Blaze Pizza

Basic Information:

Pizza: Blaze Pizza

Number of Locations: many nationwide; based in Pasadena, CA

Location Reviewed: 1000 Washington Ave. SE in Minneapolis, MN (corner of Washington Ave. and Huron Blvd. near TCF Bank Stadium)

Website: https://www.blazepizza.com/

Date of Review Visit: June 2018

What I Ordered: Build Your Own 2 Topping pizza with pepperoni and smoked ham; soda to drink

Price: $10.80 (includes drink and tax)

Photo:

Summary Review: 4 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Blaze Pizza gets its name from its dome pizza oven that can reach up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit.  As you would expect for this style of pizza, the crust is thin and crispy.  It is hard to bake this style of pizza exactly right, but they did exactly that with mine.  Score: 10/10.

Sauce: You have your choice of sauce, but I chose classic red tomato-based sauce.  This pizza does not have a lot of sauce, and the sauce that does appear only has a very light tomato flavor.  Normally I complain about sauces being overspiced, but this sauce might be a little underspiced.  Score: 8/10.

Cheese: You get your choice of cheese, but I went with mostly mozzarella with a little parmesan. The cheese is applied with good quantity, but it produces quite a bit of grease and not a lot of flavor, even with the parmesan.  Score: 6/10.

Toppings: Their wide selection of toppings all look good because they have no artificial additives.  Both the smoked ham and pepperoni tasted fresh, but the pepperoni could have used a little more spice and the ham a little more sugar.  The smoked ham does not taste the least bit smoky.  Both toppings appear in good quantity.  Maybe I should have tried my usual pepperoni/sausage combination instead.  Score: 7/10.

Overall Taste: I sprinkled on some oregano to add some spice.  Otherwise, the overall taste would have been pleasant and fresh but rather bland.  Score: 8/10.

Pizza Appearance: The pizza has a well-ordered appearance with every piece of ham or pepperoni in its place.

Dining Atmosphere: The Minneapolis location has a nice casual dining atmosphere with a TV for entertainment.

Customer Service: The counter service was prompt and friendly: pizzas are made to order assembly-line style in front of you, and the pizza maker asked me at every stage if the pizza looked good to me, which it did.

Monetary Value: Blaze only makes personal sized pizzas, so this is not the place to feed a large group with large pizzas.  That said, the price for this type of pizza is reasonable, and the counter service saves on the tip.

The Final Judgment:

Similar in style and appearance to Your Pie and Mod Pizza, Blaze Pizza does not quite set me on fire, but it is a competitive entry in the assembly line made-to-order pizza sector.  Score: 84/100.