Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza

Love this place! I can’t stop telling my friends about it. Not a traditional pizza place, thin and crisp pizza built to your liking with a variety of fresh toppings. A must try!

This is my second time having a bad experience at blaze in the capital region. The first at a previous location but the problem is quite similar. The food is great and I love the pizza but we waited for quite a while to even give our order although it was not crowded and most of the workers were just talking to each other. Then I was able to order and start making my pizza, then the employees started making phone orders, which would’ve been fun except for the fact that when then came back to the in store orders they got them out of order and the person who I was with got bumped out of line. So when I wanted to pay for both our pizzas it was complicated and confusing. Once again I would reiterate I really like the quality of food at blaze (though I would like broccoli as an option) this is the second time in 2 experiences that the service has been less than satisfactory.

Is it great pizza? No it is not.
But I have to admit that I am indeed a fan. Although, I am a fan with a lot of caveats. Primarily, because I don’t see this as pizza. I come to Blaze for the vegetarian flatbread.
My wife is always hounding me that I should be eating more vegetables. My doctor is on my case that I should be eating less meat and cheese. And my kids sometimes need a quick, convenient dinner out of the house, and one of the few things the two of them can agree upon are Blaze’s Italian meatballs on a pie with just enough sauce for flavor.
Because I get so many vegetables on this thing, I sometimes will opt for the vegan cheese. It’s so buried underneath everything else, that it’s creaminess doesn’t quite register as a cheese substitute.
So I build flavor. I start with the spicy sauce. I always get fresh basil leaves. And from there, I go by visual appeal. Sometimes the red onions are cut super thick… no thank you. Usually the sauteed onions are pale and greasy… I’ll skip those. But the artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, kalamata olives, and even summer squash are usually just fine. And then I get the whole thing topped with as much arugula as I can get, with a drizzle of olive oil to dress the greens.
Don’t forget, it’s absolutely critical to request the pizza «well done». Those extra few seconds in the oven crisp the bottom and provide even more flavor by the way of char around the outer edges.
If you are ordering fewer toppings, you can also request that they don’t pop any forming crust bubbles. Otherwise, their default mode is to pop ‘em. Philistines.
The price is right, even though the wait may be long. I’d love to see these guys actually hand pulling the dough, instead of using those infernal pressing and stamping machines. I think they could do it from a speed of service perspective. The bottleneck in their operation is not rounds of dough, but rather dealing with fussy jerks like me, who take their time loading up pizzas with a stupid quantity of toppings.
But that’s what makes the place special. If that ever went away, my kids would just have to learn to love better meatball pizza elsewhere.

Healthy customizable pizza at an affordable price! This place was recommended to me by a few of my good friends because they loved it so much! On a weekday afternoon, we decided to grab a bite there.
The process of ordering here is an assembly line build-​your-​own format, very similar to the model of Chipotle. There is a menu that lists all the ingredients you can choose from for toppings (wide variety for each topping category, ex. meat, veggies, etc), and, surprisingly, you pay a flat price for any number and combination of the toppings! That day, a friend and I decided to share a veggie pizza. We started with half classic tomato sauce and half spicy tomato sauce, with pesto sauce along the edges. For cheese, we added pieces of ovalini mozzarella on top of shredded mozzarella. Then, we had a blast adding all the veggies we liked, including mushrooms, roasted garlic, tomatoes, two kinds of bell peppers, olives, onions, and banana peppers. At the end of the line, we paid about $ 8 for all the yumminess and the pizza went into the oven. It took about 10 minutes. Our pizza came with crisp, golden brown edges, and the cheese sizzling. The entire thickness of the pizza (about 0.2 inches for the toppings we piled on) was cooked just right, there was no raw doughiness, and the melted cheese made every bite mouth wateringly juicy!
The entire experience here was smooth with very efficient staff. You can also order online and pay so that they build your pizza ahead of time, then put it in the oven when you arrive. Ordering online was such a fast and easy option– I ordered for 5 people on one occasion, checked-​in at the cashier, they then put my pizzas in the oven, and I was in and out of the place in about 20 minutes! They also have a gluten-​free option for those who are sensitive to gluten!
4-​stars for delicious, healthy, customizable, and affordable pizza, along with consistently smooth and pleasant customer service!

My, oh my. I mean, it’s pizza so they got me right there. But it’s make your own, like Chipotle style. So, WINNING.
I love the spicy sauce but it IS spicy so I always mix with the regular red sauce. And then the hard part, deciding what to put on it. They seem to have just about anything you could want, including several kinds of cheese and meat and veggies. I keep finding myself with a supreme kind of thing going on but one of these times I’ll try something a little different. Or maybe I won’t.
Possibly best of all, you get as much of all the topping as you want for $ 7.95. And they are generous!
Then they throw it into the wood fired oven for a couple minutes and voila!
The salads sound good but I have yet to try one.
The place is cavernous inside and can be pretty noisy. It’s very trendy looking, lots of young people. You go, you’ll like.

I recommend reading Roger K.‘s review on 2÷6÷2016 for a thorough description of the process of acquiring your pizza.
I went on a busy Friday evening and experienced the assembly line a little overwhelmed and greatly backed up. If you’re not in a rush to eat and have the leisure of standing bumper to bumper in a line, Blaze is a fine option.
I shared a pizza with a friend and we each created our own «half pizza». We started with a mix of the spicy and classic red sauce topped with ovalini mozzarella, mushrooms, and roasted garlic. She added sausage and cherry red tomatoes while I opted for chicken and roasted red peppers. We each ordered a small salad.
The pizza was rather good. The base was doughy and moist even while being thin. On a scale of thinness, this wasn’t the most thin I’ve had and falls somewhere along the «thinner» side of the spectrum. I particularly liked the chewiness of each bite, saturated with red sauce and speckled with quarter-​sized mozzarella cheese. It was a messy sight given that the sauce was relatively uncovered and easily slid off the pizza and onto our fingers. (Ovalini pieces are chunks of cheese rather than a mesh of melted shredded cheese that insulates the tomato sauce). Looking past the mess, I felt that the pizza had great flavor, perhaps even better than a traditional pizza with shredded cheese. The roasted garlic livened the pizza and the other ingredients like the chicken, mushroom, and roasted red pepper, were fresh. The toppings were chopped to no more than a quarter size, and the consistent size of the toppings made the pizza profile more «even». Perhaps there could have been a little bit more of the toppings, but I think overall the ratio of toppings to sauce/​cheese was a-​okay.
The ovalini mozzarella, tomato, and basil salad was not the caprese. A plastic box was stuffed with arugula (stuffed!) then topped with 4 or so pieces of mozzarella, some halved cherry tomatoes, and a leaf (maybe two) of basil. It was rather disappointing how little basil was given and how much arugula there was relative to the other components of the salad. The dressing was not a simple one with balsamic vinaigrette and olive oil, but rather a condensed version, a tangy, thick balsamic sauce. The amount of peppery arugula (while great portions) felt a bit overwhelming in terms of flavor and texture.
The napkins and utensils were stocked at the back of the restaurant, near the check out area. The line of people that remained relatively organized during the assembly line grew into a large chaotic mass of those paying for their food, those waiting for their pizza, and those trying to grab at the utensils and napkins. More stations for napkins and utensils would definitely be helpful. Constant restocking of the items is absolutely necessary.
I can’t say that I love most pizzas I come across, hence 4 stars for the delicious pie at Blaze.

OK so I go to this place with my main squeeze.
Built on the chipotle model of fresh food, prepared as you like. This place appears to be a recipe for success. The pizza I had was Italian sausage with spicy sauce, pepperoni, basil and extra mozzarella. After a brief wait watching your food cook it came out extremely hot with perfect crispy crust. The pie that was excellent.
After spending eight dollars for the pie and about two bucks for a lemonade I left leaving full and completely satisfied!
I will be back!

After enjoying a few great meals at this fast pace pizza establishment I have too say two words, Fresh & New.
Having a flatbread pizza establishment in the capital area is new. Actually using all fresh ingredients from the vegetables to the chicken.
You have the option to make a pizza that is actually healthy, yes it’s possible, baby. None of their competitors can come close especially with the make your own pizza with out all the process junk.
The make your own pizza is around 8 bucks and is by far a better option compared to fake filler ingredients at a lot of chain pizzerias.
Though, the fast pace atmosphere does lack in customer service, extremely friendly staff but they may rush your ordering process.
Overall, try the pizza and enjoy a bit of Mohawk Commons!

The boyfriend and I checked this location out on a Friday night and the line was almost to the door. The line went smoothly and all of the employees were nice and helpful. We each had build your own pizzas (unlimited toppings) and shared a fountain drink, which totaled $ 20.
The inside was clean and there was an employee walking around cleaning up and cleaning off tables after customers left (it again was very busy). It was cool to see a window where, while waiting in line, we could watch the dough being made.
There are numerous bottles of hot sauce, sriracha, parmesan cheese, oregano, crushed red pepper and garlic powder throughout the restaurant and conveniently located above the trash receptacles and by the drinks.
They do have a dessert: s’mores. They also have a selection of small salads in a cooler with bottled drinks. One thing I would love to see would be garlic knots or breadsticks.
We had a good experience and will return.

Our first trip to Blaze was a good one and we’ll definitely return, especially since they sweetened the deal with a BOGO coupon for our next visit!
My create-​your-​own pizza was wildly successful (a fellow patron even remarked that it looked «glorious» once it came out of the oven) — I chose red sauce, extra mozzarella cheese, chicken, applewood smoked bacon, sautéed onion, roasted garlic cloves, grilled zucchini, and finished with a pesto drizzle. It was, indeed, glorious.
My husband’s pie wasn’t quite as successful. He chose spicy red sauce, mozzarella and ricotta cheeses, meatballs, black olives and mushroom. The said the sauce was good (but not very spicy), but the meatballs were mushy and had an odd flavor, and the olives were canned and not very good either. He said he’ll definitely return, though, and just make more careful choices. We love the concept, and the service was fast and friendly!
Updating my review after finishing the leftovers: I have to say, the pie was very salty. Might have been my choice of toppings but wow– really had to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated after that meal!

I’ll always get my vegan pies at Little Anthony’s but when I’m in Stuyvesant Plaza I’ll be happy to enjoy one from here. The space is nice, the helpers friendly, the ingredients look great and the pizza with vegan cheese is very good. Grateful to have one more option. Good show.

If you’re in a hurry for a thin, gas-​fired, decent tasting, pizza with the maximum choices of toppings, this may be the place for you. But don’t go when they are likely to be busy.
There are a lot of positive things to say and like about the pizza here. And of course there are a few negatives also. Most people describe Blaze Pizza as the Chipotle of pizza establishments. I can’t make that comparison because I’ve, maybe surprisingly, never eaten at a Chipotle. But it sounds like how I hear people describe the operation of Chipotle.
You queue up upon entry to place your pizza order. You can see the pizza dough being portioned out. You can see the machine pressing the dough into a pizza shell. You can either select one of the signature pizzas and not change any of the ingredients, or you can build your pizza with an almost unlimited number of toppings.
Your uncooked pizza works its way down the line to the cashier and the staff who mantain the oven. After you pay for your pizza it is cut into 6 slices and served to you. It probably only needed to be in the oven for about 3 or 4 minutes.
The pizza tastes good. Or at least the signature White Top ($ 7.95) that we ate was very good. It came with a white cream sauce, mozzarella, bacon, garlic, oregano, and arugula.
Now some negatives. As implied in my opening paragraph, when it is busy (weekends, lunch hour, dinner time) the line of people can me long. If someone in front of you can’t make up their mind on toppings, you may become impatient waiting for your pizza to move along the line. Your pizza may get put into the oven before someone in front of you if it is ready before theirs. Now, if there is a delay of people paying the cashier in front of you, your pizza will be out of the oven before you get to the cashier and it will sit there until the cashier clears you. So your pizza may not be as hot as you would like.
There should be better access to napkins and condiments like crushed pepper and grated cheese. Once you have chosen a place to sit, if you need napkins you have to go in search of them. Likewise for the pepper and cheese, and there is only one shaker each of crushed pepper and grated cheese at the counter where you find the napkins.
Staff were friendly, however.

We had 5-​star experience at Blaze on Friday. Once we entered the spacious restaurant we immediately joined the queue, which is separated from the dining room by a railing. The employees worked quickly and efficiently to prepare and bake our pizzas, asking us which type of pizza we’d be having, and which sauce and toppings I wanted since I’d chosen to BYOP (build your own pie). Blaze is not unlike Chipotle in several ways, from queue formation to food preparation. We waited mere minutes for our perfectly cooked pizzas to be ready. We also ordered side salads; I ordered the fresh mozzarella salad with arugula, basil, tomatoes, and a balsamic dressing on the side. It was delicious and only $ 3.85. My husband ordered the Caeser salad, which he said he’d pass on next time because his pie was enough on its own.
Only a week in and Blaze seems to be working like a well oiled machine. We got in, we got out, and we feasted. I am looking forward to going back very soon!

I stopped in for lunch with Zena, Goddess of Fire, and she ordered a veggie and I ordered a meat eater from their signature menu, so that we could get a taste of both. The service model is that you go through a line that is a lot like Chipotle, where you speak with several different staff members behind the counter regarding what you’d like to be on the pizza. One huge problem with this model is that the restaurant acoustics around the ordering area are horrible and everyone must almost scream to be heard. in a model like that, where we have intense interaction with staff, we want quiet.
The style of pizza happens to be a thin-​crispy and I thought mine was well executed. Toppings can be custom crafted by advising the staff about your preferences. I’d like to see a better offering of drinks that include more items that are not in the sugar water category, but it’s a chain. Yawn.
We went at lunch time and were through the line in just a few minutes with a lovely pizza! Speed is definitely a specialty and the thin crust allows this to come off very well. A few times through the line will perfect your ordering so that you can develop a pizza perfectly suited to your taste.
But all that aside, it’s a nice place to share a pizza or take half your pizza home. The staff is attentive and polite, and the restaurant has an interesting post modern ambience.

Surprisingly decent pizza, but chincy and not very friendly staff.
I went here on a Friday night around 6pm and there was only a small line. The seating area seemed a bit dim and gloomy but I was looking for takeout anyway. I was bothered that their menu board only faced in one direction, not towards the line that is waiting to order, but towards the people that already put their order in. I was awkwardly leaning over someone else to look at the board as I got towards the front of the line. I’ve never been so ill prepared to order. They have pre-​stretched doughs waiting to be dressed up next to the person that takes your general order. Also, when you walk in, there’s a window where two workers were eagerly making the doughs. It is definitely an interesting process.
Having been to Italy, I have quite high standards for fast fired pizza. This pizza was between mediocre and above average. I can’t quite bring myself to say this is great pizza, but it’s decent. It satisfied my pizza cravings. I ended up ordering a build-​your-​own for $ 7.95 (it was about an 11″ pizza). I began with asking for the spicy sauce, which had a nice kick and whole pieces of roasted garlic. Next, I asked for traditional mozzarella and parmesan. The woman took a serving spoon, measured out the cheese and put it on my pizza. She ended up doing this twice, but the result was giant gaps of cheese-​less pizza around the edges. I asked for some more cheese and she just took a small handful and addressed the outer edges a little better. It wasn’t perfect, but I didn’t want to bother to ask for more. She then past the pizza to the guy next to her. This whole process was sort of awkward and impersonal. The people seemed rushed and less than joyful to be there. The first topping I asked for was pepperoni. The guy picked up a small handful of pepperoni and placed 7 regular sized slices of pepperoni on my pizza…“Um, can I have more pepperoni on that?”. The worker wordlessly grabbed some more pepperoni and placed it a bit more generously on my pizza. It was like pulling teeth trying to get ingredients on my pizza! There are three stations total, but there was no rhyme or reason to them. The first station had most of the meat, but some other items too like spinach. When I asked for spinach, he said they put it on at the end…“oh, okay”. Then why was it at the first station? Moving on to the next person I began ordering my veggies: mushrooms, jalapenos, green peppers, roasted red pepper, cherry tomatoes. I liked their variety of vegetables, they even had zucchini if I wanted it. Finally, the last station I asked for spinach and pesto. She actually put a decent amount of spinach on my pizza! But apparently the pesto goes on after the pizza is baked. The overall set up was strange to me because even though they pass the pizza down the line, some of the stations have some of the same ingredients. It wasn’t organized very well in my opinion.
I ended up paying for my pizza and waiting three minutes while it cooked. I watched as the oven guy constantly moved the pizza around to get them cooked evenly and the server worker scrape the edges of the pizza with a pizza cutter upon being taken out of the oven. It was an interesting process. I’m sure they got the process down quite well the day they were giving free ones away. Before he packaged my pizza up, I went up to ask him for pesto. He seemed a little put off for disrupting his rhythm. They were all working at such a fast pace.
As for the actual pizza, it wasn’t bad. The crust was super thin and borderline like cardboard, but when I got to the edges the crust actually had a good flavor; a nice balance of buttery and salty with a crispness. One side of my crust though was a little burnt, which was disappointing. But the flavors and toppings I asked for blended well and there was enough cheese on it to my satisfaction.
Overall, it is a bit unorganized and the employees have obviously been told how much of an ingredient to put on a pizza, but I was actually fond of the pizza overall. I can’t decide if $ 7.95 for an 11″ pizza is a good deal or not though. On the one hand, you don’t get a lot of toppings, but, on the other hand, you can get as many toppings as you want with a build-​your-​own. You just have to ask, «Can you put on more of that?». I’m not sure if I’ll come back here or not. I much prefer Little Anthony’s pizza or my own, but I’m sure if some friends wanted to hit this place up, I would not be opposed.

Dear Blaze: Zena, Goddess of Fire, loves you.
After a busy week at work it was time to Veg Out. This is one of their «signature pizzas» ($ 7.95) — mozz on the bottom topped with small, small amounts of gorgonzola, mushroom, zucchini, and red onion — I asked for a bit of green pepper, too — topped with a few dollops of red sauce. This 10″ pie didn’t look like much. Skimpy, even.
Until it met Blaze. That hot, hot oven cooked it up crisp, with a slight char on the bottom, everything got all nice and melty. If there was too much stuff I don’t think the final effect would have been nearly as good.
And that 10″ pie could easily have fed two for a pretty good price, I think. I ate ⁴⁄₆ slices and for me, almost heroic.
FF did a 180 on me and ordered the Meat Eater — pepperoni, meatballs, red onion, mozz, red sauce on the bottom (also $ 7.95). Traditional, not too spicy, rich and pretty tasty. We both agreed that the crispy finish to the crust made these pizzas just that much better.
The space is large, and cold, and noisy — so much so that it was even hard to hear the servers on the assembly line. But it’s clean, and bright, and they had the front room staffed to keep things tidy. Everyone was very nice and the line moved quickly. The tables are bare — if you want shakes of garlic salt or oregano or red pepper flakes these are on the sideboards. The only paper napkin dispenser is in the back back corner near the fountain drinks and forks and where folks were waiting for their order — very inconvenient. But they are reading Unilocal,I assume, so please put napkin holders on the tables. Thanks.
Zena, Goddess of Fire
*** The blood orange lemonade had enough sugar in it to keep me kicking butt for the rest of the day.

180 seconds until you can get your hands on a fresh, made to order, hot and aromatic fast fired pizza. I have never ordered a personalized thin crust pizza made on an assembly line before, but seeing the dough roll out on the table and being machine pressed into a perfectly round disc, then sauced and topped off with your favorite cheese (s), meat (s), + vegetable (s) is pretty cool.
Aside from their Signature Pizzas, you can build your own with all the toppings your heart desires under one price (~$ 8) or stick with the Simple Pie ($ 5) or a one topping pizza (~$ 7). Choose from basic red sauce, spicy red (ooh!), or white sauce, cheeses (mozzarella, ricotta, gorgonzola, parmesan, etc) and throw in something like pepperoni, sausage, smoked ham, bacon, turkey meatballs, olives, onions, jalapeño, bell peppers, pineapple, chopped garlic, basil, arugula, pesto, olive oil, and more. They even have gluten free pizza crusts and vegan cheese!
Overall I’m pretty happy and satisfied with the creations I ordered. A pie is good enough for two or just one if you please. Great addition to Stuyvesant Plaza and I’m sure I’ll be back to try more and sit down in the spacious dining area and maybe even grab a salad and a smores pie!

First time here and won’t be my last. Simply put this is the «chipotle» of the Pizza world. Very smart and we’ll run, at a very reasonable price.
Blaze has 8 signature pizza’s ($ 7.95), 1 topping pizza ($ 6.35), a simple pie ($ 5.00) and a build you own option (7.95). On my first experience I went with a build you own pizza. Where you go down the line, similar to chipotle, choosing from sauce, cheeses, meat, veggies and finishes. The experience is very personal since they label your order with your name and are greeted by each employee that handles your pizza or rings you out. In total it took less than 5 min once the pizza was put in the oven.
The pizza is a thin crispy crust creation of your own that is simple yet delicious. Would recommend trying it out it your in the area. A simple, cost effective, customizable pizza option that’s tasty.

BYOP! Welcome to the future… build your own pizza. Yes, we have another Blaze in the Capital Region. If you haven’ been yet… I don’t know what you’re waiting for. It was quickly replaced our other regular pizza joints as our GO TO for pizza!
This Stuyvesant Plaza location boasts a much larger seating area, garage style front widow for indoor-​outdoor seating (in better weather of course), and an open pantry where you can see where the magic happens.
Staff are incredibly friendly and helpful. You pick you pizza toppings, however many you want for one flat rate. They bake it in their pizza oven and in a few minutes you’ll be devouring some delicious thin crust pizza.
Plenty of seating inside, sort of hip vibe but very family friendly for those with picky eaters. Prices are reasonable. Great location, stop in, you will be hooked too!

A definite welcome addition to Stuyvesant Plaza! I attended this afternoon for their grand opening and to take advantage of the free build your own pizza they offered. I went in around 12:30, and was surprised to not see a line out the door or a packed dining room. But, I don’t think people really knew they were opening this location, unless you work in the plaza or nearby.
I was greeted by a pleasant young man, who handed me a menu, and asked if I ‘liked’ the Blaze Pizza facebook page, which I happened to do the night before. Liking the page is the stipulation for getting a free pizza. He stamped my hand, and I waited in line for maybe 15 minutes until I got to the assembly line to order.
The person initially taking your order starts an order sheet for you, which happens to be a liner for the take home box as well. They have several pre selected pizza options for you to choose from, but I opted for the build your own pizza to take advantage of the plentiful toppings.
Everyone on the «assembly line» was overly friendly. I made a pizza consisting of regular sauce, shredded mozzarella, and ovalini mozz, parmesan, sausage, bacon, pepperoni, chopped garlic, and fresh basil. The cooking time was maybe another 5 – 8 minutes after my last topping was ordered.
Once I got to the end of the line, I noticed that the restaurant was quickly filling up, and I was relieved I came when I did. But, the staff handled themselves great, and the process was surprisingly painless considering it was a grand opening, with a nice giveaway. My pizza would have cost just under $ 9.00 regularly, but I paid $ 0.00 :)
The pizza itself was delicious, the toppings were plentiful, and flavorful. The crust was nice and crispy. My only gripe is that there were several large chunks of garlic throughout my pizza, but I’ll chalk that up to them being busy, and will most definitely be back again so that they can redeem themselves!
Overall, I think this is a great addition, and they will thrive just like Chipotle does. While it’s not gourmet by any means, it provides a great value and unique pizza experience. I see myself frequenting this location often considering I work less than a mile down the road!