Things You Should Never Order At Blaze Pizza
It can be tough to decide which pizza spot you're going to order from when that urge to eat pizza strikes your gut like a lightning bolt. There are many solid spots that sling delicious pies topped with a slew of tasty ingredients, and it's never fun to be pulled in multiple directions when you're figuring out how to handle your hunger. You can opt for a mom-and-pop spot that usually makes some pretty good homemade dishes, or you can head to a popular chain where you always know what to expect, like Blaze Pizza.
The enticingly-named Blaze Pizza has been slinging its wares since 2012, when the first location opened up in southern California. Since its arrival on the pizza scene, the chain has expanded to far-flung places like Canada and Kuwait. Clearly, it's doing something right.
However, that sort of success doesn't necessarily mean that this chain is doing absolutely everything correctly. Even though there is some great stuff on the menu, there are some other options that miss the mark completely. We're here to help navigate the menu so you don't end up disappointed with your order. These are the Blaze Pizza menu options you should steer clear of at all costs.
Caesar salad
Embarking on a culinary journey to consume a boatload of pizza is rarely a bad idea, so long as you're aware you'll probably be consuming your day's worth of calories in one single sitting. Even though a hot sizzling pie fresh out of the oven sends your taste buds into a celestial daze, practically everyone knows it's not a diet-friendly option. But, if you want to help your body feel a bit better about the cheese and carb-filled decision you're making, you can always order a salad to kick things off. At Blaze Pizza, customers can do that by ordering a Caesar salad if they want to get some greenery in before the pizza bonanza. Unfortunately, this is an awful way to start a meal.
The salad comes with classic Caesar salad ingredients of lettuce, croutons, Parmesan cheese, and Caesar dressing, but none of it tastes appealing. Even with the dressing, you will quickly sense that all of the ingredients are dried out, making for a very unpleasant texture. The croutons feel stale, to the point that biting through them takes a near-Herculean effort from your jaw muscles. The grated Parmesan cheese doesn't taste fresh at all, and the dressing is super salty. Every bite is an overload of sodium you don't want or need. Stay away from this salad and go straight for the pizza instead.
Cheesy bread
As unhealthy as eating a ton of carbs in one sitting may be, it's just so darn good. A great piece of bread always hits the palate just right, making this one of the reasons why pizza is so hard to turn down. Now, if you're throwing all caution to the wind and want to go ham on some carbohydrates, Blaze Pizza offers cheesy bread. Order it, and you'll get a flat piece of bread covered in shredded mozzarella cheese, oregano, a drizzle of olive oil, and two sides of marinara sauce for dunking. But if you're standing in line contemplating whether or not the bread is worth it, we'll make the decision easy for you: It isn't.
Does the bread look appetizing? It sure does. But after that first bite, all of your excitement will immediately wash away, and you'll be left regretting the purchase. The bread emerges from the oven hot and soft, but it cools off quickly and turns into a tough mound of dough your teeth will fight. The mozzarella on the top isn't gooey and instead has the consistency of melted plastic. Again, your mouth will want no part of such texture. The only moisture you'll find here comes after a dunk into the marinara sauce, but it's nowhere near flavorful enough to make this eating experience enjoyable. You don't need to tack on more carbs when they come in such a disappointing form.
Red Vine pizza
Even if you love pizza, sometimes you don't want an overload of cheese. Too much dairy can sit in your stomach like cement and leave you feeling a little gross afterward. If you're trying to avoid that I-ate-too-much-cheese feeling, Blaze Pizza offers a pie called the Red Vine. Yes, it does have mozzarella, but in very small amounts. The pie comes with red sauce, scattered bits of that mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, a sprinkling of Parmesan, basil, and a drizzle of olive oil. With this pie, you do avoid an overdose of cheese — but you also get a pie that lacks worthwhile flavor and texture.
Most of the flavor here comes from the red sauce, which might lead you to expect something filled with zesty flavor to make up for the lack of cheese. But, that isn't the case at all. The sauce is downright bland, and even with the addition of Parmesan and basil it never quite takes off. The cherry tomatoes on top don't have the sweet, savory eruption of tomato flavor that they should, while the mozzarella cheese that is present doesn't punch you with that creamy, salty sensation that high-quality mozz always does. The best part of this pie is the basil, which does taste fresh. However, we think it's safe to say that no one orders a pizza because they're craving basil alone.
Art Lover pizza
Aesthetics can play a huge role in whether or not you enjoy a meal. You eat with your eyes before your mouth, after all, and when you're staring at a dish that looks like it was drafted by an artist, you are likely way more stoked to dive in. To that end, Blaze Pizza offers a pie called the Art Lover that definitely has a unique look. However, even though the visuals of this dish are appealing, the execution won't impress your stomach nearly as much as your eyes, which is why this pie falls into the "hard pass" category.
The pie comes with artichokes, mozzarella, ricotta, chopped garlic, and one huge dollop of red sauce on each slice. The artichokes feel dried out and don't pack the sweet, herbaceous taste that we want from the veggie. The combination of the mozzarella and ricotta cheeses doesn't hit the way it should, either, as the flavors of both never really arrive in full force. But the most annoying part of the pie is the red sauce. You are like to just end up spreading it out with a utensil over the whole pie. If you don't, that dollop makes for a very overwhelming bite of pure sauce.
White Top pizza
As delicious as a bright, zesty marinara sauce can be, not everyone is on board with the red stuff. Luckily, most pizza spots offer some variation of a white pie — that is, a piping hot disc of dough that's served without any red sauce in sight. If you're trying to steer clear of marinara when you visit Blaze Pizza, the chain offers the White Top pie. Instead of marinara, it boasts a white cream sauce on the base. On top, you'll get mozzarella cheese, applewood smoked bacon, chopped garlic, oregano, and arugula. Sounds enticing, right? Sadly, the result is anything but.
The blandness of the white sauce is the biggest issue here. Since it forms the base of the pie, every single bite carries that underwhelming taste. Your appetite is gonna have a huge problem with that. There also isn't that much of that sauce, so you don't even get much of the creamy texture it's supposed to offer. The most prominent ingredient here is the bacon, which hits your palate in salty little bursts as you make your way through each slice. But, if it's the flavor of bacon you're after, then you're better off ordering something else and simply asking to add bacon to it.
Chocolate chip cookie
Indulging in something sweet after a meal full of rich, heavy foods can present a welcome change for your palate. Too many oily, cheesy flavors start to overwhelm your tongue after a while, so it stands that you would want something that skews in the opposite direction to bring balance to your taste buds. This is where dessert swoops in. One of the dessert options offered at Blaze Pizza is a simple yet enticing chocolate chip cookie. But don't be fooled into thinking these are gonna be a scrumptious ending to your pizza-laden meal.
It's such a shame these cookies miss the mark because they look great. Instead, it's the texture that makes these a mess. They're way too hard, meaning your jaw muscles will be left struggling to get through each bite. There are big chunks of chocolate chips throughout each cookie, but any enjoyment you'd find in these is stripped away due to the firmness. These cookies also tend to be quite dry, meaning you may feel the need to wash every mouthful down with water or risk choking. Don't wrap up your meal with the Heimlich maneuver. Instead, do yourself a favor and walk the other way.
Keto pizza
Nowadays, people are far more conscious about the kinds of food they're consuming, which we think is a pretty great thing. There's no shortage of science behind the benefits of a healthy diet, and many people follow certain eating regimens to improve their health. If you're someone who tries to abide by the keto diet, Blaze Pizza offers a pizza just for you: keto pie. The gluten-free dough is keto-friendly, of course, and the pie is topped with a spicy red sauce, both regular mozzarella and ovalini mozzarella, bacon, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach. Though you will get your veggie fix with this, you will probably wish it came in a tastier form.
All of the ingredients here just don't pack that flavorful punch you so desperately want them to bring to the final pizza. The spicy red sauce barely has any heat to it, for one. That works if you're sensitive to spice, but when you're expecting something to wake up your palate and get this instead, you likely feel as if you've wasted your money. The mozzarella lacks that salty hit it should have, and the trio of tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach barely tastes like anything. It's nothing but texture — and a rather unimpressive texture to boot. The bacon is the most prominent ingredient here, adding a salty crunch that's still not enough of a reason to order this pie.
Vegan pizza
Food science has come a long way, to say the least. That's a great thing for anyone who stays away from meat but still craves all the rich flavor of the stuff. Those culinary advances mean that you can find some pretty delicious plant-based alternatives that make you feel like you're eating the real thing. For anyone who follows a vegan diet, Blaze Pizza comes with a vegan pie that boasts red sauce, vegan cheese, mushrooms, onions, green bell peppers, basil, olive oil, and spicy vegan chorizo. There are probably companies out there that produce vegan chorizo and vegan cheese that taste identical to the animal-derived stuff, but those companies definitely weren't involved with the creation of this pizza.
The two vegan ingredients that are meant to mimic meat throw off the whole pie. Neither taste remotely close to the products they're supposed to be replicating. The cheese has a plastic consistency you have to gnaw through and also carries a subtle chemical aftertaste. Meanwhile, the ground chorizo is overly chewy and lacks richness. The rest of the pie is quite lackluster as well. The mushrooms don't carry any earthiness and the green bell peppers are unpleasantly bitter.
BBQ Chicken pizza
Have you ever read a list of ingredients and thought, "There's no way those can come together to create anything less than a masterpiece?" That's what probably happens when you grow wide-eyed reading all the stuff that's on the Barbecue Chicken pie at Blaze Pizza. The pizza comes with grilled chicken, onions, mozzarella, banana peppers, gorgonzola, and barbecue sauce. Unfortunately, this is one of those times when all these awesome components can't join forces to make something worth writing home about.
To start, the chunks of grilled chicken are dry and don't hold any flavor, even though chicken is supposed to be the belle of the ball here. The onions and banana peppers should lend strong flavor, too, but both taste oddly bland. There's no heat in the banana peppers and the onions taste downright sad. The flavor of the gorgonzola somewhat pokes its head through, but not enough to have any positive impact. Lastly, the barbecue sauce drizzled on the pizza is way too salty. These ingredients on their own can taste fabulous, but when they come together here, none of them shine.
Veg Out pizza
If you're staying away from any kind of meat, Blaze Pizza has an option for you. Order up the Veg Out pie for a medley of roasted broccoli, mushrooms, onions, mozzarella, gorgonzola, and large circles of red marinara sauce on each slice. While this list of ingredients might fire up some excitement for pizza-loving vegetarians, the truth is that they're better off heading to a totally different restaurant that serves an all-veggie pie.
One of the most unusual aspects of this pie is the distribution of the red sauce as a huge dollop on every piece, making for an unappetizing all-sauce bite halfway through the slice. Of course, you can use a utensil to spread it all out, but we think you shouldn't have to put in any legwork to enjoy your pizza.
The rest of the ingredients taste subpar, too. The gorgonzola doesn't lend the sharp, tangy kick you expect, and the mozzarella plays a disappointing backseat role. The veggies feel as if they could use an extra several minutes in the oven as well. You want those onions to caramelize a bit and the mushrooms to emit an amazing earthy, umami flavor. Here, however, that just doesn't happen.