Build

My first encounter with an individual-customized pizza was with Pieology (which I realized, as I'm typing this, I do not have an entry dedicated to them -________________- ). Ugh! I cannot believe I don't have an entry on them. Mental note: go to Pieology and make a review.

Back-peddling a little, a bunch of Chipotle-esk pizza places started popping up in Southern California, including Pizza Rev and Pieology. Coming up here I found out there was Pieology, which tickled my pizza bone. Then I discovered how NorCal sells one type of pizza a day. Kind of bummed there weren't any places more like Pieology. Lo and behold Build. Build is an individual-customizable pizza.

You go stand in line and then tell the person what toppings you want. For this place compared to Pieology is you pay for each topping you want on your pizza compared to unlimited number of toppings for a flat rate. For my pizza I had fresh and shredded mozzarella cheese, herbed butter and marinara sauce, meatballs, and Milan pepperoni. This all came out to a little more than $11. It was a modern type of establishment and it was chill, maybe it was because no one was there.

First came the truffle fries. I don't know anything about what truffles truly taste like by itself but I can say truffle oil makes fries delicious! As for the pizza, the pepperoni was BOMB-DIGGITY! Pepperoni is not my favorite topping but at times it does the trick. This pepperoni tasted like I was on a gondola riding to the sunset. The meatballs were a treat but not as much as the pepperoni.

When I went back to take a picture I found out it was Milan Pepperoni and when I talked to the manager, Jasmine, she stated 95% of their ingredients are shipped from Italy to them. Authenticity really hit the mark. I didn't know if I should have believed her not but the pepperoni was too good to be true. For a customize-your-own-pizza place it looked more like a sit-down restaurant.

The only service we received was when they came with our food. They had flavored water which we had to get ourselves as well as the utensils. We didn't wait long for the food and I think one of the men manning the oven brought out our pies. They were friendly and swift.

Build is a really nice place and affordable if you only want one topping on your pizza. It gets quite expensive at $8 as the base $2 per meat topping and $1 per vegetable topping. They didn't charge me for extra meat so mines came out to $11, $13/14 if they added the extra meat.

Go here for a date night? Yes. Trying to keep your wallet fat? No. Great tasting pizza? Yes. Come here again? Yes, only for the pepperoni.

Berkeley is filled with great pizza places which you can have everyday because it's that affordable. Build is the kind of place where I would go to when it's pay day, once every other month. Still it's a ritzier customize-your-own pizza place, if you ever want to feel ritzier.

Build - 2286 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA
Value - 4/5 
Food - 5/5 
Service - 4/5 
Atmosphere - 5/5 
Overall - 4.5/5