Blaze Pizza lights up fast-casual dining scene with first Nevada location

If you’re looking for a traditional meal with a twist, Blaze Pizza is just the place.

Like a mini assembly line, the pizza joint assigns an employee to nearly every step of the pizza-making process, from dough rolling to pie cutting. Operating similar to a Chipotle or a Subway, customers baby their 11-inch personal pie down the ingredients line before a pizzasmith slides it into an open-flame oven. Perfection is ready in about 180 seconds.

Although the employees were polite and cheerful, their conversations with customers from behind the counter seemed a little prescripted and forced. But in the end, I came for my pizza (not small talk) and was soon too busy enjoying the cheesy, saucy goodness to worry about conversing with others.

Blaze Pizza allows you to get as simple or as wild as you want with its wide selection of artisanal signature pizzas. From the BBQ Chicken (featuring grilled chicken, red onion and banana peppers atop a bed of melted mozzarella and Gorgonzola cheeses and drizzled with barbecue sauce) to the Simple Pie with red sauce and melted mozzarella and Parmesan, there’s something for everyone.

Customers also can get creative customizing their own pie by selecting from among seven types of meat, 16 veggies, seven cheeses and six sauces. Gluten-free and vegan options also are available. Most pies are less than $8.

If you’re in the mood for a healthier option, Blaze Pizza offers a handful of salads, including the antipasto entree salad, served with grilled chicken, applewood bacon, artichokes, roasted red pepper, red onion and shredded mozzarella over a bed of romaine and topped with Italian vinaigrette.

The restaurant’s pizzas and salads are filling, but it pays to leave room for dessert. Customers can order a warmed S’mores Pie (marshmallow and chocolate between two graham cookies) for $2, ending the experience on an incredibly sweet note.

Backed by the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James, Blaze Pizza opened its Henderson location (its first in Nevada) in May. While inside dining can fill up quickly, the restaurant also offers shaded seating on its patio.

Despite being set up like a quick-serve restaurant, there’s always at least one employee wandering the dining area, asking customers about their meal and answering any questions. All sodas and lemonades are self-served, and to-go boxes are conveniently placed so customers can grab them without bothering the staff.

Blaze Pizza Henderson is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. A North Las Vegas location is planned to open soon.