pizzaexpressyourself.co.uk

Tucked away just off the high street, this particular restaurant was very quiet today (Good Friday) and we were expecting it to be mediocre. How wrong could we have been!

The environment here is a little smaller than some but the spacious feeling is obtained by some clever use of mirrors along the back wall which make the entire space feel much bigger than it is. The weather was good and so the side wall was open which meant it was like eating outdoors – but without the chill. The facilities were well kept and clean, and the whole area seemed better than average, but some handrails were a little chipped and there is ample evidence of wear and tear.

The food was spot on, too – a team of female chefs worked wonders with the pizza dough and it was light and perfectly cooked – not too crispy, not at all chewy. We had a margherita and a pollo verdura salad – both excellent. For dessert there was a banoffee pie and a cheescake…

The service was calm, unhurried and relaxed, but efficient. As you might expect with a quiet restaurant there was no real delay or having to wait for a waiter to arrive. A very nice touch today was with the deserts – the waiter had written ‘cheesecake’ and ‘bpie’ on the plate using the relevant sauce for each pudding. A tad cheesy, but it raised a smile and enriched the experience somewhat.

Overall, this is a good restaurant to eat in. A little small, and tucked off the main drag, but worth a walk to if you can do it.

Since this one is fairly local to me, I visit it a fair amount and therefore a date isn’t always useful. However, the last visit was Tuesday 30th January. I was just back from a meeting in Norwich and had to rush to get out again for another meeting.

Food order was taken promptly and in good humour and the waiter appreciated the speed we wished to eat at. A single pizza to share, half mushroom, half plain… didn’t seem to faze the chap.

The surroundings are not large – a bit cramped in truth, but it was still early and it was a Tuesday, so they were not too busy. Even so, the place could do with a bit of a spring clean. It isn’t dirty – far from it – but I always think it looks well used (I guess that’ll be because it is!).

The food arrived promptly, was cooked to perfection and tasted superb. Who can ask for more. Deserts were served equally promptly and the portions seemed a tad larger than normal. Great!

Visited on 28th January 2007, this was a very pleasant experience – certainly better than average. The service was prompt, courteous and efficient and we had seating in an ‘olde worlde’ section away from the more modern seating adjacent to the cooking area. There were interesting artefacts around us to look at and talk about and the clientelle seemed very pleasant as well.

The food was as it should have been – hot, tasty and well presented. It wasn’t exceptional, but it was certainly very very good. The order was for a mushroom pizza, a margherita, an American and a childs peperoni. For desert it was Cheesecake (can you get Eli’s anywhere else?), Banoffe pie, apple pie and a chocolate fudge sticky thing that ten year old’s like! Cokes and water all round, along with a glass of house red…

The waitress was very attentive, spoke with a slightly curious accent and made sure we had what we ordered and that all was OK. We tipped.

Overall rating for the Canterbury branch is 8/10… I’d go back there.

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