Pizza Express, 17 Museum Street, York

11:47am Saturday 5th April 2008

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PIZZA Express paved the way for the upmarket Italian eatery, making a meal, if you like, of going out for a margherita or pasta.

It spawned its own classics too, with menu favourites such as Dough Balls, La Reine (pizza with ham, olives and mushrooms) and American (pizza with pepperoni) being sold in at supermarkets.

Most fans have their own favourites. I was a devotee of La Reine until I was wooed by Giardiniera, with its lovely, fresh mix of asparagus, artichokes, red peppers and tomatoes.

In recent years, my attempts to eat at the York restaurant in Museum Street have been thwarted by queues (Pizza Express only takes bookings for large parties). With so many other decent Italian restaurants in the city, I've tended to go elsewhere. But a menu revamp persuaded me to call again.

To avoid queuing, I visited on Sunday night, with husband Nick and five-year-old daughter Eva, banking on it being quieter. We were instantly shown to a table.

The main dining area looks out over the River Ouse and the large windows make for a light and airy ambience, although the high ceilings make it noisy.

We didn't mind the chatter, or the occasional cries of children, because it's all part of the experience. Pizza Express earns top marks for being family friendly, offering a brilliant kids' menu and a colour-in book with pencils.

For children, the Piccolo Menu offers three courses for £5.65, with Dough Balls (mini warm bread rolls to be dipped in garlic butter) to start; a choice of pizza (Margherita, with cheese and tomato, La Reine or Mushroom) or Pasta Pomodoro (pasta spirals in a tomato sauce) for the main course and a selection of ice cream sundaes for dessert.

Parents can ask for a side salad and Bambinoccino (a small cup of frothy warm milk dusted with chocolate), for no extra charge. It is refreshing to see a restaurant offering children mini versions of proper food.

Eva loved her dough balls, particularly the art of pulling them apart and dipping them in the sweet, garlicky butter, and declared her pasta "fantastic". It was a good-sized portion, the chunky pasta spirals coated in a thick tomato sauce, which had a smoky aftertaste. Another plus was that it was also served "just warm", allowing her to dive in immediately.

The Toffee Fudge Sundae, with vanilla ice cream, toffee sauce and chunks of fudge was another winner, and she enjoyed her little cup of hot frothy milk.

Nick and I fared less well. My Insalata di Avocado (£4.35) - new to the menu - looked appetising enough with large spinach leaves mixed with chunks of avocado and dressed with pine kernels, mint and basil, but the avocado was rock hard and I sent it back.

Nick's chose a Pizza Express classic, Antipasto (£4.95): a plate of baked ciabatta, salami, rocket and sun-dried tomatoes, covered with cheese shavings. He thought the portion small, some of the meat too fatty, and would have liked more tomato.

The hot news at Pizza Express is the arrival of the Romana pizza, which uses the same amount of dough as a classic pizza, but is rolled longer so you get a thinner, bigger and crisper base. The aim is to let the bold flavours stand out even more.

You pay a premium for the Romana pizzas, but they are a lot bigger than the standard offering, and do have more topping.

I fancied the Polla Pancetta (£9.25), with torn chicken breast, sweet-roasted yellow peppers and smoked pancetta, with a yellow and red pepper sauce as a base rather than the usual tomato. Unfortunately, the chef had run out of the special pepper sauce, so I ordered the Quattro Pomodori (£8.95) - featuring three types of tomato, tomato sauce, pesto, asparagus, thyme and basil.

The pizza was delicious. The base was impossibly thin and crisp and the topping was fresh and tangy. The taste was sweet and tomatoey, and although I could see pieces of basil leaf on top, I couldn't discern any pesto or fresh thyme. It was also far too much for me too eat. One to share.

Nick tried the new Prosciutto e Funghi pasta (£7.55), which was billed as pasta spirals with cooked ham, mushrooms and a creamy cheese sauce featuring gruyere, parmesan, mozzarella and grana padano. It sounded gorgeous, but amounted to a bland macaroni cheese, with little flavour coming from the ham and the mushrooms about as rare as a decent mortgage deal. Nick wasn't impressed.

To finish, we shared a dessert: three balls of very milky and sweet good quality vanilla ice-cream (£2.40) and a single espresso for Nick (£1.60) and a macchiato (£1.90) for me.

We also had two cokes (£1.90 each) and an orange and soda water (£3.40), which took our bill to £44.55. However, we only paid £26.30 because the manager took off my pizza and both our starters as a goodwill gesture for (a) my avocado being under-ripe and (b) my first choice of pizza being unavailable. It was a welcome gesture, and shows that it does pay to complain.

And our verdict? Top marks for the kids' food, thumbs up for the new pizzas, but could try harder on some other dishes.

Will we be back? Probably. So long as we don't have to queue.

• Pizza Express, River House, 17 Museum Street. Tel: 01904 672904. Maxine visited on Sunday, March 30, 2008.

• Disabled loos? Yes, but no ramp up stairs at front. Staff say they will help lift a wheelchair up the stairs.

factfile

Food: Hit and miss
Service: Good
Value: Okay
Ambience: Lively