Pizza Express - Giltbrook Retail Park

Our local retail park at Giltbrook has been around for about 4 years and it's in no way unique in it's offerings of stores and restaurants - Next, Decathlon, IKEA, BHS, Pets at Home, Mamas & Papas, Boots, Comet, Laura Ashley, an array of furniture stores which come and go, Starbucks, Subway and Frankie and Benny's. So we were intrigued towards the end of last year when a portion of the car park was cordoned off  and building work started. It was a few months before I discovered we we were getting the addition of 2 new restaurants - a Nando's and a Pizza Express.

The restaurants finally opened a couple of months ago, so when Tony announced a weekends wild camping in preparation for his big September outing, I planned a night out for us girls.

I picked Lauren up straight from school and took her to the play centre on the retail park called Escape, it's huge for a play centre, with a 3 story soft play area, slides, toddler area, football, electric cars, Lauren loves it. I don't mind taking her as the seating is nice, the coffee is half decent, if we need to have lunch or tea the food is OK, if a little pricey. If you go straight from school it's usually not too busy and you get to stay until closing time.

Rather than eating at Escape I had planned for us to try out the new Pizza Express.

We managed to park outside which was a good sign as we'd not booked, but then I noticed the group of people hovering around the entrance, all it seemed waiting for a table. A waitress caught our eye and I told her we needed a table for two, as one had just become free we could jump the queue, only feeling a little bit guilty.

The restaurant is modern and jaunty, it has Pizza Expresses trademark open kitchen, so you can watch the occasional twirling of dough. It's decorated with a cycling theme, with working bicycle parts hanging on the walls.

If you don't like dough based food the restaurant is probably not for you though.

Lauren's Dough Ball Starter, the grown up version consists of
6 dough balls and a sprig of parsley on the butter -
no salad face though!

The children's menu was £6.45 and for that Lauren chose a dough ball starter, a tomato and chicken pizza (with mozzarella) and a chocolate sundae, the menu also included a frothy milk drink called a "Bambinocinno", but any other drinks are at an extra cost.
I know this sounds ridiculous given that it was my choice to come and I know their pizza is good and they do  several versions including a lighter "Leggera" pizza, but I didn't want pizza and I didn't really feel like pasta either! The only other choice was a salad, so I decided to go for the Grand Chicken Caesar at £9.15. As Lauren was having the full works and it had been a long time since lunch at 11:30 so I decided to follow suit and have a dough ball starter and cheesecake for pudding.

Tasty, but not much to look at!

Lauren's dough balls came promptly, along with a "face" salad, she ate them and we waited and waited. the restaurant was busy and had a nice buzz, it looked like they were training a couple of staff. I caught the eye of my waiter and he apologised and went off to fetch my dough balls which apparently one of the new "runners" had forgotten about. Unfortunately, it finally arrived about 2 seconds before my main course - thank goodness I decided on salad!
The dough balls are a nice concept, Lauren loved them. I wondered if they were really cooked through as they were so doughy, they were served with a little dip of garlic butter. There's no denying that there's just something to be said for hot buttery, dough!

My delicious Caesar Salad, with warm, peppery dough sticks

The mains arrived, Lauren polished off her pizza quick smart, it didn't look like anything special, but you can't really argue with a 7 year old sitting behind an empty plate. My salad was delicious, it's been one of the favourite things I've eaten out recently, crunchy lettuce, soft char-grilled still warm chicken,  salty Parmesan and anchovies, croutons (shame they weren't freshly made) and a sharp and creamy Caesar dressing, all served with freshly baked, soft, peppery dough sticks - yum, I could have gone back the next day for another (I didn't!).

Rolling the dough

As we were eating we noticed a steady stream of children approaching the counter by the pizza kitchen, puffs of flour, chefs hats, cutters, plastic aprons. Lauren asked me if she could have a go, I said it was probably a children's party, but I was proved wrong when our waiter arrived with an apron and hat, ordered Lauren to wash her hands, me to supervise and we were able to get a piece of dough which she could roll out, cut into shapes and brush with oil. They added your table number and sent them off to be baked.
Our deserts arrived and really we were pretty full by then and could have done without them.

The cheesecake was a lovely texture and served with a sweet and rich fruity sauce and vanilla ice cream. It had a creamy taste but it was missing something, it was a little bland.

Lauren's chocolate sundae was accompanied by her dough shapes, dusted with sugar and served with Nutella for dipping. Lauren thought they were great and was reluctant to let me try one, it all meant that she hardly touched her sundae (I've later discovered you can have the dough shapes boxed up to take home) and we had the added concern that the Nutella made her lips and throat itchy, a sure sign of an approaching allergy (confirmed on our next visit!).

Unfortunately, I didn't have a discount voucher, but they give you a selection when you pay for your next visit. It's worth searching the web for offers there's usually something on. The meal came to about £23, which I didn't think was too bad considering we were extremely full, had enjoyed our meals and had been in the restaurant for over 2 hours, with Lauren really enjoying the dough activity.

Would I recommend it - yes, we had nice food and apart from the blip with the starter - good service. It is what it is, a formulaic chain restaurant, but it's a good place to take the kids, colouring is also provided.
We have been again since, it was much quieter and strangely the service and food wasn't as good that time, we had to ask to do the dough, it was less organised/controlled. Lauren didn't get all of her menu, which didn't bother her as she was too full for desert because of her dough shapes and she hadn't liked the Bamninoccino before, but really it should have been at least offered as it's part of a set meal with a fixed price. We also visited a Pizza Express when we were in Bristol. I steered well away from dough and had a Caesar salad again, no desert, but started with some meat balls which were so nice, if they did it I would have them as a main. Tony had a lasagne which he enjoyed, although I thought it looked a little greasy, but the good thing was that it was not dry, it was saucy.

Interesting to note though, that the dough shape activity is not available in all Pizza Expresses.