Pizza Express - South Normanton

I dined in for a different meal type and found the experience to be quite mixed. The price was reasonable, ranging from £1 to £10 per person, which is a plus. However, I was disappointed with the food, rating it a 2 out of 5. The service was slightly better, earning a 3, but it still didn't meet my expectations. The atmosphere of the restaurant was lackluster as well, also receiving a 2. Overall, it was an average experience with room for improvement.

We celebrated our daughter's 10th birthday party yesterday, and it was truly incredible! The kids got to make their own pizzas and enjoyed a variety of games, tons of fun, and lots of laughter. A big thank you to the two wonderful ladies and the gentleman who did an outstanding job making our daughter's party unforgettable. I’m sure we’ll be back next year for our younger daughter's pizza-making birthday party. It was the best choice we could have made! Service: Dine-in.

After that, we waited for our table to be cleaned and were eventually seated. However, we waited 20 minutes for a menu with no sign of anyone assisting us, so we had to go get our own menus from the front near the entrance. After another 15 minutes of waiting without anyone coming to take our order, even for drinks, we had to ask for table service ourselves. If we hadn't done that, it would have taken an additional hour to be served. **Second RED FLAG.** When we finally placed our order, the same manager had the worst attitude and seemed uninterested. She then asked a waiter to take our order without even acknowledging us. At this point, we had been sitting here for over 45 minutes. **Third RED FLAG.** The most concerning aspect was that I felt we were treated differently as a mixed couple. Several groups who arrived after us were seated and served before us, even though we could clearly hear them being welcomed at the front door. My wife was ready to leave, but since we hadn’t eaten and our kids were hungry, we decided to stay, thinking it would take longer to find another restaurant. We’ve dined at many Pizza Express locations, and this one is by far the worst we've encountered. The food was consistent with what we expected, and when our orders did arrive, they came in a reasonable time. However, the water we ordered never arrived, despite our follow-up request. By the time our desserts came, my youngest had already fallen asleep from the wait. Based on today’s experience, I cannot recommend the Pizza Express at the East Midlands Designer Outlet. A message for the manager (the one with dark hair): If you can’t provide excellent customer service consistently, perhaps this isn’t the job for you. If you're having a bad day, it might be better to take a break or the day off. Be professional. Unfortunately, it only takes one negative experience to leave a bad impression, and the restaurant wasn’t even busy at the time.

Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: £20–30 Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5 Recommended dishes: Baked Garlic Mushroom, American Hot Pizza, Dough Balls

Unexpectedly nice! With it being in a shopping center (albeit an open one) I expected a faded and tired service but the young waiter and waitresses were full of smiles, polite, warm and welcoming. The food was delicious and served in good time too. Missing out on 5 stars only because the seats had crumbs left over from previous eaters and the menu I was given wasn’t clean (it was replaced with an apology when I asked for a clean one) Service: Dine in