A couple of weeks back I posted about Blaze Pizza coming to Kuwait and the Middle East. I had never had Blaze Pizza nor even heard of them up until a few days before that announcement, so I was curious to try it out. Since I’m currently in L.A., I ended up stopping by Blaze Pizza yesterday and figured I’d let you know what to expect.
What makes Blaze different from other pizza places is that it was modeled after the Chipotle concept with a made-to-order approach. As a customer you create your own pizza which they then cook in a high-temperature open-flame oven in 3 minutes. They have a few signature pizzas on the menu if you don’t feel like creating, but all the fun is in the creation.
To start with you get a choice of three doughs to choose from, the original, the high-rise (thicker) and the gluten free. You then get to choose your sauce, they had four kinds, regular tomato sauce, spicy tomato sauce, a white cream sauce and a garlic pesto sauce. After that you get to choose the kind of cheese you want followed by all your toppings. The process is pretty quick and familiar if you’ve ever been to a Subway or a Chipotle. Baking the pizza takes just 3 minutes unless you order the gluten free dough which takes 6. So by the time you are done paying and find a table to sit down at, your pizza would be ready.
If you manage your expectations beforehand, the pizza isn’t too bad. My friend ordered the gluten free dough and I thought that was a better option compared to my original one since it was thinner and crispier, but overall I didn’t like my pizza and only ended up eating half of it. Blaze Pizza isn’t going to taste better than Solo PN or even try to compete with it or similar real pizza joints, instead it’s going to compete with the likes of Pizza Hut and Papa John’s. I’m not so sure how it will end up doing in Kuwait, but more options is usually always a good thing.
25 replies on “First Try: Blaze Pizza”
Extremely average pizza when tried it years back.
Will be a flop in Kuwait.
Alshaya’s lost the plot recently. Desperate to get anything to stick.
yeah i kinda feel it will end up like potbelly, don’t think anybody would care for it
What wrong with potbelly ?
And yet another failure in Alshaya’s cap…
How is it a failure if they haven’t even opened yet!
Maybe it would compete with fatayer places. There are few fatayer places that actually makes really good pizzas. If Blaze Pizza can serve that space better and faster, then I’m all in.
@Mark Wait and watch…
That’s your argument? Wait and watch?
I’m not arguing here. Just a very strong feeling that it won’t last long…
That’s your argument? very strong feeling?
I’ll have the Coronas!
Wish we had good pizza in Kuwait…even solo is average by pizza standards but because there is nothing else better people think its good, its sad really.
Tell me about it! I didn’t realize how hard it is to find good pizza until I moved to Kuwait. Seriously, we are super spoiled in other countries…
It’s hard for me to imagine a pizza better than some of my favorites at Solo (and I’ve had pizza whenever I travel). If you have any specific recommendations, please share because I love trying out pizza in different countries.
Blaze it ayyy
could you post a list of must sees/dos/eats in LA? im heading there next week
Hmmm yeah I can, I’ll do that this week
I don’t get it.
Alshaya suddenly thought Pizza is the most important thing in the world, they announced an agreement with Blaze Pizza AND 400 Gradi in one week!
Recently, they have shutdown the only PizzaExpress in Jeddah, to open Asha’s instead. and i heard they will close the only PizzaExpress they have in Bahrain too!
I think they should expand PizzaExpress within Saudi Arabia and Bahrain first to better locations, like Kuwait. They will more successful!
It sucks when you own a franchise in all GCC except, UAE.
That’s because nobody cares about pizza express, it’s an old brand and they are better off dropping it for something newer and more wanted
It’s very easy for you to say this but last time i checked , Kuwait has 11 PizzaExpress branches, and last time i was in Kuwait, i passed by 3 branches, all of them were full i couldn’t get in.
It’s a very successful worldwide, but i assume since the owners purchased the PizzaExpress branches in the UAE last year, they are not going to renew with franchise agreement with Alshaya, and want to own all the MENA branches too.
I hope it’s not true, though.
Pass by the other 8 branches…
Well if it weren’t going to flop for being average, then it certainly won’t get your readers excited to go and try it out.
How are you xtina?
good, hope all’s well with you..
Hopefully they bring the gluten free options here. I have noticed that many restaurants will franchise to Kuwait but won’t incorporate their gluten free menu here. I am sure it’s not as in demand in the Middle East as it is in the US but it would be so nice.