Blaze Pizza (Clairemont)

DSC_0206Recently we have heard great things about Blaze Pizza from various friends and family and actually were invited to try it a while back. Finally we had a chance to stop by the location on Balboa Ave., right across the street from 85c and Chicken Charlie’s. Blaze Collage 3 There is a ton of seating both inside and out. Blaze Collage
In 2012 we heard about this fast style of pizza where you could add your own toppings and they’d bake it for you. The first place we tried it was at 800 degrees in Westwood. We were hooked. Good price point, endless toppings, and it came out fast. Flash forward to 2015 and there are numerous chains out there like Pieology, Project Pie, and Pizza Rev all vying for your business. Blaze Collage 2 Almost all of these new pizza places work the same way. Choose your sauce and toppings and wait a few minutes for a piping hot personalized pizza to come your way. The first time we tried it we went a little crazy on toppings and said “give me everything!” This turned out to not be the best decision because it was just too many things going on. On this day, we weren’t noobs anymore. DSC_0223 Since everything costs the same if you decide to customize a pizza, pretty much anything is game. For the first pizza we decided to try two of their pre-selected options on one pie. On the left you have the Art Lover and on the right is the Green Stripe. What makes the Art Lover different is there is no sauce on the bottom of the pizza. Instead they put a few dollops of marinara sauce on the top after they put mozzarella, ricotta, artichokes, and garlic on top. I didn’t think I’d like it because I want my sauce where it normally goes and I thought it wouldn’t be enough since I like extra sauce. But it actually was pretty good and exceeded my expectations. Next time I’d add more artichokes. For the Green Stripe it came with chicken, pesto, red peppers, garlic, mozzarella, and arugula. The pesto was nice and I didn’t miss the marinara too much. But if I had to choose I’d pick the Art Lover for its simplicity and yummy marinara. DSC_0231
Let me try to remember what we put on our second pizza. I went a little crazier on this one since we decided to customize it ourselves and not choose one of their pre-selected pizzas. I think there are olives, basil, mushrooms, pepperoni, Italian sausage, artichokes, on top of mozzarella and spicy marina/marinara sauce. The spicy marinara wasn’t that spicy and since the toppings were the same for the whole pizza it actually was hard to tell which was what. Overall, I really enjoyed this as well. There were borderline too many toppings but they kind of restrain themselves from putting too much and ask you a few times if that is an okay amount, which I really appreciated.Blaze Collage 4One thing I noticed was the crust for each pie being cooked slightly differently, probably because of the weight of the toppings or the part of the oven our pizza’s cooked in. Luckily I got the more done pizza and Anh got the other one since she doesn’t like charred things. I didn’t notice too much of a difference as both were fairly crispy and they tasted great. Compared to some of the other places I really liked the cleanliness and wide open seating area, as well as the fresh ingredients. I went to a Pizza Rev up in LA and they straight up dropped a sharpie they used to write orders into the marinara sauce. What was their solution? Remove the sharpie and some marinara sauce in the general area and continue serving customers. Keep in mind, this was a sharpie that didn’t have the cap on and that they were using with their bare hands. No bueno. Blaze seemed like a completely different operation. They were courteous, professional, and the pizza tasted better! What’s your favorite quick service personal pizza place to go to?Blaze Collage 5 Blaze Pizza

5604 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111
www.blazepizza.com

Blaze Pizza on Urbanspoon

[google-map-v3 width=”580″ height=”350″ zoom=”12″ maptype=”roadmap” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”5604 Balboa Ave., San Diego, CA 92111{}restaurant.png{}Blaze Pizza” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]

About Darren

Fooood! I love it if you can't tell already. I love everything about it. The taste, the smell, the look, the feel, the satisfaction, the gratification, and ultimately: the fun! I've been in San Diego for about 10 years now and it amazes me that there are still places to uncover. Traveling, eating, and taking pictures of food has always been a hobby of mine. So naturally Michael and I thought it made sense to share what we found with all of you. I tend to side with the savory but never shy away from a knock out dessert. If you have a place you think we haven't tried let us know! We're always on the lookout...

View all posts by Darren →

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.