The newest of the bunch in Manchester, this Pizza Express has a prime location on Piccadilly Gardens between Barburrito and the inexplicably popular Kro Piccadilly bar.

It’s a fairly pleasant place to eat, the room is spacious and airy, and the massive windows give a great view over the “gardens”.

The meal my girlfriend and I had was nice enough if unspectacular, pretty standard Pizza Express fare. We ordered a bowl of olives (which had some of the biggest green olives I’ve ever seen) followed by bruschetta - this was ok, not the best I’ve ever had though, don’t think it really works with the dough base they use.

We shared a Pollo Pancetta pizza - the menu says this has a pepperonata base – a creamy and aromatic sauce made with red and yellow peppers, although it pretty much tasted like a standard chicken and peppers pizza, pleasant enough but nothing special.

You always know what you’re getting with Pizza Express and this one is no different. Good service, nice pizzas but lacking in any real character. It’s better than Pizza Hut but has nothing on Croma or Felicini’s.

The pizza was good, the chocolate fudge cake was awful. Stick to entrees and go to a dessert cafe afterwards.

The service was also slow.

Overall, pretty average and probably not worth the 15 min wait.

The previous time I tried to eat here, they told me they had run out of pizza dough at 10 pm. What kind of pizza place runs out of pizza dough for chrissake?

Going for an early Tuesday lunch meant that we were seated straight away, though I have seen it get very busy, which is a testament to the fail-safe food served here.

The bright, open design of the restaurant is lovely, and gives on to Piccadilly Gardens (which will be great once whatever building work they’re doing there is over). Drooling over the many tasty sounding pizzas they have to offer may take a while, so order some olives to nibble on and keep you going.

The food is delicious, and the service very friendly and fairly prompt, and though it did take some time to pay, this was due to the staff having to see to a large party of diners, and the relaxed ambiance meant that staying a little longer wasn’t too much of a problem.