Pizza Express

ideally located as not too far away from where I live this pizza express is like any others! pizzsa are really nice and at a reaonable price! i’m a fan of their carbonara and also the goat cheese one (dont remember the name)!
staff is really friendly! only bad point is that it can be quite cold inside.
tips: worth checking their website before going there as their offers are always interesting!

This was our first time at the Quays, we wanted to have a poke around the Imperial War Museum North. We did some research and decided to park at the outlet because if you spend £5 (including dining at one of the restaurants) it gets you four hours of parking. It seemed to be the cheapest for parking, just remember to take your parking ticket with you so it can be validated.
We were a bit hungry and didn’t think we could wait to take the tram into Manchester, so we decided to scope out our food options in the Quays. There are a number of chain restaurants as well as a food court within the outlet with fast food options. We decided on Pizza Express, mostly because I had an offer for free dough balls :). The restaurant is huge, so a lunch time on a weekday means you won’t have to wait for a table.
We were seated next to one of the windows with some lovely views and not far from the kitchen area, located in the middle of the restaurant. I know it isn’t a independent restaurant, but let’s be honest, you know what you are getting so you don’t have to guess. Mr. Snarky likes Calzones, so it is no surprise he went for the one Calzone on the menu. I decided to go with the Rusticella because it is salad and pizza in one! Our dough ball starter appeared quite quickly and so did our mains. The problem was that one of the mains was wrong. Two pizzas appeared and Mr. Snarky had said that he ordered a Calzone. The waiter (not our original waiter) seemed confused and at first didn’t seem to know what to do. Before taking the pizza back he told Mr. Snarky that his Calzone would be about 6 – 7 minutes, but said it in a way that made it seem that this was totally inconvenient for staff.
Anyway, as we were waiting, our original waiter grabbed the pizza that the other waiter had taken back and brought it over. The other waiter came back and told him that it was supposed to be a Calzone. Away they pizza went again and we could see the kitchen staff quickly putting together the the Calzone. The Calzone appeared in the 6 minutes they quoted and our original waiter came to check on us and apologized for the confusion. After that, service was quite slow when it came to ordering desserts, getting the bill, and paying. At one point our waiter disappeared for some time and we wondered if we needed to get the attention of a different staff member.
The food was good and we did decide to be cheeky and have dessert. They had some new options on the menu and we decided to try them. Mr. Snarky had the Eton Mess Cheesecake and I had the Tiramisu, which was a new recipe. I did not get to have a taste of the Cheesecake before it disappeared, but it looked delicious and usually if it disappears quite quickly, it means it was probably pretty good. The Tiramisu was actually much better than the one they had before. The Mascarpone cream was lovely and the sponge was moist, but not soggy. In fact, I was really glad I ordered it.
Overall, food was good, but service wasn’t quite up to scratch, especially as the restaurant wasn’t very busy. Paying took a bit of time, mostly because we couldn’t catch the attention of our waiter, but then we had to send the bill back because he charged us for the dough balls, even though we had shown him the code for our free dough balls. The atmosphere of the place and the views from some of the tables is quite nice. Not to mention in the summer time, it must be nice to have your meal outside. And because it is so large, it would be an ideal place for a group dinner.

Great food, nice atmosphere — relaxed etc. Service is enough but not overbearing. I like the fact that you can get something that’s actually healthy and tastes good (not pizza!). There seems to be few restaurants that use reasonably good raw ingredients and most cover them in salt fat and sugar anyway. Pizzaexpress still seem to offer good quality ingredients and you can choose not to have the added fat or sugar. Overall a good reliable and consistent place to eat. Defo coming again

Located opposite The Lowry theatre, music venue and art gallery, this is a great place to go and grab a pizza and a glass of wine before a show. The high ceilings and ornate décor makes the branch seem a bit posher than other Pizza Expresses across the city and the riverside location gives it a hint of al fresco romance.
Be warned however, the world and his wife might have the same idea as you — so if you’re planning to eat here before a show, call ahead and book a table. Make sure you leave yourselves plenty of time to park, eat and pick up your tickets from the box office too. The pizza here is damn delicious but it tastes much better savoured than eaten in five minutes flat!
N.B. I’d given Pizza Express 4 stars for food and 3 stars for service. During busy times, the staff are rushed off their feet and it seems to take forever to order courses and pay.

As you probably know by now, I’m not mad on the Quays. However, this branch of Pizza Express is worth a visit simply because the food can be trusted, and it’s shockingly huge. That’s worth a look in itself, believe me. Its unfathomably high ceilings with their ornate decorations make for an interesting experience.
A word of warning, however… office lunchtimes, yes, those dreaded things, can get a little crazy here. While working at Salford Quays I joined some colleagues on a little trip out there, and we were informed by our waiter that there was a twenty minute wait once the food had been ordered. This is something that is difficult to understand when the restaurant doesn’t seem to be particularly packed, but we trusted him. We did get our food when we were told, although some seemed to think it was a bit later… I didn’t feel like I was waiting too long. In fact I thought twenty minutes was normal in a restaurant. Oh well, shows what I know. This doesn’t bother me in the slightest, but I do understand the impatience of others, so use with caution, just like Diesel’s Fuel for Life fragrances. I’m not exactly sure why that is.
Other unique selling points include the nearby Lowry Outlet car park, the mall, if that’s what you’re into, the river views and of course attractions like the museum and theatre. Definitely a good option for lunch or dinner if you happen to find yourself Quayside.

I went here for a colleague’s leaving do last week and I was quite impressed with the service. We were able to ring ahead of arriving and order our food, which was made fresh when we arrived. The food was gorgeous, as it always is at Pizza Express, and everyone left satisfied. The prices are good, but the down side, I would say, is that it is too big and open. When we were there it was packed and because of the size it was extremely noisy. I can imagine it might be nicer on aday where couples and small groups were there, but as it is based in Salford Quays, where there are a lot of offices, I imagine every day of the week is filled with business parties. Otherwise, it was lovely :)

The site is clean and tidy with the kitchen in the middle of the restaurant.
In nice weather you can choose to sit outside and the location is very nice over looking the Lowery Centre.
The food is as you would expect from a Pizza Express it’s a franchise so the food should be standard whichever one you go into.
The staff are friendly but the service can be slow sometimes (normally when it is quiet which is odd), but generally I have been happy with the service on the occasions I have been (which have been many)

OK, first — let me clarify, this is just a pizza express, so when you walk in, you will instantly be greeted in the style you expect, sit down as you’d expect, read the familiar menu, eat the dishes you always have, and pay what you’d expect.
That said, this Pizza express does have a lovely location overlooking the lowry theatre, and by the waterside, with a café rouge next door too. The Lowry mall has had a lot of bad press, and I can safely say it doesn’t really appear on my shopping radar, but this pizza express is one I do go to now and again, a nice relaxed atmosphere and a good location make it a nice diversion from manchester’s city centre.