Pizza Express (Leeds)

I visited the Leeds Pizza Express over the weekend with some friends. I had heard of the Pizza Express chain, and had visited a branch or two in London years ago, but I couldn't remember much. So I approached the restaurant with trepidation; wary of bland, boring food to be served in a bland, boring atmosphere, and I was highly, pleasantly, surprised!

LOCATION:
I believe there are other PE's in the general area of Leeds, but ...
...the basic decor of most Pizza Expresses is the same, with round granite tables topped with a single flower in a vase, dramatically spotlit, and, yes the Leeds one is the same. However, I found it to be very attractive and it blended well with the exposed brickwork and wooden beams. The tables were of a good size; intimate enough for a couple but big enough to sit a larger group. We were a party of 6, and the staff simply pushed 2 tables together, ... more

I visited the Leeds Pizza Express over the weekend with some friends. I had heard of the Pizza Express chain, and had visited a branch or two in London years ago, but I couldn't remember much. So I approached the restaurant with trepidation; wary of bland, boring food to be served in a bland, boring atmosphere, and I was highly, pleasantly, surprised!

LOCATION:
I believe there are other PE's in the general area of Leeds, but this branch was located right in the city centre, right behind the huge, circular Corn Exchange. The building housing the restaurant used to be some kind of storage facility for wheat or grain (or something like that!) and so the restaurant has lovely high ceilings, exposed brickwork, and a light and airy feel. Even though it was freezing outside that night, inside the ceiling fans were doing a couple of lazy revolutions; just enough to keep the air circulating.

ATMOSPHERE:
I know that the basic decor of most Pizza Expresses is the same, with round granite tables topped with a single flower in a vase, dramatically spotlit, and, yes the Leeds one is the same. However, I found it to be very attractive and it blended well with the exposed brickwork and wooden beams. The tables were of a good size; intimate enough for a couple but big enough to sit a larger group. We were a party of 6, and the staff simply pushed 2 tables together, which gave us plenty of space. Unfortunately, we were sitting right next to the kitchen, but that's not the fault of the restaurant; somebody has to occupy that uncoveted position!

We were sitting downstairs in the major eating area of the restaurant, however I did notice a mezzanine floor upstairs which I assume has more of a bar/lounge feel to it, and is also able to be booked as a party space.
Because the space was quite cavernous, the restaurant did feel a bit more noisy than others I've been to; as it was quite a busy, jolly, Saturday night.

SERVICE:
I found the service to be impeccable. I was worried that we wouldn't get a table, considering that it was 8:00 on a Saturday night, there were six of us, and we didn't have a reservation. But the staff immediately set up a table for us, and we were seated promptly.

Our waitress was absolutely lovely! She took our orders promptly, waited patiently while we all faffed around for AGES trying to decide who was going to order what, and never stopped smiling. She was attentive throughout the meal and always noticed us when we needed service. I have no idea whether or not Pizza Express is known for good service or bad; but I can honestly find nothing to complain about in this area.

FOOD:
The food was much better than I expected. We ordered starters, which were a bit of a letdown. A friend and I decided to share the tomato, basil and mozzarella salad, and when it arrived, we just started in disbelief at the tiny size of it. Even the server laughed and sad "Expecting something bigger, were you?" It consisted of three slices of tomato, decorated with basil, and a large-ish chunk of mozzarella in the middle. That's it. It was very tasty, sure, but three slices of tomato? For £3, I wasn't too impressed.

Moving on, we all ordered Pizzas. The menu had a promotion going, and had a range of dishes from Northern Italy highlighted at the beginning of each section of the menu. Whilst I went for a Diavolo (Spicy pizza), some of my friends decided to order the Northern Italian-style pizzas, which had more interesting flavours and textures. I highly recommend the goat's cheese, spinach and red onion one! Thanks so much to Bollinger28 who told me that it was the Padana pizza. Wll definately be trying that one again!
The Pizzas were very good. You can watch the chefs make them fresh, and you could definitely tell that they had just been made. I was especially impressed by the consistency of the crust. I'm usually not a fan of thin-crust pizzas as they're usually hard and crispy; but my base was a perfect synthesis of crispiness and chewiness. The only complaint I would have about the pizzas as they're really hard to cut. Yes, we decided to be civilised for once, and cut our pizzas up rather than shovelling them into our greedy little faces. The base was a bit difficult to cut through, but I'd rather see sharper knives than softer crusts tho.

Dessert for me was a banoffie pie. Although it was a rather small portion, it came with a side of ice-cream and it was very yummy and surprisingly filling. If the portion had been any larger, I probably wouldn't have been able to finish it. The staff keep the deserts in a fridge and then add decorations and ice cream as required. It would be nice to have been assured that my dessert had just been made by some brilliant chef (Preferable French and Michelin-starred), but you can't have everything, I suppose.

PRICES:
This isn't a dirt-cheap place to eat, but neither is it going to break the bank just to pay for dinner. We paid £100 for the six of us, including drinks (softdrinks and beer). The pizzas are between £7-9, obviously depending on how complex they are. The starters are between £3-6, but considering how miniscule our tomato salad was, next time I'll just have a main course, or order one of the larger salads as a starter/side dish. I definitely paid more than I wanted to, but that's because I'm a cheapskate, and broke more than anything else.

Overall, I was expecting a bland, unoriginal restaurant experience, and was pleasantly surprised. The setting and location of this Pizza Express makes it a good choice for a meal out, with a tasty, if somewhat unadventurous choice of food.  

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