A real disappointment - Click and Collect disaster.
I had heard good things about Knead so sick of the big players decided to give it a go with a click and collect. Note no delivery, however less than 2 miles from home so not an issue. Ordering was easy but the online menu gives no idea of pizza size however having looked at the restaurant menu each pizza had a number which I assumed was the size in in inches but in retrospect I suspect this is an indicator of price instead. That in itself is misleading as the menu uses no £ signs and .5 instead of 50p, so its easy to misinterpret. I ordered a Rocket man pizza with added mushrooms which came to £17, perhaps I should type that as 17 and a large Caesar Salad for £11 or 11.
Having set off in good time I encountered a diversion from the main route which meant I was Parking up in the car park by Peach Place dead on my allotted pick up time of 7:30, two minutes later I was back in my car setting off home. Disappointment no 1 was that the pizza was quite small and even though I was two minutes late on pick up there was very little heat coming through the 12" box. Never mind I had Caesar Salad.as well.
Got home and immediately opened the box to find a flabby and almost cold pizza staring at me from the box. The only resemblance to a Caesar Salad were a few Cos lettuce leaves drenched in dressing and dusted liberally in parmesan. This was my main meal for today hmmmm!
Firstly the pizza. As I've alluded it was decidedly lukewarm that said there were some really decent flavours going on, but they were difficult to appreciate given the underwhelming temperature of the food. Of real disappointment was the wetness of the dough in the centre. When say wet I mean really wet which meant each of the four slices sagged markedly and in one instance the rocket, prosciutto and mushroom topping slid forlornly onto the table.
The salad was just unpleasant. There may have been crouton dust in there but it wasn't obvious.
Summing up then: Would I try it again? I've never been one to dismiss a restaurant on first go and even in this case I'd be reluctant to do so. That said I'd definitely not recommend click and collect. Me being two minutes late on pick-up isn't on Knead, however I should still be able to feel warmth through the cardboard box on collection. This pizza had been either hanging around well before 7:30 or the heat retention in the boxes is grossly inadequate. Maybe I should, in hindsight, have refused to take it but having cycled during the day I was pretty hungry and just wanted to get home and eat. You live and learn.
Service amounted to being handed a pizza with no other interaction with staff. Atmosphere, it was quiet Sunday evening so difficult to be objective. VFM, it's not great £28 or 28 for a smallish cool pizza and a few leaves in an overpowering dressing.