizza Express is a great option after working up an appetite at the British Museum!

We fell in love with this restaurant in 1969 when we were newlyweds and have eaten here yearly since then although we live in Virginia. We’ve always known that the food was great and now we know just how wonderful the staff is. Our son recently proposed to his sweetie here and the staff surprised them with champagne, photos, etc. They made it a very special day. So woohoo! As good as it gets!!! Thank you Coptic Street PE. You’re still as wonderful as you were in 1969.

Usual Pizza Express. This one has some interesting décor. It’s in an old dairy and the wall tiles are original. It also has neat lamp shades made from old milk bottles (or at least shaped that way) and in the summer it has some outside seating which is nice :)
The photo of Mario (of da Mario fame) in his restaurant on Gloucester Road shows him outside this branch, lending credibility to a previous reviewers remark about this being the original Pizza Express

I never have pizza for dinner and I shouldn’t have the other night! I went with a friend and shared an order. We couldn’t agree on what to order because we were so picky! Then we came to an agreement to order the American Classic (simply pepperoni) Boring I know, but my friend was pickier than I was so I just went with it!
I must say, this was one of the most greasiest pizzas I’ve had in a long long time. All I could taste was grease with a hint of pepperoni, not even cheese. The crust was horrible and soft. I’m never gonna step into one of these chains because of my bad experience. Although, their selection of Romana pizza sounded very tempting on the menu, wish I had ordered the one with artichokes. =/

We came to this branch of Pizza Express from Bloomsbury Street, but from this side, it seemed like it was boarded up and closed — don’t be disheartened, keep going, and it’s to the right.
The restaurant has quite a lot of character, from the markings on the sign, it used to be some kind of dairy — there’s what seems to be original tilework inside, and it has the nice open kitchen with the oven and all.
We used a £12 for two pizza offer, not as good as the Orange Wednesday 2 for 1 with free dough balls, but good for the larger pizzas, nonetheless!

I can’t find the listing for the Pizza Express on the Strand near Trafalgar so I’m writing my review here. The food and service of the Pizza Express on the Strand is abysmal. The pizza was soggy and chewy :(The waitress forgot our order so it took us about an hour to get our food. Mind you, when you have the word express in your resturant’s name, you should be getting your food out faster. I wasn’t able to finish my pizza so I asked for it to be placed into a take away container and instead, my waiter accidentally threw it out! I will never ever come back here again!

I know someone who lives above this branch of Pizza Express who thinks that this is the original one. It certainly has a lot of character.
The windows are colourfully painted with the word ‘Pizzeria’.
Inside it is smaller than most branches with all the tables laid around the cosy open plan kitchen.
The problem last night was that it seems this is a popular take away place. So the doors were being swung open all night and the draught was very brisk and unpleasant.
It seemed a bit understaffed too.
Don’t forget to print off your 2 for 1 voucher which makes the bill very reasonable.

Pizza Express must have at least a million restaurants in London, maybe their motto is Starbucks-​esque and they want you to see one on every corner. I don’t mind though as every one seems to have the same good standard of food in nice atmosphere’s.
Some are housed in surprisingly nice buildings and the one on Coptic Street was the second one to open in London in the 60’s. It’s retained the unique white tiled walls and the huge arc windows are particularly attractive with art deco style writing on the glass. Whilst the typical partially open kitchen inside adds to the lively atmosphere.
You will find the usual decent Italian stonebaked pizza’s, pasta and large filling salads. We like to get both pizza and a salad to share. The olives in a garlicky marinade are always tasty, you can’t really go wrong with Pizza Express. They have also started a small range by Theo Randall, and although they’re more expensive, they’re just that little bit more special. The Gamberettini (shrimp and grated courgette) is a good stand in for the crayfish pizza they stopped making a while ago. The extra thin Romana pizza’s are also a good choice.
The house wine is surprisingly nice, so there’s no need to pay more for a fancier one. Although many people shun Prosecco (if it were a date if would be blonde and a bit of an airhead) but it actually makes a very nice apéritif.