I quite like Pizza Express (who have the much better name of Milano in Ireland). Their pizzas are reasonably tasty and at least they have the chain advantage in that you know what their stuff will be like.
― The Real Dirty Vicar, Sunday, 4 November 2007 14:50 (sixteen years ago) link
yes, it is a delicious twist! i dunno, if i ever was going to feel guilty about eating a meal in a restaurant i think i would want it to be somewhere besides pizza express.
i will admit to being a little hardcore about wanting my pizza "well done". i consider it the line that separates those who r being serious about their pizza with those who r not being. if it's kind of doughy in the center and the toppings sort of slide around and fall off the tip of the slice, u r being in the latter category.
xpost
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 4 November 2007 14:53 (sixteen years ago) link
Why are you slicing a thin-based pizza like that anyway? You don't need to cut them into slices, they're meant to be eaten whole off the plate, surely?
― Matt DC, Sunday, 4 November 2007 14:56 (sixteen years ago) link
Pizza-eating methodology may be the key here. My favourite pizza place does them with very soft, very thin bases and they are delicious, but do suffer from that whole slidey topping thing. I think I actually like them with soft thin bases because frankly the dough is the least important thing about any pizza for me.
― Matt DC, Sunday, 4 November 2007 14:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Prezzo's do a pretty good mid-market chain pizza. And other stuff too.
― the next grozart, Sunday, 4 November 2007 15:30 (sixteen years ago) link
Thin base pizza (i.e. pizza) will never be crispy in the middle unless it's burnt.
Well if we're picking apart the responses to each others' posts, Tracer, perhaps I meant it's nice to still be able to fit in side dishes of whatever sort. Either way, Lol at you telling me how Italians eat and being all rockist about it :)
― Mark C, Sunday, 4 November 2007 15:34 (sixteen years ago) link
the pizza in your friend's restaurant in ny was absolutely amazing tracer
― Ronan, Sunday, 4 November 2007 16:18 (sixteen years ago) link
Pizza Express were actually early pioneers of genetic enegineering in an effort to breed long, thin, spicy pigs to make pepperoni production less expensive and time consuming.
― Roberto Spiralli, Sunday, 4 November 2007 16:59 (sixteen years ago) link
oh wait, this is the truth about Pizza Express thread. nm.
i think they're alright, as far as sit-down family pizza places go. comparison to California Pizza Kitchen was a low blow. they at least try to inject a little class.
― Roberto Spiralli, Sunday, 4 November 2007 17:00 (sixteen years ago) link
I have always suspected that 99% of restaurants, chains or not, are selling you some sort of shite of dubious provenance.
The only real alternative (if like me, you're too lazy to dig your own spuds and too squeamish to slaughter your own cattle)is to go to a supermarket and cook the dubiously-sourced shite yourself.
― PhilK, Sunday, 4 November 2007 17:21 (sixteen years ago) link
I desire pizza now.
― roxymuzak, Sunday, 4 November 2007 17:36 (sixteen years ago) link
so much I could post here right now but........can't, it's a bit....political.....
― Porkpie, Sunday, 4 November 2007 17:41 (sixteen years ago) link
pizza express really isn't *that* bad, folks
zero degrees kicks the living shite out of it (and every other pizza place ever); only matt dc will have the foggiest what i'm on about, though.
― Just got offed, Sunday, 4 November 2007 18:39 (sixteen years ago) link
this thread makes me want to never visit london again
― El Tomboto, Sunday, 4 November 2007 18:42 (sixteen years ago) link
I think I actually like them with soft thin bases because frankly the dough is the least important thing about any pizza for me.
Then you have never had good pizza.
― Casuistry, Sunday, 4 November 2007 18:42 (sixteen years ago) link
Seriously I can barely read this shit
― El Tomboto, Sunday, 4 November 2007 18:43 (sixteen years ago) link
Also, nothing especially bad happens to dough if you freeze it, unless you leave it frozen for months and months. If you freeze it, thaw it, and refreeze it, that can be a problem, I believe.
― Casuistry, Sunday, 4 November 2007 18:44 (sixteen years ago) link
well given that pizza hut is pretty much the worst food ever (except kfc), pizza express doesn't do badly, given its massively widespread chain status.
― Just got offed, Sunday, 4 November 2007 18:46 (sixteen years ago) link
oh fuck me, pizza hut is absolutely honking. (it's the same chain as KFC, isn't it?) it's not even food. just ... wrongness, vaguely pizza-like in shape.
i've only eaten at pizza express once, and i was whammed and don't remember much about it -- other than phil oakey being there, and me wandering up to talk to him. lovely bloke.
― grimly fiendish, Sunday, 4 November 2007 18:51 (sixteen years ago) link
Haha Louis, that was the exact place I was referring to upthread. My housemate is addicted to their caramlised pear and gorgonzola pizzas but I've always shied off them. I actually saw someone who really looked like you in there a few weeks ago but figured you were probably out of town.
― Matt DC, Sunday, 4 November 2007 18:54 (sixteen years ago) link
i think everyone is losing sight of the fact that no matter how lousy it is it's still pizza and thereby better than like 90% of everything in the world.
― chicago kevin, Sunday, 4 November 2007 18:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Trio of Crostini followed by Roasted Garlic Chicken (sometimes Grilled Garlic Prawns) with a pint of house-brewed ale every goddamn time. Bliss. I actually think their RGC approaches affordable culinary perfection.
― Just got offed, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:03 (sixteen years ago) link
Uh who goes to the UK to eat pizza? Try some braised rabbit or suckling pig or blood cake ffs
― admrl, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:07 (sixteen years ago) link
I think kevin is losing sight of the fact that really bad anything is still really bad.
― Oilyrags, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:11 (sixteen years ago) link
xpost: we have some damn good curry places. and heston blumenthal! we have heston blumenthal! look at him go.
― Just got offed, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:12 (sixteen years ago) link
their caramlised pear and gorgonzola pizzas
Hello
(hey LJ, come play poker, you seem the type who'd play)
― Mark C, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:13 (sixteen years ago) link
P.S. I was in there a few weeks ago, watching Charlton lose to Stoke on their downstairs TV screen. Might have been then?
(Poker? I only (sorta) know hold-em, and I'm not especially good. Plus, I don't like gambling generally :(...erm, I'll think about it.)
― Just got offed, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:14 (sixteen years ago) link
it's still pizza
not in pizza hut it's not.
― grimly fiendish, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:15 (sixteen years ago) link
I used to go to Pizza Express sometimes but I haven't been for years -- if I want not-bad chain pizza I go to La Porchetta and get a litre of wine for £10 while I'm at it.
― Eyeball Kicks, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:15 (sixteen years ago) link
pear and gorgonzola toppings wtf
maybe that's why brits don't have salad on the side - it's already on top of their pizza!
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:22 (sixteen years ago) link
i wasnt necessarily saying california pizza kitchen and pizza express are exactly the same, just giving US peeps a point of reference since we dont have P.E. here.
― homosexual II, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:26 (sixteen years ago) link
Tracer, u mad. Favorite pizza ever was from Time Cafe: red sauce, gorgonzola, red onions, Canadian bacon, sliced apples, and a drizzle of honey. A more perfect union.
― Laurel, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:29 (sixteen years ago) link
Tracer I can't eat salad - I'm allergic to lettuces.
― Mark C, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:30 (sixteen years ago) link
Man I've just had dinner and Laurel's pizza is making me salivate.
Louis I've had that garlic chicken pizza and its the exception that proves the rule as far as Zero Degrees' awesomeness is concerned. I managed to get about a quarter of the way through it before I was all "too... much... garlic... must... stop... now". Ugh.
The Pinefox and I have watched many a Spurs game in there as well, its kind of my local.
― Matt DC, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:34 (sixteen years ago) link
Pear and gorgonzola done right. No pizzas involved.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:35 (sixteen years ago) link
The one time I went to La Porchetta I thought it was kind of overrated, but at least it was cheap and huge. Although their house wine is beyond vile.
― Matt DC, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:35 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, it's vile, but it's great vile.
― Eyeball Kicks, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:38 (sixteen years ago) link
Ah jeez, well, maybe I have a strong liking for garlic, or maybe you were just unlucky that they gave you a particularly strong one. I have tried a few others (usually when the rest of my family can't finish theirs), and they are superb, but the RGC is a cut above IMO. I'd be up for diversifying, though. Do you recommend any of the newer ones?
It's a great place to watch football. I really like the atmosphere, above all.
― Just got offed, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:47 (sixteen years ago) link
red sauce, gorgonzola, red onions, Canadian bacon, sliced apples, and a drizzle of honey
that sounds fckn awesome.
― grimly fiendish, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:54 (sixteen years ago) link
I don't really understand why people go seeing as every high street or town centre you care to name has at least four Italian restaurants that aren't Pizza Express/Ask/Strada.
i get this, cos i'm guilty of this: you end up somewhere, you don't know what's good, and say fuck it, with p-express you know what you're getting and it's never too bad. i think this is one of the good things about modernity tbh.
mind you i don't know if every town centre *does* have that many 'real' italian places.
but i can recommend papa del's on archway road as an actual proper they-make-the-dough type place in n london.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Sunday, 4 November 2007 19:54 (sixteen years ago) link
I wonder where o-ess thought the chicken would have come from? The only other answer if you want to pay the prices that they charge is Thailand.
All the PE (and afiliates)dough is made in a factory in Oxon btw.
Stradas and a few other smaller chains are made in Hampshire.
― Porkpie, Sunday, 4 November 2007 20:01 (sixteen years ago) link
Order from a menu today and chances are the food on your plate has come from one source: 3663. This behemoth supplies a quarter of all Britain's catering needs
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2528251.ece
― ledge, Sunday, 4 November 2007 20:33 (sixteen years ago) link
T/S: 3663 vs. Cearns & Brown vs. Sodex Ho vs. Brake Bros
Actually, there's a good chance that (at least) one of the above owns (at least) one of the others.
― Just got offed, Sunday, 4 November 2007 20:47 (sixteen years ago) link
AnItalian workmate of my friend's has commented that Zero Degrees is the only place he's found in England that does pizzas properly. So there you go. Pizza Express does tend to be of different quality whenever I go in there (which is not that often) but when it's good, it's OK.
― Not the real Village People, Sunday, 4 November 2007 20:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Awesome! I feel fucking vindicated. Especially given that there are only THREE outlets in the entire country (Blackheath, Bristol and Reading).
― Just got offed, Sunday, 4 November 2007 20:57 (sixteen years ago) link
"T/S: 3663 vs. Cearns & Brown vs. Sodex Ho vs. Brake Bros
Actually, there's a good chance that (at least) one of the above owns (at least) one of the others."
nope, not the case
― Porkpie, Sunday, 4 November 2007 21:04 (sixteen years ago) link
the four horsemen of the apocalypse
― Just got offed, Sunday, 4 November 2007 21:04 (sixteen years ago) link
poisoning schoolkids since thatcher
― Just got offed, Sunday, 4 November 2007 21:05 (sixteen years ago) link
Haha, if you knew how many restaurants got their dry goods off 3663...
― Matt, Sunday, 4 November 2007 21:05 (sixteen years ago) link
you said you'd "pay for the uniformity" but now you're saying you're only paying for pizza express because it's cheaper than the bespoke competition. hence "just a money issue" rather than something more, as you had earlier implied. lol!
-- Tracer Hand, Monday, November 5, 2007 11:33 AM (52 seconds ago) Bookmark Link
no contradiction there. within your money-reach, you can afford either p-express or some other independent place (ie NOT a posh restaurant with sourced fresh ingredients, etc -- also no booking blah blah class ssystem blah). so you go for the chain over the unknown, which in all likelihood, unless you know otherwise, doesn't have a markedly superior ingredient hook-up.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Monday, 5 November 2007 11:36 (sixteen years ago) link
Tracer - I think you need some more condescension. Pizza Express isn't particularly cheap, doesn't use grade A fresh ingredients and is run on extremely rigid lines of uniformity. BUT in the absence of known cheaper/better pizzerias, and when you need to find a place on any high street with which a group of people will all be happy, when you know the quality, hygiene etc is going to be of an acceptable level, and at a price most people are okay - it ticks all the necessary boxes.
Also I really like the food there.
― Mark C, Monday, 5 November 2007 11:39 (sixteen years ago) link
Mark's pretty much got it. Of course I prefer to go to places where the food is freshly sourced and prepared, but sometimes it is nice just to not have to cook/wash up and on occasions like that then all I want is food that I know that I, and others in my company, will enjoy. Pizza Express/Chiquitos/Nandos etc all do that pretty well. I'm not pretending they are anything special or fancy, but they aren't McDonalds either.
(the first time I was ever in Pizza Express was one in, I think, Fulham, with Mark C and a whole bunch of other people. It was a pretty good night)
Little Chef is the expert at everything frozen and cooked in a microwave - bags of microwaveable frozen ready-cooked tagliatelle etc. Though you're pretty much getting what you need there, no-one is ever going to go looking for freshly prepared home cooking in a service station in this country.
― ailsa, Monday, 5 November 2007 11:55 (sixteen years ago) link
I ate the curry. Fucking good it was.
― Scik Mouthy, Monday, 5 November 2007 11:58 (sixteen years ago) link
You can't beat a Sloppy Giuseppe, a Peroni and a slice of cheesecake.
― Scik Mouthy, Monday, 5 November 2007 12:31 (sixteen years ago) link
if you know what i mean
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 5 November 2007 12:37 (sixteen years ago) link
I'd love to have the time and motivation to search out authentic little sicilian places every time I fancy a pizza, but meanwhile back in reality Pizza Express is fine, as far as I'm concerned. I go in them a lot as they fit various needs :
1) Can't be arsed to cook tonight, but we're not really going *out*, and don't want to spend loads,so let's pop in there. 2) Out shopping or whatever and need more than a sandwich, but want to be quickish. 3) The kids like it.
The diavolo is a very fine pizza indeed, and I have to have one once in a while.
― Dr.C, Monday, 5 November 2007 13:12 (sixteen years ago) link
great place to take GF for her birthday, just so she knows her place.
― darraghmac, Monday, 5 November 2007 13:14 (sixteen years ago) link
past and pizza = not that hard to make, i can't understand having pasta when you're out. the difference between pasta and pizza available in uk & italian restaurants = not that vast imo.
― jed_, Monday, 5 November 2007 13:15 (sixteen years ago) link
pizza express pizza is f'in horrible, yuk! tiny, doughy, tasteless, overpriced. i'd take a chance on an unknown independent every time, maybe sometimes i will lose (in a pub in essex i ordered lasagne and when it came it was 90% full of SWEETCORN wtf, who puts sweetcorn in lasagne? i had to pick it all out and then there was nearly nothing left) but at least i don't walk in there KNOWING i'm going to be fleeced.
― emsk, Monday, 5 November 2007 15:58 (sixteen years ago) link
hilarious
― o-ess, Monday, 5 November 2007 16:03 (sixteen years ago) link
https://twitter.com/PizzaExpress/status/506542316627443712
― Nothing less than the Spirit of the Age (nakhchivan), Monday, 1 September 2014 23:51 (nine years ago) link
some pretty excellent jazz acts have played the soho square branch over the years.
― The Wu-Tang Declan (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 2 September 2014 00:50 (nine years ago) link
THE CHICKENS ARE FROM BRAZIL
― the other song about butts in the top 5 (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 2 September 2014 02:26 (nine years ago) link