Review of Blaze Pizza

If you are highly sensitive to gluten I would recommend avoiding this location. When you order, you are asked if you are ordering gluten-free due to an allergy or due to lifestyle. Unfortunately, this gives the impression that if you have an allergy they can accommodate. But after alerting employees to my son’s allergy (celiac), and after watching the entire process they used for making the pizza, I had to ask for a refund.

There are multiple points for potential cross contamination. First, in making the crust, they use the same press for the dough that is used for the wheat dough crust. Initially the employee used a damp paper towel to wipe off the bottom half of the press, as if a little “wipe” down would suffice. When I asked about the top half of press I received a blank stare, then the realization that there were two points of contact set in and they started wiping off the top.

The second point of cross contamination is in the toppings. They did have a segregated reservoir of sauce just for GF pizzas, but I had to stop them from accidentally using the regular sauce. The rest of the toppings were used commonly across all pizzas. Ahead of us I watched an employee make a regular pizza, lightly dipping their fingertips into the sauce she had already smeared on the pizza as she spread cheese around. She then reached in to grab more cheese, visibly leaving sauce on the remaining cheese. The employee making my son’s pizza then grabbed the cheese with the sauce on it. I had to ask that they grab some different cheese to avoid the potential contamination. I could not tell how safe the other toppings might have been.

The third point of potential contamination is in the pizza oven. They placed the pizza on a special mat and cooked it along with the other pizzas. But with all the turning and sliding around the base of the oven, there is a lot of room for error. Finally, when they tried to remove my son’s pizza from the oven, it partially slid off the mat, sliding along the oven surface. When I pointed it out, the employee shrugged and started to plate it for cutting. That’s when I asked for the refund.

The fourth and last point of potential contamination that never got a chance to come into play, is from the cutting wheel. They do have dedicated GF wheels, but I watched as an employee set it on a contaminated surface. When I pointed it out, they said, “oh,” picked it up, and placed it back in the GF cutting bin that was off to the side. Grrrrr.

I’m sure the proprietor has the best intentions offering gluten free options, but execution is poor and I advise anyone with an allergy to keep a close eye on what is going on.

This lack of quality control is really a shame, because I am not GF and the standard pizza I ordered was fantastic. I ended up taking my son to another establishment, however.

Celiac friendly?

No