New Pizza Express- what's the verdict?

12 years ago...

Has anyone else visited the new Pizza Express on St Marks Hill yet?
I went for a meal tonight (Friday 10th) with friends.

Felt slightly guilty spending money in another mass commercial chain when there are some great independent restaurants in Surbiton (Da Lucio's is a personal favourite), but wanted to see if it was worth all the business it seems to be getting!

Food was nice, although it does have a certain 'served exactly the same all over the country' feel about it (I'm sure each olive on the plate is carefully weighed so not to spend a penny over the budget). Good food was the least we expected though after waiting a ridiculous amount of time for a table. Chefs seem to enjoy what they do and waiting staff all seem keen to please. We took pity on ours after overhearing them getting talked down to quite rudely by a senior member of staff.

Also not impressed with our puddles of melted ice creams being passed off as sundae's. By this point of the evening though the waiting staff looked completely frazzled! Probably been working all day without a break though if I know Pizza Express's usual standard of staff treatment (my son worked at the Kingston branch and HATED it- we liked the free pizza's tho!)

What did anyone else think of their experience? How do you think it compares with its competitors? And is it good to have another Italian chain to take away profit from our local fave's?

Comments

It is actually one of the nicest Pizza Express branches I have been to, but it is just another Pizza Express, and the food is exactly the same.

It has got a good location right next to the station, and I will be using it quite a lot in conjunction with the 50% off type vouchers that they often have. If paying full price, I would rather use one of Surbiton's other restaurants.

Of course it will take away trade from our local restaurants, and it is 'just another chain', but I think the positives outweigh the negatives. It is quite a smart place to have right next to the station, better than the boarded up shop that has been there for a couple of years and much better than the failed chav-pubs which were there before that.

I have no aversion to chain restaurants as long as they don't completely take-over. Surbiton only has two (this and Zizzi) unless you count the fast food joints. A lot of the other will not open in Surbiton because it is too close to Kingston (Nandos has just opened up in downmarket Bexleyheath as it is still expanding so fast, but will not consider Surbiton).

I would like to see a bit more variety, though. Surbiton is well served by Italian and Indian restaurants and has been ok for Chinese, although both the Magic Wok and Yum Cha seem to have gone downhill lately. The pub grub scene is improving now that the Duke of York and Surbiton Flyer have been taken over, but there are still gaps.

A Mexican would be good, as would a Thai and a Bodeans-type place.

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