Blue Pan Pizza — Restaurant in Denver

I have been to Blue Pan on two separate occasions now, and my experience slightly varied for each trip. The first time we decided to give this establishment a chance was after hearing a glowing review from the One Bite pizza review series. We arrived and saw a menu full of "award winning" pizza options, and figured those ought to be the options we tried first. We ordered four of their most popular deep dish pizzas, and when the food arrived we found that most slices looked more like a salad than a pizza. Huge helpings of greenery with interesting toppings like prosciutto and cream cheese. The pizza was artisan, no doubt, but I don't know that I'd be giving it any awards.

That being said, I could tell after our first trip, that the baseline foundation of their Chicago pizza was very good; I just needed to return, and be a bit more careful with my order.

Our second trip was outstanding. I returned with a group of friends; some interested in the more artisan pizza, and some like myself (who just wanted a "normal" pie). This time, I went with a more standard cheese pizza in their Chicago deep dish style. One bite in and I knew my initial assumption about their baseline was correct. It was an outstanding pizza. Without a doubt the best Chicago style in the Denver area.

My recommendation is to try Blue Pan regardless of the type of pizza you like, but I'd caution you to order carefully. Many of the "award winning" options are nonstandard artisan slices, and they can be a bit overwhelming. I found my experience to be far better when I just pulled back and indulged in a nice...

We’ve been attempting to enjoy Blue Pan since it first opened years ago. We live within walking. We’ve given it dozens of tries, pre-pandemic, pandemic, post-pandemic. Tonight was maybe the 5th time that we dined in and our food took so long we had to get it to go. We first waited 45 min for a table (at 545pm), I ordered breadsticks from the bar for my 4 year old who was hangry, and they took over 45 min to come (we were seated by then). We ordered one Detroit style pizza and one cheese NY style for our young kids the moment we were seated, and they still took 80 min to come out. This is COMMON here. The food is very good but can rarely be enjoyed while in a good mood, as it takes eons to arrive. You end up throwing away money on drinks because the gig is to make you wait so long you have no choice. We didn’t see any pizzas served in the restaurant while we waited, but they flew out the door for pick up orders. When the pizza came it was so late I had to ask for boxes and I complained about how often this has happened to us. The server said she would make it right then completely disappeared to leave the hostess to fumble through our check. $133 for a few drinks, a very delayed appetizer, and two pizzas we had to get to go. Finally leaving a review as we’ve given Blue Pan ample opportunity to get it right and the only thing that’s good is the food, which isn’t worth it when you consistently wait hours and overpay for it. There are so many other good pizza places in the neighborhood that are worth your time (and value it!)....

Note: rating 1-star as a reference compare to what they advertise. The food is decent but compare to price, photos (posted by Blue Pan themselves), and other reviews this place is comparatively 1-star. I got their “famous” Brooklyn pizza which sounded and looked based on their photos as delicious. However, compare to Blue Pans OWN photos, it has far far fewer toppings and way less cheese. It’s basically a huge amount of dough with a minimal cheese and the least amount of toppings required to remotely hint at the advertised pizza. For nearly $40/large take out this is no where near worth it even at today’s inflated restaurant prices. Dominos is far better for the price and getting close to being objectively better regardless of price. Once again: not a bad pizza but no where close to the hype around this place. I get Detroit pizza is a specific style that involves lots of crust, but this was all crust and little toppings even compared to their own photos. Seriously look at the photos on their website then order a pizza and see if yours looks anything like what they claim it will. Denver doesn’t have much to write home about when it comes to pizza, but those claiming this is the one exception are sadly mistaken imo. Maybe it used to be excellent but things have changed. My recommendation is to try something else. Wish I knew what but I’ll update this review when I find it.

Quick edit: I looked at other reviews and seriously think we personally got screwed because the pizzas pictured in other reviews looked far...