Catch-a-Fire Pizza - Blue Ash — Restaurant in Blue Ash

I was really excited to try Catch-a-Fire in Blue Ash for the first time since I'm so used to getting pizza at the Oakley location. We were going out for my father's birthday so there was 6 of us. I had called Catch-a-Fire around 3:30pm to let them know a party of 6 was coming at 7pm. They let me know to call back 30 minutes prior to arrival in case of a waitlist. I called back at 6:30pm, and was met with a busy signal on several attempts. I finally got through and added us to the waitlist. The table was estimated to be ready by 7:03pm which was perfect.

My family and I arrived at 7pm. There ended up being a delay with our table and we were notified it was ready at 7:25pm. In order to seat us rapidly (as I heard from our waitress later) they sat us in a booth. My parents were frustrated by this since there was two clean and empty tables with seven chairs available. I went back to the counter and asked if we can be moved to the tables. The hostess was courteous and let me know they can help us move...and then never came to move us. A waitress helping one of the tables across from our booth came by and said the hostess got distracted so instead she was going to help us move over.

The same waitress ended up being our waitress. She came by with waters and to take drink orders. My family waited on their alcoholic drinks for about 10 minutes. Once their drinks came out, the waitress began taking our meal orders. Now I don't know if it was due to the initial confusion of splitting checks two ways, but she was going to leave before even coming by to take my order. When my step-mom let the waitress know, the waitress then turned and came over to my side of the table. I told the waitress I'm on a vegan diet and asked which appetizers are vegan. She was dumbfounded and said, "I don't know what that means. Is that where you can't have meat?" I continued that by saying, "...any kind of meat, dairy, egg...I am okay with honey." She takes her pen and points to the Shrimp Scampi. I then say, "I'm not pescatarian. I can't eat fish." She says, "oh, well then we don't have any appetizers that work." I then ask her about the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, which says it comes with wood-fired bread. She then said, "that was already ordered for the table." My step-mom and I were sitting on opposite ends and there's noise everywhere, so I'm not listening to my step-mom take the order. I said to the waitress, "I didn't know [my step-mom] ordered that, and if it's for the table, then how much do you get," to which the waitress responded, "plenty."

I then say, "...okay, fine, and as far as pizza is concerned, I will get the Vegans Unite, take out the olives and replace with artichokes, add roasted garlic, and then add vegan sunflower seed parmesan..." Her: "Oh we don't have that." Me: "But it's on the menu..." Her: "Yeah, we're all out." Me: "Okay, we'll then I'll go with Daiya cheese..." Her: "So you only want Daiya cheese or..." Me: "No, I still want the ricotta and the Daiya as well." Her: "Okay." Me: "...oh and I want the vegan sausage too." Her: (finishes writing) "Okay I'll get this all put in."

It's around 8:10pm by the time the appetizers come out. The Roasted Red Pepper Hummus gets placed near me, and I see the wood-fired bread is coated with something. I went to the hostess and asked if it was butter or oil. She checked with the kitchen and let me know it's butter.

So all I can eat is my pizza, which sucks because I then learned my step-mom only ordered the hummus appetizer to include me with my family. Some of my family didn't end up liking the hummus. The pizza was alright. I don't know if they're handling ingredients differently than the one in Oakley, but the flavor wasn't there. My sisters also didn't like the thin crust. If a restaurant has an item called "Vegans Unite", then I rightfully assume the wait staff is educated on a vegan diet, but I guess they're not. If service wasn't such a hot mess, I would have gone with a higher rating. I'll stick to the Oakley...

I won’t be coming back sadly. I ordered my food at 2:30 so it would be ready when I got off work at 5:30. When i arrived I was asked to pay with the card that I had entered online I never said to save it but I guess the transaction only finishes in restaurant. So I told them that was Fine to use that card. They never asked me for an ID and that is concerning to me because anyone could have come in and said yes that’s my order and yes use that card. My order was $37 plus I gave a $2.00 tip. I was then informed that someone else had somehow taken my order before I got there. Not sure how they paid for it. They told me I would have to wait but it would only take another 10 mins. I stood there for another 20 mins or so, maybe longer, waiting for my food while two other pick up orders came out. I was offered 2 $10 off coupons but they are worthless to me because I can only use them dine in only and I am single and don’t usually go out a lot. Also, there were some other stipulations to be allowed to use the cards. This was a horrible experience and I would never come here again strictly based off the customer service and the fact I wasn’t even offered anything of value after paying 39 dollars for food and had to stand there waiting for a significant amount of time. I usually don’t write bad reviews but this was warranted.

Update: The manager of the restaurant reached out to me and we had a really nice conversation. Amy was so understanding and made sure that the situation was rectified. She spoke with some of the employees to make sure they know what to do going forward should that happen again. I didn’t want to have to write this review in the first place be I absolutely love the food!!!! I will definitely continue to go to this restaurant and am so appreciative of the care they took to make...

Alex our waiter was SO helpful and kind. He was very knowledgeable about the menu options and accommodated even the "pickiest" eater (a plus since there isn't a kids menu).

Highly recommend reservations for the Igloo for larger families. Igloo parties have a maximum time limit of 2 hours and a minimum dollar amount spent, however, it was plenty of time for us to socialize, order, eat, and have birthday cake we brought. There is an occilating space-heater to warm the igloo for cold weather. And the best part, we could eat without worrying about masks!

We ordered Boursin stuffed red-potato skins (8) and the wood-fired wings (6) appetizers. The creamy cheese gently toasted on top and the wings were sweet, savory, & slightly charred.

The 10" pizzas were PERFECT for 2 average appetites to share. The crust was just thin enough but not cracker-thin. Each one tasted of fresh ingredients and were able to be ordered 1/2 & 1/2 and individualized according to dietary preferences. The Smile BBQ chicken pizza had a sweet bbq sauce but we substituted Marinara sauce on 1/2 and held the bacon. We tried the Crazy PotatoHeads (créme fraîche, potato, bacon, jalapeño, four cheeses, white cheddar, scallion, ranch), Mellow Mood (créme fraîche, roasted garlic, four cheeses, goat cheese, EVOO, fresh herbs), the Smile BBQ (roasted garlic & olive oil, chicken, bacon, Happy Amber BBQ, four cheeses, white cheddar, scallion), and 1/2 One Love [traditional red sauce, four cheeses (mozzarella, asiago, parmesan, romano)], 1/2 Cornerstone (fire-roasted red sauce, pepperoni, four cheeses).

One Note: Sweet Tea means glass of iced tea & You must ask...