Pizza Express in Braintree

Great pizza, helpful attentive staff, empty restaurant.

Had to wait more than half hour for our main course another table got their starter and main together after waiting nearly an hour!

Absymal. The experience was absymal. This was the first Pizza Express I experienced more due the familiarity of hear the name of the chain rather than actually hearing good things about the restaurant. When we go for a dine in there are 3 things that ticks the box 1. Service 2. Atmosphere 2. Food So, this is a step by step procedure. If the service is bad then as usual the rest of the things are pretty much downhill from there. This is the first time I am seeing teams avoiding eye contact with the patrons who are about to order. So the first 20 mins we just sat patiently following which I had to chase someone to get the order in. And I forgot the table we were directed to was not set. No tissues, no knives, no forks...all that were present were 3 glasses situated haphazardly which led me to question whether the table was cleared before we sat in. And now after the cat and mouse chase with the order, the pizza arrived with the starter. Voila. Here comes the moment when you curse your idea of coming to this particular restaurant. It was no better than the takeaways from the groceries. I could have got the same amount of pizza from any one of the grocery chains and heat it in the oven. Luckily for us, towards the time we ended our ordeal I think the shift changed and we had different waitresses running around. The bill was settled pretty quickly and we ran away from the place. I know this is a chain establishment and all that, but people are coming in to eat good food. Not to stare at the walls and regret throwing money down the drain. I really hope this will be a one time experience. Right now, I am not planning to step in on another Pizza express in the near future. To the people who plan to, I hope you have better luck than me.

Food was really good and service too. It is a little bit expensive for pizza …

very good food and service and atmosphere do go there grate pizza and beer to

Lisa our waitress was great at Colchester. Always great food and atmosphere. Thank you.

Lovely PX better than others which are nice anyway. Tried the Burnt Ends Romano delish!!! Staff very friendly too, all in all great lunch whilst at Freeport :)

No service. 15 to 20 mins wait for someone to take your order. Staff complaining to customers at there's no staff. Waste of time

Really good Romana pizza and bubbling hot Lasagna. Fresh clean salad and super tasty dough balls in spicy nduja sauce. Crisp refreshing sparkling drinks too. A special mention to Joanna,who single handedly served the lunch crowd,even reading virtually the entire menu to a partially sighted lady whilst keeping everyone served. I hope she is appreciated! Good food all round!!

Good pizza place , very busy but still delivered good tasty food and staff very helpful

Excellent friendly service and excellent food the pizza's were all delicious and wouldn't hesitate to go back can highly recommend looking forward to the next time

I came in for lunch yesterday and had a lovely young lady serve us called Mia. She was very happy and friendly and made sure we was happy during our meal even when it was busy. Food was amazing and quick service.

Great service , excellent pizza

Visited yesterday with 3 friends and my guide dog in training The staff were wonderful the food was good and we left having had a good time and with full stomachs we will be revisiting soon

Me and mum came in for dinner tonight and couldn’t fault the food or the service. Lovely atmosphere would definitely come again

Good food & great service. Atmosphere was good too. It's definitely one of the better pizza expresses! Food came quickly and was tasty. Mia was an exceptional waitress, who was attentive and is a credit to the staff :)

Had a lovely lunch here this afternoon for my daughter’s birthday, the food was excellent and our waitress Mia was wonderful. They catered excellently to my husbands dietary requirements, hope to come back again soon, can’t recommend them enough.

Food was incredible, service was outstanding 👏 👌

Great restaurant. Thank you Toni for the great service!

So before I start this is a chain so that has to be taken into consideration when I start the review and as somebody who is very picky over pizza I'm bound to be slightly more critical over pizza then other dishes. Firstly the resteraunt is nice inside comfy seating and as with all Pizza Express you can see your pizza being made. The service in this branch was the real winner over everything the lady who was looking after us was friendly great and gave attention to my nephew so they went far and beyond your normal expectations. For starters we shared the classic dough balls which to be honest are great for me and the garlic butter is always a winner simple dishes like this are always a winner, alongside this we also had calamari which I was worried about but for what it was it was great, it reminds me of frozen calamari but with a nice coating and a bit more care so is it my favourite no, is it good for what it is well yes it is. Then on to the main event once upon a time I used to love pizza express before we saw the pizza world explode in England and everything became sough dough or neopolitan. We had the calabria which was nice flavour tasty toppings but the dough for me hasn't quite kept up with the levels of other places available now. It's tasty but is it at the top level, for me no it's not bit it's a good option. We also had a nduja calzone which was probably the only real lacking pizza. It needs more, I mean more filling and more tomatoe sauce it's tasty and nice smoked chilli flavour what is there is really nice but it just needs a little more. But yes I enjoyed my meal had brilliant service in a really nice resteraunt so it's a great option to have and alongside every specialist pizza places is the good safe option available with plenty of options at a great price.

Spent £47 on two pizzas two halloumi bits and some dough balls. Everything was cold, stone cold not even a little warmth. The halloumi bits were in a big box like there would be something in there and it was a small sprinkling of tiny little halloumi bites so not worth the money. Out of the two pizzas they forgot the chicken on the first pizza and the second was pointless, asked for extra jalapeños and it was all they bothered to put on the pizza with the cheese and tomato! They’re already overcharging why try and save money by robbing unsuspecting customers??? Terrible, absolutely horrific wouldn’t order from these people again ever under any circumstances!!!! All Deliveroo would let me do was get the chicken refunded! Nothing for ruining our meal and robbing us!

This restaurant visit was by far my most disappointing dining experience. My party and I were seated and then inexplicably forgotten. After nearly 40 minutes of waiting, I had to contact the restaurant by phone to inform them that our order hadn't been taken. It was only after the manager's intervention that we could finally place our order. Regrettably, the two Italian servers assigned to our table consistently disregarded us, even engaging in personal conversations with other nearby customers instead of attending to our needs. When our pizza was eventually served, we were already considering leaving. Getting our receipt was yet another prolonged ordeal, taking an additional 30-40 minutes. The overall attitude and service from the two Italian servers were utterly unacceptable. This experience has left us with no intention of returning, and we plan to file an official complaint regarding this incident.

Food is fine but the service is terrible, waited ages for a table in an empty restaurant and once finally seated was ignored for 30mins before we just got up and left. The server was also just rude and unwelcoming

Went in there today was sat on a unlayed table that was dirty and floor and chairs where covered in food, sat there for 10 min waiting to ask if we could move or just get some drinks. As we left walked past all the staff who didn’t even care that we where leaving already.

It was a miserable wet day when my daughter, granddaughter and I came into Pizza Express. We were welcomed by Carl who looked after us so well and nothing was too much trouble. We really enjoyed our visit.

Unfortunate Google asked if we wanted to update our review after the meal we just had, our old review was 5 star and we had a great time previously, this experience this evening couldnt be further from it! We were a table of five, the restaurant didnt even look half full and we have been there for THREE HOURS we only had two courses! Starters took half an hour from ordering which wasnt too bad but an hour and 45 minutes between that and the main was ridiculous! We had been regulars but this isnt the first time its taken a while to get the food so we wont be going back for a while if at all

Drank a whole bottle of wine whilst waiting for our mains. Never did get it so left without paying. Staff offered no explanation for delay. Manager was more interested in arranging the take outs. When confronted his words 'I have just walked into this'. My granddaughters 8th birthday treat as well. Had to go home as school in the morning. We were not the only ones either. Just awful. Wine not bad though especially when on the house.

We waited for 2hrs+ for 3 (!) Pizzas and left without any food at all because it was taking wayy too long DO NOT EVER COME HERE THE WORKERS DON'T LIKE THEIR CUSTOMERS

Worst Pizza Express I’ve ever been to. We were sat at a table right in the centre of the restaurant so you’d think we wouldn’t be forgotten about but sadly that wasn’t the case! Waited an age for our order to be taken and starters came pretty quickly once we had finally ordered but it really went south from there. We waited over an hour and a half for our pizzas to be cooked, it was a Sunday evening and was not busy at all so I cannot understand how it took THAT long? To make things worse, when we did finally get our pizzas, 2 out of 3 had been made incorrectly and had to be remade and there was not urgency to do this either! Pitiful customer service, in the time we were waiting nobody bothered to come over and let us know why we had to wait so long, and when we got our food nobody apologised for the wait. None of the waiting staff were clearing any tables, the place looked horrific when we left at 8pm (having been there since 5!) - watched them seat a family on a dirty table and they didn’t even bother to wipe it. Cannot stress enough how much you shouldn’t eat here! I watched at least 6 tables complain in the time we were there, and anywhere that receives that many complaints in a 3 hour period on a quiet Sunday should really rethink how they are running things

I usually enjoy pizza express. Like all chains, you know what you’re getting. But this review is about the terrible service as I didn’t even get to eat. A friend and I popped in while we had a 50 minutes to wait for a train. When we arrived we waited at the usual place to be seated. Lots of staff milling around all in one area, all had seen us, but none made the effort to come over. After about 5 minutes a member of staff came from the back and walked over to us. As she seated us we explained we had a train to catch and would (by this time) 45 minutes be enough. She said yes. We sat at a table which had some dirty glasses form another customer (not their fault we chose it because it was in the shade outside) but the lady that sat us didn’t even attempt to take the dirty stuff away. We then sat there for 15 minutes trying to get the rather disorganised staff around us to take our order. They never did. Nor did they ever clean the table. We stood up and left and popped to a sand which shop around the corner instead. As we walked back past Pizza Express 20 minutes later, the table still hadn’t been cleared and our menus were still sitting there. This comes down to terrible people management. Clearly the staff have had Xero training in how to manage there section to ensure all customers get served and attended to. Or, the management is so poor, they don’t care. So disappointing as I’ve never had any issues with the food I had at any pizza express, but if this is their attitude towards service, it’s going to die in its feet not matter what the food’s like.

Overpriced, tasteless pizza with, sparse toppings and no condiments. Like eating overcooked cardboard pizza wraps. Rude waitress, do not recommend as definitely not a good experience or even remotely average for food.

Good service and all members were polite and respectful

This was a lovely visit! The friendliness of the waitress Toni made it even better!! She was so kind and professional and gave us all options available. The food was really nice and I had a lovely catch up with family. Chicken wings were delicious and the salad was really good!!

We went about 4 in afternoon so not very busy only 3 other tables. Took 20 mins to order a drink and another 10 to get. Food was OK mine was hot wife's warm. Asked for bill at end and waited another 20 mins to pay staff where no where to be seen even though hardly anyone in restaurant

First visit. Very impressed. Catered for gluten free. Essential for me. Great experience

Food was ok. Toppings on the pizza were very limited. Margarita was crispy in the centre due to the lack of toppings. Kids meal was good and good value. Service was very slow considering the place was half empty. Had to ask for the bill twice and in the end just got up to pay at the door.

Popped in this eve and wow what a great restaurant food was fresh and really well cooked and presented our waitress Toni was fabulous. had a couple of not great meals in PE (not this one) lately. But hey pizza express. These guys done great. Well done team.

Pizza Express Freeport Braintree..... As usual the food (when it came) was as you expect with no issue and lovely. My complaint is with the service. We arrived and was shown to our table at 5.30. By 6 I felt it necessary to summon a waitress to take our order. The starters came another half an hour later. Again another 20 minutes after finishing our starters and had to ask a waitress for more drinks and to clear the plates. This lackluster service continued throughout. Didn't order a desert (which my children wanted) because we wanted to get home before midnight! The restaurant was not even a third full, so I cannot understand the very poor service. I witnessed one customer who arrived an hour later than us and had sat at there table for 30 minutes and in the end had to get out of his seat to ask a waitress for some service. Hate to think what it would have been like if the restaurant was full!!!

Highly recommended. Great selection of vegan and vegetarian options now.

Food was good, service was slow but don't think I really blame the staff because they looked massively understaffed. The staff that were there were nice and polite. Think we were in the restaurant for at least 1½ hours that first hour was waiting for the food. Table was sticky and covered gunk is the only word I could think of. Overall it was at most a very average experience. Probably wouldn't go back

Fantastic relaxed atmosphere and excellent service, Sylvia was superb, thank you

The food was great. Service was hard to get hold of whilst sitting outside. Staff is very friendly.

Arrived ~1 hour before closing (it wasn't busy), initially ignored by the first person who walked past and made eye contact as I said hello, they then twigged that they hadn't greeted us and said they'd be with us shortly but wandered off with a chair. One of the other members of staff who wasn't busy then offered to take us to a table. No drinks were offered upon seating and it took ~10 minutes to have our order taken. Food came out in an acceptable time and was very nice. We only had starters however weren't asked how the food was at any point. It then took 10 minutes of trying to get someone's attention once we'd finished so we could pay the bill. Lots of staff were in the kitchen chatting and those who weren't didn't seem to be paying any attention to diners. Someone kindly brought the bill over however didn't bring the card machine (despite me having my bright orange card out and saying we wanted to pay by card). They plopped the receipt down and walked off. We sat and waited and eventually decided to just get up and walk to the door. The staff member didn't seem to take any notice of us (she saw us but ignored us, busying herself with something) and another colleague had to ask if we needed help. We did then manage to pay with the other colleague's assistance. Overall a fairly rubbish mundane experience. Most staff seemed unenthused and like they didn't want to be there / like they just wanted to go home / like we were all an inconvenience. Wouldn't choose to visit this branch again. Felt unwelcome and sensed a somewhat awkward atmosphere from the staff. Wouldn't recommend this location to others. Seems like our experience isn't dissimilar to that of other reviewers. There were only two of us dining, not a huge table. Just glad they didn't try to get us to pay a gratuity!

This is the second abysmal experience we had. Tried to eat at this which used to be a favourite of ours and were turned away with the restaurant full of customers with the lady telling us we have to close as all our toilets are out of order including the disabled toilet so it's illegal for us to stay open. We therefore , like the previous time visited Zizzis , where once again the service , ambience and food was amazing . After finished we saw the pizza express far from being closed was still open ! Go figure

I’ve been eating at Pizza Express for over 50 years, since they first opened in Bloomsbury. So sad to see how cost cutting has ruined their pizza. New pizza Express, half the cheese, half the ham, half the mushrooms, half the olives, triple the passata!!! End of an era… Time to move on… Good bye Wilko, good bye Pizza Express! You will be missed…..

Delicious pizza and dough balls 😋

Seated and served promptly, and food came faster than expected.

Their pizzas have become quite pricey and there are too many chilli ones on offer with some weird flavour combinations. I didn't choose particularly well on this occasion but my wife loved her pizza. I will give them another try but will be a little more careful with my food selection.

Adam served us! We were a big party but that was no drama for him, really helpful and knowledgeable, really friendly 5* service !!

Adam was really nice and helpful!

A flying lunchtime visit, the food was fab and fresh and the service by Jo was wonderful

Excellent lunch experience in all aspects (17/07/23). Very tasty (and promptly ordered and delivered) food, great staff, nice clean setting and atmosphere. Very nice to my children too! Always great to see a chain maintain such high standards in each restaurant!

Waitress was attentive and helpful with regards to menu and side dishes Dessert to die for so scrumptious

Adam offered outstanding service, will be back

Nice look place with a big menu. I think this is the first time I've been here. Nice selection of pizzas and being able to do a half and half was good too! We used our Tesco vouchers for the food so we only paid for drinks. Nice cheap meal out!

Adam our waiter was fabulous, he’s happy, friendly and very polite, he made my birthday special, well done Adam x x

Hats off to Adam, great friendly service with a smile, deserve employee of the month👍🏻

Decided to go on a Sunday night for dinner with family. We had terrific service from two waitress’s who were working 4 or 5 tables. Service was swift and courteous. We had delicious pizza and the vegan in the party was well catered for.

Fantastic atmosphere. Attentive staff. Friendly and welcoming. Gregg made us feel comfortable and relaxed and Gosia served with a smile and was extremely helpful. Food was of a great standard and there is a good selection of drinks :)

Never had a bad meal. Great service, simple but brilliant food and a lovely atmosphere. Greg's service was outstanding, couldn't thank him enough

It was amazing service was great. The food was delicious. Would definitely recommend for people vista braintree.

Absolutely rude, stood waiting for 10 minutes whilst the staff seated other diners only wanted a takeout - staff couldn't care less - fuming, sort your website out PE!!! So you can order the same online as in the restaurant - only been waiting for 2 years for you to do this - shambles!!!

My son just finished his GCSE’s so thought why not take him for a nice pizza (rare occurrence!). Sat outside, waitress came straight away and we ordered drinks, caprese and dough balls to start and pizza. Drinks came immediately. Great! I thought, we’re onto a winner. While we were chatting, realised it has been half an hour and no starters, not even the olives. Asked a waiter (not our waitress she was nowhere to be seen) to kindly check on our starters and also if we could move inside as it was a bit chilly. He said sure I’ll check on your starters but you can’t go inside as it’s too busy, the place was half empty on a Friday night (perhaps unsurprisingly). After 40 minutes asked another waitress to check on our starters and still no answer. After 55 minutes a couple next to us got their starters and they arrived at least 15 minutes after us. That was it. Went back inside, and there was our initial waitress. She was like “but your starters are ready now!”. I was like great but we are still leaving please can I pay for my drinks. She was ever so apologetic but still wanted the £7.10 for the two cokes. Then she ended with “we hope to see you again”. Sure we will back in no time! Avoid like the plague.

Best pizza for a long while, great new interior

The food was lovely, the service and atmosphere was really nice and such a chilled evening. However our server Adam really made our night, he was so polite and informative about the dishes and his interaction with us made our night even more special.

We felt most welcome when we arrived. Joanna, our waitress, was very efficient and helpful. The meal was enjoyable, but the excellent service was most appreciated.

We initially decided to visit pizza express which we have always visited as regulars for years. However we were shocked at the way inwhich the manager worked hard to dissuade us from eating here despite being totally empty . The manager asked us 1. had we booked despite his whole restaurant being empty, 2. We could not sit further back as his staff could not walk that far to serve us I guess 3. He tried very hard to dissuade us from eating there saying there was a 40min wait as he had a trainee chef , even when we said we were ok with it he re emphasised how long we would have to wait for our food. We still decided to sit down however after not even being waited on for a drinks order and being totally ignored we decided to give it a miss and eat elsewhere . We ended you eating at an alternative Italian restaurant Zizzis and boy what a refreshing contrast!. We were greeted with a smile , allowed to sit anywhere we wished and nothing was any trouble for the smiling friendly staff. Best of all the food was a million times better than pizza express and service with a smile and a big welcome. We now have a new regular pizza place. Thanks manager at pizza express you did us a huge favour, we found a place who appreciated our custom !

Great visit as always, thank you

Consistently bad pizzas are dreadful and somehow my Pollo d'astra pizza turned into a vegan pizza and both romana bases even though I ordered normal. We have been here several times and every time it gets slightly worse. Never again, don't waste your money avoid!!

Visited for a family dinner and to use up some Tesco Clubcard vouchers. Service was friendly and efficient. The food was hot, fresh and tasty. We have eaten here on numerous occasions recently and it is always excellent and the food is always very good.

Brilliant service from our Manager Gregg😊the spicy dough balls was great, so was the rest of the team Tripple espresso please.

The best Pizza Express in Essex. ❤️😁👍🤤🤤🤤

Great pizza in this branch of Pizza Express. In my opinion the best and I have visited many different branches

Fine, you know what to expect and it delivers this. Thank you.

Really great food, lovely customer service, especially from our waiter Adam, he was a lovely person! And the manager Mina who was also amazing and very understanding. Would definitely recommend to eat here! :)

Brilliant food and excellent staff!

Just had a nice meal and the staff were great.

Waited over 1 hour for my main course with no one telling me why it takes so long. I even warned them I'm leaving in 5 mins so please.ket me know with no response. I left paying for my drinks and starter. So poor.

Decided to pop in here for lunch mid shopping as haven’t tried it before and really wish we had chosen somewhere else. Restaurant was clean and spacious and less than half full. Ordered food for 3 adults and 2 children. Starters came pretty quick, prawn...

Ordered a takeaway for collection, 7 pizza, (2 vegan) and 8 sides and a salad bowl. Given then complex nature of our order was not holding out much hope of it being all present and correct but I was proven wrong! Not only was the food proper fresh and tasty, everything was correct and even got extra complimentary dough balls! Manager was really efficient and ticked everything off to make sure we had it all and even kept salad separate so it stayed cold. Really good food, even better service!

Waited ages at the door with my youngest daughter and was ignored for five minutes . The servers walked past as . Then just now I tried again with my 21 yr old . She huffily asked us if we’d booked then proceeded to look around the restaurant , that was empty , except a few people, for s good 2 mins . She sat us then we sat for 15 , being ignored . So we left and went to zizzs where we were greeted with s smile , sat straight away . Asked if had Allergies , and have our drinks and orders done within 5 mins

Good food, great staff and clean. Plenty of Parking.

Terrible service! Would not recommend. I'd give it no star if possible. Ordered to dine in but was never served after waiting for 45 mins, but the other customers that came later than us was served beforehand only within the first 15 minutes after they sat down. Only difference is that they were all white and the only brown people in the restaurant never got served. Very disappointed and felt racially discriminated. So much for the express in the name.

Freeport restaurant. Really lovely experience on Mother’s Day. Food was amazing, service was really friendly, and we were done in an hour for 2 courses.

Amazing service by Gosia everything spot on...Food was great and serving fast on mothers Day.

Booked 11 people for my son's birthday. Was told upon arriving that the booking was not on the list so we were turned away. Very disappointed. Lucky Wildwood accommodated us at very short notice which turned out to be an excellent trade!

Great food. Exceptional service thanks to our server Adam.

First time visiting a Pizza Express with my family. Restaurant seemed clean & comfortable with a nice atmosphere, good aesthetics. Staff were pleasant & friendly, although initial service of taking our order seemed a bit slow. Food came in decent time, it was a bit...

Very caring staff and really tasty pizza! Excellent thankyou!

Lovely. Come here regularly with the family. Great gluten free selection. Family loves it and the staff are always nice.

Great food and great value. Every staff member we had contact with were so lovely and friendly. It was a really lovely experience.

Fast service, pizza was great, good location.

Had our daughters birthday party here was a really good experience the staff were amazing especially nok (the chef) would 100% recommend

brilliant service, welcoming staff, fantastic wines too! would recommended to all.

Staff was amazing, food was fabulous and the whole team was friendly and welcoming.

Had lunch with my family in this place and the experience was amazing! I ordered a Fhungi di Bosco Romana pizza, the pizza was great and the staff were lovely. Always asking if we were okay and we needed anything, I loved to had lunch on this place and highly recommended!

Nice place,good food. Can be busy on the weekends.

Walked into the open restaurant at 11:25am just to be rudely told that they were in fact closed. We asked what time they opened and they hesitantly told us 11:30am, we were happy to leave and come back but after a faff on their part we were seated anyway. Our starters were sat on the side of the food station for at least 5minutes before being brought over to us. The food was very overpriced, the pizza was small and oily, looked like a shop bought oven pizza. Very disappointed. We had one waiter who was lovely but that was the only pleasant part of our experience.

Popped in here for lunch and received extremely slow service even though the kitchen area was well manned with four chefs which appeared well covered so therefore no excuses. The waitress we had seemed ok at first, however, my husband requested a chicken milanese as...

Lovely food, friendly service, clean and comfortable but just took so long. It was over two hours from being seated to when we paid our bill which, when only eating mains and dessert, was rather slow particularly as we had children with us.