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We use them a lot via the Tesco voucher scheme
Next time you`re in Tesco try their own brand pizza mix, its surprisingly good and a piece of p to do.
Chain places are good for young kids.
Suprised at the news its always packed when I pass.
You do realise its all cook chill and tastes like it. Assembled on the premises but the dough and sauce are all made industrially in huge quantities, chilled and trucked to the "restaurants"
My local independent is £10 - 13 for a pizza that is made fresh from fresh ingredients on the premises
If there’s one thing I enjoy it’s a pizza. Nothing comes close to a Pizza Express Calabrese! I don’t care where the friggin dough comes from! We go in every couple of weeks with a taste card. Starter, main and a couple of beers for about £20 each. Can not whack it. Be devo’d if it closes.
pizza express is cheap, pizza express is going out of business. hmmmhmmmmmhmmmm
their whole marketing budget is based around the voucher schemes but that means punters won’t ever visit without a deal. It’s the Groupon mentality.
^ This
Pretty sure that Pizza Express have long since been a poster-boy for "how to devalue your brand" ever since they started selling their own branded pizzas in Supermarkets for you to cook at home. Looks like Tesco's might have negotiated the terms of their voucher deal a bit too aggressively and run them into the ground.
I think there is a place for Pizza Express - it just seems like they have got their finances/market positioning wrong.
I would imagine any restaurant that largely relies on vouchers and other promotions to get people through the door is on shaky ground. Only been to Pizza Express a few times, I just remember the prices being a bit of an eyebrow raiser. Not passing judgement on the quality, I'll eat all sorts of crap other people turn their refined palates away from :p
Oh and I can't ever remember as a kid having 3 courses on a treat day out, what's this world coming to!
Two independent Italians in Thatcham!
Yeah but... Thatcham! I've been told the one on the road with the Jade and Szechuan is pretty good.
I love pizza - good, bad, indifferent. Pizza Express is reliably OK. It's overpriced without vouchers though, I remember meeting with some of their management team 5-6 years ago, they said that unless you do discounts/vouchers people just don't come in. I take my mum there every couple of months but we've realised that a meal at the award winning gastropub a few miles out works out cheaper.
Best pizza? My friend's pizza van, available for weddings, parties and events in the summer. She's got a residency at Northampton Saints this winter. She makes the dough each morning inside the tiny van! There's a secret ingredient too but I've been sworn to secrecy.
Shameless plug,
Oh and I can’t ever remember as a kid having 3 courses on a treat day out, what’s this world coming to!
So the kids have a doughballs/garlic bread starter, it's about 4 balls.
Then a pizza and a ball of ice cream...
I don't see that as ridiculous ?
Oh and I can’t ever remember as a kid having 3 courses on a treat day out
That'll be becasue the voucher scheme didn't exist, so if PE and the rest go bump then my kids won't be getting any 3 course treats again either.
Oh and I can’t ever remember as a kid having 3 courses on a treat day out, what’s this world coming to!
Garlic mushrooms, chicken in a basket and Black Forest gateaux.
i think their food is better than the voucher system suggests.
i wont go in a PE and pay full whack. not a chance. every time ive been in, which is many! its been with a discount of some sort. i have walked in to some outlets and been told my tastecard or voucher is not valid either at that location or on that day - and we've walked out again!!
its funny because id happily pay full price for the same grub elsewhere!!
I get the feeling this isn't really about the food, the drinks or how much each store makes but it being owned by venture capitalists so the company gets loaded with debts, has assets stripped and has to cover large exec salaries and bonus's.
I do feel for the front line staff and hope they manage to find something else sharpish.
Garlic mushrooms, chicken in a basket and Black Forest gateaux
Hah, nailed it (apart from garlic mushrooms obviously, do any kids eat those?!). Actually my idea of a treat day out was was a burger and jubilee pancakes at the local Little Chef, oh those were the days.
Yeah but… Thatcham! I’ve been told the one on the road with the Jade and Szechuan is pretty good.
Nowt wrong with Scratchem, I mean Thatcham. Yeah that one is better than the other, its quite decent in a low key way.
brant
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Margherita for £6.50That price seems to be the exception, rather than the rule. Most places charge ~£10 for a pizza.
As stated above, Paesano in Glasgow is superb, and it’s also amazingly good value.
https://paesanopizza.co.uk/great-western-road/
Nothing comes close to a Pizza Express Calabrese!
This Rudy's Calabrese begs to differ...
I prefer the Tarantina but the lads from work all rave about the Calabrese.
Pizza Express is a shit tonne better than the Pizza Hut’s and Dominoes of the world.
Different products, different style of Pizza. I like all three. Well... Pizza Hut for US style pizza in restaurant; Dominos for takeaway (PH pizzas don't travel well), Pizza Express for a decent thin pizza in a chain restaurant. Then again the service in PH is always glacial which doesn't help.
Is it just me that really dislikes Dominos? As Molgrips, I quote like Pizza Hut and will happily eat at Pizza Express, but I find the underlying taste of Dominoes a bit odd - they all kinda taste and smell the same a bit like Subway sandwiches do.
I'm pretty sure Paesanos in Glasgow and Pizza Posto in Edinburgh (the one I posted about previously) are linked as their pizzas, prices and restaurant interiors are really similar.
And excellent.
and the primary one is that the need for standardisation has a hugely detrimental impact on the quality of the food and the care taken when preparing it.
That I have to take issue with. Its not the standardisation that's the issue, far from it, if you want to be a good restaurant you've got to get everything the same, time and again. What makes a lot of chain [anything] crap is cost cutting.
Minimal training
Minimum wage
Minimum staffing
Minimum quality
Minimum return
Maximum volume
Maximum (turnover) growth
Maximum share value
Its not standardisation that drives chains towards low quality, its the need to grow by 12% year on year on year ad infinitum and to pay dividend on an ever decreasing % profit.
Independents can be just as bad in terms of product service etc of course, often the ones that are tend to give the impression they think they're doing you a favour by serving you and seem to feel owning a business entitles them to the same salary as ceo of tesco salary.
Is it just me that really dislikes Dominos? As Molgrips, I quote like Pizza Hut and will happily eat at Pizza Express, but I find the underlying taste of Dominoes a bit odd – they all kinda taste and smell the same a bit like Subway sandwiches do.
Yeah I'm the same - not a fan of the Dominos sauce and tried one of their double-decker base things once and it was vile (and as previously mentioned I'll happily eat all sorts of processed junk). The smell of Subways (the actual restaurants) make me gag, meatball marinara's taste OK I guess but yeah rarely go to get one due to the smell.
Is it just me that really dislikes Dominos? As Molgrips, I quote like Pizza Hut and will happily eat at Pizza Express, but I find the underlying taste of Dominoes a bit odd – they all kinda taste and smell the same a bit like Subway sandwiches do.
This, definitely. I would rather have a £1 frozen pizza out of Lidl than any Dominos.
Any time I've eaten in Pizza Express it's been decent. I suspect that some over ambitious expansion, questionalble promotions and debt will do for them more than the quality of the food.
but it being owned by venture capitalists so the company gets loaded with debts
Seems to be a bit of a downturn in the market which means it cant handle the debts it has been burdened with.
One near me seems busyish but isnt going to be a cheap location.
Are they on the verge of going under?
I hope so.
I went to my first Pizza Express around four years ago with my mum and sister when back in the UK.
Knowing that I'm a fan of Italy they insisted we go.
It was shit. Below average food (if it were served in Italy they wouldn't be serving it for long) in a mediocre setting.
It always struck me when back in the UK how many chain restaurants there are and how hard it is to find an independent, let alone a good independent. The same goes for coffee, too. The same goes for pubs... WTF. Chain pubs. Soulless places.
I can only think of a few chain restaurants near me here in Munich; Vipiano (the place where you wait on yourself), Hans im Glück (Burger place).... Whereas the number of both small and large independents is massive.
It seems to be a UK thing because the same goes for Austria and Italy. Can't think of any chains there either.
I think the quality suffers in these chains. I'm glad they're dying off.
I think the quality suffers in these chains. I’m glad they’re dying off.
But they're not being replaced by Indy places, they're both closing...
We're lucky in Aviemore as there are two really good pizza outlets (one is takeaway only) and a third that is OK too. That doesn't prevent me from enjoying Pizza Express when I'm somewhere else though. It was a dead cert PE wouldn't be artisan enough for STW though. I bet their coffee is shit too.
This Rudy’s Calabrese begs to differ…
not gonna lie that looks the business. but i likes all the rocket and cold clumps of mozzerella you get on the PE version...!
But they’re not being replaced by Indy places, they’re both closing…
But that's because the market isn't there, its a bubble that's been inflated by (mostly) chain restaurants doing things like tesco vouchers so they can show 3k of lunch time sales even though no one has actually spent any money.
Independents are closing because they can't sell you a pizza for £12 and make enough to pay wages if you're paying with monopoly money and they can't charge more £8 of real money because at the chain up the road you can eat for "free". (and to a fair extent you're only going out because you can do it for less than eating at home)
It's the same old story of clever* people coming up with ways to create money out of thin air, it'll all goes well until they actually need some of that imaginary money then it all falls over.
*how clever you think they are largely depends on whether that imaginary growth has made you richer or the collapse of the bubble has left you on JSA.
I'm surprised at the number of food snobs here! PE is not at all bad for a quick meal with the kids. Of course there are better indys, but there are plenty of shit ones around too. I've never had a bad experience at PE, which I can't say for other restaurants. I'm not going to go PE for a special occasion, but still nice to have the option of a reasonable pizza when you are in town. Plus our 7 year old loves their supermarket margheritas!
The good thing (well, acceptable) about chains is that you can pretty much go in any one in any town and know what you are getting - as an adult only group it isn't too much of an issue but when you are with kids it is better to go with a safe option rather than try an indie and for them not to like it. Our daughters like Ask Italian so we usually go there as we know they will have a good meal and we can eat in peace. We wouldn't go there as a couple.
HTS - you seriously have a three course meal for lunch? The only way I'd have a "starter, main and dessert + sides of garlic bread and olives" at lunchtime is if were planning on hibernating for a week afterwards.
We’re just a small northern town but we have at least four indy pizza/pasta places in the town centre,
Come to East Lancashire, you'll struggle to find a street that doesn't have at least four independent take-away pizza places.
I've just looked at the menu for the one nearest me (literally two blocks away), a 9" margarita comes in at three quid, going up to £5.50 for the posh ones. The nearest good pizza place is £5-£8 for a 'regular'.
a 9″ margarita comes in at three quid
That's ridiculous.
(literally two blocks away)
I didn't know we had blocks in the UK.... how big is that?
HTS – you seriously have a three course meal for lunch?
I guess that depends on the circumstances surely? Family day out, big lunch then home for a movie and snacks? I know we've done that.
HTS – you seriously have a three course meal for lunch?
Not every week. Probably 3 times a year max. Christmas Eve at the PE just up the road, once on holiday as a change from eating in and we’ll probably be in the Buxton one this Sunday as we’re going for a day out (if that is OK with all of the food and diet snobs on here).
As plenty have said. It is cheap on the Tesco Vouchers (drinks and a tip will cost about £15 in real money), you can guarantee that the food will be OK and the menu has been carb scored for my daughter, so we don’t have to worry about unknows for her insulin dosage.
I wonder how many of the “Go Indy” types on here actually do go out as a family and eat in a local restaurant 3 times a year? I know that I couldn’t justify dropping something north of £300 to do it.
And as for those willing their demise... people will be out of a job. Hundreds if not thousands of people. It may not be well paid, but it is a job. Get a ****ing grip. The PE/Bella Italia/Café Rouge/Zizzi etc customers aren’t suddenly going to rock up at the local artisan Trattoria and start spending cash. They’ll just go to a ‘Spoons or not bother at all.
I wonder how many of the “Go Indy” types on here actually do go out as a family and eat in a local restaurant 3 times a year? I know that I couldn’t justify dropping something north of £300 to do it.
3 times? Not me probably nearer 8 or 9 times and it doesn’t cost a £100 a time or near and kids are way past kid portions. Look for the lunchtime specials and early birds you’ll be under that each time.
Yup johndoh Dominos are awful one of the worst pizzas I had was from there.
I occasionally use a chain for ease but never found them that much cheaper but simple to use. My kids aren’t fussy kids so I know what they’ll eat so have no issues going to an independent.
I wonder how many of the “Go Indy” types on here actually do go out as a family and eat in a local restaurant 3 times a year? I know that I couldn’t justify dropping something north of £300 to do it.
We go out for dinner much more than that, although only a family of 3 I doubt we spend more than £200 at anytime, maybe we did for my birthday last year. Usually we can eat out for less than £75.
So £75/3x4 x 3 visits = £300
There's no way that we as a family could justify that. Not that there's anything wrong with spending that amount of money, but it's not for us. That's why we go to Pizza Express.
I would literally cry if I had to drop 200 quid on a meal for 3 people. I've never really got the whole fine dining thing, dont get me wrong i love the beef fillet yakitori skewer that they do at a pub near us but that's 23 quid a go with two very nice sides out of a choice of maybe 10, but even that makes me wince a little. Perhaps I'm just a tight bastard!
There’s no way that we as a family could justify that
This is STW, there has to be superiority in all the threads like this... people here just have to be 'better' depeding on their interpreation of better within a given thread.
Place astounds me.
Not every week. Probably 3 times a year max. Christmas Eve at the PE just up the road, once on holiday as a change from eating in and we’ll probably be in the Buxton one this Sunday as we’re going for a day out (if that is OK with all of the food and diet snobs on here).
Ah, fair enough. I assumed you meant like popping out from work on a random Wednesday or something.
I didn’t know we had blocks in the UK…. how big is that?
Seriously? That's what terraced houses come in. It's maybe a two minute walk.
This is STW, there has to be superiority in all the threads like this… people here just have to be ‘better’ depeding on their interpreation of better within a given thread.
Place astounds me.
Not sure whether that is aimed at those who spend the money or those that won’t. If it is the latter then at least quote the sentence that followed it.
Anyway. Each to their own and all that, but back to my original point, if PE goes under then I’ll miss it.
I would literally cry if I had to drop 200 quid on a meal for 3 people.
It's drinks and sundries that are the killer. A local Indian might only be seven quid for a main, but then you factor in poppadoms, chutney tray, onion bhajis, rice, naans, a few pints at a fiver a pop, suddenly you've spunked £40+ a head without noticing.
Ah, fair enough. I assumed you meant like popping out from work on a random Wednesday or something.
I'd need to be using an aweful lot of diesel to get enough vouchers for that!