Pizza Express is one of the largest and most consistently successful restaurant chains on the UK high street. It has survived for 40 years or so because it does what it does well, it knows who its target market is and knows that they want and it delivers consistently. Frankly, I think it is a cut above the Pizza Hut and others (it feels posher, somehow, more of an event, even though the price is pretty similar), but that does come to a matter, very literally, of taste. Pizza Express sell thin, crispy based pizza which an Italian would recognise as a pizza: Pizza Hut sells deep based things that I think should be called pizza pie which an Italian might not recognise, although a New Yorker might.
Remember, Budweiser is the American version of a European larger beer – you can choose, but I know which one I would have.
The menu and prices ************************
Pizza Express has a relatively small menu (maybe 15 pizzas, a few pasta dishes and some salads) with starters and desserts. The menu is changed from time to time, to reflect a particular theme, so recently there has been the flavours of southern Italy, the flavours of the Tuscan region and a tribute to the tastes of Roman food. Food is cooked to order and you can usually watch the chefs at work. Main courses will almost all be less than £10, starters from a couple of pounds to less than £5 and desserts less than a fiver also, so you can easily feed two people a two-course dinner and get change from £30. Wine, beer and water is reasonably priced and you can buy wine by the glass. The chain contrives somehow to get better staff than any equivalent restaurant chain I have ever encountered and they also work to ensure that every restaurant is different in décor and design. Like J D Wetherspoon pubs, they emphasise the unique characteristics of where they are whilst delivering a promise on the quality of the ingredients, on the prices, on the standards and on the staff that in my opinion is second to none.
The one in Exeter ********************
So, to Exeter! This charming provincial capital, the County Town of Devon, is another of those beautiful-in-most-parts English cities with a 10th centaury Cathedral and some very interesting remains, a decent shopping area and an attractive riverfront. Like most of our cities, it has its unattractive parts, too – but you won’t be going there looking for a place to eat, probably!
This Pizza Express is fantastically well located, being in the Cathedral Close and right in the heart of the city, although not ideally suited if you are mobility impaired (cobbled area). Cathedral close, mainly closed to traffic, has some of the oldest pubs here or nearby (including a place that claims to be where Sir Francis Drake dropped anchor for a beer or two) and has some interesting shops and lovely buildings. The restaurant itself is in an attractive, possibly Tudor building and is a great people-watching space – get a table in the window if you can.
My meal **********
I had dough balls served with garlic butter (very good) and a pizza – which one doesn’t matter much, if you like pizza there will be something here you like and as they are all made to order, you can vary your ingredients to suit yourself. My partner and I split a bottle of wine and the whole bill for a two course meal came to less than £40, which I think is pretty good value. The staff will give you tap water without making a fuss and it is all pretty fast.
And the verdict is…? ***********************
Pizza Express: I think that this is living proof that fast and fairly inexpensive food does not have to be tasteless or lacking in panache.
Where is it and how to get there ************************************ http://www.pizzaexpress.com
Cathedral Close, Exeter (very central)
Ask for directions. Like most old cities, Cathedral Close looks in towards the Cathedral, so you can be 20 yards away and see nothing unless you know to go down this alley or through that arch.
10 minutes walk from Exeter Coach Station and only 5 minutes from Exeter Central Station.
By the way, if you have ever read Bill Bryson’s famous ‘Notes from a small island’ you may remember that he gets off the train at Exeter and can’t find a thing to eat or somewhere to get in from the cold. If he had only known it, he was only one street away from Pizza Express – poor guy.
The Club **********
Pizza Express have a member’s club, which I will write up for CIAO if there is not already a survey on it.
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