Well what can I say? At last there's a Pizza Express in Worcester. I headed off on the opening night with some eager, hungry youngsters in tow to see if we could get a good quality, good value pizza.

The place was full of people of all age groups, the décor was clean, bright and inviting, with good lighting from the large glass frontage and overhead lights.

The tables were spaced adequately so you did not feel as though you were on top of each other and the seating was comfortable.

The staff seemed friendly, pleasant and helpful and did not rush customers, whereas in similar establishements staff want you in and out in quick succession.

We shared the starters of dough balls - basically little balls of pizza dough - accompanied by a garlic butter sauce and bruschetta served with tomato, onions and pesto, which tantalised the tastebuds with that lovely fresh and just-cooked aroma of baked bread. Starter prices varied from £2 to about £6.

We all plumped for pizza for mains.

Albrice, aged 15, and Aimee, 12, had the quattro formaggi, four cheeses and tomato at £6.85 - the cheapest pizza on the menu.

This was a thin-based pizza and they said that it tasted nice with a suitably crispy base.

Ben, 14, wanted something hot and spicy and he certainly got it with the American Hot with green peppers, pepperoni and jalapenos, (£7.95).

However, I don't think he realised just how hot and spicy it would be.

Soon he was asking for water because his mouth was on fire and the waiter, smiling, brought him the drink and later, even a complimentary glass of coke.

I had the il padrino, (£8.95), which was chicken, tomatoes and mixed chargrilled vegetables with tomato and pesto sauce.The chicken and vegetables were cooked to perfection.

The pizzas were just the right size, tasted fresh and cooked to our liking, and there was a great choice of toppings to suit everyone.

To finish we all had superb desserts. Aimee chose toffee glory which was a sundae with creamy vanilla ice cream topped with fudge chunks and a toffee sauce, (£4.25). She found it quite large and could not finish it, but loved the topping.

Ben had his favourite - vanilla ice cream - which he thought was nicely flavoured and creamy. Albrice selected tiramisu served with mascarpone, which was quite a large portion but he said it tasted perfect.

I had my favourite, baked cheesecake made with ricotta and served with mascarpone and a raspberry coulis, which was fresh and creamy.

With the tiramisu and cheesecake we were offered a choice of either mascarpone, cream or vanilla ice cream.

One of the things I love most about Pizza Express is that it offers a great choice of food including salads and vegetarian dishes.

As for the price? It's reasonable for the kind of food you're getting - about £8 or £9 for a pizza, the same for a salad and starters are about £4 to £6. The total price of the bill for four came to £61.15, which was a little expensive but we all had a great meal and a nice evening.

Roni Skye

SERVICE: ***** FOOD: **** VALUE: *** AMBIENCE: ****