Lancashire Post Eats - reviewing Pizza Express, Preston
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hi Preston, welcome back to our latest LP Eats video.
00:08Now today we're doing our second pizza review.
00:11We headed up to Cafe Barton, Winkley Square last week and we're going in a similar place
00:15today.
00:16We're heading off back down to the other end of town to try out Pizza Express.
00:20Obviously it's a chain, it's quite famous for doing kind of slightly more premium pizzas
00:25than you get at your run-of-the-mill takeaway.
00:28So really keen to try it out, see what it's like, see if it measures up to Cafe Barton
00:32which was a really good start for us, really high quality.
00:35So let's see what a national chain with that kind of reputation, how that compares, let's
00:39go try it out.
00:52Hi, my name's Jack Marshall and when I last left you I was heading into Pizza Express
00:56on Winkley Street, just off Winkley Square in Preston, ready for our latest review of
01:01part of season three of LP Eats, which obviously is based on pizza.
01:06So last week we tried Cafe Bart, that got a really good, strong review from us, absolutely
01:11loved it.
01:12That was a really, really surprisingly top-end quality pizza.
01:16So now we're trying something which is a slightly more different vibe in the sense that this
01:19is a national chain, but Pizza Express is known as like a slightly more higher quality,
01:24slightly more, I don't know, more top-of-the-range pizza chain when it comes to serving up what
01:31essentially is fast food.
01:32We're doing it in a much nicer setting, much higher quality, that's the kind of levels
01:37that they're purporting to offer.
01:38So first things first, the vibe of the place.
01:42The vibe of the place in this Pizza Express was a 5 out of 5, it was lovely.
01:45The decor was nice, the staff were really professional and prompt, the music that was
01:50playing was really atmospheric.
01:52It was like, there were nice, a couple of other tables there, so it was a nice moment
01:56to the place.
01:57Overall, it was just a really pleasant place to be, I just thought you couldn't really
02:01improve on it.
02:02So it's 5 out of 5 on the vibe, they started really strongly with that.
02:06On to the pizza itself.
02:08Now the dough.
02:09Straight off the bat, you're looking for a nice flop to your slice, so to speak.
02:14This one, it did have that, and the dough was okay, but while it was nice and light,
02:19I just wanted it to have a bit more of a flavour palette, a bit more of a presence
02:24to it almost.
02:25It didn't feel too stodgy, and it was airy, and it was kind of like, non-descript, but
02:32I just wanted to almost like, notice it more, as part of the culinary experience.
02:37I wanted to taste the dough a little bit more, obviously you don't want it to be overwhelming
02:41because you don't eat a pizza for the dough, but I wanted it to be a little more present
02:45in each mouthful, I've got to say.
02:47So I'm giving them 3.5 out of 5 for the dough, because it was kind of nicely conditioned,
02:52it had a nice flop to it, it was fine, it just needed to have a bit more judge to it.
02:58On to the sauce and the cheese.
02:59The sauce, the tomato sauce was excellent, I thought it was really rich, it was flavourful,
03:03it had more of a, kind of like a kick, not a spicy kick to it, but like a tomato-y, rich
03:09flavour kick to it than the one at Café Bar, so that was really good.
03:13It needed more cheese on it though, and each bite tended to do that weird thing where,
03:17because of the cheese, it kind of probably come in like mozzarella circles, if you caught
03:21the edge of one of those, you'd just drag all the toppings off with a bite, so not the
03:25best thing like that in the world, but never mind.
03:27Overall I'm giving it a 3.5 out of 5 for the cheese and the sauce.
03:31On to the toppings, I'm giving it a 3 out of 5 for this, because the pepperoni was nice,
03:36it was spicy, it had a bit of smokiness to it as well, but the whole thing was a little
03:42bit one-dimensional, I've got to say, each bite was kind of the same.
03:45Now I know that sounds like a bit of a daft thing to say about a pepperoni pizza, because
03:48it is, but there was just no depth, there was no difference to it, there was no, ooh,
03:53this is a bite where I'm really getting the seasoning tomatoes, this is a nice mozzarella
03:57creamier bite, this is one where I'm getting a bit of pepperoni saltiness thrown in, it
04:00was like, this is very tomato-y and very like pepperami, and that's it, that was every single
04:06bite, so I'm criticising them slightly on that front, but it was fine, it was, it was
04:10a nice flavour, but it just needed more depth, it needed more, I don't know, a uniqueness
04:14to it than just every bite being salt, tomato, there you go.
04:20Finally, we're on to value, I paid £13.45 for this pizza, now it was an alright pizza,
04:28it was a good pizza, you're never going to complain about this kind of pizza, but it
04:31didn't blow me away, and I do feel like £13.45 is a little steep for that kind of product,
04:37it wasn't the biggest thing in the world, I don't know what you're paying that much
04:42to the point where you're not getting much change from £15 for necessarily, especially
04:47when this is a chain, so you'd imagine they'd be able to keep costs slightly lower, I just
04:52feel that if I'm pushed to say, I'd suggest that you're paying slightly over the odds
04:57for what it was, but it was nice, it was fine, no real complaints, just didn't, it wasn't
05:03something to write home about, so yeah, 2.5 out of 5 on that front, which gives Pizza
05:09Express a total score of 17.5 out of 25, so not quite to the level of Café Bar last
05:15week, but a solid-ish score, probably going to be around mid-table, we'll see, we don't
05:19know how it's going to develop, but anyway, that's our second review for LPE Season 3
05:23on pizza, thanks for watching, stay tuned next week, we're going to be heading to another
05:26pizza joint in Preston to check out their pepperoni pizza and rank them, and see if
05:30it compares.
05:31Cheers guys!