Blaze Pizza — Restaurant in Farmington

I consider my wife and myself to have a very high threshold for bad customer service. We are understandable give people the benefit of the doubt. Typically, we don't directly address even several mishaps in customer service; however on this particular night even your most nonchalant/passive personality would have had their feathers ruffled at the disrespect, rude behavior, and unprofessionalism cast our way. If I could give this place a negative 5, I would. Here's the scenario..., we have been to Blaze at this location twice. On the first account (it was a very busy night), we had asked for gluten free pizza, only to find out at the end of the line after they had made our pizzas that they were not gluten free. Even though we didn't display in any way that we were disgruntled, the manager politely sympathized with us and offered to provide 2 gift certificates for free pizzas, which was very considerate and in my opinion displayed good managerial characteristics for this type of situation with her willingness to take the initiative. Fast forward several months later... we decided to use these gift certificates and add also 2 additional pizza's to the order. We were in the process of using the gift certificates when, the clerk stated she needed to have a manager authorize them. The manager (Chris) appeared, and stated he could not use the gift certificates because not only were they not signed, but he accused us of possibly printing them on our home computer. We stated were unaware they had to be signed, and he replied that it was not his problem. By the way, there was no line on the certificates to indicate a managerial signature was required. We let the 'print at home' accusation go, since it caught us off-guard, and really quite shocking. I asked him who's problem it was that a signature wasn't provided, since clearly I didn't manufacture the gift certificate. He again replied (and repeated).. this time with an eye roll., that it was not his problem. At this point he stated he could comp 1/2 of one of our pizzas. We stated we wouldn't' have come into the restaurant with only one pizza being comped by 1/2 price. Furthermore justice and integrity of the situation would be for 2 pizza's, just like the certificates clearly indicated. He stated, "do you want the pizza's or not?!" Again with another eye roll. By the way, to this point, he had never given us his name. He stated this is my job. My boss will get mad at me if I were to comp 2 pizzas. Since we could clearly see weren't' getting anywhere with this manager we accepted his offer. In the process of inputting our pizza's into his computer, he provided the price of the pizza's and somehow 10 seconds later forgot about applying the discount he had just mentioned. Unbelievable! This manager clearly takes way too many shortcuts to thinking in general. Also, mind you... on this second visit to Blaze, our pizza's were messed up again, whereas even though we had requested gluten free pizzas (and they were written on the paper order, to include a glove change), we were still provided wheat pizzas that had to be re-made.

As we moved further down the line to have our sauces added to the pizzas, one of the employees who had overheard our conversation with the manager stated how unfairly and unprofessional she believed we were treated (by the manager)! I replied to her that I had never before been treated in that manner. While we were discussing matters with her... the manager overheard us speaking. Even though he was busy helping customers at his computer, he had the audacity to insecurely ask the employee what we were speaking about (in front of us, although attempted to do so discretely). This is a manager whom is going to hurt the business of Blaze. He was rude, unprofessional, egotistical, and unable to resolve the issue in a polite manner. We really like the pizza..., but will not be returning due to the worst customer service experience we have ever had, anywhere! So.. we go to Mod Pizza, or the...

READ TO THE END - REVIEW EDITED 4/19

I hate giving bad reviews. Have traveled through 43 states and left many - normally 5-stars - for good food and good service. My last visit to Blaze (4/7) unfortunately will be my last. Which is sad, since I have taken many groups (probably 75-100 people over the past two years) from out of state by there as one of my local favorites. Why? Service - the new method of ordering is a potential train-wreck - and my last experience was one. Instead of building your own, which was so cool, you give your list to the cashier and go sit down (hoping they get it right and don't get it mixed up with all the other orders). Well, not only did my wife not get the right ingredients (some of the wrong ones cause her migraines), it was a combination of both her and my ingredients. It was bizarre. My pizza took another 40 minutes to come out (got lost in the shuffle) and had a lot of her ingredients (?). Response - I spoke with the manager (or person in charge) and they offered a refund because I didn't have time to wait for another attempt (had a meeting I had to get to). Was told the internet wasn't working (?) but they took my name and number (in big, bold black ink on a big piece of paper) and was told the manager would call Monday morning (4/8) and refund the purchase. It's now seven days later (I'm a pretty patient person generally) and I still haven't heard from the manager. Conclusion - I love the Blaze concept, but somebody goofed with the new process. I do not have the time or money to waste on what should be a simple and enjoyable experience. Will be taking my family, friends, and visitors elsewhere.

After completing a company review of the above visit, the manager quickly reached out and apologized for the whole situation. We worked out a time for me to come by and he refunded the cost of the pizzas and offered a couple of free ones for the situation. He was very polite, professional and someone I would do business with in the future.

He even addressed their new method of pizza preparation and shared that they are working to iron out the issues - which is great.

From the gracious response and professional, customer-friendly response, I will definitely be returning for another visit. I'm not quite back to 5 stars yet (waiting on the next visit), but it definitely went from a sub 1 to a 4 simply because they cared for the customer :)...

I love Blaze, I'll be honest. But I also love pizza. It's hard for me to properly describe how much I love pizza, so I won't waste your time. Price/portions - pretty fair for a decent personal sized pizza. My wife and I feel filled after splitting one. I never eat an entire one myself. Their app also typically has some deals going that can make it cheaper periodically. Service/setting - lots of space, nice workers, quick pizza. Easily customizable. Think chipotle/cafe rio style burritos, but for pizza, and you've got the idea. It's clean, new, and typically very busy. If you go at the peak times you'll be waiting. That tells you it's good. Food/flavor - the flavor of their pizza is fantastic, in my opinion. I always order plain pepperoni when trying a new place for the first time as a baseline, and it's excellent. Their other options are also very good. The crust...needs work. There was a Blaze in Rochester, NY that was absolutely perfect. It was the first one I'd tried, and their crusts were better. Maybe it's the altitude here and they need to adjust their recipe for that, but the crusts here are different. Flatter? Tougher? Haven't pinned it down yet. That's the only reason for the -1 star. Picky? Maybe. But when you're eating pizza, you're going to eat a lot of crust and so it's important!

They also have a very good type of root-beer. It's not a brand I've seen around a lot, but I love it. Also +1 point for their blood orange lemonade. I've not seen blood orange flavored things nearly enough, but it's a win!

The drinks don't make up for the crust issue, but it's still good enough to make me go...