Pizza Express in East Northamptonshire

I’ve eaten at Pizza Express before and enjoyed the food so had high hopes for a good experience for my sons birthdays. Unfortunately we were disappointed. Despite booking we had been in the restaurant over an hour before the food arrived and when it did it was underwhelming. The classic pizza I ordered was soggy and although the toppings were tasty, I didn’t get the impression that it had been cooked with care or pride in the product. The other pizzas were ok but even the Romano bases had areas which seemed undercooked. We had a further long wait for desserts, when they did arrive we were told that two were now sold out ,so had to choose alternatives. The desserts were ‘ok’, nothing more. We had a further long wait for the bill, after a couple of requests and when someone arrived their approach was hurried and lacked any care or interest in our enjoyment of the meal. Based on this experience I wouldn’t go back, or recommend the restaurant to anyone else.

Excellent service!! Made us our night special!! Thank you Suzanna

Zsuzsanna was brilliant. She was very attentive and ensured that we had all that we needed during our visit, making food recommendations which were a hit. The food was delicious Thank you Zsuzsanna!

Susanna was fabulous. Very helpful.

Enjoyed a fantastic dinner at this location. Food was great, but the service was even better. Simona was our server along with Francisco and they were exceptional - would happily give them 10 stars. Attentive, patient (large group with kids) and did everything with a smile. Thank you for making our mum’s birthday meal memorable.

So mad, come today 19.04.25 for my child birthday dinner, before we come we see poster next to the door kids eat for free. We order food finish to eat and ask for recipe and paid 77£ so kids didn’t eat for free. After when i ask where did kids eat for free? - with smile cuz i just start laughed cuz they lie she just say omg sorry about that and thats it 🤣🤣🤣 sooo my kids didnt eat for free 🤣 we are Russians and to the next table to us been english peoole with kids they get free kids food. We been feeling not great when we left. I just laughed how they sort people out.

Have kids meal free staff didn’t offer it. Staff recommended order family meal when 2 kids and 2 adults went to pay full price , next table had staff friends who had deserts and kids meals free , thank you never go again

Thank you to Lauren you are very good at what you do xx

Great service from Suzanna Enjoyable as always

Really great service! Don't normally leave a review but had to for Victoria. Honestly, the best and most attentive I've been served in a restaurant in years!

Went to and walked in on the 60th anniversary of the opening. Was told that they are not taking walk-ins although there were plenty of seats available. Never ever will I ever step through their door.

Fast delivery at awkward address, very good order.

food never showed up to are door after waiting for a hour.... very disappointed and I'm starving, never using again....

I rarely review but felt compelled to today. Lots of positives - the food, as ever, was fantastic and our server too. The restaurant itself is very pleasant and nice how it leads out onto the boardwalk. Granted it was a busy Sunday lunchtime. One expects it to be busy but waiting 1 hour and 20 minutes for food, especially when having two children aged 6 and 3 is unacceptable. This is not the fault of the servers and even chefs who were working as hard as they could (we still tipped our server) but the company for allowing, what I felt, was an unworkable ratio of staff to customers. After an hour, I decided to have a walk around the restaurant and it was apparent there was a lot of families and couples at tables looking fed up. I also saw a couple of tables near us give up and walk out. Such a shame as this restaurant has such potential. You pulled back a star for the fact that the food was good and the staff were trying as hard as they could.

Food was deliciously delicious, the service was perfect down to the most tiny details and the place looked pretty

You advertised a 35 to 50 minute allowance. Yes its a Friday night 95 minutes from order to delivery is not acceptable.

Pizza Express was a brilliant place to go n eat I went late at night as I was hungry n wanted a pizza 🍕 the food as amazing n tasted 😋 wonderful. The service was great n welcoming really nice staff 😀. It was quiet n I felt relaxed n comfortable while I had my food I was the last to leave n that was not a problem neither I felt happy n full of food 👍🏻

As always very friendly place to eat with whole family, very recommended

Fab atmosphere and meal. We were served by Suzannah who really was amazing. Polite, friendly, informative and attentive. She really stood out and made our meal even better, so much so we mentioned her to the manager on the way out.

Always served quickly and there is always a free seat. The food is an amazing three course meal with a great kids menu. A solid pizza express fare.

I ordered the meal at 16.25 and it arrived at 17.55 and the food was cold and I threw most of it away because of this I won’t be using pizza express again

My waitress bernie was very helpful, she was really knowledgeable about the apo and discounts available.

Dined in today due to the sign outside saying 20%off food for blue light card users 'all day every day' but when paying at the end I was told, "we aren't accepting blue light card today because they turned it off due to it being valentines day".

I placed the order today at 3.50 pm delivery time was 4.30, now is nearly 6.30 money taken if my account , restaurant doesn't answer the phone ! No contact at all. Unbelievable I called 7 times

The pizza was alright but there service was rubbish they took to long to get are food and they argue with customers I had to do takeaway because they took 1hour to serve us and I was late to go somewhere

Ordered a thin crust and it was delicious! Tastes like it was freshly made with quality ingredients. The tomatoe sauce and pesto were so yummy too. Our compliments to the staff and delivery persons!

Very friendly delivery driver. Great service!

food itself tasted amazing , but the pizzas were not very well made , the kids pizzas were all tomato base and hardly no cheese soo it all just slid about , same for the americano hot loads of tomato base hardly any cheese, which meant the toppings just fell off and just was one big mess

This is the second time that we had to wait 45+ mins for food to arrive. As much as we love pizza express we won’t be returning and would visit other restaurants at Rushden!

Dreadful cold food - Even the dog won’t eat it !!!

order was not delivered, my attempts to solve this situation are met with nonsense. at no point was my phone number called, I have strange address and I frequently need to communicate with the delivery driver to arrange correct delivery. but I received no calls no information nothing just theft.

The delivery time quoted was 35 - 50 mins, and the original delivery estimate was in this range. Then the delivery time was put back, brought forward and put back again. The delivery finally arrived an hour and 25 mins after the order was placed. When we received the pizzas the were chewy, severely lacking in toppings, including cheese and in general far below the standard I would expect from Pizza Express. I have ordered from here multiple times and will think twice before ordering again.

Our waitress was so lovely. I didn't get her name, but she honestly needs a raise. She had dark curly hair and glasses and was all by herself, bar the 2 staff members in the kitchen. There was a sweet blonde lady in the kitchen that helped with serving when she saw it was getting busy. There were 4-6 tables in by the time we left, and she was working so hard and still made the time to have my son help her with his Sundae. 10/10

We booked for a meal last night and you could tell they were very understaffed. However, their level of service was excellent and the food was delicious. All staff were very friendly and were working hard to make everyone happy.

Pizza great as always but paid for double doughballs and only got single on both meals

Had a lovely 3 course meal. Our waitress was very kind, polite and attentive; and the service was fast considering the restaurant was busy, plus the food was delicious. Would highly recommend the Pollo Milanese starter, loved the Pollo Pesto, it was delicious. Biscoff sundae really hit the spot to finish off the meal. Thank you very much.

Very nice restaurant, great staff and lovely pizza.

Usual pizza. Not bad, but also nothing exciting

All good discounts again and again

The food was really good, we all really enjoyed it. It is quite expensive but for a special occasion is worth it as the food is so good. Service was also good and easy to pay using the app as well

Good at keeping you up to date with delivery times

My experience agrees with the other recent reviews. Horrendously long waiting times, average food and unapologetic staff. I think this is somewhere best to avoid until the service improves.

Restaurant was closed but had waited for driver, he ended up getting to us about 20 past 10 pm I had ordered just before 9pm. When he got here the whole order was stone cold. So unhappy, I would like a full refund thankyou

two hours later nothing arrived.

Dough balls were missing from the order and the £9.95 chocolate fudge cake was a tiny piece of chocolate cake you get from cheap takeaways, definitely not what was advertised.

Original delivery time was 7.30, delivered at 8.45. Food was cold when it arrived. No garlic butter with dough balls

I placed a huge takeaway order for a business dinner and the team were absolutely fab and so efficient. Large orders can so often lead to mistakes but everything was spot on and they even helped us load up the car. I would certainly recommend.

We (5 of us) went there for a table at 15:10. The lady advised us to wait 10 minutes for the outside table. When we got & sat on the table, she advised me, it will take 01:00hr to 01:30hrs for the food! Which was very disappointing. They could have told us, when we ask for the table. I feel gutted & we are returning home. Management, please train your staff members.

I had a problem with the payment. My grandson had to sort it out.

Kept changing delivery time took about 45 ish mins in the end

Firstly let me say that my wife and I have dined here on many occasions and have always enjoyed the experience. Unfortunately that wasn't the case on our visit at lunchtime today. My wife had to send her pasta dish back as it didn't have any sauce on it at all. What was particularly disappointing was the attitude of the waitress serving our table, which was bordering on downright rude. No apology whatsoever and we had to wait for some considerable time before a replacement dish was delivered to the table. The calzone I had was without doubt the worst I have ever had at a Pizza Express. If we hadn't been paying for our food with Tesco's vouchers I would have refused to pay for it. A shame really as we will think twice about returning.

The food was delicious & we were very happy with all the food we received, especially the dough ball starters! However, the service let the restaurant down. We were sat straight away but the person sitting us, who I think was a manager as they wore a plain black top rather than the stripped top, just put the menus on the table & walked away. It was our first time coming to this restaurant so we had no idea how the process worked. We then waited 20 mins for our order to be taken, which we more felt bad for the staff because they clearly didn't have enough people on the floor (only 3 on a busy Saturday evening) but once the server came over they were absolutely lovely! She apologised for the delay & then immediately brought our drinks over to us. The starter took a little while to come but was taken away quickly & our mains came right out. We then waited awhile for a dessert menu & then ordered another drink but was disappointed we didn't recieve a new glass. Overall the experience was good but don't think we would return at the weekend as too busy & they don't have enough staff to cope with that.

Awful I’ve took photos … no topping on pizza all in one corner of box .. not edible will be taking further

The restuarant at Rushden Lakes is a lovely setting for a meal but on this occasion it was spoilt by my my wife's chicken pasta being served only luke warm, which is really not how to eat chicken. A replacement was accepted but took a good half hour to arrive by which time I had finished my meal. Then we waited another 20 minutes or so for the table to be cleared. We were offered a complimentary dessert which we declined because we had already sat too long waiting. We did enjoy the meals- eaten separately, not what we came out for. There is no excuse for a restaurant to perform in this way but on reflection I should have asked for my own meal also to be replaced, better still that should have been offered without any hesitation. We will eat there again as it is a nice location and local, but they have badly slipped down in the pizza joint ratings.

We went to last sunday tüm back home from Oxford. First Near other pizza restaurant.they said us you must to wait 30 minutes for service .(At 16.30 ) We were so hungry without wait .we came to italian express. We were so so so wait menu then we so so so wait pizzas then we so so so so so wait bill. At last we did not want to wait more. Because hour around 18 and we were tired and we want to go home.We gone to casier. We paid check and gone. İ felt there Time stop here. İf you can not good service you dont accept customer any more. Or you must increase number of personel. İ never again go there .sorry.

Mediocre quality food. Childs pizza seems to have shrunk recently. Adult lasagne took far too long to arrive. When it did come, it was poor quality. Congealed, probably heated up and far from freshly made. A few spoonfuls of meat, but overwhelmed with tomato sauce. The other dishes were luke warm. Mini portion of one dish, barely enough for an adult. Poor value for money. What used to be one of the best value pizza chains is now down there with the rest of its competitors. Strange tasting coffee. Too many dishes laced with soya. Why? It's one of the biggest allergens in food. The book they present you with to discover which foods have which allergens is a big one. A fifteen minute read! No, I didn't complain. I will vote with my feet.

The Pizza I had was very good. I had the Romana BBQ Burnt Ends. Really tasty.

Me and a friend dined here yesterday and were appalled by the inattentiveness of every aspect during our prolonged time at this restaurant. We will never be coming here again as had to wait 45 minutes for our drinks which were literally just bottles so should not have taken that long to come out and over cooked and disgusting food.

We enjoyed our experience at Pizza Express. The waitress was courteous, friendly and attentive. The food was excellent and the lighter options available on the menu were much appreciated. There was very little waiting time to be attended to (the restaurant was not overly crowded at this time) and the food courses were all served in good time. All went very well and we were very satisfied with our experience.

Great blow out lunch of pizza perfection. The Leggera with a dressed spinach rocket salad in the middle meant I could have a biscoff sundae - what a treat! All that was delicious but the thing that made it great was the service. Charlie met us at the door and we had banter as she showed us to our table then we were served by Bernie who created a relaxed friendly atmosphere as she chatted to us and other customers. Please value these ladies - good staff are so hard to come by. We live two and a half hours drive away but we will definitely be back. Thanks for making our day!

We order from here regularly and have always been happy. However this time, my partner's pizza was on point (as always) whilst my calzone was stone cold inside. I don't normally complain but I think it's something that you should address in general.

Both pizzas were cold, although the flavours were nice. The dough balls were cold but also undercooked.

Very friendly staff. Beautiful sweet young lady call Ellie gave as amazing service

Staff were so rude and just argued with us about payment method. They advertised the app to get free dough balls and we did so but then couldn’t use our student discount. Meaning we had to pay for the dough balls that were supposed to be free. Weren’t polite about this either which just made the situation worse, wouldn’t of minded if they were actually nice to us and understood

Large Prawn pizza with only 6 small frozen prawns … they were not fresh … £18 If i order the small one .. wonder how many prawns u will put ! Asking for bill … waitress seems to forget us …

Lovely meal. Hullomi bites were my favourite. I like Rushden lakes anyway.

4 waitresses, 3 people cooking & one meet & greet. About 16 people eating & most of them finished - sorry we are too busy to sit you in our almost empty restaurant. Damn good job they don’t work for me…

Went to rushden lakes for dinner. Only to be told they had not enough staff to cover their tables and couldn’t allow us in. We ordered take away and they then missed one of our meals. Very poor. Online bookings still being taken. Come on pizza express up your game. Use social media to keep people up to date.

Pasta chicken. How can you burn pasta? Almost broke my teeth trying to chew it. The lady at the table behind me had the same issue only hers was worse than mine. For over £15 I expected better and the dough sticks were a joke. Dried up burned dough cut into sticks with no dip - come on!!! A mixed salad was almost £6 - a saucer portion consisting of tomato, lettuce and cucumber. Will never go back. Would definitely not recommend - for the price you pay. A joke. Waitress was fabulous though.

What a failed business model. Sunny Sunday afternoon, they know people will be out walking and they decide not to take walk-ins? Who the hell does that. Utter and complete failure, never going there again!

Was really hungry and demolished a pizza.

arrived later than estimated when I ordered. Delivery was uploaded. food was nice

food was cold and hard by the time it arrived

Dropped in for a pizza after a cricket match, great service after the backdoor was shut. Cold draught and bugs flying in. Don't sit outside unless you like being eaten by the flying wildlife. This place is not cheap. Drinks/coffees ridiculous price.

Fabulous as always and have to commend the lovely service from a yound girl called Chris.

One of the pizza the dough is just not fully cooked and if honest, the barbecue pizza just looks sloppy and sad

Great welcome left to make our choices for just the right time. Food came out within a reasonable time and we were checked regularly but not too invasive. Great team well trained 👍👍

We haven't visited this restaurant since pre covid (early 2020) so we decided it was time to go back. We were not disappointed. We popped in on a Saturday evening without booking and had no problems getting a table. The staff were friendly, helpful and didn't rush us. We ordered a classic sloppy giuseppe pizza and a classic fiorentina which were both fresh, hot and delicious. The only comment we would make was the egg on the fiorentina could have been runny instead of hard. For desserts we had the baked vanilla cheesecake and a Sicilian lemon and white chocolate roulade. Again both were lovely. Overall full marks for a really nice experience.

Just had lunch, family of 6 with 2 children. All the food was brilliant, tasty and hot. Service was great, didn't keep us waiting long between courses. Was my granddaughters birthday and they did her pudding on a slate with happy birthday written in a covering of icing sugar, nice touch. Thank you

Good large pizza at a fair price.

Lovely spot by the lake, we were extremely well looked after, and served quickly, by a friendly, competent server.

Once again the food was absolutely delicious. We tried new drinks also, which definitely went down a treat.

Turned up with a party of 15 and they were brilliant! Food was okay, some of it really good, some of it okay but it's Pizza express so you know what you're getting. We've always found the staff so amazing though, every time. Even with a large party they are really attentive and efficient. Thank you so much!

Friendly helpful staff and quick payment on the app. Was impressed 😄

Fabulous services from Inga!! What an absolute asset to the team! Thank you for looking after us so well today xxx

We went in weekday not busy hours but we wait one hour for our pizzas... Unfortunately people who came after us they ate and went we was still waiting... I went to ask workers to our pizzas and then after they came. Foods wasn't bad but service was bad. If you think to go watch out your order.

Lovely meal with starters & main course, food was great & our waitress was very friendly, helpful & efficient whilst being very busy.

Very good food , pleasant staff. Gaby was really good and recommended us the best dishes.

1st time of going there and it certainly won't be the last excellent food and service.

Food great and service but trying to use the app is terrible as there is no data coverage and the WiFi is poor at best

great no issues great pizzas too big thumbs up no extra item over £30 spent on offer though

the pizza I ordered, which was supper for my daughter and me, didn't arrive, but the sides and drinks did. Rather disappointing.

Arrived with no pizza. Just the drink and side...

I spent £35 pounds on an order and nothing is correct

Tasty pizza, but unfortunately it arrived cold.

We went for a family meal here. Restaurant was clean and food was delicious. Our server made our evening, no question was too big or small and she went out of her way to help. My observation is that this restaurant is well managed and the team seemed motivated and happy to be there which makes a big difference to the experience Would definitely return

Fabulous tasty and hot straight from the oven pizzas. Very nice choices. Really enjoyed our little celebration meal, End of "Moving In" day to our new home.

We didn’t manage to catch her name but our server had green starry nails and lots of rings and she was absolutely lovely. my boyfriend and I went and it was such a nice experience. She went above and beyond for us, even going back and forth to completely change a pizza for him so it didn’t include anything that he was intolerant to.

My wife and I are regular lunchtime visitors to the Rushden Lakes Pizza Express restaurant. From our experience, the food is always good and the service excellent. The people who work there are always friendly and welcoming. We are often served by Bernie, who is always friendly, helpful and a real credit to the Pizza Express team. Thank you!

Delivered promptly and food was lovely.