Restaurant Review - Pizza Express New Summer Menu

Restaurant Review - Pizza Express New Summer On Menu

On Sunday Nik and I were invited to go and review the new Pizza Express, Summer specials menu at the York branch of Pizza express Never one to turn down a free meal, Nik and I kindly accepted the offer and made our way to York. I’ve been to Pizza express on numerous occasions and to be honest never had a bad meal, with such a big chain you always know what you are getting. I was interested to try out the summer specials as I tend to always order the same sort of thing, so thought the change might do me good.

I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised, the food was delicious, living up to the ‘summer menu‘ title, all three courses were light, full of flavour and perfect for the time of year. The service was excellent and I would highly recommend all the items currently on the specials menu.

I’ll leave Nik to tell you more about our experience and exactly what we ate!

Two weeks ago, Kelly was asked if we would like to review the New Summer On Menu at Pizza Express in York. As a lovely of York and Pizza, the answer was a resounding yes! Fast forward 2 weeks and we arrive at Sunday 13^th July, just 3 weeks and 3 days after the arrival of Dexter.

As you parents out there will appreciate (and non-parents take for granted!) leaving the house is a major operation! 3 Weeks and 4 days ago, we would have jumped in the car, hot-footed it to York and had a gentle saunter around before our table booking of 2PM. We had to bath a hungry baby, feed him, change his nappy and wait for his Mum and Dad to get ready too – which takes time you really don’t have! Our original departure of 11AM came and went and at 12PM, we left the house, with Sat Nav telling us we would arrive at our destination at 1.15PM. Great, 45 mins to saunter, table at 2PM!

The parking gods had other ideas. First space looked great. Sign appeared to read we could park for free on a Sunday and was close to the centre. WRONG! You need a degree to understand the parking signs these days! So, baby out, pram out, armed with £3 coins. £4 to park! So, baby in, pram in, drive to find another space. In York. On a Sunday. With great weather. And the annual Dragon Boat Races. Good luck!

A stressful drive round the streets of York took us to Marygate and luckily a Car Park that was broken and so free today! Things are looking up! A quick getaway from the car park and even quick run by the river – festooned with stalls celebrating the Dragon Boat racing – and laden with slow walking people, a bit of elbowing and to Pizza Express!

We were a little flustered to say the least! Dexter, as always, completely unfazed. Mum and Dad at their wits end! Pacified by a very calm and collected waiter who showed us to our table with enough room for the Pram and a lovely view of the River Ouse.

So to the menu! A very simple choice for us today – much to my relief as Kelly takes an age to decide what she wants! 2 pizzas to choose from, one salad and 2 desserts. Luckily for Kelly a Hugo ‘Pizza Express’ cocktail was on offer, which took the edge of! This mixture of Prosecco and Elderflower garnered the first ‘Ooh, very refreshing and summery! ‘ – the first of many.

As always, in any pizzeria, it is customary for the Hoods to order cheesy garlic bread, and as always in Pizza Express it was cheesy and garlicky and very nice! Yum!

Given our eating habits – me anything hot and meaty, Kelly (the choosytarian)! Anything that will take parmesan – I ordered the Pollo Forza Romana, a fiery chicken pizza with hot peppers, and Kelly the Emilia Romana, mixed mushrooms on a goat’s chees garlic oil & mozzarella with black truffle oil. We ordered a Leggera Summer Salad as a side (without strawberries as I am allergic).

My only ever issue with Pizza Express was that the pizza was not big enough for my greedy appetite, but with the introduction of the Romana base, this was gone! And my word, what a size! They barely fit the plate! Mine Pollo Forza Romana was accompanied with mumblings of joy and mmmmmm’s throughout ! Spicy – check, thin and crispy – check, chicken – check! What more could I ask for! Kelly’s solicited the ‘Ooh very refreshing and summery!’ just like the Hugo! Now I’m not one to share food, but for the purpose of this review I cut Kelly a slither of my Forza in exchange for a huge slice of her Emilia! Luckily, the Forza was too spicy for Kelly’s delicate palette and the Emilia was extremely tasty for me! It is clear I will eat anything!

The Leggera Salad, which had mint, rocket, blueberries, goat’s cheese, chicken and Pizza Express’ Light House Dressing (Chorizo optional!) was a delight! And at under 320 calories, will be making the Hood Food Roster in the very near future. Refreshing and Summery (there it is again!), the mint really did hit the spot. And Blueberries on a salad?? Inspired!

Dessert proved equally excellent and my Leggera Lemon and Blueberry Glory – lemon curd sorbet with blueberries – really calmed down my spicy main, and Kelly’s Strawberry & Cream Glory didn’t touch the sides!

So, great food, on a lovely day, in the lovely York, followed by that long-awaited saunter through the streets, taking in the Minster and our first family day out of Sheffield will long stay in the memory!

PS To SMA, Dexter seemed to enjoy his lunch too!