Pizza Studio

With so much of these make-​your-​own pizza places popping up everywhere, it’s hard to stand out. I might be a little biased towards Pizza Studio, since it was the first one of these types of restaurants I tried when they opened their first location down in LA near my school a couple years ago, and it was my go-​to spot when I was tired of eating at the dining halls. But every time I have it, it hits the spot. There’s something about Pizza Studio that’s more satisfying for me than other DIY pizza joints…
The ingredients at Pizza Studio are more simple than at some of those other places, but everything always looks fresh and clean. Also, this was the first time I saw potatoes at one of these places, which was kind of weird but pleasant at the same time hahah.
Nothing to complain about here! Staff is friendly, food is good. Not much more I can ask for. And be sure to enroll in their rewards program!

3.5 stars. $ 8.99 per pizza. Unlimited toppings.
This ranks as one of the lower create-​your-​own-​pizza places on my list. Top reasons: bland tomato sauce, not as many ingredient options, lackluster whole grain and flax seed crust, and no ricotta.
They do have more crust options that other places: traditional, whole grain and flax seed, rosemary herb, firecracker (spicy), and GF. The crust is done super thin, and I feel like the pizza is generally smaller. I was pretty easily able to finish a whole pie. They aren’t as good with lining up all the ingredients to the edge of the crust, so you have a bigger crust at the end, which is not my preference.
Standard sauces, but I found the tomato blend to be extremely plain and like a canned sauce. They do offer finishing touches like truffle salt, Old Bay, garlic powder, Jamaican jerk, etc, so that might help.
My biggest complaint is the small selection of cheeses– there is only mozzarella, feta, and goat. Other places offer ricotta, parmesan, gorgonzola, etc in addition to these.
Veggies and meats are pretty standard.

This is one of those places where you make your own personal sized pizza. It is very similar to Blaze Pizza or Pieology where you can customize your pizza with unlimited toppings. The difference here is that the pizza is baked through one of those conveyer belt ovens instead of a brick oven. I much prefer the brick oven over this conveyer belt oven.
Here are my rankings of these make your own personal pizza places.
1. Blaze Pizza — best pizza due to their brick oven; bread and crust are superior here; and they also have buffalo mozzarella
2. Pieology — they also have a brick oven but no buffalo mozzarella
3. Pizza Studio — fairly decent pizza but least amount of choice of toppings and cheese as compared to the other two places

In my humble pizza-​eating opinion, Pizza Studio is the best of the DIY pizza franchises. I’ve been to the three of them upwards of 15−20x — Pizza Studio the most — and I always wish I was here instead of Mod or Pieology (I need to do a better job convincing my friends when they decide where to go :)).
What makes Pizza Studio better? The taste. My absolute favorite part is the whole grain and flax seed crust. You. Cannot. Go. Wrong. It is like one giant Mary’s Gone Crackers cracker, but pizza crust. In plain English, it tastes like heaven.
I take the word «Unlimited» very seriously, so I always make a skyscraper out of my pizzas. Ham, chicken, multiple cheeses, all the veggies in the land (mushrooms, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers), pineapple, and, of course, a liberal sprinkling of roasted pepper flakes. It truly is edible heaven. The takeaway boxes are perfectly-​sized for half a pizza, and the leftovers taste great cold or reheated.
Customer service is not just on-​point but way beyond. I never have trouble placing my order (can’t say the same for the other chains), and I even got a free birthday pizza through the loyalty system. Amazing!
My only wish is that Pizza Studio had more locations South of PA (i.e. Mountain View area and beyond). Until then, I’ll be living at … er, coming to. this location.

Apparently I’ve been living under a rock, because last month was my first time eating at one of these custom, fast-​fired pizza establishments that have been popping up everywhere.
Thank you Pizza Studio for taking that cherry. It was actually unplanned, as my original meal choice next door was closed. A nice surprise though.
Since my first encounter, I’ve revisited Pizza Studio and tried the new Pieology nearby. Comparatively, Pizza Studio is the obvious winner for me.
A good pizza needs a good crust, and Pizza Studio delivers with their crispy thin crust. I can’t comment on the gluten-​free option, but the original and rosemary crusts had a nice balance of surface crunch and inside chew.
The sauce/​cheese ratio was satisfying. I prefer more sauce, so the toppings being on the verge of sliding off was okay by me.
Both the veggie and meat toppings were generous and flavorful. And they have a fun selection of spices such as Jamaican Jerk and Old Bay to finish things off.
Service was fine — they weren’t as over-​the-​top cheerful as Pieology, but they were pleasant. The wait time in line was slow, but the pizzas themselves came out within 10 minutes.
Other Notes:
–They have side salads which you can add the pizza toppings to. They come in pre-​portioned tiny containers though, so it’s not quite a full meal alternative.
–Sign up for their rewards program and get a free pizza on your birthday.
–Indoor and outdoor seating.

I’m a huge pizza lover! Came here for lunch last week and I was not disappointed. It’s like Subway meets Pizza Hut. I’m boring so I got a pepperoni pizza with a white macadamia nut cookie and it was delicious.
The cool thing is, like subway you can watch them prepare your pizza and you can choose from a variety of toppings. My 11 inch pie was only 6.99 but the crust was pretty thin. I’m small and I devoured it all by myself.
I’ll definitely be revisiting.

Very cool concept for a Pizza spot. It’s like a Subway for pizza!
They give you a Personal Pan pizza and you go down and choose your crust, toppings and sauce to create your own masterpiece. It’s fairly cheap too — under $ 10 for an unlimited topping pizza.

Found ourselves wanting pizza in Palo Alto again. Again opted for Pizza Studio on California since we had a good experience last time. Again, the pizzas were great, the servers really nice so what was the problem?
The make-​to-​order concept is really labor intensive since each pizza is made to the customer’s specifications. At 6pm on a Sunday, they only had one person making pizzas, another taking them out and serving and the manager doing who knows what. With only one person making pizzas it was agonizingly slow. Probably took 20 minutes for them to make the 10 pizzas in front of us. Last time it was slow, this time tooooo slow. The poor young lady making pizzas was working as fast as she could and was as pleasant as could be, but needed some help. Maybe another person to help make pizzas?
Another customer was very irritated in that they ordered their pizzas online for pickup. Apparently they arrived at the appointed time only to find the pizzas weren’t even started yet. Understandably they were very upset.
The manager was very nice but seemed over her head. She was busy cleaning, trying to pacify the irate customer and telling her employees, who actually seemed to know what to do, what to do. I hope they can get their process improved as it’s sinking their concept. Also, their competitor is opening a couple of blocks away soon.
We love the various selections at Pizza Studio, the employees are real nice, but they need to speed up the pizza making ASAP.

This place was perfect for our picky-​pizza-​eating family of four. One only eats cheese or pepperoni, another eats absolutely no cheese, the man needs all the meats plus some jalapeños and olives, and I’m game for any combo of meats and veggies (love jalapeños, just not on my pizza).
Been here a couple times, and having tried Pieology in Foster City, our family unanimously agreed that Pizza Studio is MUCH better! The crust, sauce, ingredients, and service were better by far!
The only thing I liked better about the other place is that they have ricotta cheese as a topping. Add that, Pizza Studio, and I’ll be happy to change this review to 5 stars.

Yum. Just like pieology but this one tastes better. Their wheat and flax seed chat is quite delicious and I topped this puppy off with meatballs and spicy meat and pineapples. All for under $ 10

This was my first «DIY» pizza experience, and I’m definitely a fan! The pizza itself was really good. They have some really good options for pizza crust. The whole grain/​flax seed one is super delicious.
My one grievance is that the menu is pretty difficult to de-​code if you haven’t been there before. Some of the DIY ingredients (like cheese, sauce, and even crust) weren’t labeled. The staff wasn’t super helpful with presenting you with your options, which makes it very tough if you’ve never been there before.
I opted for a pre-​defined ingredients combo (the beast) and they still asked me at least 4 times what I wanted on it which sort of defeated the point. Would love it if they had an actual menu with their ingredients somewhere or if it was labeled better on the glass display.
Aside from that, the food was delicious and reasonably priced. Came out very quickly too.

Shoutout to da Fedex girl for recommending this place! You can ruffle my papers anyday.
Let’s play a game, shall we? Load up as many toppings on yo pizza as possible without destroying the thin crust when you pick it up. Get yo value’s worth. And make sure no one will eat your grotesque combination of toppings except you. Get yo value’s worth.
Because you gon be with this pizza like Lebron is with his ball. He ain’t giving it to no one. The pizzas are fully customizable from the foundations (the crust, the sauce, and the cheese), to the toppings (veggies, roasted veggies, meats, spicings). You can make it as tasty as you’d like or as disgusting as you’d like (tasty to yr unique tastes, of course…)
I got one of their specialty menu items (sausage and peppers, if I remember correctly), with the firecracker crust. All the ingredients blended perfectly well together. I could actualy taste the tomato sauce. The firecracker crust is the gamechanger as it infuses each of yr bites with a light kick of spice. Plus, since I’m Chinese, gotta rep my hometown. Dey ain’t selling no rice here.
Light 4 outta 5

We went to Pizza Studio today for lunch. This place is very similar to Pieology and Blaze. I’m not sure which one started this type of pizza place, but I think Blaze was first.
I had already been to Pieology before so I know the concept. The most important part is the unlimited toppings for one price! That’s right, get as much as you want. The toppings are cut very small so if you really like a topping then you should ask for double or triple.
I got a truck load of toppings and ate my pizza. It was pretty good but not great. Almost all of the toppings (salami, ham, pineapple, mushrooms, and more) were okay/​fine, not great. The broccoli was a little burnt. The pizza was quite greasy. I don’t remember Pieology being greasy but we went there a few months ago.
I’m a big eater, so one pizza did not fill me up. In general, all thin pizzas struggle to fill up big eaters.

i’d been to the pizza studio in mountain view, but hadn’t yet visited the location in palo alto. since pizza studio emailed me a free pizza, to be used during the week of my birthday, i figured why not take this opportunity to visit the palo alto location.
hubby and i came on a saturday around 2pm, so it wasn’t crowded at all. most patrons appeared to be finishing their pizzas and there were only a couple of folks in line in front of us.
we picked the whole wheat & flax seed crust with tomato blend sauce, mozzarella cheese, and almost every vegetable they had available. on one half, we had grilled chicken, for me, and on the other half, we had the chicken sausage, pork sausage, ham, pepperoni, and jalapeño peppers, for hubby.
we supplemented the pizzas with two side salads, a caesar salad and chopped salad. the caesar salad was a simple blend of romaine, parmesan cheese, and croutons. the chopped salad had romaine, chickpeas, red bell peppers, red onions, banana peppers, and mozzarella cheese with a side of red wine vinaigrette dressing.
to redeem my free birthday pizza, i just had to give them my email address and they looked it up in their system. very efficient! the balance due was a little over $ 6, since we only had to pay for the side salads.
i enjoyed my chopped salad with the red wine dressing as it was light and refreshing. the pizza came out after a couple of minutes and was piping hot! all of the ingredients that i chose could be sensed by my taste buds and the crust was perfectly thin and yet still a bit chewy.
we were able to enjoy our lunch outside on their sidewalk seating area and people watch at the same time. it was a little breezy that day, so we had to keep watch to ensure that our thin-​crust, as light as it was, didn’t suddenly fly away!
as a whole, the service was good, as there were several staff members assisting us with our order. however, the lady who assisted us with our pizza toppings was helping to train new staff at the same time, so she had to multitask while assisting us with our order and it got just a little bit hectic.
i think this pizza studio will do well and is conveniently located in the business district of palo alto where many pizza lovers will be able to come and enjoy their lunch hour here.

Pros:
Inexpensive
Really good pizza
Easy to customize
Fresh ingredients
Online ordering
Cons:
The one-​size drink cups are small
Can get busy/​crowded
No delivery
This is a pretty decent pizza place!

Absolutely delicious pizza, and perfectly cooked every time.
Pizza Studio is one of the many build-​your-​own pizza spots that have opened up around the Bay recently, and it certainly lives up to the hype. The key difference between this place and its competitors (i.e. Pieology) is that they offer a choice of crust (rosemary herb, firecracker, etc.), and all of their crusts are extra-​thin.
One of the few spots to get affordable, tasty food in Palo Alto, so check it out!

Functionally the same as the Mountain View location, but with a nicer outdoor seating area (shared with the Counter).
So, they ARE fairly new but their opening seems to be going without a hitch. For those who don’t know what Pizza Studio does, it’s build you own pizza a la Chipotle. There are a lot of these places cropping up recently (Take One Pizza, Pieology, etc). Pizza Studio, however, is one of the better ones: the toppings are nicely arranged, they don’t really «skimp» on ingredients (ie, they put less and less as the pizza gets built), the middle part of the pizza isn’t undercooked (like Take One), and the pizza isn’t greasy as all hell (like Pieology). The pepperoni that they use crisps up really nicely too. Kinda non-​sequitur, but it needs to be mentioned: P
My only issue with this place is that, while the baked ingredients are tasty, some don’t necessarily shine through; the pesto is barely noticeable and the arugula topping is pretty wilty and spotted, even when it just comes out (ie, not because it absorbed any oil). Still, it’s a pretty decent pizza if you know what you’re ordering and dont just pile everything on. I’ll be back.
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sweet: tasty, build it yourself pizza. $ 7.99 is pretty good for Palo Alto.
bitter: fresh veggies could be better.

Pizza Studio was my first experience with the whole building your own pizza concept and I have to say that I am happy I found this place. After coming here and trying the Mountain View location I feel as though this particular one has it down and knows what they are doing even if they did just open recently. The menu is very simple, gives you all the toppings, crusts, sauces and everything available to create your pizza as well as a few set pizza options.
You get an 11 inch pizza with as many toppings as you want for $ 7.99, sounds like a good deal to me. The only thing they do charge extra for is Gluten Free crust which is an additional $ 2 but that’s still not bad. If you aren’t up to creating your own pizza they do offer specialty pizzas such as BBQ chicken and The Beast which are under «Studio Masterpieces» for $ 7.99 also for those who want a more subtle pizza like pepperoni or margherita those are in the «Starving Artists Selections» for $ 5.99. Although everything sounded good to me I wanted to create my own pizza and see what I came up with.
Both times here I have ordered/​created the same thing. I usually get the traditional crust with tomato blend sauce, Freshly Grated Mozzarella, pesto, garlic, bacon, spicy pork sausage, nitrate free pepperoni and then top it off with more pesto and garlic powder. It’s a meat lover’s pizza with a twist if you ask me lol. It didn’t take long to cook and the finished product almost looked to good to eat and it smelled AMAZING!!!
They cook the pizza perfectly and the crust has the right amount of crunch and chew to it, not soggy at all. One of the best pizzas I’ve ever had and that’s saying a lot. I would definitely recommend coming here, everything is fresh, affordable and yummy.

Being a huge fan of the San Antonio location, we were thrilled to hear that Pizza Studio opened up down the street. Unfortunately this location is the complete opposite of the sister location one exit away.
Topping selection was less than the SA one. No roasted corn and no roasted broccolini. The roasted zucchini was horrendously mushy. We asked for the arugula and basil topping post bake and they served wilted, yellowed arugula that was on the verge of rotting. Hoping it was the heat of the pizza, I asked for a side of arugula. Nope. Unfortunately the side of arugula was just as bad. They may use fresh ingredients… That was fresh a week ago…
The staff here is extremely friendly and amazing. Too bad their food is no where near the level of the staff.

If you’ve been to Pieology, then this place has the same concept: you get to customize and build your pizza to your liking and they will cook it right there and then. No limits on toppings and all for $ 7.99. This place is great for the picky eaters in all of us!
I like how they have different options for everything. You get to pick your crust, sauce, cheese, toppings, and after sauce/​toppings.
Their crust options come in a wide variety: original, Rosemary herbs, gluten-​free, some spicy one, and a whole wheat flax seed crust. I highly recommend the rosemary herb crust! They also have different types of sauces you can top off your pizza like buffalo sauce and some spicy one I don’t remember.
Other things I would recommend: truffle salt and pesto after sauce to add on your pizza for extra yumminess!
The great thing I like about this place in comparison to Pieology is that their assembly line is efficient. They’re a lot faster than Pieology and their pizza baking machine cooks faster.
Definitely coming back for more! :D