Pizza Express

Delicious crusty pizza and salads-​fantastic coffees and desserts and within steps of the royal mile! Perfect!

After getting back to my hotel so late in the evening all I wanted was a quick easy meal. This place was fantastic the service was quick, the staff were polite and most importantly the pizza was amazing. Now k figure myself a pizza specialist and this place out things on pizza I hate… But for some reason it worked. It was fantastic I would recommend it to anyone feeling the need for quick and easy comfort food.

Quick & efficient service but very noisy. You know what you’re getting for you buck & the food is consistent.

My family and I had lunch at Pizza Express on August 5, 2013 following a tour at Edinburgh Castle.
I’d have to say I really liked the pizza and I would go there again if I am ever in Edinburgh again.
Food: ⁴⁄₅ Stars
I ordered the Pomodoro pizza and it was delicious. It was like a Naples style and I’d order it again. My hubby and son ordered a pepperoni pizza. The three of us ate every last piece of those three pizzas.
Service: ⁴⁄₅ Stars
Our waiter was very good and the pizzas were served quickly. I did ask for a «To Go»
menu when I left and they did not have any. That would have been nice to have to give to a friend.
Ambiance: ⁴⁄₅ Stars
I liked it. It was modern, nicely decorated and clean. I wouldn’t take a date there for dinner, but it’s a great place for lunch.
Parking: ²⁄₅ Stars
Good luck with that. Thankfully, we had a deluxe coach coming to pick us up so that wasn’t an issue. I don’t know where everyone else parks. The traffic seems pretty awful heading up to Castle Hill too.

Popped in here with some friends for lunch, partially to get out of the rain, partially because we can all agree on pizza. It wasn’t necessarily /​bad/​pizza, but it wasn’t good either. You don’t get much for what you pay for. It was kind of fancy for what is essentially a pizza chain, but service wasn’t up to the standard they wanted to give off. I do prefer it to some other chain restaurants, but probably only if I’m not the one paying.

Usually I prefer to go to local restaurants which offer food which is a little less homogeneous, but I got tesco club card vouchers for pizza express so my boyfriend and I went for ‘valentines day’. We are romantic, but prefer to be more spontaneous, and this meal just happened to coincidentally fall upon the 14^th.
Enough rambling… We booked a table, and didn’t have to wait at all to get to it. The service was prompt and friendly, we ordered tap water (cheapskates) and a jug immediately, with ice and lemon slices. I then ordered a padana leggera (a ‘skinny’ pizza, which is thin and crispy and has the middle cut out and filled with a rocket salad. It was topped with spinach, goats cheese and caramelised red onions). My boyfriend went for the veneziana romana (the larger thin and crispy pizza, topped with olives, capers and a few sultanas). He is Italian, and I am pretty sure that gives him the authority to judge pizza. He may not have tried la favorita yet, but in his opinion, pizza express offers the best pizza in town. The ingredients are fresh, the pizza dough is fresh and you can see the people kneading it and placing it in the oven. His only criticism is that they were a little stingy with the mozzarella and it was very small by Italian standards. The price is quite steep if we compare the pizzas here to those in Italy or from a takeaway, but considering that we had tokens it wasn’t so bad.
To follow we had raspberry sorbet, which was sweet, fresh tasting and accompanied by a mint leaf and a dark chocolate straw. Despite it being quite tasty, I wouldn’t normally pay £4.45 for a sorbet when you can buy a tub of good quality stuff for £5 which will serve 4 people, or a really intricate pudding which requires time and patience.
I wouldn’t really buy a drink here, as both the alcoholic and non-​alcoholic drinks are what doubles your bill.
So… Come here if you have a good discount or vouchers. If not, I would suggest La favorita in morningside or leith, which also offers gluten free pizza and pasta.

I received a free trail for a Taste card that allows for 2−4−1 or 50% off meals for a variety of chain restaurants across the UK. Pizza Express is one of the restaurants included in this scheme. I’m normally hesitant on going to chain restaurants because I prefer supporting local businesses but it was Thursday and my partner and I decided to take advantage of the 2−4−1 deal. This location is always busy and it looks nice from the outside. Inside it’s fairly modern. We had a cheesy garlic bread to start and both had pizzas off the ‘romana’ menu. Our pizzas were pretty tasty and overall it was a good experience. It’s centrally located and with the Taste card it makes for a really inexpensive date/​meal/​catch up.

I simply love Pizza Express. there’s not one thing on the menu which I wouldn’t like. My favorite at the moment is Da Morire (which means ‘to die for’). They also do great salads and pasta. The only thing missing is steak I think.
I am signed up with my email address and they always send me vouchers, without them the place might be a bit pricey.
Its a great place to take kids for lunch, they have piccolo menu for about 7 pounds (dough balls, small salad, pizza or pasta, dessert and a little frothy milk), kids just love it.
Always feel very welcome there.
Recommended!

I wanted to give Pizza Express the benefit of doubt and walked over last night. The pizza itself was decent at best with a watered down sauce and too many herbs. The service was barely passable — I waited 5+ minutes at a time to get a drink and had 3 different people by the time it was said and done. The dough balls with Nutella was the only redeeming factor.

Sind bei unserem Besuch in Edinburgh des Öfteren an ‘Pizza Express’ vorbei gelaufen und am vorletzten Abend sind wir dann doch mal rein gegangen!
Der Laden war immer voll und das hat schon was zu bedeuten!
Mein Freund und ich waren sehr zufriedenleckere Pizza und sehr nettes, kompetentes Personal!!!
Daumen hoch!!!

This place is decent, no surprises. Nice décor, very clean, nice menu. We ordered a margherita romana and a regular americana. Both were good. The margherita could stand to be a little more flavourful but still good. The service was decent. For dessert we had doughballs with nutella and it tasted well like doughballs with nutella :)
If you are in the mood for a quick bite/​pizza and don’t want to hit a high end italian restaurant, please skip the fast food places and go to pizza express. We also saw a bunch of high chairs so it looks to be family friendly.

Pizza express is really good. This a particularly lovely location. Staff are really friendly too.

Pizza Express deliver exactly what they promise on the menu:
Great dough balls covered in warm butter
Great caesar salad with lovely anchovies and parmesan shavings
Great pizza with a deliciously thin, bubbly crust
Great fresh ingredients packed with flavour
Great lemonade with a powerful acidity
& Great ice-​cream
To top it off, the staff at this branch restored our faith in customer service by delivering the food on time and with genuine smiles. The sunny table and mellow music was just an added bonus.

Pizza Express tends to be the same wherever you go, but this one stands out thanks to it’s people-​watching facilities. As is usually the case with every member of this chain, the front of the restaurant is entirely glass. And this, combined with the fact that it’s dual aspect and therefore looks out over both Victoria Street as well as George IV Bridge, makes the ideal spot for some lunchtime spyng whilst eating.
I have a love-​hate relationship with Pizza Express. If you’re paying full price, I think it’s a complete rip-​off. £10 for a pizza, uncomfy wooden chairs and completely devoid of any of the character you usually associate with Italian eateries… no thanks. If, however, you take advantage of their seemingly endless special offers and deals then it’s another thing entirely. The offers they send out by email are particularly good; I got one sent to me the other day offering 2 courses and a 175ml glass of wine for £10 a head, and there’s no denying that that’s good value for money.
The cheap deals do have their downsides though. I’ve never felt so geriatric as during my last visit here, when I looked around the restaurant and realised to my horror that almost every other table was occupied by awkward-​looking fifteen year olds on first dates, hiding behind their menus whilst desperately trying to think of something to talk about.
But, for the moment at least, I’m leaning towards the love side of our love-​hate relationship.

This Pizza Express is right next to Hotel Missoni, and maybe that’s what drew me to it as I’m dying to get a wee room in there to see what it’s like (hint hint!) but I have to say, my first Pizza Express experience will probably be my last.
It’s nothing to do with the décor, or the staff, or the location or hygiene or anything like that but I have to be honest and say… the pizzas just weren’t that good!
To start I had the garlic bread with cheese which was fine. Just fine. Nothing amazing, nothing fantastical for my tastebuds, but it was garlic bread so I can let it go. I perused the menu for ages until I decided on the Pollo Pancetta Romana pizza, which is slightly bigger than the regular pizzas and the base is thin. Like, paper thin. Which, incidentally, I hate! I really don’t dig thin based pizzas which I perhaps should have voiced before we came here. Oops. Anyway, the pizza came, and was huge, topped with chicken, pancetta, peppers and onions on a red pepper sauce base, which I honestly wasn’t too keen on. It just didn’t hit the spot at all, I don’t really know why. The chicken was a bit tough, the sauce tasted really weird. I left over half of it which is something I rarely do in restaurants!
The pizza itself was £10.25 which was ok I suppose, and the starter just under £4 so the meal wasn’t too expensive but we left without desert. Not my slice of Margarita at all, sorry!

My boyfriend and I love to take advantage of Orange Wednesday’s, especially when budgeting, so we decided to try out this new branch of Pizza Express. A piece of advice: if you ever go to any Pizza Express on a Wednesday be sure to go before or after prime eating time (between 7−9pm) as it seems to get crazy full with young teens and other movie goers.
Anyway we came here at about 6.30 and it was pretty empty. The service was fine although the girl got really confused about the 241 dinner deal Orange has– she had to go and ask her supervisor. The food was good as usual, and the window seats are ideal for people watching. It’s quite a large place so great if you have a larger crowd of people. They took a while to bring our bill– think it was a technical glitch.
Other than this, our food was delicious and I quite liked the funky layout of the place. As far as chains goes, I quite enjoyed this one and would come back again.

Yes, this is another branch of Pizza Express to grace Edinburgh. But, unlike the sigh I exhale from seeing another McDonalds or Starbucks open, Pizza Express is a chain I rejoice in seeing spread.
There is no denying that the pizzas they make are top notch and with a few peronis and some good company you can’t do much better in terms of pizza and beer.
I emphasise the pizza and beer though, as this is the focal point of dining here.
This particular branch is new and snazzy and has a convenient location just off the royal mile.

I wasn’t too happy with my visit to this Pizza Express chain. It was the usual nice food but the size and lay-​out of the venue meant that at busy times, it feels like one very loud canteen. We were sat by the door and so had a queue of people waiting to be seated standing over us as we tried to chat over the noise.

Modern setting for the chain pizza outlet. Hard walls and virtually no soft furninshings meant lots of noise bouncing around the place, so be prepared for some raised voices… Late evening visit, seated at rear of the restaurant — you pass the service area at one side to pass through which to me is not ideal. Busy tables, but good service from staff who knew their stuff!
Usual menu, pretty quick service as you might expect, and a clean and efficient set up. ‘Very’ city centre location should mean it will be a busy place.
Get one of the online vouchers for one of their offers and this is a worthwhile ‘easy’ meal. Recommended.

Pretty much everything you’d expect from a Pizza Express — decent service, a good Rose at a sensible price and very nice pizzas. The air con was on rather ferociously on my visit but otherwise I’ve no complaints and could well be making more use of this branch as it’s nice and handy for the office.

A good addition to the Pizza Express family, this restaurant opened just in time for the Festival in 2009 in a new building on the corner of George IV Bridge and Victoria Street. The restaurant, being modern, is light and airy with a pleasant atmosphere. It tends to vary in busy-​ness, being particularly busy over the weekends but not so busy at lunchtimes, making it a perfect choice for a quick but good quality lunch. Serving the usual Pizza Express fare — a good range of delicious pizzas and a smaller selection of pastas — the staff are friendly and atmosphere relaxed. In addition to the normal tables, there are some more comfortable seats further into the restaurant. Overall, a good location.