We've always been staunch supporters and buyers of the Pizza Express brand - we've known that we will get pretty much the same good level of service and quality of food, no matter what town.
It was therefore disappointing to find that Pizza Express in Horsham recently seems to have gone downhill somewhat, and oddly, that they should lower their game just when new competition opened up a few doors down the road!
I hadn't been to Strada before November 07; I had heard good things in general, but nothing prepared me for just how good the experience was!
It was one of those spur of the moment decisions that could have gone horribly wrong; I was looking after our 2 boys for the day and we'd just all been swimming so we were perilously close to them running on completely empty - we needed to fill them up again, FAST!
We dropped into Strada on a Sunday lunchtime, with a pushchair, toddler and my other son and were recieved politely and helped to a table with plenty of space - highchair arrived promptly and the pushchair was moved for us to a storage area out of the way. Orders were taken without fuss or pushiness, nor did the waitress need nudging to take the order. Good so far, I thought. They are obviously used to dealing with sproglets, as the pizzas arrived very promptly; and what pizzas!! Pizza Express' were good I had thought, but these are absolutely delicious - huge, well-stocked pizzas, yet not stodgy or over-filling, great fresh ingredients, fresh rocket garnish etc, "very very yummy" (to quote my 4 year old).
The care and attention from the staff was noticeable not for their fussing, but just for details - they were always SMILING (why is that so uncommon?!), courteous and helpful. My toddler accidentally dropped cutlery at least 4 times, each time it had barely hit the floor before being collected, floor wiped and a clean one provided..
Then the bill arrived and it was another pleasant surprise - less than i had expected - very good value and they even put the spare pizza slice in a takeout box for me. Go there, you wont be disappointed!! read more