The Oliver Twist of Pizza: Blaze Pizza (37 St)
Ahh... Blaze Pizza. What are we to do with you?
The PizzaMonsters are so very torn on what to think about Blaze. It's a really cool place with a great atmosphere (the 1st out of the 3 places we have visited that actually had some music playing), the staff were very helpful and seemed to be having fun, and the build-your-own idea is great. In fact, it reminds me of the custom burger joint I used to own.
Once inside, you line up and the friendly staff help you with your order at the counter in a Subway-style system. The pizzas are then fired in a large oven and are ready in 180 seconds! It works well and they really pump through the orders quickly and efficiently.
And here comes the but.... they're a bit too 'efficient' on the food portions. As I mentioned, I used to own a restaurant, so I definitely understand the need for portion control and food cost. It's essential. But so is a certain amount of sauce, cheese and toppings when making a pizza, and this is where Blaze doesn't get it right.
They do a ton of stuff very well, including their mobile app which had sent us a coupon for a free dessert earlier in the week. But until they step up the portion sizes, it won't be a contender.
The Grub
1x Italian Sausage & Bacon Pizza w/ Red Sauce
1x Chicken, Tomato, Onion, Garlic Pizza w/ 1/2 Pesto 1/2 White Garlic Sauce
1x Prickly Pear Lemonade (refilled with Blood Orange Lemonade)
1x S'more Pie (free with coupon)
The Damage
$25.56 (-tax & tip)
Kingston
The Place: 4 - It's pretty cool in here and super busy! I don't like the chairs because they're hard & wooden and we're sitting right by other people so it's not very private.
The Crust: 4 - Tasted awesome, it was pretty chewy which i liked.
The Sauce: 3 - There wasn't enough sauce but it tasted good.
The Cheese: 2.5 - There wasn't enough cheese as well. The cheese was o.k.
The Toppings: 2.5 - The Sausage and Bacon was yummy, but i needed more toppings as there wasn't enough.
The Drink: 3 - The Prickly Pear was not good and just tasted like water. The Orange one was way better.
The Leftovers: 3 - Makes good cold pizza, but the crust is even chewier.
PizzaMonsters Verdict: 3 I really liked the pizza and loved the place, but the pizza needed more everything on it. The S'more Pie dessert was amazing! I want to come back and try it again...
3/5 PizzaMonsters
Steve
The Place: 4 - Fun & Funky. Good atmosphere, good tunes, lively and a nice place to be. Lots of friendly staff.
The Crust: 3 - Crisp and chewy. A nice thin crust which you can watch them pound out as you line up. A bigger dough is available for a extra fee.
The Sauce: 2 - Well, I mentioned last week that I was an extra sauce kinda guy and this one fell way short. Went half and half with 2 different sauces and wouldn't have been able to tell you which side I was eating. Not enough and not enough flavour.
The Cheese: 2.5 - A choice of cheeses which is great to see. I had shredded Mozza, but I think it was about 20% of the amount we had at Royal Pizza last week.
The Toppings: 2.5 - The choices of toppings are great, but would I be sounding like a broken record if I said there wasn't enough? With chicken, tomato, onion, garlic & bacon on there I would have expected more in the flavour department. The little cherry tomatoes were packed full of flavour, but the rest was lacking.
The Drink: 3.5 - I'm with Kingston on this one. The Prickly Pear tasted very watered down, but the Blood Orange Lemonade was delicious and refreshing. Good to not see the same old boring soda lineup.
The Leftovers: 2.5 - The crust certainly went chewier, but it made a pretty good cold pizza lunch the next day.
PizzaMonsters Verdict: 2.5 Fun place, great idea. I really want to like it more than i do. The pizzas and the portion sizes are just too small for the price. When your 6 year old eats almost an entire pizza to himself and then says he's hungry when he gets home...something isn't right.
2.5/5 PizzaMonsters
As the weeks & months go on, the PizzaMonsters will explore those pizza places and munch our way through their best pizzas to try and find the Magic Golden Super Best Pizza in Edmonton!
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