Pizza Express - Southend-on-Sea in Southend-on-Sea - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

What a great evening we had there! Food was excellent and pretty prompt in arriving. Hearing that it was my birthday, the server arranged a totally lovely platter wishing me a happy birthday. Pretty sure it was the work of the lovely Arnol.. but all staff there were exceptionally kind & professional.

We loved the food but will never come back. Had to wait hour before our food arrived and all staff seem to be involved in preparing food for the many delivery people who kept arriving. The staff seem fraught and miserable as well and such a shame as I suggested this as a family treat! Turned into a miserable experience

Lovely restaurant with friendly staff, food always good as you'd expect

We’ve always enjoyed Pizza Express in the past, but the service we received last week was shockingly poor. I’d booked the table and we had arrived on time. Nobody came over to us for ages. The male relief manager has no idea about providing a good service and would often just disappear for ages. There was a young female just tiddling around with the delivery bags, but that didn’t look like an urgent job either. You know that feeling that you’ve been forgotten? Worst feeling in a restaurant, isn’t it? Only by concentrating on the only really competent team member did we get the right standard of service. She was very good. While we were there, we saw; A father lead his young son out, as they had been waiting ages for their order. Two women, with two children, waiting absolutely ages before the dough balls arrived. They possibly welcomed the delay, as it gave them more chance of a catch-up. A couple wait ages by the door and then leave when nobody came over to seat them. As a footnote, there would be plenty of restaurants vying for their custom. How difficult is it to run a pizza restaurant?

Lovely food, I find it a bit expensive though.

Such a shame as this place used to be ideal for a quick pizza before heading out and always on point. Last two occasions the service has been real slow and this time was so bad we had to walk out. After 20 minutes we were finally asked for our drinks and took our order. We was sitting right opposite the kitchen and could see that after near on an hour, our order for starters had not even been started so had to tell the manager we were leaving as was due out. In between that, we could see wrong orders being returned with the main focus being on Just Eat, which also seemed to be delayed. Wont be returning, three strikes for this one.

This has some of the best service! Food is always quick and they usually have a few good deals on.

Food was cold, sloppy and illy prepared not to the standard worth the money paid for it!

on time but the driver spent over 5mins driving round in circles while my dinner was getting cold.

It took so long waiting for the pizza but when i told the waitress it was so undercooked she suggested sending it back to cook for longer. I couldn’t then take it off my 3 year old who had waited so long, Can still taste the aftertaste of undercooked dough. Not sure how a pizza restaurant can get a pizza so wrong, would have been better off cooking my own frozen pizza at home. Can’t believe i still paid for it.

food WAS COLD and soggy by the time it got to me not happy with the service

My pizza came and was stone cold. Also all of the toppings had fallen off and it basically just ended up as a tomato pizza. They also sent me a coke that required a bottle opener and I don’t have one so couldn’t even have my coke.

I decided to go to pizza express for my birthday. The food tasted real good better than the pizza at other places. Service by Hen was amazing super kind and accommodating happy to chat. Only problem was that it was a bit loud but can’t help that when it was busy and lots of people there the food took a bit but then again it was busy so can’t blame that I work at a burger joint so I understand when it’s busy can’t get food out quick. Overall was a satisfying experience and would come back if I lived around this end.

Ordered a create your own pizza - waited over an hour and message “delivered” - NOT TO ME! Contacted restaurant and no culpability at all - appalling service

Our main issue here was the general lack of staff. We waited a good five minutes without seeing anyone until someone from the kitchen area gestured to us to sit where we wanted. After waiting again for menus, these were eventually dumped on our table by a passing server without a hint of an acknowledgement. On the plus side, the pizzas were good and by using the app, we had a free portion of doughballs. When we came to pay, we also paid on the app but again this seemed to upset the server who snatched the card machine away without a further word. Needless to say, no gratuity was left. We enjoy the food at Pizza Express but can't say that we'd hurry to visit this one again.

Pleasant evening for my granddaughters 7th birthday. Food is good, service very good and a nice ambience but nobody should be paying £16/17 for a pizza. The price of a pizza should never be more than £10. They are quick and easy to make, and the ingredients are not expensive. Pizza Union in the City of London charge between £6.95 to £8.95, so why are they so expensive here. Value for money is purely the reason for only a 3 star rating.

Amazing waiters and chefs best place for pizza around

Food was lovely and delivery was great. The dough sticks were missing from my order.

Pizza Express offers delicious, freshly made pizzas with a variety of toppings. The service is friendly and the atmosphere is cozy. Perfect for family dinners or casual outings. Highly recommended for pizza lovers seeking quality and great taste!

Delicious food but awful service. Understaffed and no acknowledgement at all was totally avoiding looking at anyone. Turned away so many people because of delays but the place was empty! Waitresses stood around chatting, very disappointed

Restaurant was clean and tidy and were greeted and seated quickly. Our waitress Ilona was polite and quick to take the order. Food was of good quality and tasted lovely. Great experience and would return.

I highly recommend this place ! The pizza was amazing, the staff was very friendly and professional 💪🏻 the prices was low for how many things we had order 🤌🏻 the atmosphere was great 👍 even last night when I order it came 2 huge pizza (I wasn’t expecting it ) , the products are fresh ! ❤️ for sure we will be back

Disappointing Alterations in Ambience: A Review of Pizza Express Southend-on-Sea As a frequent patron of Pizza Express, I have long relished the delectable cuisine and the genial ambiance that characterized my dining experiences. Alas, recent changes in management have wrought a lamentable transformation upon the restaurant's atmosphere, leaving much to be desired. Foremost among these alterations is the abandonment of the cherished booth-style seating arrangements, which imparted a sense of privacy and refinement to one's repast. In their stead, the tables have been reconfigured in a manner reminiscent of a hurried social gathering, bereft of the intimacy and sophistication one has come to expect. The allure of Southend-on-Sea has always lain in its inviting milieu, where patrons could savour their victuals in tranquillity, shielded from the din of the outside world. Regrettably, the recent modifications have dispelled that essence, casting diners adrift amidst a sea of passers-by, akin to loitering at a transit terminus rather than partaking in a convivial dining experience. While the culinary prowess and the affability of the staff remain commendable, the transmutation of the ambience has led me to ponder alternative venues where the cherished booth-style seating arrangements endure. It is a pity to witness such a venerable establishment forsake its former allure in pursuit of novelty. In conclusion, while Pizza Express Southend-on-Sea may yet proffer superlative fare, the recent metamorphosis in layout and ambience has palpably diminished the overall dining experience. One can but hope that the proprietors shall reconsider these changes and reinstate the erstwhile ambiance that rendered Pizza Express a paragon of epicurean refinement.

never had to complain about this place but the last 2 visits have been awful. i came the other day it wasn’t busy at all and few tables and a fair amount of staff we ordered food and it took 1 hour and 20 minutes to come it was ridiculous people who came after us ate there food and left before we even received ours. no apology about the wait for the food and the waitress was very short and sharp wasn’t polite at all

Easy to book a table - nice, quick welcome - once settled waitress asked if we wanted any drinks, an once the drinks were delivered, asked if we were ready to order. Once order was placed, it wasn't long before we were eating it! The whole experience was Excellent!

Food came in between Luke warm and cold

Emilia our waitress was absolutely fantastic. Thanks very much everyone. Great food a wonderful service!

Went today with my son the manager was extremely welcoming and the food... wow!! 🤤 chef was on point today and need a 👏 I NEVER tip I did today thanks for adding up our great day

the driver was very rude he literally throw my food at me moaning about how he had been waiting an hour for it

Had a lovely evening there tonight. My son reckons it’s the best brownie he has ever had! The waitress was great, very attentive, helpful…. An absolute delight to eat there. Thank you x Keith and Lewis

Poor service. Long wait to be seated despite being empty. Shown to table without the waitress saying anything and flung the menus on the table as she walked off! Wait for order to be taken: Over 20 minutes Walked out

Food was stone cold due to the driver having multiple stops. £20 wasted and now I still need to try to find something to eat 😞

Best Place to buy 1st Class Pizzas In Essex

Ordered at 6pm…arrived at 19:54 freezing cold. Pick up time on receipt said 18:45 so seems my pizza has been in the transit for over an hour. Will not be ordering from here again

Sadly the first time ive had to write negative feedback for this place. Have come here for years and its always been great but tonight it was understaffed, poor atmosphere, worse service and unfortunately the modern day uber eats or just eat delivery drivers almost out number the customer, leaving the door open, cold drafts. Pizza express seem more worried about serving these delivery drivers than the customers... poor, very poor. Management at P.E if you're are reading this sort it out. Maximum profit over customer service will always eventually fail, and you will only have yourselves to blame. No customers... no restaurant but then again you can always become a delivery service. I will not be returning... lost my custom.

Very disappointed that this delivery was over an hour late since the initial advertised time when ordered. We were also unable to contact the restaurant to query our order, and one of our previous orders was unavailable

Good but very standard. Cost of a pizza is getting out of hand now

Arrived at 7.15pm as a solo diner. Order and starter arrived within 10 minutes, waited 25 minutes for my main which arrived cold while couples and multiple customers were served before me. Sat by the window and mostly ignored which I find quite common as a solo diner little interaction from the staff. Best thing about my visit was my glass of chianti. At the time of my cmvisit there were only 20 other diners so not actually rushed off their feet. Bitterly disappointed.

Food was late there more interested in doing just eat ordered than they are serving the restaurant over one hour waiting that was for starters waiter wasn't interested he was rather arrogant kids restless also will not be returning

Arrived over 40 mins late 1 hour 15 after ordering. It was burnt and cold.

We were apprehensive, to say the least about returning to the Pizza Express in Southend. The last visit, in August 2023 was a disaster. But we thought we'd give it the benefit of another visit. We were very glad we did. It has improved enormously and we had a proper welcome and were shown to our table. The quality of the pizzas was very good. Generously topped and HOT too (last time they were luke-warm). It was so pleasing this place has returned to the standard it should be and we will definitely be returning again soon.

My husband and I went for a meal at 4:30pm on a Saturday after a shopping trip in Southend. We had been for a meal at 6:15pm last Tuesday for my birthday and it was too busy and the waitresses were struggling to cope because there wasn't enough of them. This proved to be a good idea because we were able to check through the window this time that it wasn't too busy and there were enough waitresses without booking in advance to find too busy. We had an amazing meal which was really delicious and we used multiple rewards on the Pizza Express app which also made it very good value for money. I wanted to leave this review particularly to mention our waitress for the evening. Her name is Ilona and she gave us extremely good customer service. She was very relaxed and professional and helpful and nothing was too much trouble. She also made sure that we could use the Pizza Express App at the start of the meal so that we knew exactly what our bill for the evening would be which then meant we could just relax and enjoy our meal.

Wanted to have a pizza, walked in and got told to come back because the waitress was too busy. There was 8 tables full and no bookings. Staff lazy and unhelpful.

Been waiting 1 hour 10 minutes for any food , absolute joke , birthday treat , under staffed , deliveroo priority. Absolute disappointment

The food was on time but was very cold

The food is average pizza and the restaurant made my clothes smell of cooking but the service was good and our waitress, Hen, was very helpful and friendly

We have been to pizza express many times in the past and loved it. However our most recent visit has resulted in us not wanting to return. Food was very tasteless or not as described on the menu resulting in me complaining and the waitress didn’t understand what I was explaining. Lack of friendly service from the staff and no apologies. No one checked in on us eating, felt like staff were avoiding their tables to get on with cleaning jobs. When we arrived two members of staff looked at us and even then they didn’t come over to seat us immediately. Atmosphere was awkward from the start. Wasn’t worth the price we paid

Turned up late and both pizza boxes was soaking wet from rain. I’m fuming

No idea what the food is like as it was never delivered! After I ordered the just eat site said assigning driver for over 2 hours, tried to call pizza express several times and just kept getting an answer phone. Then suddenly said it was delivered half an hour ago when it hasn't been. Just eats customer service sends you to pizza express and when you select delivery issue it sends you back to just eat in an endless loop! Disgusted at the lack of customer service will not be using either again any time soon!

Food was great but virtually cold, guessing this was due to the pizza being collected late, transported by pedal bike & then the 2nd delivery on his route. The food needs to be hot not have to reheat. Will only order again if I have the time to collect, which is infrequent.

Food took two hours to arrive and was cold when it got here.

Order at 5.31pm before work at 9pm. No food, just updating time constantly to slip later and later. When i left for work it was finally despatched to an empty house at 9.23pm, luckily my son came home early and took delivery. Tried to call Pizza express to cancel before this, non existant customer service.. answer phone on first 15 calls. Finally got through to unhelpful person who said i need to call just eat to cancel.. well thats impossible as just eat dont supply a phone number for themselves. When the food did turn up my son said it was sloppy pizza, stone cold and missing 2 of our sides dishes and the Gluten free pizza was NOT clearly labelled. Overall the worst experience i have ever had in many years and 100s of orders to other places. If i could rate pizza express with a minus i would. If you dont have the drivers, dont accept orders, and dont expect people to wait over 4hours for a delivery!!

Lack of attention and quickness to seat us on a Tuesday night - not busy. Seated right next to a young couple and then an older couple took their place... both couples swore .. ALOT! Not nice when I had two kids in our party. Food was nice .. bit over priced .. probably won't be back to the southend branch 😕

Unfortunately my vegan pizza was totally cold and soggy sadly.

Delivery was over two hours late, it arrived cold and missing the dip I paid for

If I could rate this place 0 then I would. Pizza express is one of my preferred chains but frankly the staff here all need the sack and you're better off going to either the Rayleigh restaurant or one of the many competitors in Southend. The most recent example being an order I placed on Just Eat today. Got a notification that the restaurant had accepted my order.... TWO HOURS LATER AND FIVE CALLS I finally get hold of someone there. The lady on the phone was incredibly rude, she asked for my order number and as I began she cut me off to say she only wanted the last four digits. Then she tells me she doesn't have my order and Just Eat lied about placing it??? Seriously? I ask if I can give her the full order number to double check and she starts reciting my order number back to me incorrectly with digits I never said? So clearly she didn't listen to my order number and fobbed me off. Absolutely shameful service and I've had to file a complaint over it. Then when I question how this could have happened she screams it was Just Eats problem and to call them? Please do yourself a favour and avoid this place like the plague.

Mary was amazing, looked after us and gave us the best service

1.5hrs late and forgot items on order. When it arrived food was also cold.

Nice food , nice staff , a bit pricey though.

Left on the doorstep and went stone cold

Came here for the first time, was delicious food and great friendly staff.

Unfortunately the food was completely cold. I would order again but next time I would reheat the food before eating because that would have made it much more enjoyable.

I tried calling the restaurant no less than 7 times, and complaining on the just eat app but no answers. The main pizza was freezing cold with no pepperoni on it, no butter provided and no garlic bread arrived. No meal basically. Absolutely shocking service

Food was ice cold and 45 mins late.

Dough balls over cooked and dry. Pizza cold

Visited last night, really nice quick and efficient service, food was great!

Over an hour late freezing awful service

Hen our waitress was amazing and very attentive bubbley and very polite and helpful with recommendations will definitely be back

Had the greatest person (Hen) getting my drinks and food. Great evening st Pizza Express as usual.

Didn’t receive my order at all.

Is a disgrace. The Pollo pesto chicken was not cooked and it was disgusting and I waited over an hour for the food. Every time I order from this pizza express something always happens with the food. I spent £17.40 for one food for nothing.

Had to collect myself as it was sitting with the restaurant. When collected the food was cold.

Food and service first class, but restaurant was relatively empty.

Didn’t get what I ordered. I am allergic to pesto so I made a specific request for no pesto which was completely ignored. I had to throw it away. Complete waste. Disgusted.

I ordered at 5.15 it Cane at 7.10. The food was cold and chewy

The food was collected at 5:41 and didn’t arrive for 35 minutes it takes 10-15 minutes to get to our house from the restaurant the food was stone cold!

Lovely place for dinner with the Mrs we enjoyed dinner here and we are looking forward to go again 😀

Food arrived cold unfortunately, but tasted good as always

Was very quiet when I visited got served rather quickly. The food was fresh and tasty as I come to expect from Pizza express. Brilliant offer within the app. would definitely visit again

Food was delicious,staff was very kind as always

The garlic bread with mozzarella was half sized and there was no garlic. The calamari, dough balls and pizza tasted really nice. The service was patchy, there wasn’t enough staff, we were in there for 2 hours with 4 people because the food and drinks took too long and it was served sporadically. It was really noisy and the menu was hard to read for me because I have bad eye sight.

Pizza was stone cold. Not even remotely warm.

The food was told to be delivered at 15.11 but it arrived at 15.30

Food was good but dough stick was missing but I have still been charged for it.

Amazing Padana pizza, absolutely diré calamari… Not only was the calamari of the frozen variety, rather than fresh, but it was covered in a soggy lightly cooked batter that tasted of needs-cleaning oven oil. Sorry to have such negative feeedback but honestly, never again for the calamari.

Great food just halloumi bites portion was a bit smaller than expected!

3hr 30mins later than the expected time. We had reported it but still arrived on a push bike, stone cold!!!! Disgusting service from Pizza express! Should have contacted us to ask if we still wanted the order after 1 hr of being late!!!

We came here as a group of nine, the only good thing was our waiter was really nice and helpful, unfortunately that's where the pros end. For a £260 bill we can help but feel a bit stung. They were quite clearly understaffed, everything was taking ages to get to the table due to lake of staff. The restaurant itself was really smokey like the extractor fans were not working properly so we all left with stinging eyes. When our food did come the pizzas were all cold where they put them on cold plates. We asked who we assumed was the manager in a black top for drinks as the waiter was busy with other tables, he just said a waiter will be over and walked off like he was above doing any real work, we still had to wait another 15 minutes after that. Ultimately a pretty poor show from this Pizza Express and I'm pretty sure wer can put most of our dissatisfaction down to poor management. Unlikely to return to this Pizza Express any time soon.

I was very disappointed with my order this evening. I placed my order before 18.00 and at 18.00 I received confirmation of my order. I then waited until 19.20 to be updated that my order was being prepared. It then took until after 20.00 for my food to be delivered, cold and disappointing. When I first placed my order the wait time was 35-55 minutes, I ended up waiting 128 minutes for my food.

Ordered 1830. Arrived 2100 Receipt claims "pick up 1854" Quite clear the food has been sat waiting for 2 hours. Salad in with the calzone completely flat and limp. Dough collapsed on filling.

Food was great, atmosphere was lovely, staff were very attentive and nice, would definitely come back again

Arrived stone cold and called the restaurant who were no help

Was excited for a nice dinner with my husband and two children but was really disappointed! Waitresses were really miserable. Food mediocre. Prices on the high side. Drinks luke warm. All in all a real disappointment.

Lovely staff, nice food! My salad was very tasty, our server was amazing, Thank you Ilona, we'll be back soon.

Great taste and very good service. Price is slightly on the higher side, but worth for the quality.

Left the restaurant and tracked the driver who first went the wrong way and then took 20 minutes to deliver. As a result my daughters pizza and dough balls were cold, pizza was also burnt, very burnt on the edges

To celebrate our daughter’s birthday we went to pizza express, southend. We have been several times over the years but although the food was mostly ok, the bill was astronomical!! We went there, in particular, because of the ability to pay our bills individually. We all logged into the app, tried to use our ‘gifts’ and put in our meals. Then (after we had eaten and queried the fact that none of us could access that facility) we were told that because there was 15 in our party it cannot be used!! We tried and tried to sort out our individual families meal cost but we’re unable to make any sense of it. All I know is at over £400 is an awful lot for a pizza and mainly soft drinks! In the end we paid the bill but it spoilt the evening for us all! Maybe we’ll try another restaurant for our next get together. Shame.

My order has NOT been delivered!! I ordered at 7:30pm the app stated it would be delivered by 8.48pm and still no sign of the order. App has just updated to delivered which it hasn’t! I had called the Restaurant 16 times from 9pm and no answer. This doesn’t even deserve a 1 star! Appalling customer service. I want a refund

A reasonably priced quality meal.

We booked online for 7.15pm as we were due to be in the Odeon cinema for no later than 8.15pm. When we arrived we told the guy at the til that we’d booked a table and gave our names. Imagine our surprise when we were asked by him if we could wait about half an hour for our table. We said we couldn’t wait that length of time as we’d be late for the film! It was pointless our booking! We won’t bother going there again if they give booked tables away to walk-ins!!