“You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.”

– Yogi Berra

Pizza is a classic comfort food for many Americans and the latest trend for pizza pies is casual “create your own” pizzerias. In San Diego, where I live, there are several different build your own “artisan” pizza places – each with their own unique spin. I thought it would be fun to try several of these create your own pizza places and see where they had similarities and how they were different.

Since there are several of these artisan pizzerias popping up, my criteria for which ones my husband and I tried in San Diego were simple – locations in San Diego and beyond (in California and other states) and places which prepared and served “create your own” pizzas. Also, I limited our list to 5 places because the word pizza has 5 letters.

When I first mentioned the topic for this post to my husband, he was all for it. After all, pizza is one of his favorite foods! He always orders a cheese pizza and for this post I ordered a veggie pizza with some pepperoni at all 5 places. At all of the places we also had pizzas on the traditional crust. We started our research in late January 2016 and finished up about a month later, so now it’s time to summarize and compare these pizza places.

PIZZA STUDIO

The first “create your own” place we tried was Pizza Studio. A new location recently opened in the Point Loma / Sports Arena area of San Diego. The décor is minimalist with brick walls, wood tile floor, and a “starving artist” wall featuring local artwork. The seating is wood and metal tables and chairs, some padded cushion benches, low tables, high tables and a community table. This location also has a small section of outdoor seating. Pizza Studio offers pizzas which are considered “Studio Masterpieces” and create your own unlimited toppings pizzas. The starting price for one-cheese pizza is $7.99 each. The other pizzas are $8.99 each. Pizza Studio also has a side Caesar salad and fresh baked cookies on the menu. Beverage offerings include Pepsi products, fresh lemonade, and fresh strawberry lemonade.

Pizza Studio offers 5 types of crust, including a gluten free option at an additional cost, and the pizza dough is shaped/flattened and ready to go. The dough for the crusts uses unbleached flour and yeast with no dairy products. The tomato blend sauce is made from 100% Northern California vine-ripened tomatoes. Other unique features of Pizza Studio are daily roasted veggies, premium quality meats (hormone free), and no artificial ingredients. Pizza Studio has an oven with a conveyer belt and pizzas cook in 2 minutes. Our impression of Pizza Studio was that the crust had good texture and flavor. We also thought the tomato sauce was flavorful. I had a pink sauce on my pizza (tomato + Alfredo) and tried roasted broccoli on my pizza – it was quite tasty.

Pizza Studio currently has locations in California, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Washington D.C., Minnesota, New York, Utah, Washington, and additional locations coming soon. Pizza Studio also has a loyalty program and supports the “Feeding America” charity. Check the official Pizza Studio website to see if there is a location near you.

** UPDATE (3/30/2016): The Point Loma location of Pizza Studio has closed. Apparently this new location wasn’t producing the expected sales which lead to its closure. There is still a San Diego location in the Gaslamp District on Broadway.

BLAZE PIZZA

The second “create your own” place we tried was Blaze Pizza. We visited the location in the Clairemont/Kearny Mesa area of San Diego. The décor is simple and modern with a deep orange accent wall and another large photo mural in brown tones on a second wall. The lighting is subdued and inviting. The location we visited has a spacious dining area inside with seating that includes high tables, low tables, and some booths. There is also an outdoor patio area with heaters and a low fence. Blaze Pizza offers a “Simple Pie” (cheese), 8 types of “Signature Pizzas” and “Build Your Own” pizzas. The starting price for the cheese pizza is $6.25. The other pizzas are $7.95 each. In addition, Blaze Pizza offers 6 types of salads and S’more pie for dessert. Beverage offerings include Coca-Cola products, fresh lemonade, fresh blood orange lemonade, fresh brewed iced tea, and bottled drinks. Beer and wine is available at some locations.

Blaze Pizza offers traditional or gluten free crust. The house-made pizza dough is prepared from scratch daily with a 24-hour fermentation period. There is a lipped edge on the crust and the dough is pre-shaped/flattened and ready to go. Blaze Pizza features a light-as-air, crisp crust and healthful, artisanal ingredients. The oven is an open flame/wood fire type. Blazing hot oven + 180 seconds = “fast-fire’d” perfection. A unique feature of Blaze Pizza was the S’more Pie – especially if you like S’mores. Our impression of Blaze Pizza was that the signature crisp crust was delicious as were all the fresh toppings. Blaze Pizza offers a pink sauce, which I had, and it was yummy. The blood orange lemonade was very unique and refreshing. I also ordered one of the S’more pies which is served hot. It’s worth visiting Blaze Pizza just for the dessert!

Blaze Pizza currently has locations in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Indiana, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Calgary (Canada), and additional locations coming soon. Check the official Blaze Pizza website to see if there is a location near you.

** UPDATE (3/30/2016): Blaze Pizza now has a phone app for its rewards program and other cool features.

PIEOLOGY PIZZERIA

The third “create your own” place we tried was Pieology Pizzeria. We visited the location in the Point Loma / Sports Arena area of San Diego. The décor is minimalist with a smooth concrete floor and an accent wall with quotes in speech bubble shapes. The seating table secured to the floor and metal chairs, a high table with stools along the windows, and a community table. This location also has outdoor dining.

Pieology offers an “Easy Cheesy” pie, “Pieologist’s Favorite Pies”, and Custom Pies. The starting price for the cheese pizza is $6.95. The other pizzas are $8.45 each. Pieology also offers a side salad, garden fresh signature salads, and custom built salads. A unique feature about Pieology is the savory herb butter strips and sweet cinnamon sugar strips on the menu. Beverage offerings include Coca-Cola products and several flavors of Gold Peak Tea. Beer and wine is available at some locations.

Pieology offers three types of crust, including gluten free crust at an additional cost. The house-made crust is pressed while you watch. The oven is an open flame type. A unique feature of Pieology is the variety of sauces they offer, including Fiery Buffalo and Pesto. The pizza I ordered had the pink sauce. Our impression of Pieology Pizzeria was the crust and sauce were good and the toppings were fresh.

Pieology Pizzeria currently has locations in California and Oregon. Check the official Pieology website to see if there is a location near you.

PIZZA REV

The fourth “create your own” place we tried was Pizza Rev. We visited the location in the Carmel Valley area of San Diego. The décor is simple and functional with smooth concrete floors and laminate tables that look like chip board. The seating includes booths, tables with black wood “Stockholm” modern chairs, and high tables. This location does not have patio seating, but there is some common outdoor dining area nearby. Pizza Rev offers a one-cheese pizza, “Our Way” pizzas (8 types), and Craft Your Own pizzas. The starting price for a one-cheese pizza is $5.99. The other pizzas are $8.25 each. Pizza Rev also offers side salads, Craft Your Own Entrée Salads, and a Kids Meal (for children 9 and under). Pizza Rev also offers desserts, including a dessert pizza and cookies. Some unique features of Pizza Rev are their combos and special offers like a “Perfect Pair” deal offered daily (selected hours), a “Monday Meal Deal” (after 2 p.m.), and Free Kids Meal on Tuesdays (with purchase of a CYO Pizza). Beverage offerings include Coca-Cola products and fresh-brewed iced tea. Beer and wine is available at some locations, including Carmel Valley.

Pizza Rev offers two types of crust, including gluten free at an additional cost. The homemade dough is pre-shaped/flattened and ready to go. The pizzas are cooked in an open-flame stone-bed oven that reaches 900-degrees. Pizza Rev has 4 types of sauce and 6 types of cheese, including a reduced-fat Italian and vegan cheese. The pizza I ordered had the pink sauce. The take home menu says Pizza Rev offers flavorful sauces. However, the sauce didn’t seem to have any notable flavor, almost to the point of being bland. Our overall impression of Pizza Rev’s pizzas on the day we visited was not anything to write home about.

Pizza Rev currently has locations in California, Colorado, Minnesota, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and additional locations coming soon. Check the official Pizza Rev website to see if there is a location near you.

PROJECT PIE

The fifth, and final, “create your own” pizza place we tried was Project Pie. We visited the location in the Hillcrest area of San Diego. The décor is fun and functional with an accent “graffiti” wall with quotes, retro-style lighting, black faux wood floor laid on the diagonal, and roll-up windows next to the bar height table overlooking the street. The other seating includes low tables with metal chairs and high round tables with stools. This location does not have outdoor seating, but when the garage-style roll-up windows are up, it feels like you’re eating outside. Project Pie offers a classic cheese pie for $7.00 and the build-your-own pizzas are $8.50 each. Project Pie also offers small and large salads, including build-your-own salads, and parmesan twists with red sauce. For dessert, Project Pie has two options – a Nutella & banana pizza and cinnamon sugar twists with Nutella and icing. A combination of a smaller pizza and a smaller salad, known as “That Thing”, is offered at $10.50. Beverage offerings are Boylan Fountain Sparkling Beverages which has been family operated since 1891 and are evenly sweetened with pure cane sugar and natural extracts.

Project Pie offers traditional crust and possibly gluten-free crust and red sauce. A “white pizza” means no red sauce. Also, olive oil is added to the dough before the red sauce. One of the pizzas on the menu is a BBQ chicken pizza with BBQ sauce. Project Pie’s tagline is “everything that should be made fresh daily…we make daily” and the dough is pressed/flattened as you watch. The pizzas are cooked in a fire oven which is labeled “Really, Really Hot” just in case you weren’t sure. One of the unique features at Project Pie is their encouragement to share you pizza creations on social media. They have a social media share photo spot with reminders to “Like us, Tweet us, Instagram us, Yelp us, Pinterest us…” Also, Project Pie participates in the Five Stars app loyalty program.

Project Pie currently has locations in California, Nevada, Texas, Indiana, Michigan, and international locations. Check the official Project Pie website to see if there is a location near you.

– – – – –

So after we visited the five “create-your-own” pizza places, we looked over my notes and ranked the places from our “Most Favorite” to “Least Favorite”. Now for the moment of truth…here is how the places ranked for us:

#5 (Least Favorite) = Pizza Rev

#4 = Project Pie

#3 = Pieology

#2 = Pizza Studio

#1 (Most Favorite) = Blaze Pizza

There are several of these types of artisan pizza places popping up around the U.S. When you have a chance to visit these, you may have a different opinion of which one is your favorite. Another create-your-own pizza place we really like, but wasn’t included in this comparison, is Pizza Press. The reason Pizza Press didn’t make this list is because they only have locations in Orange County, California at the present time, including a small location across the street from the Disneyland Resort on Harbor Boulevard. You can read about Pizza Press in a previous blog post here. One of the things we like about Pizza Press is the unique décor (with photos of historic newspaper presses and newsboys) and the Junior Editor meal (which includes a smaller pizza, a chocolate chip cookie, and a small drink).

Many of these places have either loyalty programs or email lists for special offers and coupons. The average size of these pizzas is nearly 12” and it’s the perfect size for sharing. In honor of Pi Day (on March 14^th), some of them, including Pizza Studio and Pieology, will have special offers. Pizza Studio’s special is a pizza for $3.14 and Pieology’s special is 3 pizzas for $14. Even without specials, the cost of the create-your-own pizzas are reasonable and budget-friendly.

Disgust in the Pixar movie “Inside Out” doesn’t care for broccoli on pizza, but it was amazing when I tried it as a topping at Pizza Studio. What are your favorite toppings on pizza? Which of these create-your-own places is your favorite?

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