Pizza Express at the Bullring is located on the mall's upper level, next to the Starbucks kiosk and…read moreoverlooking Five Guys. I was surprised to learn this is the only Pizza Express location remaining in the city centre of Birmingham without venturing to locations that are further out such as at Resorts World.
I visited here on a busy Saturday just after Christmas, after being turned away and unable to find a table at multiple restaurants nearby, I decided to come here, after noticing many tables were available. It is a rather large restaurant with lots of seating, although the seating isn't too comfortable and was a slight letdown, considering this appears to be one of the refurbished branches following the newer Pizza Express branding.
PRO TIP: Be sure to take advantage of their Pizza Express Club loyalty scheme on their app, after just a couple of visits you can get a bunch of freebies to make your trip more affordable. Without these offers, it can be a little pricey however once you unlock the gold tier you're able to get bonuses such as a free soft drink, bottled water, dough balls, coffee and Dolcetti and the list continues.
Back to this Bullring location - I was let down by both the speed and the friendliness of the service here. Granted, they were busy but the staff just appeared unfriendly and rude. I had to wait almost ten minutes for the drinks that I had ordered, only to be brought out sparkling water instead of still, when I queried it they told me they didn't have any bottled still water at all and didn't even mention it to me until I mentioned it myself - I get running out of something can't be helped but why not advise guests when ordering, let alone making them wait some time for a drink that doesn't exist and then changing the order without informing the customer?
I also had further issues with the service. For example, they changed my table number on the Pizza Express app without letting me know, which reset my rewards, if I hadn't noticed what I thought was a technical glitch with the app, then I could have ended up paying a lot more. I had previously informed my server of the rewards I was using, which she acknowledged seeing, so why change it?
I ordered my usual order, a gluten-free pollo pancetta, with gluten-free dough balls, the food was served at the same time as requested. The quality was average, I did like the long and crispy slices of pancetta, although the mixed peppers were cut far too thick and were unpleasant. The garlic butter for the dough balls was almost completely melted making it a difficult and messy task to spread on the dough balls.
For drinks, I went for the passionfruit lemonade, and tap water (after being denied bottled), both were served with ice without asking, but the passionfruit lemonade tasted so watery and watered down.
2* - It has potential sure, but issues with my drinks and service and the overall comfort let this place down, it doesn't meet the Pizza Express standards right now.
