The last time we were in Lytham was to attend the festival that the town hosts every summer. Naturally the crowds were huge and trying to find somewhere to eat was challenging – everywhere was completely full.
Thankfully things were quieter on our recent visit on a sunny Easter weekend. The town has enough restaurant options to satisfy even the most discerning diner – the central square has choices of Greek and Italian restaurants amongst others.
The Pizza Express restaurant in Lytham has an outdoor seating area – perfect for the summer months. On our visit, the weather was decidedly chilly so eating inside the cosy restaurant seemed a more sensible idea.
The restaurant is not that big and appears to be very popular with a regular clientele – by the time we left it was full which added to the lively atmosphere.
The new menu
The new Spring menu has been bolstered with the addition of some very tempting choices for their dough balls. New additions include loaded pesto dough balls (£6.95) and hot honey dough balls (£6.95) – the latter was my choice for a starter.
Whether the mix of dough balls tossed in a chilli and basil sauce and drizzled with hot honey works well is open to debate. For me, the combination of sweet and sour did not really appeal to my tastebuds.
My partner decided upon the new pollo milanese (£7.95) which came with extremely succulent buttermilk chicken goujons coated in rosemary breadcrumbs, served with basil and pine kernel pesto, rocket, slow roasted tomatoes and Gran Milano cheese which was described as excellent.
On the pizza front, the new parmense romana (£16.45) comes topped with asparagus, prosciutto, mozzarella, tomato and garlic all topped off with a fried egg! I have eaten pizzas in Italy from Turin to Taranto, but have never had one served with a fried egg looking back at me.
Yes, it is certainly different and I must admit I enjoyed the combinations of ingredients, though I do admit it can be an acquired taste.
My partner chose the more traditional margherita (£10.95) – a far more simpler pizza than my choice. Compared to my pizza it looked rather bland though I was informed that the margherita was delicious.
The dessert menu has had a makeover too – in comes tempting delights such as the Baked Vanilla Cheesecake (£7.45) which came with a chocolate straw so that you could soak up the salted caramel sauce which came with the dessert.
I was pleased that the new Sunshine Sundae (£7.45) was served in a sundae glass, as some other pizza restaurants like to serve their sundaes in a dish! This guilty pleasure has vanilla gelato, mango, passion fruit curd, whipped cream and fresh passion fruit – Summer in a sundae indeed. Perhaps it is better not to know about the 509 calories you will have consumed should you try this delicious treat.
Service was friendly and unobtrusive. Young families seemed to be well-catered for with a children’s menu and staff who made younger guests feel welcome.
The prices at Pizza Express are individual to each restaurant, so although quite pricey as pizzas go, the price structure at the Pizza Express in Lytham is competitive to what other restaurants in the town charge.
A good experience all around – and my partner and I would both go again.
