Some people think Pizza Express actually nice for example.

Glad you understood my point. Sometimes I don’t make myself as clear as I’d like.

From what I can see there’s none in Didcot and 2 possible options in Newbury,

Two independent Italians in Thatcham!

Always enjoyed PE. Had some lovely meals with the kids. Particularly at the ones where they encourage the children up at the front to help assemble. Yes it’s a standard fayre, but I always think it’s top third and as mentioned above, when away from home with work, you want a known quality. Nothing like Santa Maria in West Ealing, run by my cyclist mate. And when we lived in Oxfordshire itvEAS local. The dough is made in a factory in Witney 🙂

ebygomm

Member

They also do gluten free and vegan options.

Pretty shit hot gluten free, too- and not just the pizza but also starters, deserts, and beer. I know a couple of good independents that’ll do me a very good gf pizza but not many that can do all the trimmings.

This,

How did we get to the point when big business tells us that their crap excuse for food is the real deal.

It’s mad, this generation thinks a smackdonalds is a true ‘burger’ .

That said I’ve recently been to a gaff in ormskirk that charged me £10+ for a greasy POS that they described as ‘the beast’,,,,,, thing was smaller than a big smack.🤔

More fool me,,, the mrs had to restrain my meldrew type rant.

Frankie and Benny’s are already closing branches aren’t they?

They must be spinning in their grave. Or at least they would be if Frankie and Bennie had ever been real people. 🙂

If you’re in a strange town and want something good and reliable then Pizza Express is bang on. The food is pretty good, it’s not mega expensive and does the job consistently. It’s easy to be snobbish about these places but I think it’s a chain that’ll be missed if it does go.

I agree. It’s average quality at an average price, and child friendly.

Pizza Express is a shit tonne better than the Pizza Hut’s and Dominoes of the world. That said, it’s mostly average and a bit overpriced, particularly drinks. 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. We have a few amazing independents in Milton Keynes area but the restaurants are similarly priced. Easy parking etc., is helpful plus the kids love it. Be a shame if they closed, particularly for the workforce and suppliers.

Also in MK and I agree the non chain restaurants round here can be very good, but not cheap by any means

Always thought pizza express were OK, myself, last time we went was for a birthday party for my MIL, we went there because someone got a voucher that made it very good vfm for a big group, especially compared to similar located independents.

Staff were super helpful too, crap times for them, so.hopefully something will be worked out.

I feel sorry for the staff that need the jobs, as exploitative, dead end and soul destroying as they may be.

I have mixed feelings about the social media sycophants and corporate cheerleaders though. It’s a cross between pity and a feeling examples need to be made of them, so future useful idiots think twice about it.

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, https://www.facebook.com/MYOStreetFood

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

Subscriber
Margherita for £6.50

That 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!