With my boyfriend turning 25 on Monday we started our celebrations last night at Pizza Express. It’s been open in our town for a couple of months now and it’s the second time I’ve been but the first time we’ve all been as a family. Adam was pretty keen to try it and Mini Kat just wanted dough balls. It seemed like a win-win for us all. It’s sort of felt like a ‘last meal’ for me as well as today I am healthy all the way. Well, except for a few things I’m sure but I’m making much more effort to be healthy from now on. Good thing about pizza express is they have plenty of light options on their menu so we can easily return! Adam loves pizza and so it was fitting that we had his favourite cuisine to begin celebrating his birthday weekend.
We booked a table for eight people which included the three of us, my dad and his fiance, my sister and her girlfriend and my younger sister who was going to be taking Mini Kat back to my mums after dinner for a sleepover. We booked for quite late in the afternoon but before the dinner rush so that Adam and I could head over to the cinema afterwards. The table we were given was in the middle of the left side of the entrance and it was a lovely long booth so we could all sit together comfortably and chat.
I loved that a menu for Mini Kat was already out which included some colouring pencils for her which really helped to keep her occupied whilst we were chatting and waiting for our food. As the three of us were the last to arrive I’m not sure if that’s because my dad asked for the child’s menu as I hadn’t told them a child would be coming myself but the fact that it was there before the three of us was great. After we were sat down and a few minutes of saying hellos our drinks order was taken. Adam and I had a bottle of red between us and adding a drink on to the child’s menu was very low cost. This included most of the soft drinks available but as it was a treat my daughter was allowed a coke. We did ask for a straw but unfortunately they were all out.
Our drinks came fairly quickly and then there was a bit of a wait for our food order to be taken but we were all pretty busy chatting away. The young man that took our order was very friendly and helpful however he did forget one of our parties starter and main course order which lead to a slight delay on her food. He did rectify it with some complimentary olives to nibble on however as he admitted and acknowledged that it was his error. Any new drinks ordered came pretty quickly too. We also brought in a cake which they kindly brought out for us and provided with plates for the order after our main meal plates had been taken away.
For our food Adam and I shared the Antipasti Platter as a starter which is just delicious. You can double up and share for just under £13 and you get a big platter of cold meats, dips, cheesy dough slices, olives and tomatoes. We really enjoyed that as a starter, it was really quite filling actually. Mini Kat had dough balls which is the only option on the child’s menu but as she loves them she was happy. It also came with a few salad bits which she could probably give or take. She did happily help herself to our mozzarella and olives though! Our starter did come on a sort of tower thing with the plates underneath so we could share easily. It was a little big but we kind of new what we were going to get as we’ve been to other Pizza Express restaurants before.
Our main meals came very quickly after our starters which I’m sure those of the party that didn’t have a starter were grateful for. I opted for the new Hawaiin pizza which was really delicious. It came with a pineapple chutney which was really sweet alongside the smokey bacon and the cheese. Each pizza came with an individual pizza slicer too which was great although it made them all very accessible to my daughter and one turn of my head saw her waving one around and we helped her cut up her small pizza which was ham, olives and mushroom – Mini Kat really loves her olives! Quite a few went for the American hot pizza which looked good. My dad had the American Hottest as one type of chilli clearly isn’t enough for him! All the pizzas looked great and tasted better.
We were there for around two hours chatting, eating and drinking and had a really great meal. Apart from the small hiccup with the food delay I have no other complaints. The setting inside is lovely and as it’s only been opened for a few months now the decor inside is still new and fresh. It’s comfortable and the service has been pleasant for me each time I’ve been there. As Pizza Express is a chain all the prices are pretty similar around the country and they have plenty of special offers and discounts if you sign up to email updates on their website. Pizza Express is also experimenting with delivery options however this isn’t available in our town yet. For the eight of us our bill totaled £156 which included a few starters, drinks, all main meals and the child’s menu which is priced at just under £7. We enjoyed our meal and it’s really nice to see more places open up in our town. I really hope it stays because we would happily become regulars.
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