Blaze Pizza — Restaurant in Kansas

I visited for the first time on January 5th around lunch time. This is a build your own pizza style place. If you've ever eaten at a Pie Five this is similar in how it works.

So here's the disclaimer: I am not a professional reviewer. What I am is a pizza lover from NYC.

So, I really wanted to like this place. While standing in line and reviewing their menu I can say that you will find all your standard pizza toppings with a handful of atypical things.

They were quite busy but the line moved quickly and customer service was great throughout. Place itself is nice looking. Modern and relaxed atmosphere. You may see somewhere (even on their current menus) that they serve beer. Apparently they did at one point but sales did not justify them continuing to do so. No biggie.

Now, about the pizza. They offer a variety of crusts to build on. A thin crust, high rise and two gluten-free options, Cauliflower and Keto.

I built my own pizza with their standard crust as a base. I added spicy marinara, mozzarella, ricotta dollops, Italian sausage, pepperoni, Italian meatballs, fresh basil, Roma tomatoes, roasted whole garlic and fresh basil with a garlic aioli brushed on the crust.

Service was fast. They get your pizza fired in 180 seconds unless you ask for it to stay in longer. I opted for the standard cook time which gives you a nice crisp crust around the edges that's ever so slightly charred for you to hold onto while the rest of the crust remains that sort of floppy, fold it in half so everything doesn't slide off type integrity (which is how I particularly like it).

Pizza looked and smelled great. Taste however...well, it was a little flat. I was not happy with their sauce. Not mine or my wife's regular marinara. I like a bit of sweet in my marinara but this was way to sweet for my liking and a bit on the dull unseasoned side. The rest of the ingredients also seemed to succumb to the same phenomenon. Not sweet but just kinda blah. I couldn't taste the tell tale fennel and/or anise flavor that is normally front and center in Italian sausage. The pepperoni was short on pep and the Roma tomatoes were just not bright and flavorful as they should be. The whole thing just kinda fell flat in the taste department for me.

I know others who have dined here and loved it. This was just not the case for myself or my wife. She ordered a Hawaiian style with apple wood smoked bacon and pineapples. Sadly, we both thought it too was kinda blah and the sweetness of the sauce really overpowered everything else.

I guess if I had to explain the flavor of the marinara sauce....think tomato paste straight out of the can.

Anyway, maybe my taste buds were off that day but as much as I wanted to like it...it just didn't do it for me. If I go back, I'll try again and update this review but for now it was just ok. Pricing isn't bad. Good sized personal pizza for a big guy and your only out 8 bucks. Not bad at all. I'd even say you could share one with someone if you both got a side salad as well.

The side salad also was so-so. Here's the thing, its all the same ingredients. You move down the line, the first set is your salad ingredients and then you move on to pizza toppings. It is what it is.

I will say this, I loved their drink selection. If I recall correctly the fountain station had Coca Cola products with Mr. Pibb Xtra and Barq's Rootbeer in the lineup. What really caught my attention though was some aqua frescas and lemonades they had available off fountain. The aqua fresca I had was a pear and something mix and was really good. I read online that these are made in house and are described as "lightly fruit-infused" and made without high-fructose corn syrup. There was also a carbonated orange, maybe blood orange, drink in the fountain that was very refreshing.

Like I said earlier, this place was hopping this Sunday afternoon so plenty of people obviously like it. As for this Brooklyn...

Let’s start off strong. I love blaze pizza. The ingredients are always fresh. I’ve been to locations from Wichita to the PNW and it’s always delicious.

However, this location is garbage. The first experience I had with staff at this location was disappointing to say the least. I was greeted by a staff member who wouldn’t speak up. She mumbled at me and when I asked her to repeat herself she mumbled again. Still unable to hear her, I asked her to repeat what she said, and instead she got visibly annoyed and left the dough station and went to the back. So, someone from the oven station had to come and start my order. They were out of the ingredients I was most looking forward to, and the pizza was a little undercooked for my taste, but I can overlook all of that.

I decided to give this place another try, and this time I was greeted with a staff member who was extremely pleasant and helpful, until who appeared to be the manager showed up. The manager did not smile, was completely unpleasant, seemed miserable, and was wearing earbuds? This person, who I assume was the manager due to the black clothing and the change of demeanor in staff, was rude to not only myself, but the entire party I was with. One of the people I was with asked for extra shredded cheese, because she hardly put any on the pizza. I’m talking LOTSSSSSS of red space. Please be aware, I use to work for a (not a chain) pizza company so I am aware of the melt factor. This manager became annoyed and rudely stated “I already gave you double”. Which was a blatant lie, I assure you. She also messed up my order and when I corrected her, she didn’t apologize or offer to fix it, and cut me off with a very unpleasant “thank you” before I had finished listing the topping I wanted.

When that person that I assume was the manager was in the back of the house, the rest of the staff functioned at the level I would expect from a blaze pizza. The staff was also much kinder to customers when she wasn’t around.

I don’t know that I will come here again after two poor experiences. I definitely won’t be bringing friends or family here, nor recommending it to others. How embarrassing to suggest this place only to be treated poorly! This is not what I was expect from this establishment when so many other blaze pizza locations have been wonderful...

I have previously been a cook and night manager at both Papa Johns and Pizza Hut locations, I also make my own pizzas at home. How does Blaze Pizza compare? For value, it was $8.52 for a 10 inch or small sized pizza and $2.25 for a fountain drink. A small sized Pizza is an awkward size which many of the larger chains often don't carry, it's too big for one person yet and too small for two people. Price wise, without factoring in coupons or discounts blaze pizza is competitive with the chain pizzas. However once you consider specials like three medium pizzas for $5 each which other chains often run, you can get much more pizza for your money with the big chains, for that reason I consider Blaze Pizza a premium pizza.

As for the pizza itself, it doesn't live up to its premium price. The first thing to consider is the crust, Blaze has three choices, a classic, gluten free, and high rise crust. I went with a classic crust and it was extremely unsatisfying. The crust had the thickness of a thin crust with the airiness of a pan or hand tossed style crust, simply put the crust was virtually non existent. The sauce was plentiful and had good flavor, the cheese was sufficient but more would have been greatly appreciated. For toppings I went with a blaze specialty the "meat eater" pizza and the toppings were a disappointment. The meat eater had pepperoni which was slightly sparse, a meatball and red onion. The meatball started out as a large pasta size meatball which was then torn and crumbled into large chunks which left about two or three pieces of meatball per slice, it's a novel idea with good flavor but poorly executed. The red onion was a poor choice due to the over powering flavor, when I want a carnivore style meat pizza I don't want an over powering taste of vegetables.

Bottom line, if I want a fast and cheap lunch, I'm going somewhere else for both value and prep time. The best part about chain pizza restaurants, the delivery option, is not present at Blaze. The ability to make your own pizza and pick your toppings is by no means new to the industry. As for Blaze being a high quality luxury pizza, the crust and toppings were very disappointing in my opinion. The sole reason I can think of to go back is if you value the...