Since the branch of Pizza Express near the Theatre Royal in Bath stopped taking bookings a few years ago I’ve become a stranger to the chain.

The hassle of trying to gauge what time to turn up so we could be seated and eat before the film/play started and how many other people might want to do the same thing, coupled with the tedium of being stuck outside in a queue on a cold and rainy night, then gobbling down our meal so we weren’t late, was rather unappealing.

I’ve always liked their food, but it seemed more hassle than it was worth. However, I had never tried the other branch in the newish Southgate complex. But when I found that I could actually book a table there, it was time to give it a go. This lunch was the first time I had seen my goddaughter since she’d moved to Edinburgh a few months back, so concentrating on the menu initially was an effort as I wanted to hear all her news. Luckily, our waitress was very patient while we tried to decide.

The menu is as extensive as it has always been, with a wide range of pizzas, pastas, calzones and salads. There’s a good choice for vegetarians too.

There are also healthy options if you are calorie counting. Vickie and I weren’t, so for starters we decided to share a bowl of olives, a mozzarella and tomato salad drizzled with pesto and dough balls with garlic butter.

The salad was nice, but the tomato could have done with a bit more flavour, while the dough balls, while tasty, would have benefited from a few more minutes in the oven to make them browner.

For the main course I chose the pizza Giardiniera, which comes with artichokes, mushrooms, red peppers, marinated tomatoes, leeks, olives, garlic oil, tomato and pesto base. It was delicious and the portion was incredibly generous, although I felt it could have done with a little more pesto or herbs to beef up the flavour. Or perhaps I just needed to reach for the salt cellar.

Vickie chose the Rustichella pizza which is topped with pancetta, roasted tomatoes, rocket, Gran Moravia cheese, and a caesar dressing. She was struggling a bit towards the end, but managed to polish off most of it.

For dessert, Vickie tried to make an original choice, but simply couldn’t resist the lure of the tiramisu – her all-time favourite. She loved it, but the portion was so huge she asked for a doggy bag as she couldn’t bear to leave it behind. The waitress was happy to oblige and presented it to her in a cute little box, with a strawberry garnish.

I chose the toffee fudge glory, which has vanilla ice cream, toffee sauce, fudge chunks and a wafer. The ice cream was soft and creamy, but I would have preferred the fudge chunks to be on top rather than mixed into the ice cream as they were very cold and hard to chew.

Our meal was leisurely to say the least, we were in the restaurant for about four hours. At no point were we made to feel as though we had over-stayed our welcome. It was a lovely afternoon and I’m sure I’ll return.